The noise comes from the wah's proximity to the power supply's transformers. The Voodoo's are 'noisy' because they use a single toroidal transformer with a separate winding for each output channel, while the Strymon uses a separate regulator AND transformer for each output channel. They're all quality units, but the Strymon does have that distinct advantage over the Voodoo's. The Ojai's are built the same way.
Strymon in general has a reputation for being...a little overpriced. And it seems that way, until you start using any of their pedals. Everything beginning from material quality, fit and finish, switches, dials, features, sound quality, etc is fantastic. They are expensive, and of course you pay a little extra for the brand. But you don't feel cheated in the end because they are such lovely things.
I've had this issue with the T-Rex Fuel Tank Chameleon for years and I don't even have the unit underneath my board or have a wah pedal. My CIOKS DC10 is silent. I won't be buying a power supply without either a toroidal transformer (DC10), what Truetone uses with their 1Spot, or what Strymon uses. I'm not sure whether Strymon is using the same basic topology as Truetone, but it's the same result. CIOKS seem to have a new range coming out soon that also have the same diminutive size and light weight as the Strymon and Truetone stuff. I imagine that'll be quiet as well. It kind of defeats the purpose of spending a load of money on a bulky power supply with isolated outputs if noise is generated elsewhere.
I have an EHX pitchfork that is like an antenna for buzz depending on its proximity to my Voodoo Labs Mondo. Very disappointed with that power supply. my mind is blown about the wah. Going to have to try this.
Awesome video, this has saved many of us tons of troubleshooting! I know this is an old video, but the voodoo lab pedal power 3 plus just came out and claims to have an ultra quiet hybrid design. Wondering if you could do the same wah comparison with it to see if there's still noise
i feel like my rams head big muff may also be sensitive to this, or maybe its just a noisy pedal in general.. normally the type of music played with it doesn't involve you stopping playing so you don't notice it tho
I have the Voodoo labs Pp+2 underneath my pedal board. My fortin Zuul Noise gate pics up the Pp+2 electromagnetic field it puts out. I just found that is what was causing the hum. Problem I face now is positioning of my Zuul to to the Pp+2 because it sits right above and one row below the pp+2. Any ideas? Should I just get a Zuma?
Here’s the question OK zuma it’s quiet but does it make sound better our pedals? . I had the daisy one spot made by visual sound and I was so happy with it it actually made my pedal sound better I compared with other adapters and really make my distortion sound better crisper cleaner better. Until it burned las for a few years then I bought another 2 1 spot but this time make it by True Tone. it was not even close to the quality of the one spot made by visual sound not even close doesn’t sound the same and my other pedals doesn’t even have the same sound so I don’t care if there’s new adapters they give you a 400 mA I wanna know if they sound better. That’s the main question. I’m telling you this because I really compare every single pedals with other adapters
Thank you! I've moved my wah further away from my Mondo and killed most of the noise. Would it make any difference if the wah was powered by one of the voodoo lab supplies and then placed over the Zuma? Not asking for a new video, but if you wouldn't mind testing it and posting the results, I would greatly appreciate that.
@@gilguajardo7808 I haven't noticed any noise from my wah after moving it away from the supply. Can confirm it doesn't matter what's powering it, if you set it directly over the voodoo lab supply there will be some noise with most pedals. Though not so much with some digital pedals. If you separate them by about an inch or the thickness of a pedaltrain most of that noise will go away. Regardless, the only thing I keep on my supply now is a footswitch for a rack effect.
@@gilguajardo7808 I power my wah (Fulltone Clyde Deluxe) with Voodoo Lab Mondo power supply. Wah is above the power supply and separated by the thickness of the Pedal Train style board... the hum is there. No hum when wah is moved off board...
The Voodoo Lab power units was the power supply back in there day, and in no way I'm saying they aren't good anymore because they still are and work for many. L.A. Sound Design still uses them for there amazing pedalboard builds and sound magnificent. It is 2018, the market is now flooded with many high power hungry digital pedals, where the demand is there. Technology keeps moving forward and these newer power supplies just have what the consumer needs/wants, where you're not only paying for quality but for quantity as well. Just like any technological phase, not sure if Voodoo Labs was paying attention to the market demands, but someone else had to come up with a much more cost effective, quality, power supply.. and guess what?? They are delivering.. Just my .02 cents..
Sold my VooDoo labs ISO-5 Today ( nothing wrong with it, worked great, no noise, never any issues ) I just needed More Ports, having 9 Pedals . . . including the Big Sky. Ordered my Strymon Zuma today. Both = very good quality ( however ) I am a believer in Strymon Products and their Customer Service is Top-Notch. - Michael - NYC -
I did similar test a few day ago. I tried T-Rex Goliath but it was crazy noisy (when I was just closer to it with my guitar it sarts make noice). Long story short... Zuma wins! :)
im getting lots of hum with electro harmonics big muff and voodo labs 4x4. its stupid how bad this power supply is. and everyone on facebook pedal groups is recommending it. its not cheap either its actually expensive. definitely not worth the money
This is EMI noise that should be blocked by the big aluminum plate on the bottom of that Clyde wah, which is ostensibly tied to ground.....but.....it's ONLY tied to ground inside the STRYMON PSU, because that's the one it's plugged into. Normally this wouldn't matter all that much because all grounds (plus some suboptimal amount of resistance) are eventually tied back to the same place (literally, the ground, or more pragmatically, your electrical panel). But these PSU's use toroidal xformers to electrically ISOLATE each PSU from mains voltage.....so the Voodoo Labs may be at a significant disadvantage because in this test there is no physical ground between the chassis of the Clyde wah and the chassis of the Voodoo Labs PSU's....but there IS a physical ground connection between the Clyde and the Strymon. An actual physical ground is needed to block EMI/RFI. If you hooked the ground wire in a guitar up to an xformer before it was tied to the bridge, it would be no different than actually disconnecting that wire, because that's what you're doing with the transformer. It would hum and buzz like crazy. The short, TLDR, this isn't really a valid test unless you power the pedal using the PSU for each corresponding test.
Yes, not only that, I've heard numerous Zuma users having trouble with their Zoom B3 and G3 multifx pedals. All of them uses regular 9v center neg 500 mA barrel input and Strymon is aware of the problem. However no Voodoo user has problem with their Zooms. Any. And it isn't hum. The Zooms won't fire up at all when using Zumas. Also try using a 500 mA pedal into Zuma. Like Kaluna Vahlbruch. Won't fire up. Voodoo's 500 mA ouput does... It seems that if the requirements of a pedal is exactly 500 mA it is the straw that breaks the Zumas back. Lots of heterodyning (whistling) problems when combining vintage analog pedals with modern digital ones too, have been reported.
So I bought a Zuma after watching this video, just to try it out (I normally use a voodoo lab) and it just wasn't for me. I tested it on a bass with BB preamp pedal and it changed the distortion sound enough for me to return it. If your going to use it with a fuzz or distortion pedals I recommend voodoo lab.
its weird that u recommend voodoo lab because i have it (4x4) and today i got big muff by electro harmonics and i found out that most of noise is caused by voodoo lab.... when i use power supply from strymon big sky pedal doesnt produce noise.
As soon as I tried Strymon power I sold all my 10 woodoolab power supplies. Strymon is a quietest power you can ever find. Woodoolab dose make noice with every pedal but just little by little and than at the end it will have a strong hum specially when all your pedals is right at woodoolab power supply and you using about 10 + pedals.
I've heard this too, at some select pedals. Mostly vintage analog dirt boxes sounds a bit...lame. But as there are still a lot that uses batteries only for the exact same reason, and you get rid of the hum, it's 3 school world out there: Power supplies with switching system, Power supplies with torroidal transformers, and regular old batteries. My problem is when you mix digital pedals and analog vintage in the same power supplies or output. Then it starts to wreak havoc. Hum, heterodyning noises (which Strymons all other pedals are capable of) and whatyouhave.
I’ll no longer buy a Voodoo labs power supplies again...!!!!! I’m getting a Zuma at 30th street guitars in Manhattan N.Y.C. Not all Voodoo labs products are crap thou. I love ❤️ my Marshall JMP-1 that’s Voodoo Labs modified. This video must be really embarrassing for them. And I’ve been a long Voodoo labs customer too, but no longer.
This was the most inane and stupid test I've ever seen. FFS. Connect it to either power supply first, and then come back here. Like we shouldn't detect it. Connect it to the power supply you put on top of it goddammit! Also, I've yet to see ANYONE placing a wah on the top tier/drawer of a two storey pedalboard. Because when you press down HARD with your foot to engage it - i e turn it on - the pedalboard or second tier flexes instead of bringing it on. So it is way too sluggish and may not turn on. No pedalboard I've seen has a) a "top floor" that is rigid enough to withstand a wah foot switch engage/disengage. b) any wah that is footswitch engaged on the "top floor" at all, on any pedalboard, i e above an eventual power supply. The wah's are always placed way at the side of the pedalboard on hard concrete floor, stage floor, in order to react immediately and not flex due to the spongy thing underneath. Say, if the pedalboards are slanted even, one-storey, and the supply is underneath, the added angle puts your operating range askew. I mean the heel to toe operating range. Wahs needs to be set and placed horisontally totally. On hard concrete stage floor. If you try to do the mod that turns it on/off more easily, then your risking turning it off and on while operating it. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A better test - way better - would be with TUBE pedals. Pedals that has tubes in them. They can pick up EMI noises too, and from power supplies. I know even Eric Johnson slants his BJ Butler Tube driver just to not interfere with other pedals, including power supplies.
The noise comes from the wah's proximity to the power supply's transformers. The Voodoo's are 'noisy' because they use a single toroidal transformer with a separate winding for each output channel, while the Strymon uses a separate regulator AND transformer for each output channel. They're all quality units, but the Strymon does have that distinct advantage over the Voodoo's. The Ojai's are built the same way.
To be fully fair in this test you should test the wah with the power supply used to feed it, not only from the Strymon.
Zuma ofcourse,its just the best.Your final stop for power supply.I got mine its perfect.Period.
The Zuma is a killer power supply. Love it.
Now I know why Strymon power supply is more expensive.
Strymon in general has a reputation for being...a little overpriced. And it seems that way, until you start using any of their pedals. Everything beginning from material quality, fit and finish, switches, dials, features, sound quality, etc is fantastic. They are expensive, and of course you pay a little extra for the brand. But you don't feel cheated in the end because they are such lovely things.
What about the Truetone 1spot Pro CS-12? Is it as quiet as the Strymon?
Love my Zuma . Best thing about it is you can daisy chain it with the Strymon Ojai and gain extra clean outlets
When you do that do you get noise?
@@FLAMENCO961 late to the party but no. Same transforer regulator set up keeps the Ojai quiet too
I've had this issue with the T-Rex Fuel Tank Chameleon for years and I don't even have the unit underneath my board or have a wah pedal. My CIOKS DC10 is silent. I won't be buying a power supply without either a toroidal transformer (DC10), what Truetone uses with their 1Spot, or what Strymon uses. I'm not sure whether Strymon is using the same basic topology as Truetone, but it's the same result. CIOKS seem to have a new range coming out soon that also have the same diminutive size and light weight as the Strymon and Truetone stuff. I imagine that'll be quiet as well. It kind of defeats the purpose of spending a load of money on a bulky power supply with isolated outputs if noise is generated elsewhere.
James bond reviewing power supply
Can you do a vid on the pedal power 3 when it comes out
Would be awesome if you did this test with the walrus pheonix/aetos...?
Amazing comparison Shnobel! Do you think that 1SPOT CS7 will be also noiseless - it is twice cheaper, I cant afford the Zuma now. Thank you 🙏
Friedman power grid 10 is also a pretty quiet psu.
I have an EHX pitchfork that is like an antenna for buzz depending on its proximity to my Voodoo Labs Mondo. Very disappointed with that power supply. my mind is blown about the wah. Going to have to try this.
Awesome video, this has saved many of us tons of troubleshooting!
I know this is an old video, but the voodoo lab pedal power 3 plus just came out and claims to have an ultra quiet hybrid design. Wondering if you could do the same wah comparison with it to see if there's still noise
Just ordered the PP3+ to clean up some humm from the older Voodoo Lab supplies.
Interesting to know which is most reliable in the long run, smps die often and are near impossible to repair.
i feel like my rams head big muff may also be sensitive to this, or maybe its just a noisy pedal in general.. normally the type of music played with it doesn't involve you stopping playing so you don't notice it tho
I see the technical reasons, but would it make a difference if the wag were plugged into the other units instead of the Zuma?
I have the Voodoo labs Pp+2 underneath my pedal board. My fortin Zuul Noise gate pics up the Pp+2 electromagnetic field it puts out. I just found that is what was causing the hum. Problem I face now is positioning of my Zuul to to the Pp+2 because it sits right above and one row below the pp+2. Any ideas? Should I just get a Zuma?
Here’s the question OK zuma it’s quiet but does it make sound better our pedals? . I had the daisy one spot made by visual sound and I was so happy with it it actually made my pedal sound better I compared with other adapters and really make my distortion sound better crisper cleaner better. Until it burned las for a few years then I bought another 2 1 spot but this time make it by True Tone. it was not even close to the quality of the one spot made by visual sound not even close doesn’t sound the same and my other pedals doesn’t even have the same sound so I don’t care if there’s new adapters they give you a 400 mA I wanna know if they sound better. That’s the main question. I’m telling you this because I really compare every single pedals with other adapters
Mind blown
zuma vs 1spot cs12?
what about the Truetone cs 7?
Electro-Harmonix Micro POG creates huge noise with my Voodoo Lab iso5
My POG2 was the same. I thought it was the pedal until I switched its spot on my board.
Hello. Are you familiar with this pedal (bsm galaxy 1011)? And is it possible to create noise from the Voodoo Lab power supply?
I love my Zuma. Only had issues with the ehx key9. It's the only pedal I don't know why doesn't work with...
Ehx key9 is 9v center positive. Not 9v center negative like most other pedals.
Thank you! I've moved my wah further away from my Mondo and killed most of the noise.
Would it make any difference if the wah was powered by one of the voodoo lab supplies and then placed over the Zuma?
Not asking for a new video, but if you wouldn't mind testing it and posting the results, I would greatly appreciate that.
Yes please.
That’s what I was gonna ask, i.e., does the hum still happen over the Voodoo Lab supplies WHEN it’s powered by Voodoo Lab supplies?
@@gilguajardo7808 I haven't noticed any noise from my wah after moving it away from the supply.
Can confirm it doesn't matter what's powering it, if you set it directly over the voodoo lab supply there will be some noise with most pedals. Though not so much with some digital pedals.
If you separate them by about an inch or the thickness of a pedaltrain most of that noise will go away.
Regardless, the only thing I keep on my supply now is a footswitch for a rack effect.
@@gilguajardo7808 I power my wah (Fulltone Clyde Deluxe) with Voodoo Lab Mondo power supply. Wah is above the power supply and separated by the thickness of the Pedal Train style board... the hum is there. No hum when wah is moved off board...
Mojo pedal with cry baby and voodoo lab pedal power 2 plus set up I want to know how to fix sound
Wow!!
I bought the strymon one 🤟🏼
The Voodoo Lab power units was the power supply back in there day, and in no way I'm saying they aren't good anymore because they still are and work for many. L.A. Sound Design still uses them for there amazing pedalboard builds and sound magnificent. It is 2018, the market is now flooded with many high power hungry digital pedals, where the demand is there. Technology keeps moving forward and these newer power supplies just have what the consumer needs/wants, where you're not only paying for quality but for quantity as well. Just like any technological phase, not sure if Voodoo Labs was paying attention to the market demands, but someone else had to come up with a much more cost effective, quality, power supply.. and guess what?? They are delivering..
Just my .02 cents..
Sold my VooDoo labs ISO-5 Today ( nothing wrong with it, worked great, no noise, never any issues ) I just needed More Ports, having 9 Pedals . . . including the Big Sky. Ordered my Strymon Zuma today. Both = very good quality ( however ) I am a believer in Strymon Products and their Customer Service is Top-Notch. - Michael - NYC -
Strymon vs Cioks power supply?
I did similar test a few day ago. I tried T-Rex Goliath but it was crazy noisy (when I was just closer to it with my guitar it sarts make noice). Long story short... Zuma wins! :)
Does Ojai R30 works the same way ? ( hum free ).
Try a electro harmonix BLACK FINGER with the voodoo labs 2 .... im getting massive humming
im getting lots of hum with electro harmonics big muff and voodo labs 4x4. its stupid how bad this power supply is. and everyone on facebook pedal groups is recommending it. its not cheap either its actually expensive. definitely not worth the money
This is EMI noise that should be blocked by the big aluminum plate on the bottom of that Clyde wah, which is ostensibly tied to ground.....but.....it's ONLY tied to ground inside the STRYMON PSU, because that's the one it's plugged into. Normally this wouldn't matter all that much because all grounds (plus some suboptimal amount of resistance) are eventually tied back to the same place (literally, the ground, or more pragmatically, your electrical panel). But these PSU's use toroidal xformers to electrically ISOLATE each PSU from mains voltage.....so the Voodoo Labs may be at a significant disadvantage because in this test there is no physical ground between the chassis of the Clyde wah and the chassis of the Voodoo Labs PSU's....but there IS a physical ground connection between the Clyde and the Strymon. An actual physical ground is needed to block EMI/RFI. If you hooked the ground wire in a guitar up to an xformer before it was tied to the bridge, it would be no different than actually disconnecting that wire, because that's what you're doing with the transformer. It would hum and buzz like crazy.
The short, TLDR, this isn't really a valid test unless you power the pedal using the PSU for each corresponding test.
Yes, not only that, I've heard numerous Zuma users having trouble with their Zoom B3 and G3 multifx pedals. All of them uses regular 9v center neg 500 mA barrel input and Strymon is aware of the problem. However no Voodoo user has problem with their Zooms. Any. And it isn't hum. The Zooms won't fire up at all when using Zumas. Also try using a 500 mA pedal into Zuma. Like Kaluna Vahlbruch. Won't fire up. Voodoo's 500 mA ouput does...
It seems that if the requirements of a pedal is exactly 500 mA it is the straw that breaks the Zumas back. Lots of heterodyning (whistling) problems when combining vintage analog pedals with modern digital ones too, have been reported.
is this a regulated ps compared to an isolated ps? Amazing difference.
So the isolated ones of voodoo might be like the Zuma
So I bought a Zuma after watching this video, just to try it out (I normally use a voodoo lab) and it just wasn't for me. I tested it on a bass with BB preamp pedal and it changed the distortion sound enough for me to return it. If your going to use it with a fuzz or distortion pedals I recommend voodoo lab.
its weird that u recommend voodoo lab because i have it (4x4) and today i got big muff by electro harmonics and i found out that most of noise is caused by voodoo lab.... when i use power supply from strymon big sky pedal doesnt produce noise.
This is total bs lol
is there any noise when you power the wah with the voodoo lab supply?
Yes, that's what I want to see, no a shameless plugs on Zuma.
JHS Morning Glory quite sensitive, can you check that one out please!
Too bad the zuma doesn't have a 24v outlet for a deluxe memory man...
That's how to make a gear video
My question is why you want to put a pedal on top of power supply?
Missed the point
As soon as I tried Strymon power I sold all my 10 woodoolab power supplies. Strymon is a quietest power you can ever find. Woodoolab dose make noice with every pedal but just little by little and than at the end it will have a strong hum specially when all your pedals is right at woodoolab power supply and you using about 10 + pedals.
same thing with Strymon Ojai ?
Yes
Only wah pedals right? so I just move my the voodoo lab tu other side.
Zuma makes sound thinner.
I've heard this too, at some select pedals. Mostly vintage analog dirt boxes sounds a bit...lame. But as there are still a lot that uses batteries only for the exact same reason, and you get rid of the hum, it's 3 school world out there: Power supplies with switching system, Power supplies with torroidal transformers, and regular old batteries.
My problem is when you mix digital pedals and analog vintage in the same power supplies or output. Then it starts to wreak havoc. Hum, heterodyning noises (which Strymons all other pedals are capable of) and whatyouhave.
I’ll no longer buy a Voodoo labs power supplies again...!!!!! I’m getting a Zuma at 30th street guitars in Manhattan N.Y.C. Not all Voodoo labs products are crap thou. I love ❤️ my Marshall JMP-1 that’s Voodoo Labs modified. This video must be really embarrassing for them. And I’ve been a long Voodoo labs customer too, but no longer.
Not sure the video in any way implies that the Voodoo Lab power supplies are crap, but rather that the Zuma is just better.
Zumas are the best, Voodoolabs are noisy.
Ridiculous test
This was the most inane and stupid test I've ever seen. FFS. Connect it to either power supply first, and then come back here. Like we shouldn't detect it. Connect it to the power supply you put on top of it goddammit!
Also, I've yet to see ANYONE placing a wah on the top tier/drawer of a two storey pedalboard. Because when you press down HARD with your foot to engage it - i e turn it on - the pedalboard or second tier flexes instead of bringing it on. So it is way too sluggish and may not turn on. No pedalboard I've seen has a) a "top floor" that is rigid enough to withstand a wah foot switch engage/disengage. b) any wah that is footswitch engaged on the "top floor" at all, on any pedalboard, i e above an eventual power supply.
The wah's are always placed way at the side of the pedalboard on hard concrete floor, stage floor, in order to react immediately and not flex due to the spongy thing underneath. Say, if the pedalboards are slanted even, one-storey, and the supply is underneath, the added angle puts your operating range askew. I mean the heel to toe operating range. Wahs needs to be set and placed horisontally totally. On hard concrete stage floor.
If you try to do the mod that turns it on/off more easily, then your risking turning it off and on while operating it.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A better test - way better - would be with TUBE pedals. Pedals that has tubes in them. They can pick up EMI noises too, and from power supplies. I know even Eric Johnson slants his BJ Butler Tube driver just to not interfere with other pedals, including power supplies.