Hi, I read through the excellent thread about powering the QC from a CIOKS DC7, but there was no mention of the SOL. I’ve had one for many years and assumed if I bought the cables to use 4 of it’s outlets it would work with the QC. It does but it introduces the dreaded 60 cycle hum. I notice it when I’m plugged into my studio monitors especially and the sound man complained about it at my church gig. I have gone back to the wall wart for now.
The reason I’m writing is I’m surprised there is such a difference between two such similar models of power supply (DC7 and SOL). I’m not excited about the prospect of spending $300 to replace my SOL — and I really don’t want to go to the trouble and expense only to be disappointed by the result! So I guess I’m just looking for confirmation from someone here that also tried the SOL and found that the DC7 performed better for the QC. Thanks.
That’s a very economical power supply option. But how does that differ from the stock QC adapter? It looks like the one you use has an inline transformer instead of a wall wart design but is the barrel connector wire sturdier than the stock? Curious what makes this better than the QC adapter.
I don’t have a problem with the stock adapter. It works just fine.
To answer your question directly, yes, the wire on the Mean Well power supply I mentioned above is sturdier than the stock adapter. However, the actual reason I use it is that it’s an inline transformer design, which fits better with my pedalboard setup instead of a wall wart.
I honestly think that if the stock power supply was inline instead of a wall wart, more people would actually use it and have it mounted underneath their pedalboards.
I also think that waaaaay too many people get in a frenzy about the stock power supply. The knee-jerk reaction is to spend $289 (today’s listed price on Sweetwater) on a Cioks DC7 and do the parallel output thing, which works but is inconsistent with its design. Using four outputs in parallel? Why not just find a power supply that has enough juice on one output and be done with it?
Cioks figured this out and now offers the Crux, listed at $89 (Sweetwater), an extension only for the DC7 and not a standalone device to power a QC. Between those two units, you’re spending $300-400 which is entirely unnecessary in the first place.
I hate seeing people get strung along on the internet like this, that’s why I’m such a stickler for introducing a far cheaper option that IMO is just as effective.
Yeah, that inline transformer is much better if you’re trying to mount the QC on a board and you don’t have an existing power supply that can handle it. But if you want other pedals, I guess you have to add another PS to the board as well. My perspective is definitely with the QC mounted on a board. My preference is to have one PS with enough isolated outputs to support all my other pedals in addition to the QC. I can quickly list here 3 ways to do that from what I think is least desirable to most with the main factors being MAP cost & available isolated outputs. Keep in mind that my independent testing of the QC power draw topped out at 1.76A, nowhere near the 3A rating of the stock power supply. 2A of current will be enough to power the QC (supported by CIOKS & VooDoo Lab).
Walrus Canvas Power HP $230 + $40 for power supply = $270, 3A power output for QC, 3 isolated 9v 500mA outputs for other pedals.
CIOKS DC7 $289 + CRUX $89 = $378, CRUX provides 2A of power at 12v, 7 very flexible isolated outputs (9/12/15/18v) for other pedals, DC7 alone can do the trick without the CRUX but requires using 4 of the 7 outputs at 12v 500mA each and a complicated cable merging config.
VooDoo Lab Pedal Power 3 $229, provides 2A of power via X-link output (2 outputs share 2A so just use 1 for the QC and leave the other unused), 8 isolated outputs for other pedals (6@9v 500mA, 2 switchable from 12v 500mA to 9v 200mA)
I personally already had a Pedal Power 3 Plus (same as PP3 but with 12 isolated outputs) powering my board when I bought the QC, so I simply used a pedal cable and connected it to the X-link output. No problems ever and no additional cost to power the QC.
I use plenty of external pedals, powered with a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power Plus 3. But I keep my QC separate from it.
On my Templeboard, I use a A.C. Y-adapter to split the incoming power into to lines; one goes to the Voodoo Lab supply and the other to the inline transformer (for the QC). I’m sure I’ve posted a photo of it somewhere but I’ll snap an extra couple tonight and post them.
EDIT: Here’s my solution with the Y-adapter splitting A.C. out to the Voodoo Lab and the inline transformer.
Wow, well I was hoping I might find someone else using the SOL. Thing is I’m not powering anything else. I have the QC and Boss expression pedal. That’s it, but the hum is undeniable. So now I’m wondering if it’s my cables. I’m using 3 of these to pull current from 4 outlets all set to 12V. It powers up the unit just fine but the hum is a dealbreaker. I use humbucking pickups in all my guitars. How do you have it configured?
The DC7 and SOL are basically the same specs per outputs, so in theory they should both perform the same. I have the SOL and never any noise issue. Have you tried the ground switch?
Actually I don’t have a ground lift switch on my SOL. I just looked at Sweetwater thinking maybe I have an older unit but I don’t see one there either. Where is your ground switch?
Thanks, I didn’t realize that was a thing. I’ll check it later when I have time but I suspect that will be the answer. Thanks everyone, I’m a little embarrassed that didn’t occur to me (usually ground lift is a physical switch not a software setting), but I’m grateful for a solution that doesn’t cost anything.
Okay, I’m sitting at my desk, everything is connected and the QC is humming through my monitor speakers. I pulled down the menu on the upper right and went to settings, looked in Power Functions which seems like the most logical place, but there’s no option for a ground lift. I’ve checked every other menu under Settings. Where are you folks finding this ground switch? I also checked the device, don’t see a button for it. Any thoughts?
Never mind, I found it. You have to pull down from the top to get the I/O settings and then tap on the output. The ground lift is off, when I turn it on my speakers buzz loudly. When I turn it back off I just get the same low level hum that has been bothering me and the sound engineer at church.
So then I shut it down, disconnected the SOL and reconnected the original power supply – same hum. I guess that’s just the unit. I tried changing presets but there is no difference in the hum, the hum isn’t coming from the preset (I only play clean, very low gain) so I guess it just comes from the unit.
So, this appears to be a me problem. I don’t hear the hum in my headphones, only my speakers and the PA system at church. Maybe I’ll try using the 1/4” output at church to a direct box and see if that fixes the problem.
Thanks everyone, I’m still pretty new with the QC so I appreciate this group’s willingness to help.
Yeah, at this point it really doesn’t look like a PSU issue.
The key thing is still: no hum in headphones, but hum on monitors/PA. That usually means the noise is coming from the way the QC is referencing ground through the outputs, not from the power side.
Since you already tried:
different PSUs (no change)
ground lift (no real improvement)
different presets
I’d stop looking at power and focus on the output chain. A couple of things that I suggest:
put a DI / line isolator between QC and speakers
try ¼” out → DI → monitors instead of straight XLR
run it through a mixer or interface and see if the noise changes
make sure everything is on the same power strip
QC is kind of floating and just takes whatever ground reference the connected gear gives it, so if that reference isn’t clean you’ll hear it on speakers but not on headphones.
