Power conditioner problems

Quad Cortex
1

So I’ve been experiencing a lot of noise from my Quad.

It runs from a Cioks DC7, which in turn is plugged into a furman power conditioner.

The power conditioner also powers a Sennheiser guitar wireless unit, and when needed a Laney FRFR 2x12 cab.

The noise was particularly bad at a gig last night so as an experiment I plugged the DC7 power supply directly into an extension instead of the power conditioner.

The noise went away completely.

I was pretty sure I wasn’t exceeding the power load of the power conditioner but now I’m questioning myself :sweat_smile:

Also in my originals band I split the signal into a guitar and bass amp, and again: ungodly amounts of noise.

So I’ll be trying plugging the Quad into a separate extension again to see if it works.

Honestly I’m a bit miffed to have spent the money on a power conditioner when it’s turned out to not solve noise issues and has seemingly made them worse.

Any advice welcome!

2

if, as you say

then: what noise issues are you trying to solve with the furman?

3

So I had lots of issues with dodgy power at various venues (cover band at pubs and clubs at weekends) so hoped the power conditioner would solve those issues.

But apparently: new issues created.

4

I use a furman myself without any noises … could it be the extension cord you use with it? I seem to remember you have to get them seperately.

5

So last night I unplugged the quad from the power conditioner and into the same extension lead the power conditioner was plugged into, and the noise went away :person_shrugging:t2:

6

Which power conditioner do you have and how old is it?

7

It’s a Furman M-10XE IEC and I bought it at the end of 2024.

8

I think I would try plugging the furman into an outlet and upgrading the extension leads coming from it first.

9

What kind of noise are you experiencing, buzz, hum, hiss? Does the Cioks have a grounded power cord? What else are you powering from the Cioks? Is there a chance that either the Furman or the extension cord have a bad ground, effectively creating a “ground lift”? That could explain why you’re getting different results between the two. Lifting the ground could improve or worsen a noise issue, depending on the cause of the noise. If the Ciox is only supplying low voltage devices, lifting the ground should be safe. Same for your wireless. I would be cautious about lifting the ground on the Laney. Just some things to consider as you experiment.

10

All of the above :sweat_smile:

I tried lifting the ground on the outputs on the quad and it made very little difference.

The ciox is powering a Strobostomp HD and a HX Stomp XL.

I’ll try a different kettle lead, it’s an externally mounted socket on a Schmidt array board.

11

Try removing your Cioks from your setup just to make sure it’s not the source of the noise.

Go back to your original QC power supply and try plugging it into your Furman, etc.

12

Good call, I’ll give that a go too!

13

I’ve only used the stock power supply with my QC but forum posts seem to indicate that it can be picky. You’d thing that as long as the supply is providing a well filtered 12v and can supply sufficient current, that it should work with the Quad but there seems to be more to the equation. Most people claim that it works well with Cioks supplies. :man_shrugging: