Heavy duty power supply for Pod Go - some possible solutions

[voxman55]

I think most of us would agree that the Pod Go is a smashing bit of kit - but let's be honest, it's power-supply iets it down. It's cheap & nasty with an ugly 'wallwart', and a short thin cable that might be OK for home use, but it just is not gig worthy.

 

So, whilst looking for a quality, noiseless PSU solution to power my mini-3 pedal FX board that goes into the FX loop of my Vox Valvetronix AD120VTX amp, I found two solutions that also have enough juice to power the Pod Go.  Surprisingly, Pod Go needs 9v at 2,500 mA according to the spec, hence the 3,000 mA PSU.  A good quality gig-worthy PSU isn't cheap, but if you are a gigging player and need something a lot more robust, then the following might well fit the bill.

 

Option 1:

Fender Engine room LVL5 . Isolated PSU, that is powered through a standard IEC (amp/ 'kettle') lead. So no wallwart and being an IEC easily available spare cable. I'm in the UK so here it will have a standard 3-pin plug.  It has 5 x 500mA isolated outlets that can be daisy chained to connect a single device at 2,500mA.  Very compact and noiseless. And if you are US, no problem - can be used for 100v-240v AC.  Store price (UK) c£89

https://www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-dept/guitar-pedals/pedal-power-supplies/fender-engine-room-lvl5-power-supply-230v-uk

 

 

Option 2:

Diago Powerstation Multi Pedal 9v Power Supply. Very similar to a laptop cable, and again no ugly wallwart
PEDAL POWER WITH 6 WAY DAISY CHAIN CABLE SPLITTER. UP TO 3A OUTPUT.  For Pod Go, you won't need a daisy chain splitter. Price c£100

https://www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-dept/guitar-pedals/pedal-power-supplies/diago-powerstation-multi-pedal-9v-power-supply

 

[voxman55]

Quick update - I'm not a techy so I can't verify this, but it's been suggested to me that if you combine the 5 outs in the LVL5 you lose the isolation and can get noise. So for Pod Go, the Diago might be best unless there's any reason why you shouldn't use it with Pod Go (if the voltage & mA's are right I can't think why there would be any problem but I'm caveating only because i'm not a techie & I don't know what I don't know! lol).

 

 

[marvinthemartian]

I've been gigging with my Pod Go for a couple of months now using the Truetone CS7 (Pod go, shure glxd receiver, Digitech Drop and mooer tender octave) for power with no problems whatsoever . What's great about Truetone is that they include the 2 necessary adapters you need for the Pod Go (Polarity flip and smaller connector) and no wallwart necessary. Just an IEC power cord straight into the box. 

[voxman55]

2 hours ago, marvinthemartian said:

I've been gigging with my Pod Go for a couple of months now using the Truetone CS7 (Pod go, shure glxd receiver, Digitech Drop and mooer tender octave) for power with no problems whatsoever . What's great about Truetone is that they include the 2 necessary adapters you need for the Pod Go (Polarity flip and smaller connector) and no wallwart necessary. Just an IEC power cord straight into the box. 

 

The max total current draw is 1900mA as compared with 2500mA with The Fender LVL5 Engine Room, and the LVL5 is less than half the price.  I'm intrigued that you can power Pod Go with it as reportedly it needs 2500mA. 

[marvinthemartian]

It's strange, I know. I have a feeling that the Pod isn't drawing that much current. I was using the CS7 with a Digitech RP1000 (9v 1.5A) with the same external items for a couple of years with no issue. I thought I would have to replace the CS7 once i got the pod, but it hasn't failed me yet. For giggles, I had tried using it with an Ampero and the ampero would shut down after about 10 minutes.

[jwoertz]

What about the TruTone 1Spot?

[spaceatl]

My board is all 9 volt, so I just use a 9v medical grade supply (5A)...About $20-30 depending on the vendor...but no fancy billet aluminum box...

[gitarzysta]

Power supply - Verifone 9V 4A

 

I found a good, replacement, desktop type (wall/plug power supplies are EVIL ;) ) power supply, part number Verifone DSA-42D-09. I picked mine for 10$ equivalent. Very quiet.

Spec:

• direct replacement
• 9V
• center negative
• 2.5mm tip
• 4A max

 

Try also "zx spectrum power adapter" - apparently this Verfione was used as ZX Spectrum adapter replacement, too ;)

 

I hope you'll find it useful.

 

Cheers

[RickDeck3030]

I know this is an old thread, but can I just ask one question as I've seen conflicting information.

 

Is the POD Go supply center negative just like all standard 'Boss' power supplies?

 

Reason I ask is I have seen people saying the need a polarity reversing cable - which would be in accurate as the Boss standard is center negative. I think the conversion cables are needed as the L6 plug is a slightly different size - the pin is larger than a Boss. So you can use the L6 PSU to power Boss pedals (or any other), but you can't use a Boss PSU to power Pod Go without a converter.

 

Is this correct?

 

Reason I ask is that I am looking at a pedal that needs 400mA standard Boss jack, so was wondering if the POD Go supply can power it.

 

[spaceatl]

BOSS is same polarity...I have a 2A BOSS supply and it powered my GO...It's supply for a BCB60, so the plug fits...you would just need a splitter...Or you can buy some pigtails and make one...I did that...I have since switched to the HX Stomp XL...supply requirements are pretty much the same. I bought a 6A medical grade psu for $18 and a couple of pigtails. My GO was actually in this same old case...my primary reason to switch was integrating SA pedals with midi...had the go had midi with the need for an embedded host, I probably would still be using it...The GO is my favorite board layout Line 6 has done to date...

 

 

[RichiBmusic]

On 9/8/2021 at 12:53 AM, marvinthemartian said:

I've been gigging with my Pod Go for a couple of months now using the Truetone CS7 (Pod go, shure glxd receiver, Digitech Drop and mooer tender octave) for power with no problems whatsoever . What's great about Truetone is that they include the 2 necessary adapters you need for the Pod Go (Polarity flip and smaller connector) and no wallwart necessary. Just an IEC power cord straight into the box. 

Hi there,

Im just looking for a little help please. I have just got myself the cs7 and had a look through the manual, specifically in regards to the CL6 green adapter. It appears to be just a straight through adapter. In your post above you mentioned that you used two adapters. I am assuming the CL6 green adapter (to fit to the pod go) but I am wondering why you would need to use the CYR red polarity converter (my assumption - please correct me if I am wrong) considering the center pin in the CS7 is negative and the center pin in the pod go is also negative. The CS7 manual does not say anywhere that the CL6 green adapter reverses the polarity, so why would you need to use the CYR Red reverse polarity converter? 

[phil_m]

On 10/24/2022 at 12:19 AM, RichiBmusic said:

Hi there,

Im just looking for a little help please. I have just got myself the cs7 and had a look through the manual, specifically in regards to the CL6 green adapter. It appears to be just a straight through adapter. In your post above you mentioned that you used two adapters. I am assuming the CL6 green adapter (to fit to the pod go) but I am wondering why you would need to use the CYR red polarity converter (my assumption - please correct me if I am wrong) considering the center pin in the CS7 is negative and the center pin in the pod go is also negative. The CS7 manual does not say anywhere that the CL6 green adapter reverses the polarity, so why would you need to use the CYR Red reverse polarity converter? 

The TrueTone CL6 adapter reverses the polarity. It’s a holdover from the old Line 6 4 button stomp pedals and the Visual Sound adapters that were made for them.

[steadybright]

I conditionally recommend the Meanwell GSM40A09-P1J medical power supply, but be sure to read below, as there's likely a better option.

 

Conditional recfommendation because there are three (3) things to be aware of:

   1. You must reverse the polarity of the DC tip. The Pod Go requires center negative conductor.

   2. You must use a different size DC tip than what this ships with, because it will not fit into the Pod Go with the stock tip.

 

To solve #1 and #2 above, I cut and soldered a DC tip (from another power supply I had laying around that fit the Pod Go) onto this power supply. Except for #3 below, it works great.

 

   3. I gigged with this new power supply (and Pod Go) last weekend, and it sounded clean over the house PA system. It also sounds clean on my Fender Rumble 100 amp at home. HOWEVER, it adds a nasty high-pitch tone (didn't measure it, but it's in the KHz range (not a low, 50-60 Hz AC hum)) to my Scarlett Solo The Pod Go doesn't even need to be turned on to get this tone into the Scarlett Solo. If this power supply touches the conductors on the Pod Go, the tone is present.

 

I believe the problem is due to RF being dumped to ground on the AC side of the supply, since I the GSM40A09-P1J is a three prong (grounded) power supply. I thought that this would be better, but I'm thinking differently now. ;)

 

There is a two prong version of this I may try at some point. By the way, I did try ferrite beads. Multiple configurations, from one to many. Didn't touch the high-pitched tone at all.

 

So now I use the stock power supply, which I have immobilized to prevent shorting, for home use. And I use the Meanwell power supply for gigging. It is rugged, and seems to do great for that purpose.

 

Anyone know what size DC tip the Pod Go uses? 2.1mm x 5.5mm?

 

Thanks,

 

buzz