RRCBG Posted February 7, 2015 Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 Hi, Im new here but initial impressions are good! Im hoping someone can help me with some wiring. I need to add some LEDs to a guitar Im building, but I dont want to be carrying batteries, so Im looking at phantom power. I understand the basics, but Im not at all sure how to wire it all up? Anyone got any experience that may help? It may be asking a lot, but a wiring diagram would be A1! Many thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted February 7, 2015 Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 Easiest way to do it would be to retrofit a stereo output jack to the guitar and use the extra connector for the LED supply. Your lead will need to be replaced with a stereo cable and you'd also need to build some kind of breakout box at the other end to send the power to the guitar without sending it back to the amp. Alembic did it years ago with their Series 1 and 2 basses. Try googling there for starters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted February 20, 2015 Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 I guess that it might be possible to reconfigure an instrument to work off the 48v phantom power that a desk or DI box can supply. It depends on how much LED work you're thinking of. A single LED "on" indicator, fretboard markers or 100s of LEDs in a huge array across the face of the entire instrument? The trick is making the guitar backwards compatible, as it would need an XLR-type socket for a reliable phantom power application. Unless you have a particularly clever circuit, you'd lose the simple passive output. It might be simpler than I think, however I suspect not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RRCBG Posted February 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 Thanks for the replies guys. Im thinking that having to change a wee battery every now and then maybe isnt such a pain afterall.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted February 20, 2015 Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 It's a good question though. Giving a guitar a 48v supply allows for some novel stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted February 20, 2015 Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 Anything that runs off desk 48V phantom power needs to be super-lean when it comes to power consumption. Absolute max you can get out of phantom power is 7mA, which is with the XLR output leads running into a dead short, by which time you have no voltage left at your destination to run anything that needs headroom. A couple of EMGs would be fine. A string of LEDs would be difficult to see in anything more than a pitch black room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted February 20, 2015 Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 True, you couldn't run a lighting rig off it ;-) I wasn't sure of the actual specification for phantom power and as it turns out, it's crap. Even a single USB 2,0 port can supply what, half an Amp max? If some people weren't so jazzed on the merits of having a passive signal chain, you could make a case for USB being a great way of powering guitar circuits and sending the signal digitally. Hell, SMT USB chips are so small and the technology so ubiquitous you can throw them into jack sockets now.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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