gripper Posted October 28, 2005 Report Share Posted October 28, 2005 I don't use rack stuff outside of practice/jam situations but the rack I have is full with a preamp, a maximizer and the amp itself. I don't think I understand where a power strip like a Furman is going to be of any benefit. I DID all the search stuff and they are just mentioned as a matter-of-fact kind of thing; like, of course, I have a power conditioner. The way I see it, all my rack stuff already has a regulated DC power supply built in that can handle some severe voltage swings and the tube stuff, who cares? Let those big transformers sort it out. Right there is where I am going to get into trouble. I just know it! I just don't see anything that needs all that severe protection. My cousin runs a AV production business and I can see where some of his stuff needs to be buffered from high-voltage spikes but, for what I run, a $200.00 Furman strip seems to be "selling the blue money" as we are taught in the automotive sales lingo. Gotta love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feylya Posted October 29, 2005 Report Share Posted October 29, 2005 Well, the way I see it is the Furman will clean up the power supply going into all your rack gear so you won't get any hum from back electricity and if you get a huge spike, which would you rather blew - your $200 Furman or your $2000 Triaxis? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TenderSurrender Posted October 29, 2005 Report Share Posted October 29, 2005 Ive played a few gigs where the house supply was terrible, constant spikes and lots of hum because of all the other gear they have plugged in there! I noticed once i chucked a power conditioner infront of things, it cleaned it up a lot!! ~~ Slain Angel ~~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Rosenberger Posted October 29, 2005 Report Share Posted October 29, 2005 it's more about consistancy. If you get a good conditioner that actually regulates the voltage you'll sound more consistant from gig to gig. FYI most of those "rack rider" things don't regulate voltage, they only protect against surges like a giant rack mounted power strip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMan123 Posted October 29, 2005 Report Share Posted October 29, 2005 Not to mention, the more often you get surges and voltage drops, the quicker your gear will want to die on you. Like feylya said, it's better to blow out a cheap Furman than let's say a Triaxis, then perhaps a TC Electronics effects processor as well. PS - Scott Rosenberger, I live about 45 min. away from you. 0_0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saber Posted October 29, 2005 Report Share Posted October 29, 2005 While an older Furman would blow a suppressor to "sacrifice" itself for the more expensive rack gear, the newer Furmans don't get damaged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gripper Posted October 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2005 Scott, that is what I didn't/don't understand. These Furmans are not just a big surge-suppressor? They can actually solve a low voltage thing say from a refrig turning on or a crappy old wiring job in the building? I thought you needed a huge UPS kind of thing for that. Would my pedal wall-warts make less noise around flouresent lights if I powered them with say a Furman? That noise is probably making it through my cables. What I really should do instead of bothering you guys with a bunch of newbie questions is borrow one from my cousin and try it. He has a few Furmans, but they are probably 5 years old, and a pair of 50 pound Sola transformers that have to be 30 years old. He showed me yesterday how the lines in his video monitors go away when he plugs in through what he calls his CLEAN power in the truck. I guess if it can get through his video equipment it can get through my audio equipment(the noise). Always rock! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodBlessTexas Posted November 3, 2005 Report Share Posted November 3, 2005 Scott, that is what I didn't/don't understand. These Furmans are not just a big surge-suppressor? They can actually solve a low voltage thing say from a refrig turning on or a crappy old wiring job in the building? I thought you needed a huge UPS kind of thing for that. Well, I guess it depends on which one of "these Furmans" you are talking about, because Furman makes voltage regulators/line conditioners and UPS. A Furman voltage regulator, which are the units most of us know and love, can take an input anywhere from 97V to 141V and condition it to 120V plus or minus 5V. A conditioner/voltage regulator will protect against short term power sag and brownouts, but nothing more than a couple of seconds. A UPS will do the same, but will also keep working when the power fades or sags for a longer period of time because it has a battery backup. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorecki Posted November 3, 2005 Report Share Posted November 3, 2005 (edited) To support some of the expressed. Furman doesn't make something that truly 'conditions power' below $500.00, everything else below even though labeled as a Power Conditioner is only a line voltage monitor reading from 90 to 128V, it doesn't regulate the voltage. I've thought for years they should be forced to remove the word 'Conditioner' from their product when it isn't anything but a rack mount power strip. I have at least one (some cases two) of these lower end Furman units in all of my racks but my purposes are to be able to turn everything I want to off with one switch and keep wiring clean so that one or two cables go from the rack to the wall. Everything else is neatly wired inside the rack. The easiest low cost upgrade is to simply get a lower end UPS to go between the wall and the Furman, this will stave off most power burps and brown outs. Edited November 3, 2005 by Gorecki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gripper Posted November 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2005 Gorecki, that is what I thought was the case. The real conditioners in the video truck weigh at least 30 pounds, not the 50 I said exactly. The older Furmans that he uses in the truck he calls protector/filters. Back to my issue with the need for one, protection is very nice and could save some real money in the case of a real bad voltage spike. You can get protection from a good power strip. Filtering looks to be the next issue but I thought the built-in power supplies of most rack stuff was regulated and filtered to a large extent. Then there is the ground-lift function that I thought was rather bogus but there are pieces of equipment that really quiet down with the ground lifted. You could do the same thing by cutting the ground prong off the plug but that seems to be a desperate solution. In a thread I found doing the search someone said ground-lift does not disconnect the ground. It couples it through a capacitor. At that point, I am lost because I do not understand coupling. They get so much money for those Furmans that there must be more to them than I understand. Got this one borrowed for a week or two and will try to justify buying one. By the way, my pedal noise was a real newbie stunt. Dirty jacks and plugs. 25 caliber brass cleaning brush and some Safety-Kleen and my pedal board is behaving well. No humm rocks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saber Posted November 5, 2005 Report Share Posted November 5, 2005 (edited) Back to my issue with the need for one, protection is very nice and could save some real money in the case of a real bad voltage spike. You can get protection from a good power strip.← Like I said, the typical power strip will blow its surge suppressor on a power surge and will have to be repaired or replaced (whatever's cheaper). The new Furmans have an electronic protection circuit that will not destruct on a power surge. The other reason I got one is because I needed the integrated lights to light up my rack. Edited November 5, 2005 by Saber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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