Isolated power supply
A power supply that gives each pedal its own electrically separate output, so no current path is shared between them.
On a daisy chain all pedals share one supply and one ground reference, so a noisy digital pedal can inject its switching artefacts into every other pedal on the chain, and ground loops appear between units. An isolated supply gives each output its own transformer winding or conversion stage, which removes that interference path and usually makes an entire pedalboard quieter. It costs considerably more than a chain but is often the single biggest improvement in noise for a large board.
Example: A pedalboard whose power supply has a separate output for each pedal, rather than one cable linking them all, is isolated.
See also
Related
- PagePower supply
- PageDaisy chain
- PageGround loop
- Page18-volt operation
- PageAnalogue delay
- PageAuto-wah
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley