Dwarf Noise (Solved)

I have some yes. My Organelle is pretty quiet for instance.
You actually have two awesome products. I’m just frustrated I keep spending money to make things work properly, and that nothing works so far for me. I’ve never had such a hard time trying to solve problems and not enjoying the awesomeness of the product. And the fact that the only thing I found to work turns out hazardous, that’s pretty frustrating.

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For others who are planning on keeping their Mod units, here’s some clarification:

A. The certification process in various countries/regions is guided by different standards when ity comes to power plugs and wiring – CEE(7)VII for most of Europe, BS 1363 for UK, etc. When a company wants to sell equipment to various nations, most likely it has to adhere to the most stringent of standards, as a way to ease the production process. Large companies can afford the luxury of shipping items with different transformers to various nations, like Yamaha used to.

Which brings us to B:

B. Other than A above, different standards also require different wirings above certain current requirements. In the US it’s possible to go all the way to 2A (if I’m not mistaken) without the ground connector, in other places a little more or a little less. The Mac Mini has a 2-prong plug, for instance. And yes, most pedals don’t need the ground connection either, but some run at 100mA, the real hogs at 1A. The Line6 Helix is 2A, though their PSU is rated at 3.

But, once you go above that – Like Boss’ amps, then you need the ground connection.

(I am not affiliated with MOD but I believe they had to use the 3-prong PSU so as to get approval. Please notice that I am not saying their PSU is not faulty for some other reason. My DuoX generates zero noise.)

C. The following statements

probably stem more out of personal frustration and anger than from my own post. I have conveyed the information that a gound plug is a security feature but also made the following statement:

… is it believed that somewhere else in the signal chain – mixer, amp, house PA, etc – there will be a reliable ground, therefore allowing loads to flow to the earth when needed.

That means, if there is a safe and efficient path to the ground elsewhere – for instance, in the guitar amp our house PA/mixer – any heavy discharge will flow through that to the earth. It is absolutely necessary to have one such safe ground connection. Now, some places just don’t. I used to play in a club that did not.

So, by saying that it is “believed that somewhere else” there’s a good ground I am touching on this belief that you’ll be nicely grounded all the time.

I also mentioned that the risk comes from " loaded neutral or some electrical discharge". Meaning something major in the power grid, such as lightning strikes, high-power transformer failures, and the likes. It’s not that one will connect to the mains of one’s house and get killed right away. And even a shock can give you a jolt but not kill you, and it also might be a minor leakage that will hit you, such as what happened with Grimes in Dublin, 2016.

Also, for a full electrocution to happen, one would need to be too wet and/or not wearing shoes on concrete. Did any of you ever notice the rugs in large stages? That serves the dual purpose of keeping stands from moving and give extra isolation.

My warning in the post above is not a notice of impending electrocution, but a technically informed opinion as to why the ground is important and some educated guessing as to why MOD had to employ one.

(Heck, I just bought this damn computer monitor and it leaks current like crazy, I can’t use it on bare feet or a get little shocks.)

Therefore,

is not necessarily so. In my original post I am concurring with what @jon says, specifically

which brings us back to A. They simply can’t tell you “go ahead and use it” for legal reasons. But many others have gone down that route.

D. Finally, reading this

makes me agree with @Kim’s assessment that

I had too and everything was hissy and rumbly. Then I added good filtering and all was fine.

Not excluding (as I mentioned before) the possibility of faulty PSUs on the Mod side, your statement that

is likely based on a non-grounded device PSU. Also, the Organelle is rated at 500mA per their website. It’s a hell lot easier to filter power mains interference at that rate.

Therefore I can understand your frustration and if you return your Mods, we wish you good luck with your next units. Otherwise, either seek a good, filtered 12V DC @ 2A power source with a positive tip, or check the electrical installation around you for leakages, ground efficiency, RFI and EMI, and even a neutral to Live inversion – you’d be surprised at how that alone makes things noisy.

Good luck.

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That makes a lot of things clear. Thank you for this precious explanation.

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FWIW, the Mod Dwarf works perfectly and quietly when combining four ports of a CIOKS DC7 (or the CIOKS 4/CIOKS 8 extenders) when combined using three of the gray 8800 Flex parallel adapters cables and one red 2050 cable (to plug into the Dwarf). Make sure the jumpers for each port are set to 12V.

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I also encountered some high-pitched squeal with the Dwarf, once it was introduced to my bass amp.
I haven’t gone so far as to test the USB conditioners mentioned by several, but I DID have success with the POWER-related squelch by attaching the Dwarf to the 12v port on my 1SPOT Pro CS12 and using the polarity reversing adapter, and having my entire rig behind a Furman power conditioner.
In GENERAL, there are probably a handful of pedalboard power blocks that support 2 amps and 12v ports. I can wholeheartedly throw my recommendation behind the 1SPOT Pro.

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@jdkniepkamp Welcome to the forum! I agree! I tested the 1SPOT as well and it runs fine.
@Saki_Ciselas And with the Ciocs or the 1SPOT no electrical shock is possible. A secure solution.

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I’ll have to look at my pedal power supply. I know mine offers 9v, 12v, and 18v, but I am not sure on amperage overall though

@Elk_wrath you can combine plugs up to a number that the power is sufficient, right?

Actually not sure.

I’m at work currently, but when I get home I’ll look at the manual.

It’s a Walrus Audio Phoenix pedal psu

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I have a Cioks and a custom N-audio power supply; I suppose combining outputs with a “merge cable” could bring enough juice

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Okay, sorry to bring this topic back in the “latest” list, but I want to share my last experiments and how the problem was solved for me.

3 different things worked completely, and only remains the normal background hum of a single coil G&L strat.

  1. 12V battery pack : no noise at all (as expected)
  2. 12V non-grounded double insulated Elektron PSU (the one from my Digitakt) : completely silent (as expected)
    Both these solutions were concerning regarding safety issues. Si I tried the less expensive and most safe and effective solution other people shared elsewhere in the forum (and I deeply thank them and their patience with testing and advising)
  3. Reamping box : completely silent, very effective, and safe.
    This ugly and heavy thing solved all m’y problems :
    Palmer DACCAPO – Thomann France

I tried the Dwarf with my math-rock band this week-end, this thing works! M’y pedalboard ended up heavier than I expected, but it’s worth it!

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i assume you lifted ground on the reamp box; please confirm! :wink:

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Yes indeed

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I realise that many have waded in already on this @Saki_Ciselas, but I just wanted to reassure you that a properly designed double-insulated power supply (e.g. one that doesn’t have the metal earth pin) is designed to be perfectly safe without an earth connection (because of its all-plastic construction).

When you power the dwarf with one of these it’s the equivalent to powering it from a battery (as you’ve already tried). When you use batteries to power your other pedals you don’t consider them a safety hazard and it’s the same with the Dwarf.

When you connect your guitar to the dwarf and then connect that to an earthed amp, will you continue to get the same level of protection as if the Dwarf was not in the circuit? Yes!

Of course Mod devices can’t guarantee that any device you buy randomly off the internet will be safe - how could they? But as long as you buy a certified double insulated supply there should be no extra electrical risk at all.

If the Dwarf had a mains plug going directly in the back of its metal case it would be a very different situation, but it doesn’t - the dangerous voltages are completely separated from the Dwarf by the power supply unit, but the integrity of any earth connection between, say, the amp and your guitar is preserved by the screening on the cables connecting your gear together.

I hope that sets your mind at rest.

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Yes thanks for these precisions!
As my folks say here, I do “ceinture et bretelles” (belt and braces, if that makes any sense in english) :sweat_smile:

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Thanks for posting back, @Saki_Ciselas. Glad it worked out.

The battery poses no threat at all.

Take the words from @ianr in full: a “properly designed double insulated” PSU should keep you in the safe side of the street. Technically, if a surge hits the grid that PSU is supposed to break down without leaking current.

Which is the chief reason for my initial post. If you have a reliable path to ground – which doesn’t have to be through the Dwarf – you are safe. Only make sure you do and don’t take it for granted. My $12 mains tester always came in handy when I was a working musician. Something like this is more than enough.

(Just don’t press the Test GFCI/RCD button. It trips the circuit breaker! I did it once… :flushed:)

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“Belts and braces”! I love it! I’ve heard it “belt and suspenders”, but for me it’s “belts and suspenders and staple the damn thing to my waist”.

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I had a Lehle Passive split lying around and the ground loop lift switch works great!
https://lehle.com/EN/Lehle-P-Split-II
image

As the description says: "Another useful application for the Lehle P-Split II is as an effective suppressor for unwanted hum. "

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I’m surprised it runs on the 12v tap on a 1Spot CS 12. According to the specs, that’s only 100ma and according to MOD specs, you need 2000ma. It would be great if it works, since I already have a CS 7 on my board, which provides 200ma at 12v.

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Not sure why Truetone specifies the amperage per tap the way the do. The CS-12 is rated at 3A total for all taps combined, so the total usage of all the other devices combined must leave enough amperage for the Dwarf. I’ve also tried the CS-12 with a dwarf/duo/Sonic Research tuner/Shure wireless receiver setup and I had no trouble with that. I also had either a crybaby wah or a Morningstar MC3/expression pedal in the mix. I only used this setup for a little while at home, not a gig.

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