I see in the Ribbons manual that you recommend an isolated power supply for Ribbons. How critical is this? If I’m just running Ribbons on its own, and not as part of a pedalboard, can I get away with using a One Spot or a Boss adapter (which I already have) rather than buying a more expensive isolated power supply? What’s the downside of not using isolated power—the possibility of noise? Or something more than that, affecting functionality or even potentially causing damage?
Thanks!
You are fine to use the One Spot or Boss adapter on its own. Just don’t use other pedals daisy chained together with Ribbons on the same adapter.
If you do, it won’t damage Ribbons or your other pedals, but you’ll hear a subtle 1kHz whine in the audio path. This is really common among high-performance DSP pedals like ours, Strymon, Line 6, etc. It is a result of “heterodyning” or a ground loop.
If you use just a single power supply for Ribbons, you shouldn’t have any issues.
Great, and also, I can’t believe how quickly you responded to this. Thanks! Psyched!
Hah! I’m doing a little maintenance on some posts at the moment, so you caught me at a good time.
No problem though. Always happy to help. Posting here is typically the fastest and easiest way to get a response from us (and it helps others too!). 