NPBD - Friedman

Ok. I'm now officially done with my Friedman sponsored mid-life crisis

This thing is quiet! My old Pedaltrain setup with the Voodoo Labs power supply had issues with ground loops using the 4CM that forced me to use an Ebtech hum eliminator for the loop. Even then, i had weird noise. Most likely due to the transformer in the power supply and pedals over it.

Anyway... Yeah. It was pricey, but i could afford it and and it's worth it to me. This thing slays. It came with the Friedman Power grid (10 isolated switchable power inputs. No transformer inside and is 110 and 220 compatible) and the Friedman Buffer Bay. It came with more than enough things to organize cables and a bunch of power cables. All very simple to setup. The gig bag is really really nice too.

The buffer bay uses all Neutrik TRS connectors, except the buffered input which is mono for obvious reasons. The buffer can be turned on and off, but i found it to be MUCH better than the ES-8's buffer, so i leave it on and turned off the ES-8's buffer. No ground loops like my old board had. Very happy with this thing.

I did throw in my line isolator for the front of the amp. It basically will do the same as the Ebtech did before just for some extra security with noise. My practice spot has some questionable electric grounding things going on. So it's in there, but at home, i noticed no difference with or without the line isolator. That was not true with my old board. I NEEDED that Ebtech anywhere.




It could probably be neater for sure, but it's good enough for me and new cables are hard to manipulate.

Damn, that looks choice. Congrats

Im still getting some ground loop hum with my Friedman board and ES-8 in 4cm. That line isolator works pretty good?

tj tapper":1a3m3yew said:

Im still getting some ground loop hum with my Friedman board and ES-8 in 4cm. That line isolator works pretty good?

Click to expand...

It gets rid of any ground loops caused by the ES-8 for sure. I don't know what the deal is with the ES-8, but it's built in ground lift doesn't help at all with that.

Again, at home, i didn't need the isolator, but i put it in there just incase as i know some places are worse than others with that shit.

These are great pedalboards. I got the 1530 with buffer bay but am still using my pp2+ with no issues. Nice clean set up.

Yeah you need a isolator befor the fron of the amp... or you can cut the grounds on the audio cable from the loop cables. The cable that comes from the send of the amp loop cut the ground at the peda;board end. The cable that goes to the return of the amp loop cut at the return jack end. Make sure there is no ground touching in the cut end. Use heat shrink or tal to be sure. This work well with the boss switch. Maybe nothing else though..

Good to know. Thanks David. It seems my line isolator up front did the trick however. I brought it up to my noisy practice spot and it's nice and quiet. Glad i slapped it in there last minute. I've had that sitting around for years since i couldn't really figure out a good way to add it to my old board. It wouldn't fit underneath my PedalTrain board.

What is it about the ES-8 that causes this issue with 4CM and ground loops? I know this is an issue really any time you have pedals in front and in the loop, but i assumed the ES-8's ground lift would take care of that issue. It does absolutely nothing however. Do other FX switchers have this issue too or is it unique to the Boss? It's the most common complaint i see about the ES-8.

Everything that has the 4 cable method has the issue unless they were smart.

Great looking board. Does your ES-8 work with the Friedman Power Grid supply, or are you powering it with something else. Also, is your board the Friedman 1525? I'm currently using a 1525 with the Power Grid / Buffer Bay and I'm thinking about getting the ES8. I'd need to swap out a few of my pedals for micro version in order to fit things, but I'm getting tired of the tap dance.