Greg: I recently obtained a positive tip effects pedal with accompanying literature that mentions that it should not be used with negative effect pedals. The literature was not referring to the adapter but rather the other pedals used with it.
Do you know why this would be the case? I have used my Janglebox (positive tip) will my other negative tip pedals for quite sometime with no ill effects as far as I can tell.
If Janglebox is reading this, should I worry?
Mixing Positive and Negative Tip Effects Pedals
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Mixing Positive and Negative Tip Effects Pedals
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paologregorio
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Re: Mixing Positive and Negative Tip Effects Pedals
Strange. I'm pretty sure I've mixed them in the past. I wonder if it's a real issue, or just CYA by the manufacturer.
Re: Mixing Positive and Negative Tip Effects Pedals
Absolutely not, Peter. The polarity of one pedal has no effect on another. Obviously, you can't use a pos tip power source with a negative pin pedal, but that's another issue altogether (and the godawful sound would indicate so immediately). I've been mixing my JangleBoxes with neg polarity pedals for years.admin wrote:I have used my Janglebox (positive tip) will my other negative tip pedals for quite sometime with no ill effects as far as I can tell.
If Janglebox is reading this, should I worry?
Re: Mixing Positive and Negative Tip Effects Pedals
Steve, some knucklehead on another site(not RIC or related) tried to say how your Janglebox was a copy of a Ross and MXR. I explained to him, having owned both, and now owning and using yours,that the Janglebox was it's own deal(as well as some other facts). I couldn't believe it. 
Re: Mixing Positive and Negative Tip Effects Pedals
For what it's worth, there are boxes you can buy that switch the polarity -- the intended users are those guys who use more than one amp at a time, so they can keep their amps in phase.
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soundmasterg
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Re: Mixing Positive and Negative Tip Effects Pedals
I've never heard of that myself Peter. Mixing pedals shouldn't ever impact anything as long as you keep the power supplies straight.
greg
greg
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BlueAngel
Re: Mixing Positive and Negative Tip Effects Pedals
Someone just asked me about this today, so I thought I'd post the answer here too...
There are two separate issues here.
One is the polarity of the power jack, which is simply the way round the conductors are arranged, and the other is the polarity of the supply voltage relative to ground. These are absolutely not the same thing but it's easy to confuse them because they are both called 'polarity'.
Jack polarity is just that - it's simply the way the jack is wired. Usually, the Boss, Ibanez or newer DOD-type barrel connector is arranged with the tip (the hollow bit that goes over the pin) negative and the outer sleeve positive... although not always. The older 1/8"/3.5mm mini-plug used on things like earlier MXRs and DODs, and the RAT, is tip-positive because the sleeve is automatically connected to the grounded casing of the pedal. These CAN be run on the same power supply chain, all you need is different connectors.
But supply voltage polarity is not so simple - while most pedals have their supply positive with respect to ground (ie the ground is negative) some older pedals (and reissues or derivatives of them), mostly germanium-transistor fuzzes, have positive ground, with the supply voltage being negative with respect to it - this is due to the particular type of transistors used. These are absolutely NOT compatible with negative-ground pedals on the same power supply chain, even with reversed connectors, because the supply cannot be both positive and negative with respect to ground at the same time. If you try connecting them together, you will simply short out the power supply and might damage it. The ONLY way these pedals can be run from the same power supply is if it has fully isolated outputs, which some do... although they're the more expensive ones usually. A simple single supply with a daisy chain, or a box with several non-isolated outputs (even if they are independently regulated but share a common ground) will not work.
The problem is that the jack polarity is no indication at all of the supply polarity - I know of pedals with all four possible combinations. Almost all modern-style pedals are negative-ground, with tip-negative barrel connectors, but many older pedals and a very few modern ones aren't.
It sounds like the Janglebox is negative-ground, even if the jack is tip-positive.
All this has nothing whatever to do with amp phasing either...
There are two separate issues here.
One is the polarity of the power jack, which is simply the way round the conductors are arranged, and the other is the polarity of the supply voltage relative to ground. These are absolutely not the same thing but it's easy to confuse them because they are both called 'polarity'.
Jack polarity is just that - it's simply the way the jack is wired. Usually, the Boss, Ibanez or newer DOD-type barrel connector is arranged with the tip (the hollow bit that goes over the pin) negative and the outer sleeve positive... although not always. The older 1/8"/3.5mm mini-plug used on things like earlier MXRs and DODs, and the RAT, is tip-positive because the sleeve is automatically connected to the grounded casing of the pedal. These CAN be run on the same power supply chain, all you need is different connectors.
But supply voltage polarity is not so simple - while most pedals have their supply positive with respect to ground (ie the ground is negative) some older pedals (and reissues or derivatives of them), mostly germanium-transistor fuzzes, have positive ground, with the supply voltage being negative with respect to it - this is due to the particular type of transistors used. These are absolutely NOT compatible with negative-ground pedals on the same power supply chain, even with reversed connectors, because the supply cannot be both positive and negative with respect to ground at the same time. If you try connecting them together, you will simply short out the power supply and might damage it. The ONLY way these pedals can be run from the same power supply is if it has fully isolated outputs, which some do... although they're the more expensive ones usually. A simple single supply with a daisy chain, or a box with several non-isolated outputs (even if they are independently regulated but share a common ground) will not work.
The problem is that the jack polarity is no indication at all of the supply polarity - I know of pedals with all four possible combinations. Almost all modern-style pedals are negative-ground, with tip-negative barrel connectors, but many older pedals and a very few modern ones aren't.
It sounds like the Janglebox is negative-ground, even if the jack is tip-positive.
All this has nothing whatever to do with amp phasing either...