silly grounding question

[ethrbunny]

So its working out that everything in my FX - power, boxes, etc is all using the same ground. Is this a problem? Should I be doing something to isolate the various pieces somehow? Its also the same ground coming from the wall wart (that gets split to the various devices).

[niftydog]

Is this a problem?

potentially.

The problem isn't that they all share the same ground; that part is good. The problem is that you often have TWO ground connections to ONE device; that part is bad.

Solution; search this forum for "ground loops" and other such things. Look up The Spyder power supply and read RGs fantastic technical explanations that are associated with the Spyer project.

[ethrbunny]

Nothing Ive built so far is too complicated. How would I get two different grounds in the same device? (perhaps by accident or mis-soldering?)

[niftydog]

no, what you might have happen is this;

one ground via the DC power jack and wall wart.

another ground via the guitar signal cable and the amplifier.

The Spyder overcomes this by having floating power supply taps (ie; not referenced to ground - thanks to a transformer)

[ethrbunny]

Ive tied all my grounds together inside the power distribution box and the FX.

[niftydog]

sorry, I wasn't very clear with that last post, what I meant was this;

one ground via the DC power jack and wall wart.

another ground via the guitar signal cable and the amplifier.

...both in the one device. In other words, two grounds per device is a potential ground loop issue.

There's heaps out there about ground loops that you could look up, but wait until you're actually experiencing a problem. It may be that your equipment will work as is and ground loops might not be a problem at all.

[ethrbunny]

Ok. I guess Im good then - the grounds from my power and instrument jacks are all tied together.