I know often times power conditioners can be just a big marketing ploy for us to spend money on nothing more than a glorified outlet strip. But, after having tested two things over the past week I've found my power conditioner really does work!
I bought a Monster Cable MP PRO 3500 Rack Power Center
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Monster-Cable-MP-PRO-3500-Rack-Power-Center?sku=182651
a couple of months ago. I was having weird noises coming out of my amp playing in some bars. Not cool. Anyway, last Saturday I went to practice with a band I quit about a year ago. Just having some fun with the guys. I brought my little amp (Fender Pro Jr.) and things were cool for awhile. We were jammin' but at times some radio frequencies (the bass player called it the "Jimi Hendrix" sound) or whatnot coming out of my amp. It was not a radio station but some nasty noise.
He said he wired his basement with tons of stuff (including a fridge) on the outlet I was plugged into. I was pissed when those phantom noises poppe up and the guys saw I was not happy. We joked about it but I was angry. I didn't know if the problem was with my amp, pedalboard, or cables. In the back of my mind I was thinking I would have to start hauling my big amp if I jammed with them so that is not cool either.
After that practice they asked me to come over the next Saturday for practice (last night). I wasn't in the mood to play guitar but I went because I wanted to test if I could get those weird sounds eliminated. I lugged over my power conditioner listed above. Plugged everthing of mine up to it an NO JIMI HENDRIX phantom noises! For those of you who know me I'm really into eliminating little things that could potentially aggravate me.
This whole post is just to say that power conditioners do work. Maybe only the more expensive ones, I don't know. But it did the job and gave me a happy few hours of playing. So if you have weird noises coming out of your amp or play bar gigs, buy a conditioner. Works for me. :D
My power conditioner shows the voltage coming from the wall but does not correct it. If I were to do it all over again, I likely would have bought one that corrects voltage to 120 so the amp gets the right juice. I've seen the voltage on that thing go as low as 115 up to 128. It should be 120 so that seems like a big flux in current.
"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."
I've always wanted a voltage regulator and finally got something similar, which is one of those UPS units for computers. It adjusts t he voltage for brown-out situations as well as over voltage. I figure if it's good for a more or less delicated computer, it's okay for everything else.
