Furman SPB8C User Manual
SPB-8C Owner's Manual
SPB-8C Features
The pedal board is a solid, nonslip base for pedal
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effects that lets you leave everything powered up
and patched together as you like it
A road worthy, high-impact plastic case with a
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removable top cover, retractable handle and inline
skate wheels for easy transportation
Eight completely isolated, regulated and short pro-
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tected 9VDC, 100mA outlets
All signal jacks and 9VDC power jacks are insulated
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and isolated, eliminating noisy ground loops
Stereo effects return, effects loop, and amplier
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outputs
Multi-tap toroidal transformer for ultra low-noise
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performance
Four widely spaced 120V AC, 15 amp outlets allow
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enough room for "wall warts"
Furman's quality spike and surge suppression and
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EMI/RFI ltering assures clean power
Pedal effects attach securely to a 13.75” x 26.75"
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Velcro™ pad
Heavy duty, illuminated power switch for easy view-
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ing on stage
Very long 10-foot, detachable power cord
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Introduction
Congratulations on your purchase of the Furman
SPB-8C — the next generation in pedal board design
with the touring musician in mind. The SPB-8C is the
most rugged, versatile, and useful board available
anywhere. It features heavy duty construction that will
handle the most forceful stomps you can offer, as well
as stand up to the rigors of the road. Furman Sound
was the rst to offer the market a stereo pedal board,
and the SPB-8C is the next generation of that product,
with the same high level of power conditioning that
Furman is famous for.
At the heart of the SPB-8C Stereo Pedal Board is
a light yet rugged molded polyethenol plastic platform
in combination with a brushed aluminum chassis and
an ample 13.75" x 26.75" Velcro™ sheet, ensuring
secure, low noise, nonslip performance for up to eight
(or more, depending on power requirements) effects
boxes and pedals.
The SPB-8C’s stereo patch bay contains eight heavy
duty 1/4" connectors in two mono loops. This allows a
single guitar or instrument input to feed multiple mono
and stereo effects boxes, send and return from remote
effects, and feed up to two ampliers simultaneously.
From modest to highly complex patching demands, the
SPB-8C allows nearly unlimited setup exibility.
Powering your pedals, amps and other gear, the
SPB-8C offers two levels of surge and short circuit pro-
tection, as well as RF and EMI ltering. The SPB-8C is
quiet, powering 9V DC pedals without hum. This is due
to the high quality toroidal transformer employed. Each
9 VDC output is completely isolated so ground loops
or connections between pedals that can cause hum or
buzz are a thing of the past. Each DC output is rated at
100 mA, as well as being short circuit protected. This
means that if you have a shorted cable or pedal failure,
the affected output will shutdown, leaving the rest of
the outputs operational. This is one of the benets of
isolated outputs.
The SPB-8C makes pack-up simple and convenient. Unpatching several effects boxes and pedals is
no longer required, since the large Velcro™ sheet and
included mating strips rmly secures all of your pedals
in place. The top cover of the SPB-8C is made of highimpact plastic, and comes equipped with a retractable
handle and wheels for easy transportation.
Using the SPB-8C
When fully set up, the SPB-8C will save you many
hours of plugging, unplugging, packing, and unpacking pedals and effects. However, to fully realize the
simplication it offers, you must do some planning and
preparation.
1. Prepare Pedals: Most pedal effects have rubber
feet on their bottoms. These must rst be removed to
allow them to be attached to the SPB-8C. Some may
be attached with screws; others may be stick-on types
that must be pried off. Once the rubber feet are off, they
should be replaced with the adhesive-backed Velcro™
supplied with the SPB-8C. Cut suitably-sized pieces
with a pair of scissors, peel off the protective backing
to expose the adhesive, and stick them to the bottom of
your pedal effects. If you wish to reposition your pedals,
several smaller pieces of Velcro™ may allow easier removal than one large piece, though the larger the area
you cover, the more rmly the pedal will be attached.
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SPB-8C Owner's Manual
IN FROM
PEDALS
LEFT
RIGHT
RETURN
SEND
RETURN SEND
IN FROM
PEDALS
(STEREO)
(MONO)
OUT TO AMP INPUT
OUT TO AMP INPUT
EXTERNAL
EFFECTS
EXTERNAL
EFFECTS
(MONO)
SIGNAL DIRECTION
SIGNAL DIRECTION
2. Create a layout: Lay out your pedal effects in
the desired order, giving thought to such issues as
keeping signal levels high to minimize hum and noise,
and ease of access to all foot switches. The Velcro™
system of attachment allows pedals to be repositioned
if necessary. Individual pedals should be connected in a
signal chain using short patch cords (not supplied). The
input to the rst pedal should come from the output of
the instrument being used; the output of the last pedal
should be patched to the IN FROM PEDALS jack (both
should be used if the pedal has a stereo output). See
the next section for more on the SPB-8C’s patching
capabilities.
3. Provide Power: The SPB-8C can power almost
any pedal made, using one of its four power options.
Three of these provide 9 VDC power, and the fourth is
120 VAC “wall” power.
9 VDC Power is typically used in pedals that can
run off batteries, or off battery eliminators. The SPB-8C
provides eight 9 VDC power outlets, all of which use 3.5
mm “miniplug” connectors on the pedal board end. On
the pedals themselves, several connector types may
be used, the most common of which is called “P205L”
or “DC connector”. This may easily be recognized as
a 5 mm round hole (often in a block of black plastic insulating material), with a single metal pin in the center.
Eight miniplug-to-DC cables are provided with the SPB8C. Some 9V pedals use a miniplug connector instead
of a DC connector. One miniplug-to-miniplug cable is
provided with the SPB-8C for such pedals. Finally, a few
pedals have no provision for any form of power other
than batteries. Should you encounter one of these, one
miniplug-to-battery-clip cable is also provided. To use
it, simply remove the battery and connect the pedal’s
battery clip to the one on the cable.
Each of the SPB-8C's DC power outputs is isolated,
individually fused, and protected against shorts, so pedals can be plugged in without risk even while the pedal
board is powered up. Each output can supply up to 100
mA, which should be adequate for virtually any pedal.
Because the SPB-8C is protected by Furman’s famous
power conditioning capability, your valuable pedals will
be protected from damage from spikes and surges.
120 VAC Power may be needed for a few pedals. Four grounded, 15A outlets are provided. These
may also be used for non-pedal effects, such as those
mounted in racks, or other equipment, such as apli-
ers, etc.
4. Packing up: Once all pedals have been positioned, linked in a signal chain, and powered, the SPB8C is ready for use on stage. After use, just place the
cover over the entire board, secure the four latches,
and off you go.
Sample Hookups
The SPB-8C offers very exible patching options
that will allow easy connection of mono and/or stereo
pedal effects, rack effects, and instruments and amps.
Several examples are presented here to illustrate its
capabilities. To understand the patch bay, consider the
“normal” signal ow through it, indicated by the arrows
showing direction:
Note that there are two seperate channels, LEFT
(mono) and RIGHT (stereo). If nothing is plugged into the
effects return jack, the signal will ow unimpeded from
the rst jack, IN FROM PEDALS, to the OUT TO AMP
INPUT jack. The send jacks are unswitched and may be
used to take a "tap" off the signal path without breaking
it, provided the effect return jack is not being used.
All hookups begin by connecting the guitar or other
instrument into the the input of the rst pedal in the chain.
From there, the exact hookup used depends on whether
the pedals have mono or stereo outputs, whether rack
effects as well as pedals are used, and whether one or
two amps are used.
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SPB-8C Owner's Manual
INPUT
AMPLIFIER
IN FROM
PEDALS
LEFT
RIGHT
RETURN
SEND
RETURN SEND
IN FROM
PEDALS
(STEREO)
(MONO)
OUT TO AMP INPUT
OUT TO AMP INPUT
EXTERNAL
EFFECTS
EXTERNAL
EFFECTS
(MONO)
SPB-8 STEREO PATCH BAY
INSTRUMENT
OUTPUT
EFFECTS
BOX
OUTPUT INPUT
EFFECTS
BOX
OUTPUT INPUT
PATCH EXAMPLE - 1
INPUT
AMPLIFIER
A Note On The Current Requirements Of Pedal Effects
Each of the SPB-8C’s 9VDC outlets has a maximum current rating of 100 mA, yet certain pedals state
power requirements of 200 mA or more. Most of the time, these specications are more indicative of a desired
level of regulation from a wall wart than an actual constant current requirement. Typically, the actual current
draw is no more than 50 mA, so the SPB-8C’s supply will in fact be more than adequate. To conrm this, try
it! There is no harm in trying one of the SPB-8C’s 9VDC outlets on any pedal or box. If the constant current
draw actually exceeds 100 mA, the PTC (solid state fuse) will shut off, without damage, until the excessive
load is removed. If this occurs, simply unplug the device and use one of the SPB-8C’s AC outlets with an
appropriate wall wart supply. To further illustrate this point,consider this: If a battery-powered device were actually to draw 300 mA continuously at 9VCD, it would consume a new alkaline battery every six minutes.
Example 1: Mono Pedals, Single Amp
In this example, two pedals are linked together with a short cable going from the output of the rst to the input
of the second. Since there is only one amp, only the Left/Mono channel is used.
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