Hilton pedals in the UK

James Martin (U.K.) · Post by **James Martin (U.K.)** » 17 Mar 2006 1:13 am

I would buy a Hilton pedal tomorrow if they ran on a pp3 battery.Here in the UK I would need an adaptor and I'm told a step-down transformer,I've enough pedals and stomp boxes already without adding more! More's the pity.I'd like to hear from any players this side of the water who are currently using a Hilton pedal and how they get around this problem!

Micky Byrne · Post by **Micky Byrne** » 17 Mar 2006 2:27 am

Jim, John Davis uses one, and Mark Dunn from Suffolk did him a small mains adaptor, get in touch with John Davis mate. If it works out for you, I'll go that way too. Thanks for stepping in to do the gig for me last week, Cheers to you for that

Micky Byrne www.mickybyrne.com

James Martin (U.K.) · Post by **James Martin (U.K.)** » 17 Mar 2006 5:44 am

Hi Micky, Thanks for the info.I think John is on tour in Ireland at the moment.I'll contact Mark and get the lowdown from him.I had a great gig with Henry and the boys, thanks a lot. I was pleased to hear that your medical went ok, lets hope they all go that way.

CrowBear Schmitt · Post by **CrowBear Schmitt** » 17 Mar 2006 8:48 am

i use a ME262 converting 220v into 110v w: transformer
it feeds my PV Nashville 1000 as well
smaller transformers , like Wall Warts (?) are available here in France :

i'm sure you can find the same in the UK

whatever you do James, DO NOT cut the Hilton's power plug from the pedal
i've seen a few do it here - it's a nono !

John Daugherty · Post by **John Daugherty** » 17 Mar 2006 10:05 am

Good advice CrowBear. The hilton power supply supplies two voltages to the pedal. There is a common wire, a +12vdc wire and a -12vdc wire.
Another word of caution. None of these wires should come in contact with the bare shield wire.
Just leave the power supply attached as it is and use a 220v-110v converter.

------------------
www.home.earthlink.net/~johnd37

Billy Murdoch · Post by **Billy Murdoch** » 17 Mar 2006 5:29 pm

James,
I have had a Hilton pedal for about 18 months and I use a transformer similar to the D100 which crowbear posted. I bought it at Maplins for about £30,I have had no problems and it is compact.
Best regards
Billy

James Martin (U.K.) · Post by **James Martin (U.K.)** » 18 Mar 2006 3:19 am

Thanks Crowbear and John, good advice. I'll be sure not to interfere with the power supply, I haven't a clue about electrics. I'll leave well alone! Billy, Is the pedal that good to warrant all this hassle of adaptors/ transformers and not to mention the high price of buying and importing? What was your total outlay and did you have to pay duty on customs and excise? Thanks, James

Allan Kelly · Post by **Allan Kelly** » 18 Mar 2006 4:05 am

Jim

Looks like you can get a step down transformer for under £20.

for example here

Still makes the whole Hilton bundle expensive over here.

Allan

richard burton · Post by **richard burton** » 18 Mar 2006 5:03 am

I can get the tone that pleases me without all the hassle
that is involved with a powered pedal:
I use a passive pedal hooked up to
my Peavey Vegas via the three cord setup.[This message was edited by richard burton on 18 March 2006 at 05:05 AM.]

James Martin (U.K.) · Post by **James Martin (U.K.)** » 18 Mar 2006 8:23 am

Hey, Allan,how are you doing on that GFI? I checked out your link and that looks like the baby, compact and pocket sized, is this what you use? Thought you had a Lawrence? I'll wait until I hear from Billy before I make any decision. Richard, old mate, you OK?I too am happy with my tone, I'm just fed up with these pots playing up all the time, I must have replaced about fifty over the past thirty years or so (crikey, must have cost me a fortune, never realised till now! )Thanks for the input guys. I'll wait and see!. James

Billy Murdoch · Post by **Billy Murdoch** » 18 Mar 2006 9:20 am

James,
Yes the Hilton pedal is pretty costly.
If I remember correctly I paid about £44.00 import and handling charges in addition to the cost of the unit and shipping.
Keith Hilton also wanted a cheque drawn on a U.S.bank which added another £17 to the bill.
I did not notice much(if any)tone change when I started using the Hilton.
If you can afford it,it is a good pedal.
Let's know how you get on
Billy

Allan Kelly · Post by **Allan Kelly** » 18 Mar 2006 11:56 am

James

I'm still using Goodrich with pot at the moment, but pots do not seem to be lasting very well and like you I have been thinking about a Hilton and whats involved. I think the cost is prohibitive for me at the moment.

GFI is great, but the player he still got a long way to go. Did my first recording session with it today adding steel to a track my son and his girlfriend had put together. Had to edit snips from 3 takes to get anything close to wrap. Good bits were OK, the bad bits were, well... they were bad. More practice required!

Let me know if you go down the Hilton route.

John Davis · Post by **John Davis** » 19 Mar 2006 12:52 am

Hi Jim, The Hilton is every bit as good as they say but I have found one problem....I managed to blow mine up! I think by plugging the power supply into the mains before plugging the pedal into the power supply it cost me £30 to have a new chip and resister fitted ! Good news is the componants are easily available over here to repair.....in future I will always now carry a spare!! learned that lesson well!!
Power supply made by Mark Dunn is the neatest little trick you could ever see...about the size of a ciggy packet and works perfectly....
I would be glad of any more info on what may have caused my pedal to die... this is a very hard learning curve but I know the pedals worth it!!

James Martin (U.K.) · Post by **James Martin (U.K.)** » 19 Mar 2006 1:00 am

Many thanks to all who have replied, I'm obliged. The high cost of importing this pedal is making me think twice. I'll put it on the back burner for the time being. Thanks again everyone for your help.Keep mashin'James.

Billy Murdoch · Post by **Billy Murdoch** » 19 Mar 2006 1:19 am

John,
I am very surprised and interested by your account of the "blow up"
I have, as I said been using the Hilton for quite a while and when I power up I pay no attention to the sequence I use.
Did you write to Keith Hilton? he is very helpful.
Somehow I think you may have had a power surge.
best regards
Billy

James Martin (U.K.) · Post by **James Martin (U.K.)** » 19 Mar 2006 7:57 am

Hello John, thought you were in Ireland on tour! Thanks for the info regarding the unit Mark made for you, I'll bear that in mind should I go ahead and purchase the Hilton.Cheers James.

John Davis · Post by **John Davis** » 21 Mar 2006 5:16 am

Hi Jim, Ireland tour starts 15th April...
Billy, We should all have Hilton Pedals! Don`t you agree? I think they are fantastic and so worth the money.
Re. the power supply they are somewhat complex they have to have lots of protection built in (Which I have, thanks to Mark Dunn he builds a great power unit)supplies volts pos and neg.I don`t even begin to understand but Mark does and it works well.
My prob. occured (I think) because I plugged
the power supply in first and then the pedal to the power supply, don`t know how this makes any sense but that`s what I think. I may have shorted something but in future it will be pedal to supply and then the mains.......if I blow it up again and again and again...I will still keep the Hilton!!

Mark Dunn · Post by **Mark Dunn** » 21 Mar 2006 5:47 am

The power supply I designed for John's Hilton is a simple linear type using 7812 and 7912 regulators. With the addition of PTC's and reverse diode protection this type of supply is bomb proof and when tested by John's local repairer it was ok. I am aware of the situation with the screen and the Hilton pedal case is connect to the power supply 0v. An XLR socket is fitted to the power supply and I've used the existing lead that connects to the pedal with an XLR plug on it. The XLR plug and socket have three isolated pins that provide +/- supplies and 0V to the pedal. I've connected the screen to the XLR plug case, this connects to the XLR socket case that is then connected to the mains earth. The supply 0V is not earthed and the screen does not connect to the Hilton pedal case. I'm not really sure why this failed, especially the resistor going open circuit. Keith's pedal is great and I'm sure it's not a problem with his design, it's very well proven. Whenever you change something it's very easy for an unknown factor to creep in and you have to be careful not to chase your tail.[This message was edited by Mark Dunn on 21 March 2006 at 08:52 AM.]

Keith Hilton · Post by **Keith Hilton** » 21 Mar 2006 9:29 pm

I want to thank everyone in the UK using my volume pedal. The safe way to go is to use a 240 to 120 VAC transformer. The difference in hertz 50HZ---60HZ won't matter. Let me express my opinion about power supplies. They must be changed from AC to DC, then filtered and then regulated. Most IC chips run off of dual polarity, meaning plus power, minus power, with a ground. In the case of my volume pedal +12VDC,-12VDC,with ground. Power supplies that won't damage transistor junctions require a lot of design work, and failure protection built in. Usually, a transistor junction will be damaged if it gets over 24 volts. The positive 7812 and negative 7912 regulators must be fed clean filtered DC. Sometimes a bridge rectifier,or simple diode arrangement is not enough to prevent spikes. If I am not mistaken the 7912 and 7912 are rated at 35 volts DC. Can you see why it is easy to make a MISTAKE dealing with 240 volts AC? I protect the input of the plus and minus rails with fuses. The power supply feeding the circuit must be built where the voltage regulation is fool proof. Sometimes simple built 7812 and 7912 voltage regulator systems fail. They are not fool proof by any streach, unless a tested design is worked out. It is my opinion you would be much safer plugging in my power supply to a 240 VAC to 120 VAC transformer.

James Martin (U.K.) · Post by **James Martin (U.K.)** » 22 Mar 2006 1:30 am

Hi Mark,just wondering, do you yourself use the Hilton? John, glad you are still here,perhaps you or Mark could let us know how many adaptors/ transformers/ and leads etc you use when setting up the pedal! Thanks. Jim

Mark Dunn · Post by **Mark Dunn** » 22 Mar 2006 2:36 am

Keith, by simple linear I mean as opposed to a switched mode type. The regulators are fed by smooth DC and the circuit is arranged such that even if a regulator failed the supply line would not exceed around 16v. I take your point though, I've been designing power supplies for around 20 years and still something seems to have gone wrong here. I too would suggest people stick to a 240-120VAC transformer for the time being. James, the reason I built a new power supply for John in the first place was due to the array of adaptors he was using to do the conversion. John used, a UK 3 pin to 2 pin adaptor to connect to the 240-120VAC transformer, then a 2 pin to 3 pin US adaptor to connect to a extension lead than then connected to the Hilton transformer. It was a bit messy and we both thought this was asking for trouble for use at a gig. Perhaps in the future Keith might consider producing a version for the European market, with CE approval... (I wouldn't blame him if he ignored the last sentence). No I don't use a Hilton at the moment, but it's on my wish list.

All the best
Mark

John Davis · Post by **John Davis** » 22 Mar 2006 8:33 am

Jim its one cable out of the pedal into a small metal box (about the size of a ciggy packet)with a mains lead coming out the other side....very neat and works great..

CrowBear Schmitt · Post by **CrowBear Schmitt** » 23 Mar 2006 2:13 am

my first ME 262 was just like the one you mention John
after a few months, it conked or shorted out
sending it back to MO was a great occasion to know Keith

He went way beyond the call of duty

James Martin (U.K.) · Post by **James Martin (U.K.)** » 25 Mar 2006 12:45 am

Thanks John, that set up sounds acceptable. Just need to find some spare cash now!!