Do I need a power conditioner or a power regulator?

[ddp]

I have a gigging rig that has a couple of guitar preamps, two remote wireless mic receivers and a mulitieffects unit or two.

Ok What I need is something that will protect this gear from power surges as it will be used out at shows and I won't know the power there.
Also to have something that cuts down the RF interference would be great as both guitar equipment and wireless gear is so susceptible to this type of interference.

I don't want to spend too much (less than $300 would be nice) but I do want to make sure my gear is protected.

What would you guys recommend?

[Kiwiburger]

Neither will reduce EMI/RFI. In fact, if they have power transformers, they will probably add to the EMI fields you have to deal with.

Cheap spike arrestors/surge protectors (basic varister clamping) are cheap commodity items and should be adequate for protecting against typical spikes. Don't be fooled that a large basically empty box with some cool blue leds is necessarily any better. If you need eye-candy rack-filler, then go for it.

I prefer to play guitar with gear powered via an RCD residual current detector - it's a convenient inline on/off switch that could save your life one day.

Most audio gear have built in fuses and voltage regulators - first priority is protecting your own skin. Next is audio quality (which is usually not rescued with a $300 box if your power really is bad).

Some basic stuff from a hardware store should be all you need. If it protects builders using power tools in the rain, you should be fairly safe.

[ddp]

Originally Posted by Kiwiburger

Neither will reduce EMI/RFI. In fact, if they have power transformers, they will probably add to the EMI fields you have to deal with.

Cheap spike arrestors/surge protectors (basic varister clamping) are cheap commodity items and should be adequate for protecting against typical spikes. Don't be fooled that a large basically empty box with some cool blue leds is necessarily any better. If you need eye-candy rack-filler, then go for it.

I prefer to play guitar with gear powered via an RCD residual current detector - it's a convenient inline on/off switch that could save your life one day.

Most audio gear have built in fuses and voltage regulators - first priority is protecting your own skin. Next is audio quality (which is usually not rescued with a $300 box if your power really is bad).

Some basic stuff from a hardware store should be all you need. If it protects builders using power tools in the rain, you should be fairly safe.

Thanks for the reply. Ok so I need something basic. I'd like to have something that is rack mountable as my rack case is plastic and it is hard to mount traditional power bars on plastic.

Also that is a bit baffling about the RFI I thought power conditioners were supposed to help with this. What would?