makes sense... if I was in North America or Japan I would definitely invest in a good output module - thankfully I have balanced power though!

-- JimHowell1970

Ahhhh...THAT explains quite a bit! Since you're apparently in a part of the world where the way the grid works is more sensible, you've never battled with weird noise issues like those. Maddening stuff...

But yes, if you're spoiled by balanced power right out of the wall, the need for isolated outputs might not make sense, since that one factor alone gets rid of loads of the nonsense we have to deal with on this side of the pond when some awful sonic crud sneaks into the proceedings. OTOH, if someone's miswired the ground over there, your odds of noise don't increase...but the potential of using ungrounded gear is just plain scary! You could ask Keith Relf of the Yardbirds about that...maybe at the next seance...?