Power Supplies – Why They Matter

It is all well and good having a nice selection of pedals, sometimes people put weeks of research, testing and decision making into choosing the right product for them. Then it goes right next to the equally as special pedal and then it all gets powered by something from the Stone Age. Often the one part of a rig that lets a guitar player down is the power supply, and they are not all made equally.

In this blog post, I will discuss the pros and cons of different power supplies, give you my recommendations and inspire you to make this your next purchase if you find yourself lacking an effective way to power your effects pedals. 

Why Does It Matter?

Cheaper power supplies often fall short in a few key areas. The first, and most important, is having isolated outputs. This means that the electricity is being shared equally to each power port, and they are all completely separate from each other – this reduces, or sometimes completely eliminates, noise from electrical interference. 

You may also see poor quality, or badly designed, cabling which makes breakages or further interference a more likely occurrence. There are also many products that are limited in the number of outputs they have, or the power that they can supply - most pedals require 500mA or less, but many require more that 200mA which some supplies cannot produce. I think that in the interest of future-proofing your purchase, you should make sure that you go for the highest output. If your tuner is rated for 100mA, it will only draw that much even if the power supply can produce 500mA. Therefore, if you replace it with something else in the future, you do not have to buy another power supply to go with it.

You could use a power strip or something similar, but the issues remain the same. The outputs are unlikely to be isolated; you take up more real estate and have to worry about plugging in and then packing every single pedal down every time – the lost time soon adds up!

Features

You can find some reasonably priced, fully-isolated power supplies that produce the more than enough power but they are very simple in their features. The more premium focused units have some interesting features that really make it worth the money. All of the examples I list below are fully isolated, well-respected units in their own right and have the ability to use a doubler cable, allowing you to power units like the HX Stomp, Boss GT1000 Core and others. Many of them also share features, so I will give you the highlights.

Strymon Ojai

This is the supply that I use, and I like the fact that it is so small. It only has five outputs, which pretty much suits my needs, but is modular in its design so it can be extended using the ‘24v thru’ port, allowing it to be combined with another Ojai or it’s bigger brother, the Strymon Zuma. 

It automatically adjusts itself to accept input voltage from anywhere in the world as long as you use the correct plug or adapter – this was very useful when touring Europe or moving from the United Kingdom to Japan. 

Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 3

I used to use the Pedal Power 2 + offering from Voodoo Labs which was very good. A bomb proof unit that worked for many years. However, it was UK specification only and would not work with voltage anything less than 240v. That revision shared some features with the newest version, but most importantly it uses variable voltage so it works anywhere!

Highlighted features included switchable voltage via dip switches underneath the unit, a ‘sag’ control which can emulate a dying battery (some effects pedals produce a desired sound this way) and brackets for mounting to the underside of pedalboards. 

Cioks DC7

This is another solid unit, that does many of the expected things a premium unit would do. However, it is also compatible with another Cioks product called the Crux. It works in conjunction with the DC7 to properly power bigger, more power-hungry effects. This is quite useful to have if you use some crazy units!

Will It Solve All of My Problems?

No.

Having a quiet sound in terms of interference can be equally as affects by poor quality patch cables, the quality of the electrical supply from whatever kind of venue you are playing in and even wiring within your guitar. 

There are also pedals that have very weird, specific connectors or AC power requirements that only they within your whole rig require. This can be commonplace for vintage effectors, but also some older but not quite vintage units. For example, the Yamaha UD Stomp or Yamaha Magicstomp pedals require very specific voltages and only really work properly with the original power adapter supplied by Yamaha. They do not like to play well with normal power supplies like the ones we are discussing here. In this case, I would suggest using a small, high quality power strip – it would be even better if you could put this into a separate outlet too.

Most of the higher end power supplies feature filtering and conditioning to the point that you can almost completely get away with ‘dirty power’ from a venue. This has saved me more than once!

What You Should Not Do

Never try to use a pedal that draws more power that the supply can give. At best you will blow a fuse, but you could just as easily burn out a capacitor or destroy the pedal completely. If you have a new pedal that is under warranty and this happens, you will not be covered because it will be your fault.

I would also advice against daisy chaining lots of effects. However, when done minimally, this is can be useful. For example, I use a Boss TU-3w tuner that draws between 20 and 80mA, so I can effectively power another pedal using the DC out socket. This means I have a comfortable 420mA left to use from the maximum 500mA that my Strymon Ojai supplies – this is not isolated though, so you have to be careful that the pedals used are not noisy, or susceptible to noise. Daisy chaining pedals can get confusing when you have to add up all of the power requirements. This is compounded further when you learn that some pedals may operate at 300mA, but on start-up they require 400mA. Just be careful!

Final Thoughts

It would be beneficial for us to recap what you should look for in a power supply. This is a shortlist I have compiled that you should use as a guideline:

• Fully isolated outputs,

• Variable input voltage,

• Enough outputs to power all of your pedals, plus some extra,

• Reputable brand of a high-quality,

• Extra features that you may require. 

It is possible to get some good power supplies that power one pedal, that may be more robust than the one included with the new product. These would be a good replacement if you need it, but the standard one would work just fine. 

This is one of the few things that you should never settle for a cheaper version of. You may love the sound of a cheap pedal, like I love the Mooer Rumble Drive, but you will not love the horrible noise that comes with the most standard power supply you can find on Temu.

To cut a long story short, have a good power supply is a sure way to improve your sound it a way that technique and other gear never could.