Powering Your Effects Pedals

For a long time I used 9 volt batteries to power my pedals. When I think back on all the money I spent on those things. Not only that, but I've had batteries go dead on me during gigs and that can be a big pain. Some pedals act a little differently when the battery goes dead in them so you may not realize the battery is dead for a while because the lights are still working. With a 9 volt power supply you don't have to worry about all of that.

I finally got tired of spending over seven dollars for a two pack of 9 volt Duracell battery's and decided to buy a One Spot while in a Guitar Center store one day. Now I've heard some not so great things about using a "wall wart" power supply. But, as long as your power supply has enough mA output you should be fine. A One Spot handles up to 1700 mA and that's enough to easily power 4 or 5 pedals as long as they're not all digital pedals. I only have one digital pedal and I've been told that digital pedals use more power. That could very well be true because I sure seemed to go through a lot of batteries with that pedal. For the record, the pedal I'm talking about is a Digitech Screamin' Blues Driver. Its not a bad pedal, but since I got my Wampler Paisley Drive pedal I have pretty much quit using it.

This is a pretty good article that tells you more about powering your pedals and what is best for your setup. Since I only use 3 to 4 pedals the One Spot works great for me. Some people say they are noisy, but that has not been the case with mine. It could be that my noise suppressor is taking care of that, I'm really not sure. Some pedals take more than 9 volts to run them. If that's the case with you, you are going to have to look at a more expensive power supply that has multiple outlets and different voltages. The One Spot is just for 9 volt pedals. For more on powering your pedals, take a look at this short video. This guy does a pretty good job explaining the basics of what you need to know about using the One Spot.

If you want to get something a little more versatile (and expensive) you can check out Voodoo Labs youtube channel and find more information on their products as well. Whatever you decide to use, just remember the cost involved in keeping your pedals powered with 9 volts batteries and I think you'll see it just makes good sense to use an AC power supply instead.