Before I recommend pedal power supplies, I want to mention one of the most important “issues” you’ll need to consider when buying one.
It’s simply this:
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Isolated power
Before I recommend pedal power supplies, I want to mention one of the most important “issues” you’ll need to consider when buying one.
It’s simply this:
Isolated power matters a lot. If you have a noisy guitar rig and you’re not using isolated power, it’s likely that your problem will be resolved with an isolated power source for each stompbox.
Thus, the four power supplies I’ll highlight and recommend in this story all provide isolated power.
The Importance of Isolated Power Supplies
When power isn’t isolated, you tend to have a lot of noise issues, especially if you have a lot of pedals, which I’d define as anything above three.
As the number of pedals go up and something like a daisy chain (which almost always provides unisolated power) gets longer, noise issues tend to rise as well. This is why I won’t be recommending any kind of daisy chain power supply in this writeup.
Or ever.
They’re just not reliable sources of power.
In fact, you’d be better off to use a 9V battery on every single pedal, at least from a noise reduction perspective.
Why? Because that’s a form of isolated power.
Then again, no one wants to run 9V batteries all the time. The good news is that we can get power supplies where each power source is isolated, thereby saving us from having to deal with the inconvenience of batteries.
Other Issues to Consider
Other than power isolation, there are a few additional factors I’ve taken into consideration.
1. Price
I’m avoiding the super cheap and (for the most part) the super expensive. In my experience you get value somewhere in the middle, so we’ll aim for