Building a pedalboard is the ultimate unfinishable task for most guitar players, trumping even that near-impossible task of finishing at least one song you’ve started writing lately. There’s always something new and thrilling (or, as it happens, old, thrilling and on eBay) to catch your eye, always another tone to chase, always a fresh approach beckoning – and always never enough power outlets to fit everything in.
Power capacity is near-constantly at a premium for GAS-ing guitarists, and is actually a useful funnel into considering the most boring part of any pedalboard set-up: power supplies. Utilitarian as they are, and out-of-sight, out-of-mind as they tend to be, the best pedalboard power supplies represent a key decision for you as a player. Your choice of power supply doesn’t just impact how many pedals you can use in one go; it can be the difference between a noisy mess and the quietist, crispest, pristine-est signal you ever did hear.
Besides, no two pedalboards are strictly the same. As each of us sculpt our sound to different wants and needs, we all find ourselves with different power requirements. Small, lightweight board for no-fuss touring? Mega-mothership multi-output extravaganza for maximalist music-making? Whatever you need, there’s a power supply to accommodate it. And it’s probably in this guide.
Here, we’ve rounded up a number of the best-in-class pedal power supplies currently on the market, from the miniscule to the monolithic. If you’re not exactly sure what you’re looking for, our buyer’s advice section further down this page is a great primer for what you should be thinking about when it comes to pedal power.
Guitar Player’s Choice
With there being so many different types of pedalboard power supply for so many different use cases, each model succeeds on its own merits. Overall though, in our experience it’s hard to beat Walrus Audio’s Canvas series – particularly the Power 22, which provides more outputs than you can shake a stick at and more adaptability than you’ll ever need, all in an impossibly low-profile unit.
For the smaller, more demure pedalboard, it’s impossible to ignore Cioks’ Sol Future Power Generation. This unit offers immense versatility and universal practicality in a slim, five-output form; even if your select few pedals are power-hungry things, you won’t be left wanting here.
Best overall
Walrus Audio has previously been regarded as the old guard for boutique pedals, having made a serious name for itself via pitch-perfect interpretations of essential effects; the Julia chorus remains a firm favorite for professional and gigging guitarists, even amongst a crowded field today.
While still servicing the upper levels of the pedal niche, the brand has recently branched out into true essentials, from an accessible range of indispensable effects in the Fundamental pedal series to the Canvas range – a line-up of practical utilities, including re-amp and DI boxes, a tuner, and, naturally, pedal power supplies. Our pick is the Canvas 22, the largest power supply of the bunch.
As you might expect, the ‘22’ refers to the number of outputs it offers – 20 of which provide 9V at up to 500mA, and two of which can be switched between 9, 12 and 18V. Additionally, there’s a USB-C port for up to 5V charging, and a 24V thru socket for chaining multiple Canvas power supplies to one plug. The Canvas 22 cuts a slim and sleek form despite its size, allowing it to winnow its way under almost all angled pedalboards; it can do this thanks to an external laptop-style power brick, which hosts the bulkier mains-converting circuitry. This also greatly reduces the possibility of hum introduced by situating pedals over the supply itself.
As far as pedal power toolkits go, we think it’s hard to get much better than this. It’s a comprehensive power supply with a low profile and some nifty modern conveniences, designed top-to-bottom with practicality in mind. Some more high-voltage outputs would be nice, but it’s hard to sniff at this otherwise complete pedalboard solution.
Best compact
This more compact offering from Strymon is one of the best pedalboard power supplies for those with only a handful of effects. With five fully isolated 9v outputs each offering a massive 500mA, you’ve got enough juice to cater for the most power-hungry pedals out there.
Its all-analog circuitry means that you get two stages of isolation, so expect this to be an incredibly quiet unit – no ground loop or AC line noise here. Another thing that makes the Ojai one of the best is its automatic power compatibility, so whether you’re running on 240v, 120v, or 100v, you’re still going to get good, clean power to your pedals – this is an absolute must for touring guitarists.
Another nifty feature is the ability to combine more than one of these together. The Ojai has a 24v thru jack to expand your set-up with another unit, so that you can carry on using it even if you add more pedals to your board.
Best high current
Dave Friedman has built pedals, boards and other bits of gear for a range of professional musicians over the last three decades, so it’s fair to say he knows a thing or two. The Friedman Power Grid 10 was designed by Dave to help eliminate some problems he had encountered over the years with other power supplies.
Firstly, there are 10 isolated 9v outputs, each with a 350mA output. Each output has enough power to cater for most pedals out there, even advanced digital ones. Regardless of what mix you’ve got of digital and analog pedals, the Friedman Power Grid can cater for it all, doing so with no unwanted noise or hum. It also features universal power allowing for usage in various countries. As long as all your pedals require no more than 9v, it’s one of the best pedalboard power supplies there is.
It’s also fairly light, so it doesn’t add much weight to your board. This is because unlike many other power supplies, it doesn’t have a toroidal transformer – this also means that there is no proximity hum so your pedals can be as close as you like to it – even on top of it (it’s actually been designed with being on a riser in mind, in case you don’t have room to mount it under your board).
Best portable
Cioks’ Sol Future Power Generation is an exceedingly clever contemporary design, and one of the most innovative entrants with respect to smaller pedal power supplies. It provides just five isolated outputs, but each of these isolated outputs is switchable between four settings – and the whole thing, despite its diminutive size, is directly mains-fed.
This chunk of pedal power is barely the size of an external hard drive, yet it receives a kettle lead and gives up to 30W of clean power to its five completely isolated outputs. Two dip switches control the ultimate output of each outlet, with a handy legend printed onto the unit itself to direct users. The options are 9V at up to 660mA, 12V at up to 500mA, 15V at up to 400mA and 18V at up to 330mA – enough to cover almost any pedal’s individual requirements (save for some of the heavier-duty multi-effects, such as Eventide’s H90).
The high amperage of the 9V option is useful, too, as analog dirt effects could be daisy-chained safely, and relatively noiselessly – meaning this tiny thing can serve pedalboards well above its posted weight. The future is now!
Best for output range
The Voodoo Labs Mondo is essentially the legendary 4x4 and then some. It’s one of the best pedalboard power supplies for those with a hefty mixture of big, power-hungry pedals and regular 9v battery style pedals.
Expect clean, quiet power with the Mondo. The 12 isolated outputs ensure that you’re supplying your pedals with what they need to operate to their full potential, without the annoyance of any unwanted noise. There’s also a built-in silent fan that will help regulate the temperature of the unit; handy when playing in small, hot venues.
There are a number of outputs on the Mondo; from 100mA 9v options for your lower current pedals, to 400mA 9v for things like Eventides and Strymons. You’ve got plenty of 12v options on there too, plus you can choose voltage sag for that dying battery sound that some fuzz pedals thrive on.
Best with voltage sag
Stocky but lightweight, the Iso-Brick from MXR earns its way onto our list of the best pedal power supplies with its 10 isolated outputs covering a range of voltages and currents for seemingly any pedal.
The Iso-Brick runs really quiet, even with the most power-hungry of pedals. It has 9v outputs ranging from 100 to 450mA. There are also two 18v outputs and two variable outputs with selectable voltage from 6-15v. With this you can recreate voltage sag, as you’d get with a dying battery – this is where some old-school fuzz pedals sound their best so it’s a nice feature to have for some players.
It’s lightweight and the handy LEDs let you know that everything’s okay when you’re on a dark stage – the perfect gigging tool.
Best for live
EBS is a Swedish firm with a specializm in bass-related equipment, but its latest utility is so much more than the brand’s own remit. On the face of things, the Runsten doesn’t appear to be anything special – it’s a standard-sized 10-outlet pedal power supply in a sleek anthracite-ish chassis. But the more you look, the more you find.
For starters, the outlets all start at 9V – but have a max current draw of 900mA, which trumps the vast majority of other power supplies, and makes daisy-chaining your analog pedals for more outlet availability extremely viable. Eight of these ten outlets are also switchable, via dip-switches on the side of the unit, to 12V. The practicality doesn’t stop here, though.
The Runsten also ships with cables that allow you to combine two outlets, either in serial or parallel. This means you can combine two outlets to create one with double the max amperage, or up to double the voltage. In combination with polarity converters and 2.1-2.5mm barrel converters, this makes the Runsten absurdly versatile. This will solve most problems for most gigging guitarists, and without breaking a sweat.
Best for durability
Fender’s Engine Room series is a smart-looking raft of highly practical units, marrying the unique style of Fender’s recent pedal output with the most thankless of pedalboard utilities. The Engine Room LVL 8 is an eight-output supply, housed in a luxurious-looking, demi-shiny, anodized and brushed aluminum chassis. With curves. And cool vent holes.
The LVL 8’s outputs comprise 6 9V at up to 500mA, and two switchable between 9V, 12V and 18V. At the end of this helpful row you’ll find a USB-A and a USB-C output, for 5V charging and/or pedalboard-light-powering services. The unit is self-contained, needing only a kettle lead to receive mains power – a godsend in a world of especially warty wall warts.
The size of the LVL8 might be a dealbreaker for those hoping to stash their supply away under their pedalboard, but its form means you wouldn’t begrudge having it on display up top either. Use this for a smart solution to a medium-sized board!
How to choose the best pedalboard power supply for you
The best pedalboard power supply for you will depend on how many pedals you have, and what pedals they are. Whilst most pedals require a 9V center negative power supply, there are some that differ from this. Check the voltage your various pedals run at and you’ll quickly start to put together a list of what you need from your power supply.
Different pedals draw different currents too. Analog fuzz and overdrive pedals, for example, tend to be fairly low current; you’ll find many that are under 10-20mA. However, powerful digital pedals, like those by the likes of Strymon, Eventide, Line 6 etc, will draw more current. These can require anything from 300mA upwards. If you have a mixture of pedals with different voltage and current requirements, you’ll want a pedalboard power supply that can do it all – whether by offering some high-current outlets, or offering outlets with higher or switchable voltages.
If your pedalboard is small, and you’re prepared to keep it that way, you’ll likely be looking for a small power supply to fit your small board, and to keep it light. For most of us, though, it is practically a law of nature that our pedalboards are given to expand. As such, unless you have highly specific and unchanging needs, you might benefit from future-proofing your board with something that can supply more than you need.
FAQs
What is daisy chaining, and can I do it to power my pedalboard?
‘Daisy-chaining’ refers to the running of multiple pedals from a single power source – something most all of us will have done at some point or another, knowingly or unknowingly. Those wall warts with multiple outlets hanging off a single cable like Christmas lights are perhaps the most recognizable form of daisy-chain, and illustrate exactly the principle: all pedals share a single source of voltage and current.
This can be useful in some scenarios, but can be actively detrimental in others. For one, the current demands of each pedal add up – so if a power source only has 300mA available, you wouldn’t be able to run more than a few 100mA-demanding pedals without potentially blowing your power supply. More important, though, is the issue of noise. Daisy-chaining pedals can introduce a number of different noise-related issues, ground loops chief amongst them.
Ground loops are caused when a small voltage appears between two different ground references – in this case, your guitar signal and your pedal power’s return path. With each pedal coupling signal ground to power, and with the in-series nature of said power return path, the result is numerous ground loops between each pedal. These, in turn, invite mains power to induce hum into your signal. Not only this, but clock signals from digital and time-based pedals can leech into the signal, resulting in hum-y, hissy, whiney, tick-y noise pollution that isn’t doing anything good for your signal.
It's not all bad news, though. Analog pedals, particularly of a distortive nature, are much more daisy-chain friendly than their digital or time-based counterparts. They also demand much less in terms of current, meaning you won’t be hamstrung by the current limits of a given 9V outlet.
What’s an isolated power supply?
Isolated power is, in short, the solution to the problems illustrated with daisy-chaining explored above. An isolated power supply uses transformers to isolate each outlet from one another, essentially providing each pedal with a power circuit of its own; each pedal power supply outlet enjoys its own supply of voltage and current, and no outlets share the same power return path.
The result is the effective elimination of pedalboard ground loops, and a blissfully quiet signal path. Though some isolated power supply designs can introduce electrical noise of their own (particularly cheaper-designed switch-mode power supplies, which use active high-frequency switching circuitry to drive the transformers), the downsides of isolated power remain near-inconsequential against those of daisy-chaining.
Which brands make the best pedalboard power supplies?
Isolated power supplies are fast becoming the standard, as isolated circuitry becomes cheaper to reproduce. One thing to look out for, though, is the prevalence of cheap power supplies on sites like Amazon and eBay; many will advertise themselves as ‘isolated’, and yet be glorified daisy-chains in a comforting-looking chassis. This is why it’s important to buy only from a tried-and-true brand that you – or your wider network – recognizes!
The brands covered in this round-up represent some of the best and most trustworthy in the biz, whether old-hand companies with a tried-and-true design approach, or new upstart pedal boutiques with a niche understanding of what modern pedals want.
How we choose the products for our guides
At Guitar Player, we live and breathe everything guitar-related. It's our passion and we certainly hope this passion comes through in our buyer's guides. Everyone at Guitar Player is an expert in their field and we draw on this knowledge and experience when selecting the products for our guides. And we're all players who gig, jam and record when we're not writing and reviewing for GP.
When choosing what we believe to be the best pedalboard power supplies available right now, we combine our hands-on experience, user reviews and testimonies and engage in lengthy discussions with our editorial colleagues to reach a consensus about the top products in any given category.
When making our lists, we pay careful consideration to everything from budget to feature set, playability and durability to come up with an accurate representation of the best pedalboard power supplies available right now.
Read more on how we test gear and services at Guitar Player.
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