What’s the Best Guitar Pedal Power Supply for Me?
While most guitar pedals can run on a 9V battery, most guitarists actually prefer to power their stompboxes using a pedal power supply. This not only saves you money in the long run, but prevents any batteries from dying on you during a gig. If you’ve never shopped for a stompbox power supply before, you’re likely to run into some new terms. That’s why in this Buyer’s Guide, we answer the most frequently asked questions to help you out. If you can’t find the answer to your question here, feel free to contact us!
1. Why Doesn’t My Stompbox Come with a Power Supply?
While more extensive (multi-)effects pedals often come including a power supply, the average stompbox usually doesn’t. That’s because guitarists tend to use multiple pedals at the same time, which could all run on a single power supply. If each pedal would come including a power supply, you’d not only quickly end up with many you wouldn’t ever use, but you’d pay extra for something you don’t need. Fortunately, a dependable power supply doesn’t have to cost you a great deal of money.
If you have a pedal that can only be powered by a 9V battery but you want to power it with a power supply, then you could use a power cable with a battery clip at one end so it can hook up to the battery clip of the pedal. Just make sure that you check that the other end of the cable is compatible with your power supply.
Effect Pedal Power Supplies
Power Cables with a Battery Clip
9V Batteries
Guitar Effects
Bass Guitar Effects
2. Which Power Supply is Compatible With My Effect Pedal?
In most cases, a regular 9V DC, centre-negative power supply with a 2.1mm barrel plug will work. In fact, this matches the specifications of most of the power supplies and guitar pedals you’ll find in our webshop. The current - measured in milliamperes (mA) - of these power supplies is practically always enough to power at least one effect.
Please note: Read through the rest of the FAQs below and make sure any power supply you pick up won’t damage your pedal! Also, on the product page of any of our stompboxes, you’ll find one or more combo deals including a compatible power supply listed below the product specifications (unless the pedal already comes including a power supply).
9V DC, Centre-Negative Power Supplies with 2.1mm Barrel Plugs
All Pedal Power Supplies
3. How Many Volts (V) Does My Stompbox Need?
It’s important to check what kind of voltage your effect pedal needs, and this can usually be found in the manual. Please note: always make sure the power supply doesn’t output more Volts than your pedal is able to handle, since this could damage your stompbox. Similarly, if you run your pedal on a power supply that’s unable to offer the minimum required power, you won’t be able to get the best sound out of your stompbox. In short, the voltage of the power supply must always fully match that of your pedal.
Tip: When browsing through our power supplies, you can simply sort the entire range by voltage using the search filters.
4. What’s the Correct Current Intensity (mA) for My Pedal?
After you’ve determined the correct amount of power, it’s time to make sure the current intensity in milli-amperes (mA) matches with your stompbox. In most cases, this will be indicated in the specifications or the manual of the pedal, and it’s important that the power supply at least meets the minimum current required by your pedal. Bear in mind that here, any ‘excess’ current isn’t harmful, in fact, it’s recommended so you can connect an extra pedal to the power supply later on. Too few milli-amperes, however, leads to poor performance. In short, pick a power supply that’s able to supply at least the minimum current required by your pedal.
Tip: When browsing through our power supplies, you can simply sort the entire range by current (mA) using the search filters.
5. Should I Pick an Alternating Current (AC) or a Direct Current (DC) Power Supply?
Mains electricity in the UK supplies alternating current (AC) while most standard guitar and bass stompboxes require direct current (DC). As such, you’ll most likely need a power supply that converts AC to DC. Luckily, this is what most power supplies do, but to be safe, it’s worth double-checking that any power supply you’re considering picking up outputs direct current.
6. What About Polarity? Centre-Negative or Centre-Positive?
What’s also crucial is that your power supply has the polarity that your stompbox needs. This can be either centre-negative (which is usually the case) or centre-positive. In the case of centre-negative polarity, you can see in the image on the left that the minus symbol is directly connected to the core symbol known as the ‘tip’ - and vice versa in the case of centre-positive polarity. When you connect a centre-positive power supply to a centre-negative pedal, both units can get irreparably damaged. If the polarity doesn’t match, you can use an adapter cable to reverse the polarity, although it’s always better to use a power supply with the proper polarity since it guarantees a direct and more reliable link-up.
Power Supplies with Centre-Negative Polarity Only
Power Supplies with Centre-Positive Polarity Only
Dual Polarity Power Supplies
Polarity-Reversing Cables
7. Which Plug Fits My Effect Pedal?
Most stompboxes are equipped with a 2.1mm barrel plug input, although you might also come across a few with a 2.5mm socket or even RCA inputs. In reality, it’s possible that the actual size of the plug is slightly off compared to the specified size. As a rule of thumb, the more expensive the power supply or plug is, the more accurate the actual size of the plug. If you find that the actual size of your plug is too far off and causes issues, feel free to contact us so we can help you find a fitting solution.
Tip: When browsing through our power supplies, you can sort the entire range by plug type using the search filters.
Power Supplies with a 2.1mm Barrel Plug
Power Supplies with a 2.1mm Barrel Plug
8. How Can I Power Multiple Effects at the Same Time?
Power supply + daisy chain: The cheapest solution for powering multiple effects with a single, sufficiently powerful power supply is by adding a daisy chain cable. You can either pick out a separate daisy chain cable or get a bundle including a power supply and daisy chain cable. The only drawback here is that all of the pedals you want to power will need to be compatible with the same kind of power supply. This means that if you have a 9V, 1,000 mA, centre-negative DC power supply with a 2.1mm barrel plug, each of your pedals must be able to run on 9 Volts, and ideally be centre-negative and compatible with a 2.1mm barrel plug so you don’t have to use any adapter cables. In addition, you need to make sure that the total power consumption of all of your pedals does not exceed the 1,000 mA maximum output of the power supply in this example. Please note that if you order a daisy chain cable with your power supply, it must have a female connector on one end so that it can be connected to your power supply.
Multi-power supplies: These are a great option if you have a pedalboard full of pedals or when you’re dealing with multiple pedals with varying power supply needs. These power boxes are plugged into a power socket, connected up to each pedal to feed them power, and since they’re usually mounted in a fixed place, you won’t have to bother with reattaching the cables every time. These pedalboard-specific power supplies also tend to feature isolated outputs for optimal and dependable performance.
Power Supplies with Daisy Chain Cable(s)
Power Supplies without Daisy Chain Cables
Daisychain Cables
Multi-Power Supplies
All Power Supply Power Cables
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