How do you handle the power supply for your effects pedalboard?
As the number of effects pedals increases, managing batteries becomes a hassle, and you start worrying about them dying when you really need them. That’s why I think a lot of people use AC power. But when you’re playing at a new venue (I don’t have fancy stages like that, lol), you don’t know what the setup will be like, so you don’t want to waste time… I think that’s a valid concern.
That’s why I decided I wanted to use a mobile battery. I already have one (most people do, right?), and since it has a decent capacity, if I keep it charged, I won’t have to worry about batteries dying during the gig… Doesn’t that seem like a perfectly reasonable idea?
So, I looked into it. The voltage from USB adapters used for charging phones is around 5V, so I need to step it up to 9V DC. For stuff like this… my recent approach is that buying from China is the best deal. I mean, even if you search on Amazon, it’s usually made in China anyway.
So I checked Shein… and there it was! Three for just over a thousand yen (I think). Clicked buy immediately!
Further investigation reveals that most instrument-related power supplies seem to use a “center negative” specification. While most modern household appliances use “center positive,” it appears the instrument industry alone inherited this older standard as its own unique specification, and it became established over time. It appears that companies like BOSS in the 70s adopted center negative to avoid confusion, and this became the norm.
So, I need to reverse the polarity. However, wiring it myself could cause reliability issues later, which would be troublesome. So, I searched Shein for this too… and found it! This set of five was about 1,000 yen.
There’s talk that shopping on Chinese sites like Shein is risky, and I don’t think you can ignore that risk. But I’d already made purchases in the past, so it’s too late now. I don’t have much money anyway, so there’s little worry about it being stolen. It’d be bad if someone used my card without permission, but all I can do is be careful. What’s done is done, right…?
I was all set to finally connect it to my effects board and be done with it! But…
“The power cuts out?” I had a few mobile batteries, but only one worked. It came with a toy drone I bought ages ago, and it was pretty old with low capacity.
Wondering why, I looked into the cause and found out that with low-power devices, some power banks have a feature where they mistakenly think “nothing is connected” and shut off.
So, I looked into power banks on Amazon more carefully and found some with a “low-current mode” feature!! It seems designed to properly respond even to devices like headphones or smartwatches that consume little power while charging. This is it! I thought, and immediately clicked to buy.
As you can see, it works perfectly! There’s no noticeable noise either. I’m currently using this setup whenever I need effects.。
One Control DC Porter Nano
So after all that trouble, I finally got my mobile battery working, but honestly, who wants to deal with such a hassle? That’s just human nature. So I looked around… and found it at Sound House!
This handy gadget converts USB power to DC9V for powering effects pedals!
The One Control DC Porter Nano is a simple power supply for effects pedals that converts USB power to standard center-negative DC9V power.
It allows you to power your effects pedals using various USB power sources, such as mobile batteries for emergency power or smartphone charging adapters. The set includes the USB flash drive-sized unit and a 50cm center-negative DC cable.
Size: 5.5 × 2.1 × 1.1 cm
Weight (unit only): 9g
Whether a mobile battery can be used depends on the environment.
By the way, one last important note.
This setup, including the mobile battery that worked in my setup, didn’t work for a guitarist friend I gave it to. So it seems it might not work depending on the effects pedals you have connected. Please try it at your own risk.
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