Effect pedal power or battery

Do guitar effects pedals need power?

Guitar effects pedals need power to work. Most pedals are designed to run on a 9-volt battery and don’t use a lot of power. Some (mostly) digital pedals consume more power and cannot be powered by a 9 volt battery. When you have several pedals, it is often useful and sometimes even necessary to use a so-called multi-power supply.

How much power does a guitar pedal take?

Depending on where you live, the mains power is 100 - 240V AC, which won't work for effect pedals. Most guitar pedals take 9V DC power, and that's the stuff that needs to be supplied for the pedal to work, and that's what you need a power supply for. Some small pedals can also be powered by an internal 9V battery, but not all.

Will a power adaptor damage my Pedal?

No, it won’t damage your pedal all. Do not think of power adaptors pushing current into our effects pedals. Instead the power adaptor simply presents a voltage to the pedal and the pedal draws the current it needs from the adaptor. The pedal is in control! In this example, the addition of “max” to “300 mA max” is particularly confusing.

Do pedals need a battery?

Pedals that do not require a lot of power can be powered by a battery. A Duracell 9V battery delivers about 500mA for an hour and then runs out. If you have a pedal that requires 10 mA of current, you can basically play for 50 hours with a battery.

How do effect pedals work?

By linking effect pedals together, you add these small voltages together and a larger voltage is created. This causes a current to flow, which can be heard in your audio signal. This is often a 50Hz hum or a derivative thereof (100Hz, 200Hz, 400Hz etc.).

Do all pedals have the same type of power input?

The majority of pedals follow the connection protocol brought in with the first Boss compact pedals -a 2.1mm barrel connector that is centre-negative (often indicated on the pedal by a -9V DC or similar symbol).