Tone Report Weekly Issue 128 | Page 27

Any rundown of pedal power would be remiss without the classic 1Spot. Personally, I’ve seen players power full boards with one, without much of a problem. It’s smaller than most wallwarts, it provides 1700mA of juice, and it costs very little in comparison to any other power supply. With all of these pros, though, there are equal cons—the 1Spot is unabashedly nonisolated, and creates ground loops in between each pedal in the chain, opening the door to magnetic and RF interference. However, if a player never leaves his or her garage or basement and plays as a hobby, the 1Spot may be a clear choice, so long as the room isn’t susceptible to extraneous noise. Doing the math with the 1Spot can be tricky when cutting it close using multiple effects. Players must be aware of the current draw for all pedals and make sure the total draw doesn’t exceed 1700mA. Also, pedals with reverse polarity (some older fuzzes, Moogerfoogers, etc.) cannot be chained with the 1Spot. Later, Truetone released Pro versions of the 1Spot, with a variety of taps and options, but the 1Spot is still the company’s best-known power product. TRUETONE 1 SPOT AND 1 SPOT PRO PROS: Inexpensive, lots of juice, small size. CONS: Creates ground loops, won’t work for reverse-polarity pedals, requires math to properly set up. ToneReport.com 27