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What is it?
While our pedalboards provide some of the most exciting propositions in our rigs, purchasing a pedalboard power supply can sometimes feel like a necessary, yet reluctant expense.
The Harley Benton PowerPlant ISO-10AC Pro is a pedalboard power supply that offers ten isolated outputs to cater for all manner of setups. Whether you’re running power-hungry digital effects such as delay pedals, analog overdrive pedals or any sort of wild combination, you can safely power your pedalboard them all with this.
Now, there are lots of power supplies on the market, but Harley Benton has managed to serve up a completely feature-laden product that ticks most players’ stompboxes when it comes to powering their pedalboards, for an incredible price.
What’s particularly useful about this is that it’s got all sorts of different power options. You’ve got four outputs rated at 250mA which will take care of a lot of pedals out there – overdrives, analog modulations, boosts, tuners etc but then you’ve got two dedicated slots that offer 9V at 500mA which means you can run your Strymons or Polys on their own isolated outputs.
On top of that, you’ve then got four outputs rated at 450mA where you can select between 9, 12 or 18V. Right at the end, you’ve got a USB slot too offering 5V/1A (which is enough to charge your phone from it).
In addition to the outputs being isolated, they’re also short-circuit-protected, plus the unit has a built-in AC-switcher that will automatically select the right voltage from 100-240V.
This means if you’re traveling around to and from different countries, the power supply will make sure it’s running optimally without you having to do anything. With that in mind, it’s worth noting that the ISO-10AC Pro is powered from a standard IEC mains cable, adding to its universal capabilities.
Specs
- Price: $105/£95/€105
- Type: Isolated, surge-protected pedalboard power supply
- Features: 10 x isolated outputs (4 x 9V 250mA, 2 x 9V 500mA, 4 x 9/12/18V 450mA), 1 x 5V 1A USB slot, power input (IEC cable)
- Dimensions (WxDxH): 195 x 88 x 35 mm
- Weight: 605g/1.3lbs
- Contact: Harley Benton
Build quality
Before I got to the ISO-10AC Pro itself, the packaging impressed me somewhat! Instead of just being in a box, it was in a perfectly sized piece of foam that was then in a box so that it wasn’t sliding around inside.
The unit is a reassuring weight in that it doesn’t feel too light, but it’s also not super heavy at just over 600g. The exterior is made from aluminum giving it a solid, reliable feel. I’d have absolutely no qualms attaching this to the bottom of my board and taking it out on the road with confidence.
The actual size of it worked with my particular setup too. I use a Pedaltrain Classic Jr, and there’s enough room where the board raises up at the back to be able to attach the power supply to the underside of the board with clearance from the ground.
I couldn’t find a dedicated bracket to attach the power supply to a board, but there are the dedicated Pedaltrain ones. If you’re using a board from a different brand, you can opt for the tried-and-true cable-tie.
Usability
The ISO-10 comes shipped with 10 cables connecting the power supply to your pedals. They’re all a decent length too at 24-inches/60cm, so you should have no problems weaving them in between your pedals or board slots
I tested the ISO-10 on my own board, which is home to a Korg Pitchblack tuner, Magnetic Effects Lonely Robot fuzz, EHX Soul Food, Orange Kongpressor, EHX Micro POG, MXR Phase 90, TC Skysurfer Reverb and a JHS Colourbox V2. None of these are particularly power hungry, with the Colourbox drawing the most – 193mA.
As such, the ISO-10 handled powering my setup with ease. There was no unwanted noise anywhere. I made sure to try it out with a few guitars too. My Tele is the most prone to introducing any sort of interference, but there was nothing.
I even tried daisy-chaining a few of my low-power pedals together from one output. Going out of one of the 500mA slots, I used a chain cable to link the tuner, Lonely Robot, Soul Food, POG and Skysurfer and it still performed perfectly. Doing this meant I freed-up an additional four slots, so I could potentially run a much bigger rig with this power supply (believe me, I’m tempted).
So, if you’ve got a real mix of pedals with some being high powered, and some low, you can be smart to optimize how you use your power supply; just because there are ten slots on there doesn’t mean you can only power ten pedals.
Power a few of your pedals that draw less from one output to free up slots for your hungrier pedals. Just make sure you don’t exceed the mA rating of any given output with the combined draw of the pedals connected to it.
I found it useful having the voltage switches on some of the outputs too. The Kongpressor allows you to run it at 9 or 12V, so I chose 12V giving the pedal more clean headroom and output. The voltage switch is easy to access and flick over, but you’re not likely to knock it out of place by accident.
Underneath each slot, there is a green LED light for monitoring its power status. If a short circuit occurs, the LED will change color and the output will shut down (hopefully, you won’t find out!). But, these all being isolated means if there’s a problem with one, the rest of your pedals should still run fine.
The ISO-10 comes shipped with 10 cables connecting the power supply to your pedals. They’re all a decent length too – 60cm, so you should have no problems weaving them in between your pedals or board slots. I didn’t fix the unit to my board, due to the fact that I’ll be returning it after the review. But if I had, I’d be able to wire in a really neat board using the different components that came with it.
Verdict
If, or when my current power supply fails me, I’ll probably look to this exact unit as a replacement.
With its ten isolated slots and various different power options, it’s a fantastic choice for anyone running a medium to large sized pedalboard. Plus, it comes in at a much lower price than its nearest competitors.
Oftentimes, with affordable gear that offers the same features as some of the bigger names in the industry, you have to sacrifice some quality – not here
Oftentimes, with affordable gear that offers the same features as some of the bigger names in the industry, you have to sacrifice some quality – not here.
While I can’t comment for sure on how it would perform taking it out on tour, I’d definitely take chance on it personally. It’s built really well, it feels nice and solid, and all the cables slot in nicely – they’re not wobbly or loose at all.
Guitar World verdict: The Harley Benton PowerPlant ISO-10AC Pro is a well-made, reasonably-priced power supply that can cater for a players with really big and varied pedal setups. With plenty of isolated slots for running power-hungry digital effects, as well as outputs for pedals drawing less power, you can run your board without any unwanted background noise or interference.
Hands-on videos
Harley Benton
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