Hello there, welcome to another article here for you! This time, we will be examining a power supply for your guitar pedals, processors, and effects. In this brief article, I would like to introduce you to the Trutone brand and provide a review of the Truetone 1 Spot 9VDC.
Table of Contents
Warning: Before we begin, I’d like to inform you that I don’t recommend this particular product at all! As you will be reading in the review article below, I got my first Truetone 1 Spot 9V DC power supply back in 2021, along with an ENGL Cabloader to use with my ENGL E570 tube preamp. It was a great feeling to be able to play my electric guitars again via a proper hybrid system.
However, after a week or so, I came back home from work and plugged the adapter. But there was no sign of power. I had to return these to Thomann, and Thomann tested both products and reported back to me that both items were fine.
Anyway, they sent brand new replacements, and I could play my guitars again via this simple rig. After all these years, there have been many changes in my guitar rigs. During those years, I bought multiple power supplies, such as Voodoo Lab Pedal Power X4 and recently Cioks DC7, which are both excellent products!
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Therefore, I have never needed to use the Truetone power supply and kept it in its original packaging for about 4 years straight! While cleaning up my gear stash, I decided to let this go and listed it on various used markets online. But I just wanted to test before I made sure it was fully functional. And, voila! It was just dead again!
I was going to throw this away, but I wanted to ask Thomann to see whether a repair would ever be possible. Even though Thomann’s extended warranty was long expired, they offered a replacement free of charge! What a company! It’s fully functional now, but as I promised here, I have to keep everything transparent with my readers.
I can not recommend the Truetone 1 Spot 9V DC power supply; I don’t think it’s a reliable product. Sorry, Truetone!
About Truetone
Ever wonder why someone decides to start a guitar gear company? For Bob Weil, founder and president of Truetone, it all started with a simple problem back in November 1988.
Bob needed a volume pedal, so he picked up an Ernie Ball mono volume. It worked fine for a while. But soon, frustration kicked in: the volume taper was too abrupt, and worst of all, there was no way to see where his volume was set.
No visual reference, nothing. After looking around and realising that no such pedal existed, Bob did what many guitar players dream about but few actually do—he decided to build his own.
The funny part? Bob wasn’t an engineer. He had a business degree and was working in sales and marketing at the time. Electronics? Patent law? Mechanical design? Nope, none of that. But he didn’t let that stop him. Instead, he hit the library (this was pre-internet, after all), devoured books on electronics, and bugged semiconductor engineers with tons of “dumb” questions. Slowly, over a few years, he taught himself enough to build a “visual” volume pedal with a 10-LED scale. Check out the best guitar pickup company, Seymour Duncan here!
What started as a woodblock prototype eventually became reality. Bob patented the whole “Visual” pedal concept, and in 1995, he brought his very first product—the Visual Volume™—to the NAMM show. That was the birth of Visual Sound, which, years later, would be rebranded as Truetone.
Of course, like any startup, the road wasn’t smooth. Bob tried a handful of pedals after the Visual Volume—like the Visual Metal, Visual Blues, and Visual Wah/Volume—but they didn’t exactly set the world on fire.
Then came the game-changer: the Jekyll & Hyde™ overdrive/distortion, a dual-pedal that became a classic. Finally, he had built something that wasn’t just innovative—it was exactly what guitarists (including Bob himself) wanted.
But just as things were looking up, the company hit a wall: money ran out. Bob was ready to close up shop when, in his words, “through a miraculous set of circumstances,” he received large orders paid up front—something that rarely happens. That lifeline saved the business and set the stage for Truetone’s future.
Fast forward to today: Visual Sound became Truetone in 2015, and the company continues to create new, forward-thinking gear for guitar players everywhere.
What started with one frustrated guitarist has turned into a respected name in the pedal world—all because Bob Weil refused to quit.
Truetone 1 Spot 9V DC
Although Truetone offers a lot of different pedals these days, most of them are not easy to find in every location. For instance, Thomann has been listing Truetone products, but only the power supplies and related products by the company.
So, I believe most Thomann customers know Truetone as a power supply manufacturer! As I provided an update in the introduction to the section to warn my readers, I still wanted to add fresh photos of the replacement unit that I just got from Thomann end of September 2025.
I will not remove the original sections and photos from the first version of the article, so you can have a look at the differences. Ads - Check out these ads to support this web page
TL;DR
The power supply I just received in 2025 as a replacement is identical to the version they used to manufacture back in 2021. The only difference is the graphics on the box and the image on the paper wrap!
As you can see, the image on the paper wrap is yet another Truetone power supply, not the infamous Jekyll & Hyde™ overdrive/distortion anymore!
Here’s a shot from the back of the box (new version!). I think these graphics are the only ones improved with the product! 🙂
Also, the barcode and model name are all identical. Here’s a close-up shot for you!
I also inspected every corner of the product, but couldn’t spot any difference.
All the labels, printed materials on the product are identical. I was expecting a maybe, fixed version of the power supply as it’s clearly not a reliable product!
I also checked the details on this little label here and compared it side by side with my 2nd Truetone power supply. All sthe ame!
The product/model code is also identical, which you can confirm with the images from the original section of this article below.
Last but not least, the manual/tech specs material. It’s also the same!
Truetone 1 Spot 9V DC – 2021 (Section from the original review article)
*Just as a side note: the label states a UK address and a postcode. But on their official website, their address is in the USA. Confused 🙂 Music Plugin Deals at Pluginboutique.com
They are a very small company, and it seems like a handful of people are managing it. To be honest, I have never tried any of their pedals, nor heard about them before.
But since I was looking for a solid power adapter for my ENGL Cabloader, I went through many user reviews and decided to give it a shot.
According to Thomann’s user reviews, Truetone 1 Spot 9VDC has received 646 reviews with an average score of 4.8/5. Note that, even though I have had a terrible experience with this product, 1 Spot 9V DC has managed to get more than +120 user reviews and increase its overall score from 4.7 to 4.8/5 in the last 4 years.
Seems like I’m not the luckiest guy around here! 🙂
Before I give you my opinions and a quick demo video showing the issue I have encountered, I would like to provide you with the tech specs below. According to their website, 1 Spot has been designed not to take much space in your pedalboards and can feed one to over twenty guitar pedals (1700mA maximum current)
Truetone 1 Spot 9V/DC Tech Specs
| Truetone 1 Spot 9V/DC | Tech Specs |
|---|---|
| DC/AC current | DC |
| Voltage | 9V |
| Current | 1700mA |
| Connection cable | 3m (appr.) |
| Polarity | Negative Centre |
| Auto-switch internal voltage | 100V/240V |
1 Spot can be used with optional multi-plug cables for powering more than one pedal, and can even work with Line 6 modelling pedals.
It also features an auto-switch that switches/converts international voltage from 100V to 240V. It is also claimed that it has triple filtering of the output for clean and quiet power. Ads - Check out these ads to support this web page
As far as the packaging, you will have a simple cartoon box with a paper bag printed with some Truetone pedals and simple specs and a safety sheet.
When I first ordered my Truetone 1 Spot 9VDC along with an ENGL Cabloader, I had no issues for a couple of days. As far as I remember, on the 4th or 5th day, I switched my ENGL E570 preamp, then the Truetone power supply.
But only E570 worked! Nothing else worked! I tried plugging into other wall sockets, but to no avail. IK Multimedia Tonex - Cutting Edge Guitar Tones!
Sadly, I had to contact Thomann and create an RMA ticket. As usual, by the time the returned items arrived at Thomann, they had already prepared and sent new ones! They didn’t even make me wait and investigate the issue! That’s why you should always consider becoming a Thomann customer 🙂
Check out my “Why Thomann is the best music store?” article!
Surprisingly, Thomann reported that there was no issue found with either ENGL Cabloader or Truetone 1 Spot! I even insisted on knowing if this weird issue was caused by the power supply or the pedal. But since both items functioned, they weren’t able to answer the question. 🙂
Warning: Since then, I have never had any issues with using this power supply, except for the weird noise it generates. As you may expect, this statement is no longer true! My power supply died again, even without being used at all!
Truetone 1 Spot 9V DC Review Video
When plugged into the ENGL Cabloader, it creates these weird, sine-like sounds that come from the plug itself. I have also tested this with a Nux Rivulet Chorus, but it didn’t happen. In order to document everything, I have also prepared a short video showing you the issue I’m talking about.
To be honest, this doesn’t affect any functionality of the pedal. But it’s kind of weird because you keep hearing this sound all the time. I’m not 100% sure if this is also causing any noise in my guitar signal chain.
I think Truetone 1 Spot 9V/DC is still a legit and powerful power supply for many guitar setups. However, I’m not happy with my purchase completely. Just as a side note, the replacement unit, which I received in 2025 from Thomann, is making the same noise. It doesn’t introduce any noise to the pedals and the signal chain. But the noise is coming from the adapter itself. While you are playing, you will not notice this for sure!
For this reason, I have already purchased a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power X4 and tested it. It doesn’t make any noise at all, but again, to compare these side by side, I will need to provide you with another article.
Read my “Voodoo Lab Pedal Power X4 review, tiny but mighty” article here!
I also bought a Cioks DC7, which I believe is the best of the best when it comes to power supplies.
Please check out my Cioks DC7 review here
In any case, I will keep this Truetone 1 Spot adapter anyway. It may come in handy one day for other purposes. As I really would like to keep it honest and very open with you here, I wanted to share every single detail and my findings regarding this power supply.
I’m sure you will probably have no issues or noise using this power supply. However, it is up to you. As proved here, it may produce weird noises with some pedals. This has also been posted by some user reviews at Thomann. So bear these in mind! 🙂
Please refer to the warning section at the beginning of this article. I don’t recommend this product to anyone. I think I’m very unlucky, as this is my 3rd 1 Spot 9V DC power supply; maybe they fixed the reliability problem. But I can not recommend this to any of my readers. Buy at your own risk, please!
I hope you have enjoyed this article and found it helpful at least. Thanks for visiting my blog and supporting me so far! I will hopefully see you in the next review here!
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