- Excellent build quality
- Perfectly compact multi power supply for small pedalboards
- Comes with everything you need to get started
- Doesn't introduce any noise
- Bulky power cable due to no transformer in the actual unit
Hello there, welcome back to my blog! Back again with another article for you. This time we will be looking at a very affordable, reliable and solid power supply for your guitar pedals: Voodoo Lab Pedal Power X4 power supply!
Table of Contents
About Voodoo Lab
For those who have never heard of the Voodoo Lab company, here’s a quick introduction for you. Voodoo Lab is an American company based in California, and they are very well-known for their handmade, high-quality, industry-standard power supplies for guitar pedals, effects and rack systems, as well as many unique guitar effect pedals, pedalboards and switching gear.
Even though there are many competitors emerged in this specific market, Voodoo Lab has been the pioneer and a very trustworthy brand, actively manufacturing these products since 1986, all handmade in California, USA.
As I have mentioned in my other blog posts, I recently got myself an ENGL E570 preamp along with an ENGL Cabloader and a Truetone 1 Spot 9V DC power supply. However, Truetone generated some weird noises that directly came from the wall sockets when used with specific pedals. So I started searching for an alternative solution. 
I was already aware of how good and popular Voodoo Lab power supplies are, but since I would have one or two pedals, I thought I wouldn’t need a power supply that has multiple outputs. But this weird noise generated by the Truetone power supply made me invest in a proper power supply that I can use in the future with more pedals. That’s the reason I got myself a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power X4 power supply! 
Voodoo Lab Pedal Power Series Features
Voodoo Lab Pedal Power power supplies have been designed to address every type of guitarist’s needs; therefore come with many different product variations under the same series. In the comparison table below, I have added all Pedal Power power supplies and refined the critical variables for you to choose your Voodoo Lab power supply easily. Choosing your Voodoo Lab Pedal Power is not a difficult task! All you need to do is determine and plan what kind of current and future pedal setup you will be using these with. Then simply go through the table and review the critical parameters that you require for your guitar pedal setup. 
Voodoo Lab Pedal Power – All Models
| Model | Pedal Power X4 Expander Kit | Pedal Power X4 | ISO5 Pedal Power | Pedal Power 2 Plus | Pedal Power 4x4 | Pedal Power 3 | Pedal Power Mondo | Pedal Power 3 Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | NA | 4.6/5 | 4.8/5 | 4.9/5 | 4.9/5 | 5/5 | 4.9/5 | NA |
| Shipping Weight | 220g | 440g | 1005g | 1440g | 1400g | 955g | 2000gr | 1060gr |
| Sales Rank | 99 | 53 | 58 | 17 | 44 | 46 | 71 | 74 |
| DC/AC | DC | DC | DC | DC | DC | DC | DC | DC |
| Output in mA | 1000mA | 1000mA | 700 mA | 900mA | 1200mA | 500mA | 400mA | 500mA |
| 9V | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 12V | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 18V | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Guitar effect pedals usually require a 9V/DC power supply with various current values. This is pretty much the standard, so every Pedal Power power supply will provide this voltage as well as current with multiple outputs. So if you are planning to use a few standard guitar pedals and don’t want to spend too much on a power supply, your best bet would be Pedal Power X4 (just like I got for myself!).
Voodoo Lab Pedal Power X4
As you can see, there’s also another X4 version called Pedal Power X4 Expander Kit that features exactly the same specs as Pedal Power X4 but doesn’t come with a power supply (12V). That means you can buy these to extend your other Pedal Power power supply connections. For instance, you got yourself a Pedal Power 2 Plus and kept building your guitar pedal arsenal and still need more power supplies. All you need to do is get this expander kit and connect it to your current Pedal Power 2 Plus via 12V. This way, you will have an additional four outputs for your pedals. Very cool! 
In some cases, guitar players might need additional power supplies with 12V or 18V. In this case, they would have to buy specific power supplies individually. But as you can see from the table above, ISO5 Pedal Power and Pedal Power 2 Plus feature all different voltage values, so you can actually buy a single power supply from Voodoo Lab and address any kind of power requirement in your pedalboards. In case you need different voltages and as many outputs as possible with even SAG control (the ability to change voltages from 4 to 9V for fuzz and wah pedals), you should definitely consider those two options. 
Review
Voodoo Lab X4 is the most affordable power supply of the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power series, featuring four 9V DC outputs that can supply 1000mA in total and 500mA per output. That means most of the guitar pedals that require 100-300mA current can be hooked up together without any issue. Just like I mentioned above, it’s up to you. In my use case, I was planning to use my Pedal Power with my ENGL Cabloader, which requires 300mA. This would leave me with 700mA and 3 additional outputs. Since I am not planning to use pedals with my current setup and was only considering having a few pedals here and there from time to time, Pedal Power X4 really appealed to me.
It’s actually much smaller and lighter than I expected! Only weighs 120g and is 86 x 70 x 25 mm in dimensions. The power supply that comes with it is almost as big as the unit itself. 🙂 Comes in a very neat, simple yet cool-looking cartoon box, easy-to-use, reliable and solid!
Just like with every Voodoo Lab Pedal Power power supply, you will have DC cables for connecting them to your pedals as well as 3M-branded velcro to fix them on your pedalboard, included in the box, which is excellent!
In my experience with the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power X4, there’s no additional noise, and it’s perfectly reliable. As I have mentioned, for my use case, it’s more than enough. Even if I want to use one or two additional pedals on top of my ENGL Cabloader, I will still be in good shape and will not need to spend extra money. I must say I’m very impressed with it and totally recommend Voodoo Lab Pedal Power power supplies to anyone. The only drawback is that you have this bulky mains power cable. Actually, the cable is pretty slim, but it has the transformer on the extension cable since the Pedal Power X4 doesn’t have any real estate inside for the transformer. But for this price range, this is expected. 
Update: However, as we always do here on my blog, I’d like to share my long-term update with you! 🙂 As with many guitar gear addicts, I went down the rabbit hole of the never-ending pedals and built a pretty nice set of guitar pedals for myself. Unfortunately, Pedal Power X4 was immediately lacking due this ever growing pedals. It was not just the number of pedals X4 could power up, but also the lack of flexibility with the voltages. So, I wanted to solve this challenge for good and went ahead with the Cioks DC7.
Check out my Cioks DC7 review here
Don’t get me wrong, I still stand behind my opinion on the Pedal Power X4. If you are OK with a couple of pedals, this is probably one of the best options out there. But DC7 has given me so much flexibility with the multiple voltage selections for each outlet, as well as seven outlets with a lot more power on tap.
Pricing & Availability
As the Pedal Power X4 is one of the most affordable and appealing power supplies on the market, it’s widely available across many online stores. As mentioned, I got mine from Thomann back in 2021. The price was pretty different, though! 🙂 There’s around 23% of price increase over the past 5 years! So, better get yourself one if you have made your decision.
Check out Voodoo Lab Pedal Power X4 on Thomann here
You may also want to check out used options on Reverb, as well as the brand new items listed by the resellers over there.
Check out Voodoo Lab Pedal Power X4 on Reverb here
Last but not least, Pedal Power X4 is also available across many Amazon stores.
Check out Voodoo Lab Pedal Power X4 on Amazon here
I hope you have enjoyed this brief review and found this helpful for your next gear purchase! Thanks for visiting my blog and reading so far. See you in the next content soon!
