visual sound 1-spot

excerpts from Visual Sound's Website & Harmony Central Reviews

The 1 SPOT is the original 9V adapter that only takes up ONE SPOT on an outlet strip or wall outlet. It solves an annoying problem that people have complained about for years!

* Only takes up ONE position on your outlet strip or wall outlet!!
* Handles from one to over a dozen guitar pedals (1000mA max!)
* Use with optional multi-plug cable(s) for powering more than one pedal.
Guaranteed to work with any equipment that uses one of the following adapters (over 90% of the effects pedals on the market!):
* Boss PSA, Boss ACA, Danelectro DA-1, DOD PS-200R, Dunlop ECB-03, Ibanez AC-109, Korg A30950, Morley9V, Zoom AD-0006.**
* With new converter plugs, the 1 SPOT will work with virtually ANY 9V pedal! ...even Line 6 modeling pedals! **
* Will even convert international voltage (100V-240V) automatically; no transformer needed!
* 3 meter (10') cable is almost twice as long as other adapter cable

1 SPOT Compatibility Chart:
Akai - All pedals
Aphex - All pedals
Austone - All pedals
Boss - All pedals
Barber - All pedals
Carl Martin (all models without AC cord)
Casio Keyboards
Danelectro - All pedals
Demeter Tremulator - C35
Digitech
X series pedals
RP50, BP50, BP80
RP100, BP100 - CL6
RP200 and higher - not compatible
DOD - All pedals (older models require C35)
Dunlop
Crybaby Wahs
Rotovibe
Uni-Vibe Stereo Chorus
EBS - All pedals
Electro-Harmonix
Big Muff - C35 (USA), CBAT (Russian)
Bass Balls - C35
Holy Grail - C35
Small Clone - C35
Small Stone - C35
Holier Grail, Frequency Analyzer, MicroSynth, Q-Tron, Tube pedals - not compatible
Expandora
Fulltone - All pedals (except 69, Soul Bender, Octafuzz - these require CYR on a separate 1 SPOT from
other “normal” pedals.)
Guyatone - All pedals
Ibanez - All pedals (some older models require C35)
Jacques - All pedals C35
Line 6
POD - not compatible
Modeling Pedals - CL6
Marshall - All pedals
Maxon - All pedals
Moogerfooger - All pedals - CL6
Morley - All pedals
MXR
Auto Q
EQ - not compatible
Dime Distortion - not compatible
Doubleshot Distortion - not compatible
All single effects (new)
All single effects (old) - C35
Nobels - All pedals
RAT (all models C35)
Rocktron - All pedals
Roger Mayer (all models; some require CBAT)
Seymore Duncan Pickup Booster
T-Rex - All pedals (except AC cord models)
Tubeworks - AC cord included
Voodoo Lab - All pedals
Yamaha - Keyboards, samplers, drum machines - CYR
Zoom - All pedals
ZVEX - All pedals CBAT

Excerpts from Harmony Central:

Price Paid: US $140.00

Ease of Use: 10
If yah can plug in a toaster, you can use it.
As far as the distribution issue, I'll share what I did and see if it helps anyone.
Went to Radio Shack, bought small aluminum box.
-Bought 5 female panel-mount plugs.
-cut a opening in the box wide enough to stack them.
-Screwed them into the box.
-wired them all in parallel.
-made up cable(s) to feed my effects.
-One end into female on box, other to effect.
-Plug One Spot into any plug on box...
-the other plugs are now all hot.
This allows me to use different ends if needed or add extra at any time.
I also installed a small led so I know when it's on.
The whole project was cheap to build and is very reliable..

Sound Quality: 10

Sound quality is "0"......exactly what you want, no sound from it.
I was impressed. I could even use it to power an old wah that could detect ac power anywhere near it, but it ran quiet (battery-like) with the One Spot. No power adaptor "ever" pulled this off. So I was sold.
My old 71 Les Paul goes into a Duncan Pickup booster set to be mostly a line driver,
into an old Wah, into a Phase 90..and for now into a H2O, then into a modded 78-79 Marshall 2203. My amp is modded to the high gain type so any noise coming into it is noted quickly. No noise noted from the use of the One Spot.
I have used "1" One Spot (and no batteries) to power as many as 5 effects, no problems noted.
Personally, I LOVE IT!

Reliability: 10

Reliability:? It is made of plastic so I wouldn't stomp on it to often...
So far with about 30+ gigs under it's belt, it's 100% fine.
The long cord allows me to run it out of the stage line-of-fire, off to the side.
I think this is a pretty high quality piece, just not overly costly.

Customer Support: 10
Great company to deal with!
They answer email and seem more then willing to help you out.
Good People, I wish them luck.
Great Customer Service.

Overall Rating: 10
Overall, if you need good, QUIET, reliable 9volt power...
this may be one of the best around.
It simply works.
If I loose it or anything, I will get another one.

Price Paid: US $40

Ease of Use: 9
Pretty easy to use. You might have a little trouble if you have a ton of pedals, figuring out how many adapters and daisy chains and such you need to buy, but if you figure it out once, you're set. It's easier than all the wall warts that this thing replaces.

Sound Quality: 10
No noise from the adapter. I get some noise from my old tube amp, the lights in my room, and some of my analog pedals, but this thing is clean. And it runs at 1000 mA, so you should never run out of juice. If you do, you have too many fx on at once. At any rate, it's quiet.

Reliability: 8
seems pretty reliable. Some people commented that the cables are a bit thin, my only gripe is that sometimes the connections from the adapters and daisy chains can get a little loose, but I've never had a problem with this at a gig, just once or twice during setup.

Keep this on your pedalboard, store it safely and treat it well, like you would any of your other gear, and she'll be apples. And if it does break, read below for customer support.

Customer Support: 10
Dealing with the company is extremely helpful. I own a Jekyll and Hyde pedal and have had replacement parts sent out to me quickly and often without cost. They'll often send parts for little or nothing, and will repair for the same cost, if any, provided you pay shipping. Boss is top notch in the reliability dept, i'd put these guys number one for customer support.

Overall Rating: 10
$40 gets you the 1 spot, a daisy chain, and one or two adapters. I'll have to buy another daisy chain and adapter to power my entire rig, but that still lands under $60. Lots less than say a voodoo labs pedal power. If it were lost, I'd buy another one.

For tons less money than a voodoo labs, you sacrifice some of the features (no 18v power, no 'sag' feature, etc) that you might not use, and still get a noiseless power supply. If you power more than 3 pedals on your fx chain, you need one of these.

Submitted by Jeremy Skrenes at 05/24/2004 22:11