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[Ned Ward]

This review is mostly for musicians on the LAB, but thought it would be helpful.


I'm a guitarist, and while sometimes I do enjoy plugging straight into an amp, there are times where I do want my effects. I have a large board that has all the pedals I need, and it's powered with a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 - 9 isolated outputs, variable output to emulate old batteries (makes some pedals sound good, some bad, and some weird), but the large board isn't something I can fly with. I found myself needing a smaller board for an upcoming show in Cleveland this fall, and didn't want one of those One Spot switching power supplies.


So I bought the Pedaltrain Metro 16 - a reasonable sized pedalboard, and also the Pedaltrain Volto. The Volto is a lithium ion 2000mA battery that charges via USB, and has two 9V outputs. It comes with hook and loop to attach neatly to the bottom of the pedalboard.


Comes with 4 different AC adapter plugs for US/Japan, Europe/HK, and two other international ones (Angled 2 prong, small round 2 prong). You can also just use a laptop, computer or even an AC adapter in your car to charge on the way there. Comes with 1 straight 9V cable, 1 right-angled 9V cable, and 2 3-output daisy chain 9V cables, as well as 10 black zip ties to keep cables tidy.


Charge time is 1 hour for 6 hours of use, of course depending on current draw. With the pedals shown, I had about 130mA of current use, but not all the pedals are on all the time. Since our gigs are rarely longer than 2 hours, not a problem. Battery charge is indicated by 3 green bars on the side.


Using it was easy - hooking up the pedals to the Volto like you would with any other power source, and then using the zip ties to tidy things up. I wish the kit had a few zip tie adhesive tiedowns so that you could keep it really clean under the pedalboard, but that's nothing a trip to Fry's can't fix. Can't tell the difference in the sound of my pedals, which makes sense.


Will be taking it to a 3 hour rehearsal Thursday, so will update my review afterwards, but so far if you need portable power for a smaller pedalboard and don't want to be bothered by hunting for an AC cable or outlet, this is a pretty cool way to go.


http://www.pedaltrain.com/volto/

[Stephen Kirby]

Cool.  That would be perfect for folks compelled to bring pedals to jams.  I know a few and will turn them on to this.  Also for those bars where there isn't a plug at the front of the stage or fly-ins where you have no idea what you'll run into.

Are there 3.5mm adapters for things like a Klon or older DOD effects?

If you forget to charge it, can you run live off a USB charger?  Just for the connivence of not having to rewire a OneSpot into things.

That's a lot of dirt on that board. 

[Ned Ward]

Stephen - you can get adapters from multiple places for the different AC needs - my original AL9 delay has a cracked circuit board by the power adapter, so use a 9V connector adapter cable. I don't know if Pedaltrain sells them but Voodoo Lab would be a good place to look.

This is exactly perfect for a fly gig - I can get it to fit in my luggage, and I can get some dirt into a Twin or Deluxe Reverb. and yes, there's dirt as these are mostly older pedals (the delay is from '83, wah from '92? and Direct Drive from 2000. There's also lots of sonic dirt as well - the EP Booster just is great on, and the Timmy is my lead channel on this board.

If there's still a charge left, you can power it off the USB charger, but if the battery is totally drained or the total pedal draw is more than the charger puts out, all bets are off. Should be interesting as I forgot to plug mine in to charge and have practice again next week - we will see!

[Steve M Smith]

I have often thought about using the batteries from a rechargeable drill for this sort of thing.  As with most of my great ideas though, I haven't got round to doing it!


Steve.

[Steve Hurt]

I have a Volto.   Only thing I don't like about it is, it won't power a Shure GLX-D wireless receiver
(GLX-D needs 250 MA)

I had the GLX-D and it would work for a short while and then just go down.  I contacted Pedaltrain and they said the VOLTO would sag under 9v with that load on it.  Apparently that is enough to take out the GLX-D.

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