The gold standard is a term you don’t throw out lightly. But allow me to be so bold and use it for Cioks, a forward-thinking company from Denmark that has been a leader in creating low-profile, isolated power supplies for musicians.
We’ve come a long way in terms of powering your pedalboard – from wall warts strung together on a power strip to legit pedal power units – so the question now becomes, which one is the best for your needs?
I don’t begrudge premier manufacturers like Voodoo Lab, Strymon, Dunlop and Truetone, among many others, for their outstanding power supplies, all of which I’ve used (and still do), but at the moment, Cioks has refined the idea of a slim pedalboard power supply into an art form.
Coming in at a one-inch profile and weighing 1.1 lbs, the DC7 Power Supply is the company’s thinnest and most powerfully versatile unit to date.
What makes the Cioks DC7 so exceptional? Put aside its diminutive form factor, and what you have are seven isolated DC outlets with four selectable voltages on each outlet that can feed juice to just about any pedal. Using the recessed dipswitches at the top of the unit, you can switch an outlet to run 660mA at 9V, 500mA at 12V, 400mA at 15V or 330mA at 18V.
The DC7 also includes a 5-volt USB outlet for charging your smartphone or tablet, and if you need more juice for extra pedals, an onboard 24-volt auxiliary outlet can be used for expansion with CIOKS 4 or CIOKS 8 units.
Another key benefit of the DC7 is the company’s advanced LED monitoring with individual-status LEDs. If there’s an overload or a short circuit, the LED will shut off, letting you know you might have a short in a cable or that the pedal’s current consumption is over the outlet’s limit.
There’s also a global-status LED on the “O” of the Cioks logo that lets you know if you exceed the 48W power limit, and a triple-LED power meter that indicates in three steps how much of the unit’s total available power is being used.
In addition, its universal mains input voltage (100-240V AC) means you can safely run the DC7 anywhere in the world. The DC7 comes with 12 different flex cables for connecting pedals or daisy-chaining a few to a single outlet and a mounting hardware kit to mount it on top or underneath most popular pedalboards.
A few years ago, I reviewed Eventide’s PowerMax (by Cioks), which is, more or less, the DC7 reviewed here. I was blown away by it then, and it’s still, by far, my favorite of the power supplies that I’m currently using, and it hasn’t failed me yet. So, in essence, what I’m saying here is that the CIOKS DC7 will prove to be the same exceptionally reliable power source for anyone who is serious about keeping their stompboxes running efficiently and quietly.
I’ve already wired up the DC7 for a new pedalboard, and as expected, the unit is completely noiseless, and I mean dead quiet. What’s great is I was able to switch voltages to accommodate a new wireless pedal guitar tuner as well as a few power-hungry stompboxes like the Strymon TimeLine and Eventide H90 processors.
- PRICE: $249 / £211
- TYPE: Pedalboard power supply
- OUTLETS: 1-7: 9V DC / 660mA or 12V DC / 500mA or 15V DC / 400mA or 18V DC / 330mA each: USB 5V DC, max 1A: AUX 24V DC, max 2A
- POWER: 90-265V AC universal
- MAX OUTPUT POWER: 48W
- SIZE: 160 x 88 x 25,4mm excl. rubber feet
- WEIGHT: 500g / 1.1lbs
- WARRANTY: 5 years worldwide
- CONTACT: Cioks
