Harley Benton’s new pedalboards feature a built-in power supply – and rechargeable battery
The affordable gear champ’s new Spaceship PowerBar fuels your rig but doesn’t need to be plugged into the wall
Affordable gear co Harley Benton has unveiled its latest Spaceship pedalboards, which integrate the company’s neat PowerBar power supplies – and now include rechargeable integrated batteries.
Six new PowerBar supplies have been announced, alongside six new pedalboards to accommodate them.
The PowerBar itself is shaped, well, like a big ol’ bar, which slots neatly under the top rail of various pedalboard designs, including HB’s own Spaceships as well as similar (read: Pedaltrain) ’boards. You can buy it along with one of HB’s Spaceships or individually.
These are affixed using two included aluminum rails and come in a range of sizes to fit various pedalboard configurations.
The larger, flagship Spaceship Power units feature 11 isolated outputs and four non-isolated outputs, with switchable 9V/250mA, 9V/500mA, 9/12/18V – 500mA outputs, plus a dedicated 9V/3A output for powering effects with high power consumption. USB-A and USB-C ports let you charge your phone, too, which is nice.
More compact Spaceship PowerBar supplies include seven isolated outputs and four non-isolated outputs.
There are also LED indicators for each output, a tiny display that shows how much current your pedals are using, and universal input voltage operation (100-240V) if you’re lucky enough to be touring internationally.
Get The Pick Newsletter
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
Depending on size, the lithium batteries boast capacities ranging from 4,500mAh to 9,000mAh and charging times from 1.7 to 3.4 hours.
It should be noted that if you’re running these at full tilt – ie, using all the mA available – you might struggle to get through an entire set. The larger power supplies will give you 1.1 hours of play time, while the smaller ones will get you just 50 minutes. But if you’re running a smaller rig with more low-draw analog pedals, we’d wager you could eke out enough juice for a headline slot.
The Spaceship PowerBar isn’t the first rechargeable battery-equipped pedalboard design – the Earthboard was launched back in 2018 – but it is about as discreet as a pedalboard power supply can get, even if you might want to keep its old-school laptop-style charger handy.
Six new Spaceship pedalboards have been announced alongside the PowerBars, all sized to accommodate the supplies, and utilizing the usual hook-and-loop pedal affixation method.
Spaceship PowerBar pedalboards start at $145, while the standalone PowerBars start at $109, and begin shipping in late August. Head over to Harley Benton for more info.
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month**
Join now for unlimited access
US pricing $3.99 per month or $39.00 per year
UK pricing £2.99 per month or £29.00 per year
Europe pricing €3.49 per month or €34.00 per year
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism from Cardiff University, and over a decade's experience writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as 20 years of recording and live experience in original and function bands. During his career, he has interviewed the likes of John Frusciante, Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Matt Bellamy, Kirk Hammett, Jerry Cantrell, Joe Satriani, Tom DeLonge, Ed O'Brien, Polyphia, Tosin Abasi, Yvette Young and many more. In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe.
“Our new power supplies are about as state-of-the-art as you can get”: How Truetone’s game-changing 1 Spot Pro series is continuing to provide pro pedalboard power to the masses with the new CS11 and XP5
“Jeff Beck gave me his gold J Rockett Archer, based on the Klon. That can never leave”: Featuring a Joe Bonamassa wah and an overdrive gifted by Beck himself, Carmen Vandenberg’s pedalboard is a tour de force of tone