Eventide has revamped its Powerfactor power supply, and rebranded it as the Powerfactor 2. The little juice box is still designed by Ciocks, and it doesn’t radically change the Powerfactor’s design.
From a practical standpoint, the Powerfactor 2’s most important change is that it now accepts a standard IEC cable as its AC power source. The original Powerfactor had this small, dinky AC cable, very similar to the kind that hooked into a cable box or slim Playstation. What I think is useful about an IEC cable (the kind that hooks into most PCs) is that you can go online and find ones that are 20ft long. It’s way more practical than dealing with extension cords. I’ve also had better luck finding IEC cables with European connectors on the other end, which rules because one of the best features of the Powerfactor is the switchable 115v/230v selector switch.
As a counterpoint though, the older Powerfactor’s tiny cable allowed Ciocks to add this unique plug guard with a slit that the cable pulled through. It made the cable a bit of a pain in the ass to plug in, but once it was through it was also hard to accidentally kick it out as you thrash about on stage.
Otherwise, there’s not much new here. The output section is slightly retooled to give you power jacks instead of seven, but two are 12vDC only, so if you only have pedals that take standard “Boss-style” 9v jacks this isn’t the power supply for you.
A final note: I can tell you from experience that the RCA jacks Eventide/Ciocks uses for the output jacks are a big improvement over the barrel connectors most other companies use. It’s harder for a cable to get accidentally unplugged.
The Powerfactor 2 is on sale now. Most websites have it on sale for $230.
