Do you find that most overdrives that run at 9v can be run at 12v or 18v?

[dorfmeister]

What are the factors involved in this?

What overdrives can do it?

Are there any specific overdrives that you know cannot be run at 12v or 18v?

 

[evanjackson]

I think most that run at 9v should NOT be run higher. Many are designed to take 12, special considerations must be taken to take 18...lots of "boutique" ones do but most production ones do not. Anything that uses surface mount technology should probably not be run on higher than 9v.

 

[evanjackson]

By the way, that's not a slag on surface mount technology (when done well, I think that SMT stuff can be EXTREMELY reliable)...it's just my understanding that the components used do not react well to higher than suggested votages.

 

[IvIark]

You'd need to check the rating on the capacitors as a bare minimum. Some people do use 16V caps which would frazzle immediately if you put 18V through them. Surface mount components are just like conventional through-hole and can be found at much higher voltage ratings than 9V so the form in itself isn't necessarily the problem.

Personally unless I had a schematic to check I wouldn't put 18V through anything that I hadn't been told would accept that voltage from the manufacturer or at least another user who had tried it.

 

[evanjackson]

Surface mount components are just like conventional through-hole and can be found at much higher voltage ratings than 9V so the form in itself isn't necessarily the problem.

Ah, cool...thanks for correcting me on that...I learned something new.

 

[dorfmeister]

So what are some pedals that people run at 12v or 18v?

What are some pedals that definitely should not be.

I've got a Fulton Webb Textosterone and it is listed as being able to handle 9v to 18v.

 

[B_of_H]

ocd needs to be run at 14v or higher if you want it to sound amp like IMO.

a tube screamer sounds best at 9v.

how are those examples?

 

[IvIark]

I think most 9V pedals will probably get away with 12V, an unregulated 9V DC power supplies I used turned out to be over 11V and worked fine with everything I tried it with and it's highly unlikely that anyone would use caps rated at less than 12V in a 9V effect, you would expect 16V to be the minimum.

The OCD is the only pedal that I use at 18V because I think it sounds quite fizzy with my gear at 9V. All the MI Audio Pedals can be powered with up to 25V, but I didn't like the Crunch Box as much at higher voltage because I don't want more head room with that effect, it's supposed to be high gain and compressed.

I don't think I'd use any fuzz at more than 9V, particularly something like the Fuzz Face which many people think sounds best with a slightly flat battery, and higher voltage would adversely affect the bias.

 

[Bobster]

The power supplies certainly tweak the headroom that the pedal delivers via the amp. The OCD is a really great pedal at 18v but i like the 12v setting the best with it being more balanced.

 

[this1smyne]

i run OCD fulltone and TIM at 18 volts, no problems and no headroom issues either

 

[Astor59]

Mike Piera (Analogman) claim that his Tubescreamers works pretty well at 12v, I' have a TS silver mod. and it sound clearer and less middy at 12v