Overpowering a distortion or fuzz? 18v instead of just 9v

[ampegfuzz]

Does say hooking up 2 9v to a distortion or fuzz hurt a pedal? Does it do anything at all tone wise? Will it fry or do nothing? Just curious

[gnasher1993]

Originally Posted by ampegfuzz

Does say hooking up 2 9v to a distortion or fuzz hurt a pedal? Does it do anything at all tone wise? Will it fry or do nothing? Just curious

Depends on the pedal

[Jazz Ad]

Yeah, why not feeding a pedal twice the voltage for which it was designed?
Sounds like a great idea. Ever tried that with power tools or computers?

[gibsualdo]

Originally Posted by Jazz Ad

Yeah, why not feeding a pedal twice the voltage for which it was designed?
Sounds like a great idea. Ever tried that with power tools or computers?

Awesome, I'm going to double the voltage of my PSU, so my PC will be twice as fast!!!

[skulletwhip]

Pedals are usually labeled as to how much power they can take. If one isn't labeled look up the manual or contact the company.

[ampegfuzz]

We'll even though sarcasm is greatly appriciated i just thought my old meastro fuzz sounded like it was underpowered even though i put a fresh batt in it. So i thought maybe more power.

[MAMMOTHvolume]

think thats a characteristic of that fuzz, some distortions will benefit from running on 18v rather than 9v such as big muff, rat and tube screamer type circuits but some wont like fuzz faces, tonebenders etc.

[Silent Fly]

Originally Posted by ampegfuzz

Does say hooking up 2 9v to a distortion or fuzz hurt a pedal? Does it do anything at all tone wise? Will it fry or do nothing? Just curious

Unfortunately, there is no fix rule. It depends on the pedal's circuits.

Often it depends by the maximum voltage that capacitors can take other times by the current that the higher voltage produces.

Some pedals have even overvoltage protection because the circuit can be damaged if the power supply voltage is higher than 12V or 15V.

If you are in doubt, I recommend you ask the pedal builder.

Sound wise, higher supply voltage is likely to increase the headroom. On distortion pedals is less likely because the clipping circuit usually limits the signal voltage.

I have been dealing with guitar players that swear blind that pedals powered at 12V or 18V sound better. Other people don't notice any difference.

Personally, if any of my pedals sounds better at more than 9V, I build a circuit what increases the internal voltage. In this way my customers don’t need a dedicated power supply and they can daisy chain the power supply with other pedals.

[GregDunn]

Yup, there's generally a maximum voltage that any device will accept (even tubes) before damage occurs. If your pedal uses ICs or transistors (likely!), running it much above the rated voltage will release the smoke that makes them work in the first place.

[edit] SF beat me to it. And don't assume that a particular pedal has overvoltage or even reverse voltage protection unless you're able to study the schematics; cost-cutting could be fatal to the pedal in these cases.

[wicked_child]

Originally Posted by gibsualdo

Awesome, I'm going to double the voltage of my PSU, so my PC will be twice as fast!!!

FTW

[Silent Fly]

Originally Posted by GregDunn

(...)And don't assume that a particular pedal has overvoltage or even reverse voltage protection unless you're able to study the schematics(...)

+1

Overvoltage protection doesn't necessarily mean that the pedal can work above the max voltage.

I usually put overvoltage and reverse voltage protection on [sfx] pedals. When/If 18V hit the pedal the protection stops the pedal from frying but the protection in itself may be damaged - a little bit like a fuse in a device connected to the mains.

A couple of days ago one of my customers connected a pedal to a 9V-AC power supply (a Whammy PSU) for a few minutes. The protection kicked in and it saved the pedal but the protection was damaged. $1 damage versus potentially half of the pedal gone.

[dmusic148]

Someone here recently toasted a VT bass pedal with 18 v. It worked for a couple of days, then, poof.

[ampegfuzz]

Thanks everyone for the insight. I'll leave her be at 9v I need more fuzz peds.

[theunknowndude]

I did the same thing,...

plugged turbo rat in to gator powered pedal board in 18v cos it had same plug type as the weird reverse non boss style... luckily all it did was reset my power before I learn it wouldnt work... bought a one spot adaptor and now works awesomelly but glad I didnt potentially blow up a brand new turbo rat!

[RickenBoogie]

Try putting a clean boost in front of the fuzz pedal. Works for me.