9V vs 18V any difference?

[gimmeagig]

Hi,
I have the Aguilar OPB3 in my bass.It is currently wired for 9V with a popout battery compartment on the back.The compartment does not seen to make reliable contact with the battery so I have decided to take it out and use a standard compartment with a battery clip.Now since I will have to have some work done anyway,I'm wondering if now wouldn't be a good time to rout it out for a second 9V battery.
Does anyone here know if there is a noticable difference when the OPB3 is run at 18V vs just 9V.My Bass is a Moon JB5 and I like the modern Marcus Miller type sound.
Thanks
Roxy

 

[Trevorus]

Mainly higher output. I think that's about it.

 

[MJ5150]

I "upgraded" my Spector Q5 to 18 volt, and it sounds awesome. I didn't expect much, and was really skeptical. Once I got it working right, I love the growly, thicker, meaner tone from it when I dial that in. Still sounds sweet for slap and pop, but has this punchy mean low end I was lacking before the "upgrade".

-Mike

 

[Carey]

I just thought I'd mention here that adding a battery only increases headroom, not output. This is a common misconception. It makes more power available to the preamp to deal with large transients and high boost settings without clipping, but it won't add gain.
If you like to boost the bass all the way and slap the bass 18v is probably a good idea. If you just use the preamp for minor tonal changes then it's probably not necessary.

 

[bound]

I have a Bartolini EZQ that's going into my current project. It's 38" scale, an will have a low F#, so the extra headroom would likely do it good. Thanks!

 

[rampie]

not all pre amps work with 18V...some of them even can be damaged. read the manual coming with the pre amps or to be sure, contact the manufacturer.
i had a bart 918 installed and i changed the 9 V to 18V. it made a huge difference in transients and headroom. the low end is tighter.
note....the power consumption is also higher.
if you can do 4 months on 9V, you will notice that you need to change the 2 batteries, required for 18V operation, within 3 months.
so instead of changing the batterie only 3 times a year...it will make you change instead of 3 batteries a year, change 8 batteries a year.
i think it is worth it!!

 

[gimmeagig]

18V it is.Thanks for your input.
Roxy

 

[rickbass]

Playing live - yeah, 18V puts out a badass signal...(if "signal" is the correct term to use).

Nonetheless, my 9V bass has all the headroom I need, too. It competes with my 18V, volume-wise, all the way, as Carey talked about

A fine bass with/without a preamp is what is most desirable to me. In other words - Don't make the preamp your criterion for bass selection.