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OC2 Power supply?

W

WildmanUK

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Jun 8, 2015
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#1
Hi,

I have recently bought a Boss OC2 from ebay, but it has no power supply.

Its a made in Taiwan model and I was wondering would a standard 9v power supply work for this?

I had read somewhere that one of the versions of the OC2 had a certain type of component that meant you needed to use a 12v power supply to power the 9v unit. I think this was some of the Made in Japan models but thought I would double check on here.

Thanks.

Regards,

WildmanUK
 
#2
Some of the older Boss units, including the OC-2 require a 12V supply, even though they work on a 9V battery. I think the designations are ACA or PSA. If the unit says 'Use ACA Adapter', it is 12V. PSA is 9V.

I know this as when I traded my old OC-2 at a store, the guy taking it said it was faulty as the LED was dim and it did not sound 'right'. The same for my old Bass Chorus and T-WAH pedals, yet on battery they were fine. It turns out that internally, these older units have a resistor in series with the external supply jack to drop the rail voltage to 9V. This resistor can be removed to allow use with a 9V adapter.
 
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#5
An electronic friend of mine said me that, for a matter of design, some Boss pedals are capable to admit a 25% of tolereance in the input voltage, so it´s posible run them close to 12 vlts with an external adapter.

Usually, I run the mine OC-2 with an adapter of 9 vlts. I tried increasing the voltage and I realized that it seemed working better with 12 vlts instead 9 vlts. There´s not a huge difference but it seems winning a tad in terms of tracking and volume. And of course, the led brigths more, but I keep on run it with 9 vlts.
 
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#7
SGT. BAKER said:
An electronic friend of mine said me that, for a matter of design, some Boss pedals are capable to admit a 25% of tolereance in the input voltage, so it´s posible run them close to 12 vlts with an external adapter.

Usually, I run the mine OC-2 with an adapter of 9 vlts. I tried increasing the voltage and I realized that it seemed working better with 12 vlts instead 9 vlts. There´s not a huge difference but it seems winning a tad in terms of tracking and volume. And of course, the led brigths more, but I keep on run it with 9 vlts.
Click to expand...

I did the same with the Bass Chorus when I was selling it. It didn't really work at 9V - there was some effect but not that lush sound that 80's Boss chorus pedals are known for - changed up to 12V and the difference was massive. IMO, unless you particularly like the result, you are doing yourself and the pedal a disservice running an ACA pedal on a 9V adapter.
 
#8
SteveCS said:
I did the same with the Bass Chorus when I was selling it. It didn't really work at 9V - there was some effect but not that lush sound that 80's Boss chorus pedals are known for - changed up to 12V and the difference was massive. IMO, unless you particularly like the result, you are doing yourself and the pedal a disservice running an ACA pedal on a 9V adapter.
Click to expand...

Of course. In modulation effects the difference seems to be bigger. As the same way of delays and saturation effects they take some benefits powering of this way, even the compressors seem winning in headroom.
I tried too running an old CS-3 with 12 vlts and after a few weeks the comp was totally broken. Really it was in my pedalboard only for practice at home, so I don´t missed it and don´t care too much. But my OC-2 I really cares me a lot. This is the reason that I run it with 9 volts.
 
#18
Some of the older Boss units are odd with power supplies. They will run fine off of 1-spots and other daisy chains, as they can "pull" the necessary voltage. However, if you try to isolate the power, 9v can be a problem. My guitarist switched from a Boss daisy chain to a Pedal Power 2+ with isolated outputs, and his "vintage" Boss chorus pedal stopped working. I tried all kinds of stuff to repair it until I found out about the 12v thing. As soon as he switched the outlet on his PP 2+ to the 12v setting, the pedal worked perfectly and has ever since.
 

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