Pedal Power

[twelvevail]

Do products like the Voodoo Pedal Power and DC brick make a difference? I see people commenting that they help with noise.
But do they do anything as far as performance/tone of pedals?

 

[metaball]

assuming the user has done the math, they ensure that the pedal is getting the proper amount of juice to run as it should & is not getting ground interference problems from other pedals like you could in a "daisy chained" scenario.

some "bricks" have "starve" knobs so you can get that "dying battery" effect on an analog pedal that some people find pleasing.

some feature higher voltage & mA outputs for pedals that demand more power or are built to perform with additional headroom when supplied 12v or 18v as opposed to the usual 9v.

 

[jruberto]

this no joke -- i have one delay pedal with an odd power connector preventing me from chaining it in with my other stuff (just a onespot). it sounds fine with a brand new battery but starts getting noisy after about 20-30 mins when the battery starts losing juice.

so i found a 9v 500ma wallwart in a box, however my meter reports that it's providing 13.5v. i hardwired/soldered it to this delay pedal and it sounds GREAT, even better than with a new battery.

and i also have a distortion pedal that sounds AMAZING when the battery is so dead that you can barely see the indicator light.