Favorite builds that run on 18 volts?

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Dan M

Well-known member
I built too many pedals and ran out of power supply. So I ordered a CS12. It has two 18 volt outputs and I have no 18V pedals. Therefore I need two 18V pedals. (The lines between hobby, habit, and destructive behavior sure is squiggly, eh??)

I know I could step the power down to 9V, but that seems boring. And the logic trap I wrote above is air tight.

Any thoughts? What could I build?
 
I find that Tonebender Mk-3 style fuzzes sound pretty cool at 18v. Pretty hard to describe— not like an overdrive or a distortion, but also not like a normal fuzz anymore.

I’d recommend something like the Marigold fuzz (while I haven’t built that before, it looks like a good mk 3 style flavor— si q1+2 and NPN ge q3 is a great combo for a mk iii imo) with the adequate voltage rating for your caps, and then use a linear or W taper pot with a center detent as a voltage divider— fully clockwise feeds it 18v, at the center detent you’re at the standard 9v, and as you move CCW you gradually starve it for some saggy gated fuzz tones!
 
Well, thanks to zgrav now I’ll have to cut a larger piece of plywood and fill it up :D

That center detent idea is good. I like fuzz and I don’t have a tonebender style. Seems like a solid choice.
 
Dan M said:
I built too many pedals and ran out of power supply. So I ordered a CS12. It has two 18 volt outputs and I have no 18V pedals. Therefore I need two 18V pedals. (The lines between hobby, habit, and destructive behavior sure is squiggly, eh??)

I know I could step the power down to 9V, but that seems boring. And the logic trap I wrote above is air tight.

Any thoughts? What could I build?
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Just make sure your components ie. Electrolytics are 25v or greater, I use 35v minimum for 18v Builds!
 
Good idea on finding builds with charge pumps and just skip the pump. I will check out the powerboost.
 
Another idea, potentially less fun. I made a 18v->9v step down box in 1590A. I put two of this circuit in the box (each circuit with its pwn in/out power jacks) so I could convert both the 18v and 12v outputs on my power supply to 9v and just have 10 9v plugs. I know lots of pedals work just fine at 18v, and some sound better, for me this was about simplicity and modularity, being able to swap out any spot on the board without thinking about 18v or 9v.

It was a while back but I think I used essentially this circuit, maybe with a polarity protection diode in series with the input, built on vero board.

1632275725840.jpeg
 
The Catalinbread Dirty Secrets MkIII (Covert) and 5F6 (Tweed Man) sound both killa at 18V and I assume similar could be for the Drive 55 and Bohemia (I haven't tried those two yet), they have a similar circuit structure.
 
Thanks for the circuit. I see mouser has 7809 for less than $0.70 and they handle up to 35V input. So that’s a low cost solution to step down to regulated 9V.
 
i can only say this because i have seen it multiple places and plan to do it myself. i am building a Pauper (POT) clone and i have seen that a lot of people seem to really like it run on 18V.... but maybe they are all wrong.... thats the fun when it is all subjective.
 
I enjoy most of my drives at 18v. I find it gives less compression and a bit of a cleaner sound. I particularly like the Parthenon and zendrive at 18v. I always make sure I build all my drives with at least 35v caps so I can try them out either way.

As a contrast to this, I love my dumbloid clone at 9v as it sounds grittier. I use this as my higher gain drive.
 
Dan M said:
Well, thanks to zgrav now I’ll have to cut a larger piece of plywood and fill it up :D

That center detent idea is good. I like fuzz and I don’t have a tonebender style. Seems like a solid choice.
Click to expand...
Be prepared to fiddle resistor values if you run any TB circuit on voltages other than the intended 9V. Biasing is derived from the power supply rail.
 
I like lotsa headroom for things such as
- clean boosts (so they stay clean),
- EQ,
- Compressors,
- Modulation,
- Delay/ Verb

Well that takes care of pretty much everything outside of dirt!


Some dirt on 18v is better than others, dirt at higher voltage seems a Pandora's Box, but not necessarily The Pandora's Box by PPCB,
 
My only thought is that, on delay and verb especially, the pt2399 or Belton brick or fv-1 are regulated down to 5v or 3.3v (fv-1). So while running at 18v gives the op amps more headroom, it doesn’t really help the signal passing through digital chips. Also, considering these are usually used as unity gain pedals, I’ve not been persuaded there’s a benefit of running delays and reverbs at 18v, but I’m open to hearing other reasonings.
 
I'm not speaking from personal experience :rolleyes: , but....

Should anyone reading who is fairly new to pedal-building and is wondering if they should crank up the voltage on one of their builds, please don't. Without the proper rated components and configuration you will likely damage or destroy that build you worked so hard on ( and yes I said hard on ).
 
Thanks @phi1, that's the kind of sound knowledge, experience and advice I always hope to learn from when I post here. 👍👍

I suspected there might be something like that for the modulation, but completely forgot about the regulators found in delays and verbs. I was just listing what things I'd want to have lots of headroom and not distort. I am the perpetual newb... 😸
 
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My ROG Supreaux Deux sounds amazing at 18V. I play mostly clean, so the increased headroom is great for dialing in just the right amount of drive.
 
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