Batteries vs DC

[midi_in]

Some how i feel that my pedals sound "cleaner" using batteries. Even my Roland street cube has a "cleaner" sound to it. Is there truth to this, or is it just me?

i normally plug my amp in because it eats batteries but on all my fuzz, i use batteries.
(i dont have a cab and head right now because im in a transitional period.)

[Scruffie]

Power is Power is Power, Unless you have Dodgy House Wiring/ A Crappy Power Supply/ Pedals with poor power filtering, It shouldn't make any difference to the tone, if anything, the Power should be cleaner as it stays at full and provides a constant high voltage where as the batteries will lose charge over time and the circuits will lose that headroom thing people like to go on about.

It is possible when your batteries are fresh though they are a little over what your Power Supply puts out voltage wise and this is the difference you're hearing... but it's more likely physcological as that's a very small difference.

Fuzz Pedals are only good with batteries when the Voltage Dies and it Starts to Starve them, then you get a change in Tone, but this can be accomplished by simply limiting the voltage with a Starve Box/Control or whatever.

[smallsnd/bigsnd]

what he said.
plus a power supply is much better for the environment. no contest.

[bob the r0bot]

the best of both worlds provided by dano

[eatyourguitar]

Power is Power is Power, Unless you have Dodgy House Wiring/ A Crappy Power Supply/ Pedals with poor power filtering, It shouldn't make any difference to the tone, if anything, the Power should be cleaner as it stays at full and provides a constant high voltage where as the batteries will lose charge over time and the circuits will lose that headroom thing people like to go on about.

It is possible when your batteries are fresh though they are a little over what your Power Supply puts out voltage wise and this is the difference you're hearing... but it's more likely physcological as that's a very small difference.

Fuzz Pedals are only good with batteries when the Voltage Dies and it Starts to Starve them, then you get a change in Tone, but this can be accomplished by simply limiting the voltage with a Starve Box/Control or whatever.

I will disagree slightly, I have a cheap $20 plastic practice amp that will pickup all sorts of EMI clicks (EH pulsar) and even 60hz hum from other pedals when on a onespot but it somehow doesn't when on a battery. I think that 9v wire on the onespot is like a huge antena and the amp is clear plastic not shielded at all. also, I have read that the fuzz face operates differently when on a battery. like the battery is just as important as the resistors caps etc.. regulated power with a sag resistor is a little different than a battery that sags differently depending on the load. this is mostly what I've read and not what I've done. just comparing battery to battery, a zinc battery has its own sound on a fuzz even with the voltages of both batteries being the same.

[bob the r0bot]

I will disagree slightly, I have a cheap $20 plastic practice amp that will pickup all sorts of EMI clicks (EH pulsar) and even 60hz hum from other pedals when on a onespot but it somehow doesn't when on a battery. I think that 9v wire on the onespot is like a huge antena and the amp is clear plastic not shielded at all. also, I have read that the fuzz face operates differently when on a battery. like the battery is just as important as the resistors caps etc.. regulated power with a sag resistor is a little different than a battery that sags differently depending on the load. this is mostly what I've read and not what I've done. just comparing battery to battery, a zinc battery has its own sound on a fuzz even with the voltages of both batteries being the same.

this man speaks the truth

[Holy Schnikes]

OneSpots are notorious for introducing noise since all the pedals are sharing the one source. I think a power source with isolated outs (I use 2 PP2+s) sounds incredible, noise/hum free with my 15 pedal chain.

Batteries are too damn expensive, I forget to unplug inputs, and I hate yanking off pedals to change batteries. PP2+ also has the starve outs for fuzz, don't really use this feature though.

[Scruffie]

Power is Power is Power, Unless you have Dodgy House Wiring/ A Crappy Power Supply/ Pedals with poor power filtering, It shouldn't make any difference to the tone, if anything, the Power should be cleaner as it stays at full and provides a constant high voltage where as the batteries will lose charge over time and the circuits will lose that headroom thing people like to go on about.

It is possible when your batteries are fresh though they are a little over what your Power Supply puts out voltage wise and this is the difference you're hearing... but it's more likely physcological as that's a very small difference.

Fuzz Pedals are only good with batteries when the Voltage Dies and it Starts to Starve them, then you get a change in Tone, but this can be accomplished by simply limiting the voltage with a Starve Box/Control or whatever.

I will disagree slightly, I have a cheap $20 plastic practice amp that will pickup all sorts of EMI clicks (EH pulsar) and even 60hz hum from other pedals when on a onespot but it somehow doesn't when on a battery. I think that 9v wire on the onespot is like a huge antena and the amp is clear plastic not shielded at all. also, I have read that the fuzz face operates differently when on a battery. like the battery is just as important as the resistors caps etc.. regulated power with a sag resistor is a little different than a battery that sags differently depending on the load. this is mostly what I've read and not what I've done. just comparing battery to battery, a zinc battery has its own sound on a fuzz even with the voltages of both batteries being the same.

Three Words... Switching Power Supply... Try with a Transformer Based Power Supply (Not a One Spot).

Also notice I said, House Wiring, Power Supply Filtering? Shielding is another one... that's not a Battery Making it cleaner, that's other variables causing problems, Circumstanical Evidence and also... not really a tone difference.

Getting into battery Type causing variances... i'm not even going down that route.

A Fuzz Face running better of a Battery? The Merit to that would be firstly... it's not designed to run off a power supply, there is no filtering, a battery will sag over time, but a 9.6V Battery & 9.6V Power Supply both supply the same power, there is no way a Fuzz Face draws enough current to put load on a battery when playing.

Another word... Psychoacoustics.

Batteries do have there place, I personally like having them around and run most of my Ge Fuzzes off them, but i'm saying there's no tone difference.

[metalmariachi]

A topic that has been discussed on end for the last 2 decades.
Batteries in certain pedals, especially fuzz and TS-9s sound different than power supplies

Carbon sounds different than alkaline.

Do a search on any of the 10,000 forums out there.

And yes I can hear the difference.

Bottom line plug what ever you personally like in and forget about it.

MM