Boutique Pedals & Non Alkaline batteries?

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marcg71

New member
I recently have been totally overhauling my setup. The main reason, I was in two bands (hard rock & blues). The hard rock band literally crashed and burned. So I am now going to focus on my blues band and have been looking more into boutique pedals. I picked up a clyde deluxe wah and was looking at getting a Analogman Sunface nkt. Both manufacturers recommend non-alkaline carbon zinc 9 volt batteries. Do they really make that big of a difference?

I ask because I power everything from a DC brick. Interested in your experiences and thoughts?
 
Re: Boutique Pedals & Non Alkaline batteries?

a lot of the fuzz pedals use germanium transistors which require a reverse polarity power source. basically if you plug ur dc brick into a germaniun fuzz then i think the outcome will be frying ur brick. that leaves powering it with a separate powersource of the right polarity (read=pain in the butt) or batteries. The general consensus seems to be that cheapo dollar store batteries sound the best in these pedals and any kind of battery sounds better than a power supply.

I dont know why, but that is all the hype.

As for the wah pedal, i think that should work just fine with the dc brick
 
Re: Boutique Pedals & Non Alkaline batteries?

My concern was - can I find these batteries and if you do, how much can you rely on them? For one show, one week? Then the next question, is it worth it? I guess I'm thinking no. I love tone, but to a working musician, trying to gig, what is realistic?
 
Re: Boutique Pedals & Non Alkaline batteries?

Carbon batteries AND vintage/vintage style Fuzz tones IS NOT HYPE...not at all. If you say it is, you are either uninformed, not using fuzz pedals or simply agreeing with others for no reason at all...

As to how long you can rely on them...in a new Boss Digital Delay pedal (for example) not more than an hour or 2 however in a pedal like a Fuzz Face weeks!

If you wanna read up on carbon batteries and fuzz pedals (as well as listen to a sound clip) check out this...

http://www.analogman.com/fuzzface.htm

Scroll around and read up on the battery/power supply/daisy chain stuff and somewhere on that page is also a fuzz face sound clip wiht a carbon battery vs an alkaline
 
Re: Boutique Pedals & Non Alkaline batteries?

I'll add this...FWIW, I use an AnalogMan modded Arbiter Fuzz Face (it is a Sunface in a Fuzz Face box) and mine has the 9 volt dc jack on it...there is a marked difference between powering it with my Pedal Power, an alkaline battery and a carbon battery...

Try it yourself and see what you think...
 
Re: Boutique Pedals & Non Alkaline batteries?

In a Fuzz Face, the battery is part of the circuit. In such a simple circuit as a Fuzz Face, everything plays a larger role. The demo on analogman's site should explain it all.
 
Re: Boutique Pedals & Non Alkaline batteries?

BTW, while we're at it...if you use a Fulltoen wah BEFORe any Fuzz Pedal and FOR SURE a Fuzz Face/Sunface you will have to have a buffer installed in the wah....
 
Re: Boutique Pedals & Non Alkaline batteries?

can I use the fulltone wah with the dc? It indicates a negative tip - the dc brick indicates a positive barrel and a negative center. Is that the same as tip on a "female" leed? I do truly appreciate the help!
 
Re: Boutique Pedals & Non Alkaline batteries?

Zinc Carbon batteries are the cheapo, dollar store batteries. Stuff like these:

Eveready-Super-Heavy-Duty-9.jpg


As Christian said, for a fuzz, the battery definately makes a difference. You might like the higher powered Alkaline better though... If you get a fuzz without an LED, the battery can last for months...
 
Re: Boutique Pedals & Non Alkaline batteries?

the guy who invented fire said:
Carbon batteries AND vintage/vintage style Fuzz tones IS NOT HYPE...not at all. If you say it is, you are either uninformed, not using fuzz pedals or simply agreeing with others for no reason at all...

As to how long you can rely on them...in a new Boss Digital Delay pedal (for example) not more than an hour or 2 however in a pedal like a Fuzz Face weeks!

If you wanna read up on carbon batteries and fuzz pedals (as well as listen to a sound clip) check out this...

http://www.analogman.com/fuzzface.htm

Scroll around and read up on the battery/power supply/daisy chain stuff and somewhere on that page is also a fuzz face sound clip wiht a carbon battery vs an alkaline
Click to expand...

I never should have read that page or listened to any of the clips. Now I want to build a Fuzz Face...LOL. I've got parts to do an NPN version but I'd prefer PNP.

One of the best sounded fuzzes I've heard as of late is the new Angry Fuzz from Visual Sound. It's a wonderful sounding pedal. If you're hardcore vintage, it may not be what you want, but if you want another flavor of fuzz, it's worth looking in to.
 
Re: Boutique Pedals & Non Alkaline batteries?

FWIW, you can forget about using an external power supply with the Analogman NKT Sunface. There is no adapter and no LED.
 
Re: Boutique Pedals & Non Alkaline batteries?

Does the battery have....er troo powerpass?
No oldschool fuzz have dc or leds.....that is just not right, nor does it sound any good with a powersupply!
 
Re: Boutique Pedals & Non Alkaline batteries?

Rid said:
Does the battery have....er troo powerpass?
No oldschool fuzz have dc or leds.....that is just not right, nor does it sound any good with a powersupply!
Click to expand...

Thats right!

My AnalogMan Fuzz face was modded when I got it (bought it used) and the original owner had the dc jack added...worthless! It really sounds terrible when powered with a power supply!
 
Re: Boutique Pedals & Non Alkaline batteries?

ErikH said:
I never should have read that page or listened to any of the clips. Now I want to build a Fuzz Face...LOL. I've got parts to do an NPN version but I'd prefer PNP.

One of the best sounded fuzzes I've heard as of late is the new Angry Fuzz from Visual Sound. It's a wonderful sounding pedal. If you're hardcore vintage, it may not be what you want, but if you want another flavor of fuzz, it's worth looking in to.
Click to expand...

I really love my Fuzz face but I'll be honest with ya...there are 2 things to keep in mind. One, it is not an effect for everybody and two it is not an effect that you can use well at low volumes.

I've tried a ton of Fuzz face clones in recent months and almost none of them sound right but I'll tell ya if you want a decent sounding fuzz face for not too much cash look into the newest Hendrix FF from Dunlop...it is a killer sounding pedal. I prefer germanium myself but the new JH (which is silicon) is pretty killer!
 
Re: Boutique Pedals & Non Alkaline batteries?

the guy who invented fire said:
I really love my Fuzz face but I'll be honest with ya...there are 2 things to keep in mind. One, it is not an effect for everybody and two it is not an effect that you can use well at low volumes.

I've tried a ton of Fuzz face clones in recent months and almost none of them sound right but I'll tell ya if you want a decent sounding fuzz face for not too much cash look into the newest Hendrix FF from Dunlop...it is a killer sounding pedal. I prefer germanium myself but the new JH (which is silicon) is pretty killer!
Click to expand...

Thing is, there's so many FF clones just like there's so many Tube Screamer clones that it almost doesn't matter anymore. Sure, the original is almost always the best but there's so many flavors out there. The Roger Mayer Axis Fuzz is a cool one too.

I have some germanium transistors in my parts bin but they are NPN. I did a NPN Rangemaster with one of them and it came out well so I may breadboard a Fuzz Face with a couple of them. The drawback with them though is leakage and temperature stability.

Silicon isn't bad and with the right tweaks, can sound really good. Plus, silicon is more stable that germanium and these days, cheaper.
 
Re: Boutique Pedals & Non Alkaline batteries?

There are a million and a half TS clones out there...all of them are pretty good to boot, however 99.8% of the FF clones out there SUCK ROCKS!

Im not saying you have to shell out for an original Arbiter but a good FF is hard to find...that is why Fuzz pedals in general get a bad rap...most of them suck!

If you do a FF best of luck...try to get some killer trannys...NKT275's if you can...OC Mullards (and their various copies) as well as the AC's and such just don't sound right in a FF...at least not to me.
 
Re: Boutique Pedals & Non Alkaline batteries?

BTW...the Axis is not much like a FF at all...I bought an Axis hoping to get a FF tone and was not even close.

The Axis is cool buit it ain't a FF.
 
Re: Boutique Pedals & Non Alkaline batteries?

marcg71 said:
I recently have been totally overhauling my setup. The main reason, I was in two bands (hard rock & blues). The hard rock band literally crashed and burned. So I am now going to focus on my blues band and have been looking more into boutique pedals. I picked up a clyde deluxe wah and was looking at getting a Analogman Sunface nkt. Both manufacturers recommend non-alkaline carbon zinc 9 volt batteries. Do they really make that big of a difference?

I ask because I power everything from a DC brick. Interested in your experiences and thoughts?
Click to expand...

The reason is that the old Carbon Zinc Batteries "sag" when you hit um hard in voltage but alkaline and Litheums don't. It does make a tonal difference and some guys like that "sag" feel in there compressors and distortion pedals.
The current capacity of the battery is the reason for this voltage "sag". The higher current capacity Alkalines and Litheums don't voltage sag as much under load as the old Carbon Zincs do so that affects the tones.
 
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