Can a CA3080 Dynacomp be powered with 12V?

[Breogan]

Hi,

I would like to apologize if this is not the right place for this. 

I have a DynaComp from 1988, one of the very first made by Dunlop which is is very similar, or equal, to the ones made by MXR before they went out of business in 1984.

I was wondering if one could power this pedal with 12V to get a bit more headroom or clarity.

Is that ok or could I fry something?

Thanks!

[Mark Hammer]

Possible to power with 12V?  Yes.

Cleaner?  No.

Supply voltage is not the limiting factor (no pun intended).  See here:  http://www.oldcrows.net/~patchell/archives/ca3280_2.html

[Breogan]

Thank for the quick reply!

I have visited the link and, if I am not mistaken, that refers to how the noise is increased depending on the input voltage, but not on the voltage of the power supply. In fact, the test schematics are powered at 15V.

Is that correct?

[Breogan]

Ups, I've made a mistake. The chip in pedal is the LM3080. I guess the same applies to the LM3080.

[Mark Hammer]

Yeah, exact same chip, just a different manufacturer.

[PRR]

The limiting factor is that *all* of these chips can only take 0.020V-0.050V of signal at the input before they distort.

That has nothing to do with how much battery you shove at them. 0.020V is a fundamental property of Silicon devices, the increment where Gm doubles and distortion gets above several percent. 0.050V allows for there being two devices and you might tolerate higher distortion.

If it comes out bent, reduce the input.

If it comes out hissy, increase the input.

If it comes out both bent and hissy, welll, that is the nature of the beast. Move to more elaborate gain-control devices with better performance (and usually higher prices!).

[PRR]

me> only take 0.020V-0.050V of signal at the input before they distort.

The chart on the page which Mark linked shows 5% THD at 6V input *but* if you look at his test-rig for '3080 it has a 6800:51 divider in front. 6V * (51/6851) is 0.045V. Also 1% THD at 2.5V into the rig, which is 0.020V at the '3080 input devices.

[Breogan]

Cool, very cool! Thanks, that was a great explanation.

I will leave it the way it is. The nice thing about the dyna comp is the way it destroys your tone, but in such a nice way.

I just would love it to be a bit more transparent.