DIY Deluxe Big Muff: Most efficient way to get +/-5v from 9v?

[aion]

I repaired a Deluxe Big Muff a few years ago (first version / EH 3053 circuit) and remembered it while I was putting together an op-amp Big Muff circuit recently. It's a pretty cool pedal - a Big Muff with a Soul Preacher compressor in parallel, and a blend knob to control the mix. Hasn't really been cloned to my knowledge, though the schematic is readily available:
https://sites.google.com/site/electroconducive/EHXDeluxeBigMuff.pdf?attredirects=0

The curious thing about this lil guy is that it runs on a bipolar +/-5V supply.

That is suspiciously close to your standard 9V/2 floating ground circuit in pretty much any other IC-based drive pedal out there. But, while I am sure it's possible, I don't really want to go through the trouble of converting it to 9V with a floating ground. Primarily this is because I don't know enough to add the coupling caps where they need to go - but also, presumably they chose to go bipolar for a reason, since it adds a bunch of parts compared to your standard 9-volt operation - better noise performance and the like.

I am wondering what the best option would be to get that supply. I'm calculating that for eight 4558's at +/-5V, I would need around 16 mA of power. (5.7mA max current draw at +/-15v according to the datasheet, so a figure third of that for +/-5V operation) To be on the safe side we'll say 20mA since there are a couple of transistors in there as well.

The options:

1) Regulate 9V down to 5V using a 78L05, then use a TC1044 or LT1054 voltage inverter to get -5V. Advantage: Only one regulator needed.

2) Invert the 9V first and then use a regulator on each side of the supply. Advantage: perfect 5V on both sides; also each regulator only needs to dissipate half the power compared with option 1.

3) Suck it up and just convert it to floating ground already - this is a Big Muff for crying out loud. Advantage: much easier to build once it was properly converted. But I'd need some pointers on how to approach this.

Any advice on the best option to take? Anything I am missing? Do the power requirements rule out any of the above?

[R.G.]

Go for door #2, which is pretty sure to work.

#1 is more noise prone.

#3 is prone to not getting enough to really make ±5V, as you're starting from less than 10 in the beginning.

Perhaps even better: use #2 and mess about with #3 and see if it works if you don't like #2.

[stringsthings]

I'd be really interested if you clone this.  The Big Muff side is not hard to do, but I've tried cloning a soul preacher with
little success.   There's a few schematics on the net, but I couldn't get any of them to work on the breadboard.

[digi2t]

I agree with R.G. on door #2. It's the same scheme used in the Rand-o-matic, 9v bipolar, then two 5v regulators.

[aion]

Fantastic, thank you! I'll go that route then and we'll see how it turns out.

[PRR]

> eight 4558's at +/-5V, I would need around 16 mA of power. (5.7mA max current draw at +/-15v according to the datasheet, so a figure third of that for +/-5V operation)

2) Opamp current does NOT go down, much(*), at lower voltage.

1) '4558 is a dual opamp, 5.7mA is for *both* units in a package. 4 packs, 14mA to 23mA.

About another 3mA (1mA-10mA) in an LED.

(*)  http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/rc4558.pdf
Fig 1 shows supply current at +/-4.5V about 80% of current at +/-15V. So 4.5mA per pack, 18mA for four packs.
(You got a right-enough answer, because the error of 2 is opposite to the error of 1/3.)
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I don't see any darn reason this could not run on +/-9V (or +9V/-8V). Then your problem is reduced to an "inverting power converter", which is a fairly standard thing.