Op Amp Clipping threshold

[WGTP]

Probably a silly question but I wanted to check with some experts.

What is the clipping threshold for most of our favorite op amps using a 9v. battery?  LM308, 4558, TL072, 5534, etc. 

I'm thinking that in Distortion+/Rat type circuits that could account for the differences heard in op amps.   

It may be less of an issue for Tube Screamer type circuits where the clipping diodes keep the op amp throttled down.   

As always, thanks for the info shared in this great place.   

[Johan]

..if the gain is high enough, slewrate can become one parameter to consider..wich may play a part in why a 741 will sound different from a 4558 ( as used in dod's yngwie-pedal) in distortion+/rat type circuit ...
..Mark Hammer has written about this several times in the past..

johan

[R.G.]

What is the clipping threshold for most of our favorite op amps using a 9v. battery?  LM308, 4558, TL072, 5534, etc.

Read the datasheet. The clipping threshold is on them, listed as the output voltage swing range. Usually this is a volt - or two! - less than the power supply at both sides. New design opamps sometimes list themselves as "rail to rail output" and can swing within fractions of a volt of the postive and negative rails.

I'm thinking that in Distortion+/Rat type circuits that could account for the differences heard in op amps.

Possible. However, the voltage is already limited by those limiting diodes to ground, and that will cover up any funny stuff that the opamp does near the power supply rails.
I believe that the recovery from overload conditions is much more like what determines the resulting sound differences.

It may be less of an issue for Tube Screamer type circuits where the clipping diodes keep the op amp throttled down.

Possible. Again, I think that the recovery from overload conditions is much more like what determines the resulting sound differences. But it's just a theory.

[WGTP]

BINGO.  Thanks very much.  I tried looking at a data sheet for the 4558 and couldn't make much out of it.   

So depending on the op amp, we're looking at between 2.5v and almost 4.5v?

What I'm trying to do is combine an op amp clipping distortion, like the Hotcake or Black Cat, with a diode to ground distortion, like the Rat, etc.  I'm thinking this would be 2 seperate stages.  Since using 2 SI diodes would cause lots of diode to ground distortion, I'l probably use LED's to give the op amp more of a chance to get involved, for a given distortion level.

Will this work, or will the diodes to ground mess up the op amps distortion output? (I know lots of folks don't like op amp distortion, but mixed with the diodes, I think it will be OK.)(Plus I'll probably use 2 op amp diode sets cascaded anyway, just lower the gain to see if it sounds different/better than a single clipping stage.   

[vanhansen]

If you put the diodes after the op-amp to ground, like the Rat and Distortion+, then they would just add to the clipping that the op-amp already has, right?  I kinda like the sound of two diodes in the feedback loop myself.  It comes across a lot smoother.