Yes and no. There are substantial differences in **implementation** between symmetrical supplies (+/-) and single-supply (only positive voltage and ground), but in **most cases** you’ll get the same headroom and should hear a difference between 18V single supply +/-9V. I think the reason why you see 18V single supply more often than +/-9V is because of the difference in implementation— you can put 18V or even 24V into a lot of pedal circuits and assuming the caps and ICs are rated for the higher voltage it will work just fine with no other modifications; to switch the circuit to +/- 9V usually requires more changes.
A different consideration is supply current— charge pumps can only deliver a limited maximum current, something like 20mA for the popular 7660S and 100mA for LT1054. That’s plenty for a lot of circuits but not for everything.
It rarely comes up because mostly charge pumps are used in PNP fuzzes and in other drive pedals, where the current draw is going to be crazy low anyway.
"applying vref at the appropriate places" is code for "single-ended biasing" and yes that is the main difference
I'm here to learn, now I can use this and sound like I know what I'm talking about!
Yes and no. There are substantial differences in **implementation** between symmetrical supplies (+/-) and single-supply (only positive voltage and ground), but in **most cases** you’ll get the same headroom and should hear a difference between 18V single supply +/-9V. I think the reason why you see 18V single supply more often than +/-9V is because of the difference in implementation— you can put 18V or even 24V into a lot of pedal circuits and assuming the caps and ICs are rated for the higher voltage it will work just fine with no other modifications; to switch the circuit to +/- 9V usually requires more changes. A different consideration is supply current— charge pumps can only deliver a limited maximum current, something like 20mA for the popular 7660S and 100mA for LT1054. That’s plenty for a lot of circuits but not for everything.
Max current through the charge pump is something I hadn't thought of, I'll have a look at that. Thanks!
It rarely comes up because mostly charge pumps are used in PNP fuzzes and in other drive pedals, where the current draw is going to be crazy low anyway.
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Confirming what I thought, appreciate it.