Battery Brand in Pedal(s) Poll

[dave s]

Which battery do you use in your pedals?

Does battery choice make a difference from pedal to pedal, or by pedal type?

Something I discovered is that the Panasonic 9v batteries (2-pack for $1) from the Dollar Store sound better (smoother) in my Sunface Fuzz than a Duracel or Energizer. The other pedals, I can't tell much difference.

Any rules of thumb?

Battery versus wall-wart?

Curious to hear the experiences and conclusions others can make regarding battery choices versus A/C.

dave

 

[Phil M]

Those are likely carbon batteries, which are suggested for GE fuzz pedals. I have never been able to hear the difference.

I prefer those Panasonics for the price more than anything. I like batteries better than wall warts because I hate the mess, but if I ever decide to FINALLY piece together that small pedal board that I've been talking about for 3 years, I would go with power supplies (and battery clips for the effects without tap). I recently bought the VS OneSpot for my "impending" pedal board.

I usually just plug in 2 MAYBE 3 pedals, so batteries haven't become an issue. The DD-3 needs its own wallwart though.

 

[dividedsky]

I use Panasonics or whatever from the dollar store as well. Seem to last just as long as others and for 50 cents each!! I'll probably grab 20 today lol.

 

[TomK]

Originally posted by guittguy1
I have a Friend who's a very famous Guitar player from Austin. I'm not at liberty to give His name here but He says that Energizer batteries sound better than Duracell batteries in His Tubescreamers. Please, if You know who I'm talking about don't give His name here. I try to respect His privacy.

Hmmm, let me think.......Based on that description you really don't need to mention his name.

 

[TomK]

Seriously - it was this whole dead battery, alkaline, carbon nonsense that led me down the path to designing the VBat and the JuiceBox almost 8 years ago.

I found that for the most part certain types of pedals - typically TS variants and clones and other distortion pedals in particular were more succeptible to influence from voltage and current fluctuations. Certain tremelo and flange pedals were widely affected. In fact, it was largely testing done with a Diaz Tremadillo and an older Boss BF-2 flanger and Ibanez TS-9 that led to the production product.

We first got the idea from the guys in the band Monster Magnet. They were going through a complicated ritual where they would rotate their wireless and mic batteries into their pedals at the next gig because they made the pedals sound better.

Another anectedote was from a good friend. He was doing a session with the Diaz Tremadillo when it started producing these awesome kind of early black face tube trem sounds.....and then promptly died! (Dead battery.) He got the first prototype VBat and reported that he could dial in that exact sound by starving the voltage down to about 5 volts but he would never have to worry about playing with batteries to get that effect.

Suffice it to say - I have been using a JuiceBox power supply on my pedalboard for MANY years now and am happy to be free of battery maintenance issues. However, I found that I prefer to use Alkaline batteries in my digital gear and prefer cheaper carbon batteries in my analog pedals. I used to buy my carbon batteries from Mouser and got the GP brand by the hundred for about .76 cents each.

I do keep batteries in all of my pedals in case I want to pull one off the board for a quick jam and don't want to cart the whole dang 75# monster board.

 

[EXP]

current production:

Rayovac Heavy Duty- smoother than alkalines, better clarity. last about 2 days though. Sean at Lovepedal prefers these too.

Holy Grail :

Eveready Classic(silver w/black cat) - the smooooooothest ever. again doesnt last as long as alkalines, but better tone. IMO

 

[Big Bob]

+1 on the Ray o Vacs.

I also use Radio Shack carbons

Bob

 

[ThunderTomate]

Eveready Classic(silver w/black cat) - the smooooooothest ever. again doesnt last as long as alkalines, but better tone. IMO

+1

Eveready black cat. I put this battery in all my overdrive pedals

 

[jordanL]

Vintage style pedals-Wahs, Fuzzes, and such-heavy duty carbon(2 for $1)

Almost everything else alkalines, whatever brand I can get the best deal on.

 

[ProTonePedals]

Originally posted by ThunderTomate
Eveready black cat. I put this battery in all my overdrive pedals

All Pro Tone pedals ship with the Black Cat inside them.

Dennis