How often do you change batteries?

No way?!?!? WHat kind of system do you use? I have a bunch of Fishman on-board blenders, and it's more like 50+ hours of plugged in use. In fact, I just changed the battery in my 614. I change it when the Lo Batt light comes on, and I've also never lost power mid tune. I think the last time I changed the battery was like halfway through last year. That 614 is the only guitar I play every show, and I gig 2-6 nights a month. 4 hour gigs, 3 sets, two 15 minute breaks.
The Baggs system in my 914 gets similar results. If I could only get similar results out of wireless crap!!!

While we're on the topic, if anyone with K&K pickups has any battery life info to share, I'd love to hear.

 

I try not to replace batteries more often than I have to because I don't think batteries are particularly friendly to the environment... I have also experimented with rechargeable batteries and have found that sometimes it even sounds better than regular alkaline, so I use that when possible.

Hence my other thread about a backup battery, so I can eke every ounce of juice from a battery.

 

My acoustic is plugged in for at least 4 hours every week. I only change about every two months.

 

I usually only change batteries before a big gig or a recording session. I'm pretty good about taking them out when I know it's going to be a long time before I play that bass again.

--chiba

 

You're not just throwing them out are you? There are loads of things that use 9V batteries that don't need a minty fresh one...

If you're changing every 10 hours you could be changing twenty times too often, not twice... I don't really know, but the battery life is probably in the hundreds of hours. I can't remember when (or if) I changed the battery in my Taylor - I bought the guitar in 2002 and it's been my only electro-acoustic since then, and I've done plenty of gigs and practices with it - like waxnsteel says, I'll change it when the red light comes on, you've got at least a song's worth of warning... it's probably the original battery. I can't imagine that the Baggs system will be that much higher consumption than the Fishman.

Even the Takamine Cool Tube system - with a TUBE in the preamp - claims 24hrs battery life.


FWIW, this is one of the things I hate about acoustic systems with no external battery access - until they became common, I would not use an internally preamped guitar at all, just a pickup only and an external preamp. No way I want to have to loosen the strings and fish around inside the soundhole in the middle of a gig.

 

I gig 4 times a month on average (when things are going well), plugged in 3 1/2 to 5 hours a week. I usually change at about 125 hours or more on my Taylor/Fishman. Never had a loss in power.

My Martin OMC Aura is another story. Owner's manual puts battery life at approx 36 hours. There is a low battery indicator, easy access. I've used it on 4 gigs and a band practice so far and expect to replace the battery soon.



Clark

 

On my Collings C-10 Deluxe, I've got a non-invasive Fishman Acoustic Natural Matrix 1 that runs on a 9V. I've had the guitar for 3 years and changed it once. I don't play it plugged in that much because I use it more for studio than live stuff, and I'd rather mic the thing, obviously. I'd mic it live if it were more plausible.

 

I wasn't suggesting a second-rate guitar or pickup system - just not mounting the preamp inside the guitar. I honestly can't see why you would want to do this unless you're going to fit a full side-mounted preamp with controls, which these days tends to mean an easy-access battery too (in fact, I wouldn't pick a system without).

An internal preamp with a battery but no controls strikes me as the worst of all possible worlds for exactly this reason - poor battery access, lack of convenience (no controls within easy reach), reliability (not just battery failure - the inability to quickly bypass or replace the preamp if you ever need to) - and always has. I have no idea why this type of system seems to be popular.

I can certainly see the point in a full on-board system with controls, for maximum hands-on convenience, which is what I'm using at the moment; but if you don't want that I would go for a passive pickup - even a dual system, there's no reason why not with a TRS endpin socket - and an external preamp, so you can still have your full control... which is what I've used in the past.

 

When they get down to around 8.5V I change them.

 

anyone have trouble with the battery warning light not working on the old taylor fishman pickup? 99 taylor 814ce. man this thing kills me. working night before gig- dead when i plug in at the show- scket empty in the case nothing plugged in. cut out during a gig once mid song- sucks!!!!. I maen I dont want to cahnge the battery every time I play if its not needed. any clues?

 

My acoustic guitars are acoustic and don’t have any batteries

 

I love a digital multimeter for so many things. This is one of them. You will never guess the voltage in your house outlets, the ohms reading of a pot or a pickup, or the remaining voltage of a battery again. I change my batteries when they no longer supply 9V of power. Checked about every other string change and definitely before any performing. I save some weak batteries for my fuzz and overdrive pedals.

 

The idea of running battery power in an acoustic guitar is a massive turnoff for me for many reasons, including the fact that even the best of these systems sounds lifeless and weird to me, and the average/worst ones sound freaking awful. I either play through mikes or play electric. I understand why "acoustic" performers now must use these onboard systems to easily create a simulation of acoustic guitar, but I've pretty much stopped going to concerts where this is going to be done because the sound is just...bad. I enjoy not using batteries.

 

I have the Baggs Anthem SL system in both my Mark Angus acoustic guitars, a 6 and a 12 string... I use them for pretty much all my stage work, which is not very much these days...

Baggs says 120 hours+ for those pickups; I use Elixir strings that give me around 6 months of life (for the 6 string, the 12 string is twice that long). So I change the batteries about every year or so and that's a waste of battery life... but I'm not gonna have my guitar crap out on me in the middle of one of my infrequent gigs.

I have a K&K PW in my Goodall, and it's high-impedance without any internal preamp; I use the K&K PURE XLR preamp and run it with phantom power... wouldn't take much to get me to switch out the Anthems for K&Ks if I can get the sound I want from them...