Battery drain

DefaultM

I've run out of power supplies and can't afford a voodoo labs power plus at the minute so I've bought 2 Duracell batteries.
I've got a compressor, an OD, a fuzz and a delay. Is there a certain pedal that will last longer with battery than the others?

swlabr

ODs and fuzz pedals don't normally draw much so I'd use batteries in those.

Had a problem recently with a fuzz draining batteries even when unconnected. You might want to have a look at the current draw of your pedals and a read at my problem here. If in doubt, tell us what pedals you use and I'm sure someone know the actual current draw of each.

BTW, the dummy connector trick worked for me.

ICBM

Fuzz.

Then compressor and overdrive about the same, and delay the worst.

Fuzz pedals don't sound good with Duracells though, you need vintage zinc-carbon batteries.

Just kidding. There can actually be a genuine difference in sound, but it's usually fairly subtle, and if the fuzz sounds good on the power supply then it will sound fine with a Duracell too.

gubble

@ICBM - the secret identity of Eric Johnson 

ICBM

gubble said:

@ICBM - the secret identity of Eric Johnson 

I hope not! He really does seem to believe some nonsense...

He isn't wrong about that one though. With some fuzz pedals the difference between different types of batteries can be quite noticeable - it's because they have different cell voltages and internal resistances, and vintage-style fuzzes are very crude circuits which are sensitive to those things.

gubble

That would certainly make sense with vintage style fuzzes for sure.

The Eric Johnson thing really baffles me and I expect hope it's a lot of old wives tales with no valid evidence to back it up that he's completely barking.

ecc83

A half way house between  a pedal PSU and internal batteries is the "AA" packs you can get from Maplin. Also buy as many PP3 clip leads and the power plugs.

Six AAs will last many times longer than PP3s and you can buy them in bulk. Or you could use rechargeable cells.

Twere me I would use a SLA 12V battery of about 1-2A/hr capacity but arranging charging is tricky for the 'tronics noob. In any case you must be carful of SLAs, they can deliver a LOT of current if shorted!

Dave.

steamabacus

gubble said:

That would certainly make sense with vintage style fuzzes for sure.

The Eric Johnson thing really baffles me and I expect hope it's a lot of old wives tales with no valid evidence to back it up that he's completely barking.

I think the 'legend' has run away with itself a bit.

From what I've read regarding different battery types, he did one comparison session once with his favourite fuzzes and picked one brand of battery that sounded good and was easily available - I think it's more to do with wanting consistency.

DefaultM

Thanks. You don't seem to be able to run the big box DMM by battery anyway. I put the battery in the muffroom cloud, which was quite cool because you get to see all the wiring as well when you open it up.

ICBM

steamabacus said:

I think the 'legend' has run away with itself a bit.

From what I've read regarding different battery types, he did one comparison session once with his favourite fuzzes and picked one brand of battery that sounded good and was easily available - I think it's more to do with wanting consistency.

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that he claimed his Tube Screamer sounded better with the bottom held on with an elastic band and not screws. Which isn't true since the metal base is in contact with the casing either way.

You can sometimes hear real differences with batteries in some other circuits too, including wahs and one active guitar preamp I tried. The common factor is that these are all very simple discrete-transistor circuits.

DefaultM

He thinks that trem equipped guitars sound better without the backplate on, and so his sig guitars don't come with one. I leave them off all of mine just because I think they're a pain anyway.

Sassafras

He thinks wearing leather soled shoes make his pedals sound better because a small amount of his bodily energy passes through the foot-switches.