Any long lasting 9v battery for active p/ups?

[pyroponic]

Just wondering if if anyone swears by a certain brand or type of 9v battery. Normally i use energizer and duracell batteries for my warwick double buck and those huge pickups use a lot of power, not to mention I am always leaving the cord plugged in accidentally.

Any benefit to using rechargeable 9v batteries, or maybe ones designed for something more powerful than a smoke detector? It's getting out of hand spending 3 bucks average for a battery that lasts 2 months or less.

[BagelBruin]

Walgreens has good deals.

[Nikoubis]

Remember to unplug your bass. I change the battery MAYBE twice a year on my G&L and that is probably still more often than necessary.

[ric stave]

1) really try to remember to unplug when not using.

2) Energizer or Duracell are the ones I would use - used in all my active basses - I usually run active even when there's a passive option, and I've never had batteries die before 6-9 months - some have gone well over a year.

3) I have also used the ProCells - but like I said, since I've never had the 'regular' batteries (En or Du) die quickly, it's hard to judge if the ProCells are THAT much better. I mainly use the Procells for the LED circuit in my Status bass, cuz that one WILL eat batteries quicker.

[Rob22315]

The longest lasting 9V batt - no battery at all. I power my basses from a wall wart or my pedal board supply through a TRS cable into the onboard preamp. There a thread on this here -

Tired of buying 9 volt batteries?

[mmbongo]

Unplug your bass when not playing.

A normal battery will last around 3000 hours.

[georgestrings]

Originally Posted by pyroponic

, not to mention I am always leaving the cord plugged in accidentally.

Yeah, this is your biggest problem - I change my active's batteries with the daylight savings time changes(2x per year), and haven't come close to draining a battery this way, with a fairly busy gigging schedule...


- georgestrings

[beelzelboss]

Dude, energizer lithium ion batteries. I've seen people swear by these.... but my Growler, which sucks up a ton of power only has a regular duracell in it.

You really should unplug your cord though.

[darkstorm]

Durecell or energizer. I wouldnt trust lograde batteries like radio shack or dollar store ones since these have a history of leaking before their expiration date while still in their package unopened. Wouldnt want to open my bass or guitar and find battery had leaked.

[bassplayerbob]

+1 on the Lithium energizers. I use them in my wireless and get 4-5 gigs out of them. Unfortunately they only make them in AAA AA, but i use energizers in my 2 EB sterlings and my Jazz deluxe. I rarely change them too,maybe once a year and i do play every weekend.

[DerHoggz]

Your pickups aren't active, unplug.

[christopherogut]

i recently picked up a few Energizer Advanced Lithium 9V batteries for my Warwick... they're pretty wild. much more squarish packaging than a typical 9V and they weigh almost nothing! the pack they came in claims they'll last up to 10 years in smoke detectors, and I read online that the batteries "lasts 20 hours longer in wireless gaming accessories, 30% longer in personal audio devices and 4X longer in digital cameras than alkaline batteries."

[Thaos627]

i would stick with either pro cells or energizer. i dont have an active bass but i do use the 9v in my pedals and there r some really expensive experimental 9v coming out soon (some of my family members works at a place that makes industrial batteries). later this year there is going to be some magnesium NiCad type batteries and they are around $20 each but r rechargeable and r supposed to last 3x longer (energizer is making them)

[BassLife77]

I buy Fuji alkalines at Big Lots $1.20 each. one battery will last around 6 months

[bassbenj]

Originally Posted by Rob22315

The longest lasting 9V batt - no battery at all. I power my basses from a wall wart or my pedal board supply through a TRS cable into the onboard preamp. There a thread on this here -

Tired of buying 9 volt batteries?

+1

One thing I've discovered using the TRS power is that there is a HUGE difference in power consumption in different brands of basses. Some seem to take almost no power at all (like my G&L which continues to run and run after I've unplugged the wall wart). And others mean you need to own stock in Duracell.

And I love the fact you can run LEDs on your bass either as power indicator or fingerboard markers without eating a lot of batteries. Bootsy needs this!

[line6man]

Originally Posted by pyroponic

and those huge pickups use a lot of power

You've got a pretty low standard for defining "a lot of power" then.

Depending on whether the active components on the bass are low-current opamps, or FETs, or something else you are looking at somewhere between 0.000085A and about 0.001A to 0.002A, current consumption. This is a very small amount of current, so a battery should last quite a long time if everything is functioning properly, and you are unplugging the bass when you aren't playing.

FWIW, don't use rechargeable batteries. They die very quickly.

[chucko58]

Ultralife Lithium 9Vs are what I use.

Best price I've found to date is Thomas Distributing.