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9v battery for active bass
- Thread starter UrthCrimson
- Start date
Low battery voltages can do strange things to onboard preamps and pedals. As an electrical engineer I wouldn't call it "affecting frequencies", just that the audio starts to slowly degrade and you might not notice it for a while. Then you pop in new batteries and you can really hear the difference.
I was wondering why my NS Radius' piezo was starting to feed back with a weird motorboating sound when I boosted the bass EQ. It turned out to be a low battery.
I was wondering why my NS Radius' piezo was starting to feed back with a weird motorboating sound when I boosted the bass EQ. It turned out to be a low battery.
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For some fairly involved setups with piezos the battery might make a difference, however for 99% of active basses the 8v vs 9v should not make any difference. I have conducted quite extensive experiment comparing variety of disposable 9v batteries and a couple of Li-ion from Amazon EBL brand powering Musicman, 3-band preamp. There is absolutely no difference not in tone not in bg noise. This was using guitar into computer with Sure SRH840 headphones. You of course can assume that my hearing is not 100%. However, even if that was the case, that means the difference is still negligible. The EBL batteries measure about 8.3V wh n just charged. Disposables measure 9.04v using the same meter. I have tried Energizer, Amazon, Rayvac... By the way there was also no difference between the different disposable batteries. I run on bass which also has active pickups besides the preamp. It also had two batteries in parallel. Still the same voltage as one battery, just would last longer. After the experiment, I left the bass plugged for about 100 hours. At the end of that, it still sounded the same. After another day or so the batteries simply went dead. I missed the specific point of failure, it was simply dead when I picked it up. I suppose with disposable it does not just stop working and you probably continue to run it on 5v or whatever is left at which point of course the opamp will be underpowered and it may motorboat or just pulse. So I think if you want to hear a difference between Duracell and Rayvac or whatever, you probably can, but I would bring in someone else to confirm if it is not just you. I myself switch to rechargeables. They cost the same but you can obviously just recharge. By the way, the batteries with integrated USB plug for charging, did not work for me as bass was making pretty loud hissing bg noise. I use the batteries with a 2-battery desktop usb charger.
@kgbeast Are you using the EBL lions? I've been on those for several years now I think. I always felt like I was throwing money away with regular batteries and felt wasteful chucking that many batteries to keep them cycled in my basses. It isn't just the lifespan for power - I don't want an alkaline battery to leak in a bass either. NEver tried the ones with the USB chargers.
Turns out I never actually tested these batteries with my active bass ukes, when I did, there was bad interference and unbalanced volume, my lithium rechargeable with a charging box works fine. I had to order a new set of the box rechargeable.
I’ve been chasing some noise issues with my P-Bass Lyte. One thing I hadn’t thought of was the brand of battery I’m using. I’ve just been using the Amazon cheap ones.
Are all 9Vs created equally? I plan on getting another one tomorrow to test it. What brand should I get?
Are all 9Vs created equally? I plan on getting another one tomorrow to test it. What brand should I get?
Can you post a link to the battery you suspect causing the noise? Of a picture of it at least?
Thanks
The cause of the noise is kind of a rats nest of wiring inside the bass. I’m using an Amazon Basics 9V
Amazon basics 9v is definitely not a problem
I specifically compared these in record against Duracell and Energizer, as well as Panasonic from 99c store and 4 types of rechargeable Li-Ion batteries.
I recently realized using cheap Dollar Tree batteries was causing noise in my bass. Could be the same thing here.
My go to is a Duracell 9v. Never had a problem.
Hint- when it comes to batteries Costco is your friend.
Hint- when it comes to batteries Costco is your friend.
The best way to tell how good a battery is is with a multi-meter. Harbor Freight sells one that will do what yo need for $5. I never gig my active-only basses without checking the voltage first. Just yesterday I removed an Amazon Basics battery that had been installed for months. It still had 8.62v and was doing the job, but I swapped it out for an AC Delco 9v that exceeded 9v... just because. If I run pedals with batteries I do the same. My active basses will run on rechargeable LiIon batteries which never reach 9v, but batteries in a bass last so long that I just use Alkaline ones for no other reason than I know fresh Alks will have more intiial voltage.
Tagging onto an old thread, to help clarify battery options.
1) Rechargeable batteries is an option for ecological reasons, but not in this application*.
2) Standard OTC batteries (I'm a Duracell guy) will do the trick, but...*
*One of the gents who works on my basses (and is also lead guitar tech for Tier 1 touring bands) shared some insight about batteries: First, most of the pro crews buy them in a 'brick' (aka a gross / 144) at a time. In that brick there ARE ALWAYS a minimum of 2-3 duds. By duds, he told me they don't perform to specs. Example used was one of my Sadowsky 4-24s. Meter shows the battery is 'good', but barely registering at 9v. Sadowsky preamps (like all higher line preamps) and most stomps (if you aren't running Cioks/Eventide or other quality onboard power sources) actually want to see 9.4v continuous to perform at their peak. Once the battery dips below 8.9v is when the fun starts - it might sound like slight distortion, or the bass might cut out when asked to push a heavy signal after boosting the bass EQ...it is subtle at the beginning but goes awry quickly (especially in the middle of shows!).
The solution? Get a battery meter. Buy Procell (Duracell's commercial grade 9v) or similar professional grade 9v batteries. DO NOT buy in bulk unless you are going to use all of them within 12mos. DO NOT use rechargeables as they are unable to recreate a stable, continuous 9v+ power source like the disposables can. Check every battery in the pack before installing them (don't assume every one of them is a winner). And get in the habit of checking their status every couple of sessions/shows. Change your batteries even if the meter jumps in the green BUT NOT past the 9v mark. It's still good, but not worthy of risking a failure on stage.
Again, you might be satisfied with OTC 9v batteries, they might be doing the job, you might not have finicky basses like Sadowsky, EBMM DarkRay (18v), or older Warwick Thumb NT (with three onboard 9v!) and you might not be playing out 50-60 shows a year, but when there is a better option... And yes, you can hear the difference in clarity and punch with new batteries.
If it helps, my guy told me every active bass, every 9v battery-driven device, they all get new, tested batteries installed before every show. Yeah, that's a lot of waste, but the alternative is a faulty or no signal. He's toured with a sh*t-ton of bands, and I'm a better asset when I learn from others who have been in the trenches.
1) Rechargeable batteries is an option for ecological reasons, but not in this application*.
2) Standard OTC batteries (I'm a Duracell guy) will do the trick, but...*
*One of the gents who works on my basses (and is also lead guitar tech for Tier 1 touring bands) shared some insight about batteries: First, most of the pro crews buy them in a 'brick' (aka a gross / 144) at a time. In that brick there ARE ALWAYS a minimum of 2-3 duds. By duds, he told me they don't perform to specs. Example used was one of my Sadowsky 4-24s. Meter shows the battery is 'good', but barely registering at 9v. Sadowsky preamps (like all higher line preamps) and most stomps (if you aren't running Cioks/Eventide or other quality onboard power sources) actually want to see 9.4v continuous to perform at their peak. Once the battery dips below 8.9v is when the fun starts - it might sound like slight distortion, or the bass might cut out when asked to push a heavy signal after boosting the bass EQ...it is subtle at the beginning but goes awry quickly (especially in the middle of shows!).
The solution? Get a battery meter. Buy Procell (Duracell's commercial grade 9v) or similar professional grade 9v batteries. DO NOT buy in bulk unless you are going to use all of them within 12mos. DO NOT use rechargeables as they are unable to recreate a stable, continuous 9v+ power source like the disposables can. Check every battery in the pack before installing them (don't assume every one of them is a winner). And get in the habit of checking their status every couple of sessions/shows. Change your batteries even if the meter jumps in the green BUT NOT past the 9v mark. It's still good, but not worthy of risking a failure on stage.
Again, you might be satisfied with OTC 9v batteries, they might be doing the job, you might not have finicky basses like Sadowsky, EBMM DarkRay (18v), or older Warwick Thumb NT (with three onboard 9v!) and you might not be playing out 50-60 shows a year, but when there is a better option... And yes, you can hear the difference in clarity and punch with new batteries.
If it helps, my guy told me every active bass, every 9v battery-driven device, they all get new, tested batteries installed before every show. Yeah, that's a lot of waste, but the alternative is a faulty or no signal. He's toured with a sh*t-ton of bands, and I'm a better asset when I learn from others who have been in the trenches.
Decades ago, I installed two low profile test jacks, the ones designed for inserting meter lead tips, on my bass. Didn't have to unscrew the backplate (in that case) to read the battery anymore. And it looked cool LOL.
Without the instrument cable plugged in, you could read unloaded voltage of battery. Plug in instrument cable and you could read the loaded voltage.
Installing those was just for fun, just 'cause I could, but was convenient has heck for checking battery health LOL. Those test jacks were similar to these:
Without the instrument cable plugged in, you could read unloaded voltage of battery. Plug in instrument cable and you could read the loaded voltage.
Installing those was just for fun, just 'cause I could, but was convenient has heck for checking battery health LOL. Those test jacks were similar to these:
These cheap batteries were causing noise in the circuit so don't follow my old advise lol
The battery meter is a life saver and IMO essential for those who use batteries on gigs. You can get a cheap multimeter at Harbor Freight for about $6 that will do the job. I find that any bass or device where the battery compartment makes the battery EASILY accessible I check the battery levels before every gig. I have an Audere preamp which makes that difficult, but they have a light that sort of provides a level and I'll open her up and check with the meter ever 2-3 gigs and premptively change those batteries.
Rechargeable battery technology is constantly evolving. I just got 4 of the batteries shown below. One of the talking points of these batteries is that guarantee at or near 9v. Out of 4 batteries I tested they all had 8.9v or better. Also they are 600mAh (and the 5400 mWh fooled me to thinking it has more storage- but 600 mAh is enough for most purposes). Also these batteries don't need to have a charger, but the batteries have self included chargers which you just plug into a USB outlet. This set came with two "twin" cables so I only needed two UBS outlets to charge 4 batteries. I could probably charge them in separate chargers, but I'll just stick with the included method and cables.
Buy these from Amazon for $3. Stick it in the output jack and measure red RCA. This is better as no need to open the battery box and plus it measures under load condition. This also allowed me to easily measure mA so you know how much the bass draws power. You can then divide capacity of the battery (about 800mAh for Duracell disposable) by the measured value and you get number of hours your bass will roughly survive if continuously plugged in.
As a side bonus, you get a couple of adapters that might be useful in some situations around the house.
