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new EMG external power supply

R

rickenbaker

Jul 20, 2007
171
6
#1
I just saw this and hadn't seen a thread on this so decided I might as well post. I think this is a really good idea for people with passive basses that don't want to do extreme modding of the instruments

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#3
Interesting. I can see this being very useful for bassists who have several EMG-equipped basses and want to minimize the amount of battery worry, or use an external DC supply on stage. The "standby" switch is nice too.

Much like some of the concepts proposed by other threads which have discussed this topic, this external power supply would need the bass to be rewired, or use the "shorting clips" to replace the onboard batteries.

It would be nice if future versions of EMG's onboard electronics could sense the difference between +9V or +18V coming in on the ring, versus being shorted to the sleeve. That way the shorting clips could be removed and onboard batteries could be installed as well, as a backup measure.
 
#5
Personally, I've always thought it was ridiculous to want an external supply for powering something that consumes such a ridiculously low amount of current (85uA opamps, on some EMGs.), but I suppose this is a good idea for people that want to put EMGs on basses that lack the cavity space to fit a battery.

$69.99 seems a bit steep, though. At the end of the day, this is a few dollars worth of components, a few receptacles and a metal enclosure. A DIYer could build one for half that.
 
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#6
line6man said:
$69.99 seems a bit steep, though. At the end of the day, this is a few dollars worth of components, a few receptacles and a metal enclosure. A DIYer could build one for half that.
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Sure, but 50% is not such a bad markup in this instance. To me, the 18v version would be useful because I can't see fitting two 9v batteries into the control cavity of my MIM Fender Jazz Bass. The extra headroom is handy if you sometimes need a bit more oomph (or a little less).
 
#8
line6man said:
Well, I'm not much of a pedal guy, so I don't know how companies price things, but I wouldn't want to pay much more than like $40 for a low current DC power supply. This is basically a glorified wall wart.
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It also has a standby switch, which if placed at the start of the signal chain can switch your whole pedal board on and off. Plus I'll bet it sounds really good.
 
#9
line6man said:
Personally, I've always thought it was ridiculous to want an external supply for powering something that consumes such a ridiculously low amount of current (85uA opamps, on some EMGs.), but I suppose this is a good idea for people that want to put EMGs on basses that lack the cavity space to fit a battery.

$69.99 seems a bit steep, though. At the end of the day, this is a few dollars worth of components, a few receptacles and a metal enclosure. A DIYer could build one for half that.
Click to expand...

I completely agree. Only thing it might be useful for imo is when wanting emg and wanting to keep a bass that doesnt have room for a battery. And yes, the price is rediculous high.
 
#11
I just got my ES-9 power supply (single battery). It works fine, although the included battery was dead and I had to troubleshoot a bit before I discovered what was wrong and put in a fresh battery.

Some observations/bummers:
  1. You're required to use a stereo cable between your bass and the power supply;
  2. There is no LED to indicate whether the power supply is in "standby" mode. You have to find out by trial and error;
  3. There is no included AC adapter;
  4. If you do use an AC adapter, there apparently will be an increase in noise. I'm not an electrical engineer, but it seems to me there ought to be a way around that problem.
That said, it is really nice not to have a battery buried in the innards of my bass.
 
#16
Drat. Tonight my EMG-equipped bass would barely make a sound when run through the ES-9 power supply. Tested the amp with a passive bass, and it was fine; tried a new battery, that wasn't it. So I figure the point of failure is either the ES-9 unit itself; the mono cable from the ES-9 to the amp; or the stereo cable from the output jack of the bass running to the ES-9.

Hard to tell without a cable tester.
 
#19
Since I'm having wiring issues, or just plain using mine a lot, my batteries get drained like crazy on my JX + BQC equipped Ibby CTB5. Getting less than a month with moderate play, but that's 3 different things draining out my battery life. This might be a good option or give me the ability to see if it's the draw the pickups/pre or just bad wiring.
 
#20
KevInDaBassment said:
Since I'm having wiring issues, or just plain using mine a lot, my batteries get drained like crazy on my JX + BQC equipped Ibby CTB5. Getting less than a month with moderate play, but that's 3 different things draining out my battery life. This might be a good option or give me the ability to see if it's the draw the pickups/pre or just bad wiring.
Click to expand...

It's bad wiring. Using an external power supply won't show you that, however. You would never know how much current you are drawing, because the power supply will never be depleted of its charge.
 

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