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Who still uses batteries? Let's make a list!

trout fishing

trout fishing

May 24, 2026
175
308
#1
Wanted to make a smaller board with only the essentials for the band and maybe one or two fun pedals. Turns out, it’s more complicated and expensive than I imagined.

Then I realized, my fuzz can be powered by a battery. Maybe I can find an octave pedal, too. I did—the MXR Bass Octave Deluxe.

Not sure I’d take those on a gig, but it’s perfect for rehearsals! Just throw them in the bag with the other stuff!

Made me wonder, who still uses batteries? What pedals out there still take batteries?

- Boss
- Wren and Cuff
- First gen Aguilar?
- the larger way huge pedals?
- some? All? Larger MXR?
 
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#3
Home brew rangermaster and tonebender fuzz.

Seemed best to keep it simple.

Wife’s EH germanium OD. Noisy as poop on PS and her vintage Arion tuner

“why a 35 year old tuner and 100# peavey 115, dear?”

“shut up and carry my gear”
 
#4
Sadowsky preamp/DI (both versions)

Fdeck HPF (all versions)

Electro-Harmonix (too many to name)

Sansamp (many including BDDI)

Ibanez Tube Screamer (most versions) and vintage pedals

L.R. Baggs Paracoustic DI

DOD/Digitech (too many to name)

In the early days of fuzz boxes which started it all everything ran on batteries, mostly 9V though some used AAs. Boss was the first to offer wall warts as an option (with the ACA-120 supply) and pretty soon other manufacturers did the same, even copying the jack. Some pedals in the 70s and early 80s used AC cords because they needed more juice than a 9V battery could provide. One the Boss ACA-120 became widely adopted, the AC cords disappeared.

AC powered vintage pedals include MuTrons (both filters and phasers), the first gen EH MicroSynths, DOD Analog Delay, MXR Flanger and Dual Distortion, Morley wah and volume pedals, Ibanez UE-300 series multieffects.

Digital reverbs and delays are what drove the industry to wall wart only pedals. Once pedalboards started becoming commonplace, it led to today’s pedals too small to hold a 9V.

I’ve never used many effects and when I consider something today I only buy ones that run on batteries…currently Fdeck, LR Baggs Paracoustic, Zoom B3. I still have an AC powered Morley wah/volume pedal.
 
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#6
trout fishing said:
Wanted to make a smaller board with only the essentials for the band and maybe one or two fun pedals. Turns out, it’s more complicated and expensive than I imagined.

Then I realized, my fuzz can be powered by a battery. Maybe I can find an octave pedal, too. I did—the MXR Bass Octave Deluxe.

Not sure I’d take those on a gig, but it’s perfect for rehearsals! Just throw them in the bag with the other stuff!

Made me wonder, who still uses batteries? What pedals out there still take batteries?

- Boss
- Wren and Cuff
- First gen Aguilar?
- the larger way huge pedals?
- some? All? Larger MXR?
Click to expand...
I keep this DIY one around to take to open mics or sometimes to loan as a demo unit:

nmmbx.jpg


I made another version with an HPF and gain control, but ended up giving it to a luthier friend to put in his shop's play room. And then I have a DIY battery powered active DI that I rarely use, but it's a nice thing to have in my gig bag just in case.

I've also settled on just using a cheap power bank driving a Cioks C4 for my small pedalboard, so if using more than one pedal I'd just go that route.
 
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#12
Vintage early MXR, EHX, DOD, Ross, vintage fuz/distortions and many Wah Wah pedals used 9v only as those came out before power adapter options were even considered.

I long ago removed batteries from any pedal in my collection since knowing the horrors of an exploded or corroded battery and the damage done. When I need battery power for convenience I use a power bank and usb to 9v cable. I do have a few very vintage pedals that only have a 9v clip and for those I have a pigtails like @Turnaround showed.
 
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#13
On straight-in gigs, I leave the pedalboard home. Most of my main band's stuff is old-school, vintage-tone bass anyway. I toss a battery-powered tuner on the floor and call it good. Fast load-in, fast load-out.

If the gig calls for pedals, I bring a small board powered by a Big Joe Li2 rechargeable lithium supply. It's about the size of a mini pedal and runs around twenty hours per charge.
 
#15
As someone who rarely gigs with a pedalboard, I miss when pedals offered both as an option... mostly because on some gigs where you DO use your board, it's easier to take it without having to rely on a bunch of wall warts and just use batteries. On other gigs, it makes more sense to power them that way. Regardless, if you have more than a couple of pedals these days, you have a rat's nest on your hand with all the power cables.
 
#18
I still keep a battery powered board for certain gigs. Not much on it right now though, just a tuner and a preamp. Soon there'll be a comp and an octaver but haven't gotten it there yet.
 
#19
I keep the batteries in good shape in the pedals on my board, even though I use AC power most of the time. Sometimes you show up to a gig with backline and have the choice of just running your batteries or crawling around on some stinky dive bar stage looking for that sketchy-looking consumer-grade power strip where all the Christmas lights are plugged in.
 
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#20
Off the top of my head (not at home to check ...)
All the One Control pedals (even the tiny ones).
Most Analogman pedals (including the ARDX20 delay, although not the Amaze1 controller)
Benson x Non-Human Audio Florist (was a bit of a surprise; I don't know about other Benson pedals)
Crowther Hot Cake and Prunes n' Custard.
 

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