The Great Battery Debate/Trade

[Ryan]

Ok dudes...

I don't like batteries! I don't like putting them in our pedals, I'd never use them as a pedal enthusiast, if I had a pedal board and played shows and was involved with cool stuff like that I'd use power supplies, never batteries... they're wasteful, they can't last very long in anything complicated or digital, they're expensive, they're just dumb and I hate them.

I don't like them as a circuit designer either, I hate the idea that people might be using pedals or judging pedals that are being run on a battery that's only got 5 or 6 or 7 volts... I think anything less than the full design voltage of 9V is unacceptable and a compromise to the tone/sound quality of the pedal. (I know fuzzes/gain pedals can sound awesome with low voltage but the Frazz doesn't and neither does anything else I make.)

I think they're a compromise in a pedal that just isn't worth it, not worth the space they take up.

So here's what I'm thinking... I want to trade the batteries in my pedals for 2 cool features.... soft touch switching and expression control. I take away the battery, but I give a much more reliable and long-term and nice feeling switching system plus an expression control or two. Say for the Tremolessence, you get exp control over rate or depth or both. On the Frazz we could do mix or gain or both. Stuff like that. (I don't mean trade old pedals batteries for these features, I mean they'd be a new design platform for our pedals, these changes wouldn't be upgradeable for old pcbs.)

Does that sound like a reasonable solution? Batteries go away but better stuff comes in?

I feel pretty complicated about keeping batteries in the pedals but I also feel like it's limiting how far I can take the pedals.. and it's not a good trade... I personally would rather have upgraded switching and expression options. Plus, the more complicated and cool a pedal gets the less amount of time a battery can run it, so it seems inevitable anyway to lose the battery option...

Love to hear your thoughts on it!

[jskadiang]

So here's what I'm thinking... I want to trade the batteries in my pedals for 2 cool features.... soft touch switching and expression control. I take away the battery, but I give a much more reliable and long-term and nice feeling switching system plus an expression control or two. Say for the Tremolessence, you get exp control over rate or depth or both. On the Frazz we could do mix or gain or both. Stuff like that. (I don't mean trade old pedals batteries for these features, I mean they'd be a new design platform for our pedals, these changes would be upgradeable for old pcbs.)
!

WANT. I'd gladly give up the option to use batteries for awesome features like that, seems like a great trade-off to me!

[Ryan]

Right on, Jordan, thanks for the vote and comment!

[bigchiefbc]

I never use batteries in pedals. I HATE the fact that I have to use one in my bass (I just can't give up my active EQ). The idea that I can never be sure when its gonna run out makes me petrified that its gonna konk out during a song at a gig.

[jrmy]

I voted for never, but I feel some weird kind of responsibility to fess up and qualify that response with an "unless I have to." Last week I had to play a gig with a last-minute provisional board since my modulation multi-fx died on me. So I had too many pedals to power with my daisy chain, and had to use one (1) 9 volt.



That said, I prefer to not use batteries. The end.

Oh, and I definitely prefer more cool stuff!

[sjtele]

Hate using batteries.... Hate the chore of changing them, especially in pedals that seem to drain them in a heart beat. Don't like the waste either. So I'm all in favor of more features/less batteries. And expression controls make me

[Nychthemeron]

More features + Less Benefits = No Contest!

Being more environmentally friendly, having more features for what you pay, not spending extra cash on batteries... it's just a winning situation all around!

[oinkbanana]

Ryan, maybe you could make the first pedal with a built in rechargeable!
kidding.


it seems like this great debate is VERY one sided.
bye bye batteries.
& don't be shy to use the 'green' angle if any of your distributors try to give you scuff.
but they won't. cause your pedals are sold before they'd even have time to put a battery in it.

Everyone Wins!

[Gunner Recall]

Ryan, maybe you could make the first pedal with a built in rechargeable!
kidding.

http://www.neunabertechnology.com/recharger
They also make the new reverb everyone at TGP is fapping over.

Kill batteries dead.
My pedals are much less likely to stage a revolt and murder me in my sleep if they can't leave the confines of my pp2/onespot.

[Scruffie]

Ryan, maybe you could make the first pedal with a built in rechargeable!
kidding.

http://www.neunabertechnology.com/recharger
They also make the new reverb everyone at TGP is fapping over.

Kill batteries dead.
My pedals are much less likely to stage a revolt and murder me in my sleep if they can't leave the confines of my pp2/onespot.

There's also these http://www.thegigrig.com/acatalog/TheGi ... ttery.html

[Jero]

I'm liking where this is going Ryan. I would MUCH rather have the switching plus exp option over a battery. Batteries are only used in two of my pedals, my FFace & my old LPB2...which don't have 9v jacks.

I voted on "don't care either way," 'cause, well I don't; The battery socket would simply go unused, which seems wasteful. Better to toss in the extra functionality

Hell, for those stubborn people, they could get a 9v battery to 9v jack adapter...granted the 9v wouldn't be IN the pedal but...

[devnulljp]

You're missing an option:
I'll use a power supply in a high drain pedal (like a delay) or something that won't be affected by having a battery in there, but I'm damned sure I won't be running a Fuzz Face or pretty much any other Ge fuzz from anything but a zinc-carbon battery otherwise you might as well just use a Line 6 digital modeller and be done with it.

[hazelwould]

You're missing an option:
I'll use a power supply in a high drain pedal (like a delay) or something that won't be affected by having a battery in there, but I'm damned sure I won't be running a Fuzz Face or pretty much any other Ge fuzz from anything but a zinc-carbon battery otherwise you might as well just use a Line 6 digital modeller and be done with it.

Seriously?

[hazelwould]

And Ryan, I say ditch those suckas! More features FTW!

[molokaio]

Does that sound like a reasonable solution? Batteries go away but better stuff comes in?

You already have an answer there!
Ditch em!
Batteries are cool for fuzzes, and that's it, on other stuff they don't make sense, and in complicated pedals they just last very little.
I just shit my pants the other day, after trying the cosmi for hours all of a sudden the led stopped blinking and the chorus line was static... well.. it took me 10 minutes to un-panic and understand it was the battery!