# My SD-9's battery died mid-song at a gig last night!!



## prodigal_son (Apr 23, 2009)

Talk about annoying. It actualy wasn't a big deal. I normally run dirt pedals into my amp's clean channel for my rhythms. Luckily I had my amp's distortion channel programmed into my GCX controller otherwise it would have been an embarrassing and time consuming mess. I even bought spare batteries before the show but I forgot to replace it before we started the first set. I made a joke out of it and told the audience that my battery had died. All the more reason to get a Pedal Power or something similar. Has anyone else had this happen? Would love to hear about it.


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## Powdered Toast Man (Apr 6, 2006)

Shop Guitar Amplifiers & Effects, Guitar Effects, Power Supplies | Musician's Friend


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## prodigal_son (Apr 23, 2009)

Yeah yeah yeah.. I know. I had previously tried a power supply on this pedal but it hummed like a bastard so this is why I have been using batteries. I know all about the invention of power supplies for stompboxes, yadda yadda yadda.. I thought it would be cool to hear about other people's mishaps with dying pedals during a live performance. One minute I am audible, the next minute it's like I'm playing air guitar. It sucked man. Totally sucked.


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## Powdered Toast Man (Apr 6, 2006)

That's kind of odd. Usually in a dirt pedal you can tell when the battery is getting low due to the change in sound. I guess get a set of rechargeable batteries and then swap in a freshly charged one before every gig.


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## prodigal_son (Apr 23, 2009)

It's not a TBP pedal either so I just went silent.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Powdered Toast Man said:


> That's kind of odd. Usually in a dirt pedal you can tell when the battery is getting low due to the change in sound. I guess get a set of rechargeable batteries and then swap in a freshly charged one before every gig.


 The SD-9, like so many other Ibanez pedals, uses JFET electronic switching. If the pedal is true bypass, then you _would_ hear the gradual change in distortion quality as the battery voltage declines. If the JFETs that sit between the distortion and the output are not switched properly, however, it is easy to imagine that the switching system might fail before such a tonal change is perceptible.

If you have had bad experiences with wallwarts, then perhaps you have not used a well-regulated one. Just because it says [email protected] and has the right plug polarity does not mean it is a suitably smooth 9V. You should probably consider either getting a different, and better, wallwart, or adding some regulation or smoothing to what you have. I can tell you how if you decide to go that route.

Alternatively, there are a bunch of us old-timers who advocate use of a battery pack for those who are averse to wallwart hum, or who have not the skills, knowledge, or materials to assess the quality of a wallwart. The sustained current delivery of the battery is partly determined by the physical size. Naturally, a 9V, even a good one, is not able to last infinitely if the pedal in question is left plugged in overnight, or draws a lot of current. If one uses a 6-cell clip of C or D cells, however, you have a high-current 9v supply that can last longer than a half-dozen 9v batteries, or longer, simply because there is more "battery stuff" packed inside. Running a cable from a battery-pack like that to the power jack on your pedal presents no problem other than the actual making of one. The power provided is pure humless DC, and there is no concern about the pedal drawing too much current for its own good unless something was amiss with the pedal.

You will note that Sanyo has taken advantage of this path and come up with a rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack, called the "Pedal Juice", aimed at this specific application ( http://www.jemsite.com/compare-guitar-effects/Sanyo-Pedal-Juice/reviews/ ). At $149.00 retail, it is aimed a players with a bit more cash to spend, though. A 6-cell clip and a couple of packs of C or D cells at the dollar store will set you back less than five bucks. It'll be a little bulkier, and it isn't rechargeable, but it'll do the same thing at a fraction of the cost, while you're waiting for the price of the Sanyo pack to come down.


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