Battery doors on pedals---yes or no?

[Scott Miller]

What does everyone think about battery doors on pedals? Do you even use batteries? If you do, is it a bummer when you have unscrew a bottom plate to change a battery, or is that no big deal?
I know this isn't a terribly exciting subject, but I would be awesome if people could chime in on this topic. Y'know....for scientifical research.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Battery doors on pedals---yes or no?

I prefer an easily accessible battery door. IMO, Boss has the best idea out there. Just unscrew a thumbwheel, lift it up and change the battery. Quick and easy. I would never build a pedal that cannot be used with a battery because there can be times where the player may lose power to the pedalboard and if that happens, the quick way to get back up and running is to pull the power plug and run on battery.

 

[dominus]

Re: Battery doors on pedals---yes or no?

I don't use batteries, but this was the best design I've seen:

The sliding battery tray is held in place by a magnet.

If you guys are doing pedals again, a JFET version of the Twin Tube Metal with more gain would be appreciated.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Battery doors on pedals---yes or no?

Not a fan of pedals that I have to split in half to get to the battery. An easy to get to compartment like the boss idea is best for me as long as it isnt like the old DOD pedals where you could lose the cover its fine by me.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Battery doors on pedals---yes or no?

Of course I am a fan of battery doors, or at least the pedals where the foot platform lifts up. Changing batteries sucks without them.

 

[Bludave]

Re: Battery doors on pedals---yes or no?

I don't use batteries, but I usually have a few spares in my gig bag in case something fails. I power my board with one spots & they work fine. There are people who swear that batteries sound different (Eric Johnson). I had read an interview with Eric Johnson and he said that he only uses Everready Batteries because they sound better. So me being pessimistic I elected to prove his theory wrong...... Well I couldn't. there is definitely a difference, but IMHO not enough for me to go through my board and replace batteries before each gig. The one spot works for me, but I think the battery doors are necessary. I use a Boss CE2, a DD3, a TS9 and wah on my board. Being able to access the battery without removing the pedal from the board would be great for most guitar players I would think. If you could just slide the battery door open to replace it would be really cool.

 

[Scott Miller]

Re: Battery doors on pedals---yes or no?

Awesome---great info guys. Thanks for the input.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Battery doors on pedals---yes or no?

I don't use batteries.

That said, if there is a battery door it must not interfere with my ability to place the pedal on the board.

Boss has the best enclosure design. Way Huge is in second place. All other pedals I've had experience with are tied for last.

 

[Scott Miller]

Re: Battery doors on pedals---yes or no?

If you guys are doing pedals again, a JFET version of the Twin Tube Metal with more gain would be appreciated.

Duly noted. While I can neither confirm nor deny anything regarding pedals, the topic of this thread seems suspicious..........

 

[crguti]

Re: Battery doors on pedals---yes or no?

I tend to use power supply for my pedals, but sometimes I need to take out 1 or 2 for a jam in another place, so for that I use batteries. I like the Way Huge design of the battery compartment.

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: Battery doors on pedals---yes or no?

Doors for sure and a preference for the Boss style from the ones I've tried. Unscrewing the bottom plate is a pain in the bum.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Battery doors on pedals---yes or no?

My favorite ones are usually a metal panel with a tab on one end and a thumb screw on the other end. At least they don't break.

However for economic reasons, the Way Huge plastic battery enclosure is probably the best. It opens, but can't become detached. And there's no screws to mess with. Plus, the plastic they use is more durable than the cheap plastic that breaks easily.

Another advantage to having a complete plastic housing that surrounds the 9V is that a leakage won't run into the circuit board. It's not uncommon for people to leave batteries in their pedals for a few years, and when they open it up they find a corrosive mess. With a plastic housing, you can easily clean it up, and the pedal can't be ruined.

 

[Farkus]

Re: Battery doors on pedals---yes or no?

It's a pain to have to unscrew the back/bottom of a pedal to get to a battery. I too like the tab/thumb screw b/c it's sturdy and easily accessed. Otherwise I like the boss system.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Battery doors on pedals---yes or no?

I HATE pedals that can NOT run on batteries...I still use batteries form time to time and to be honest a pedal that can NOT run on a battery is often passed on simply for that reason.

I also HATE having to remove the bottom of a pedal to change batteries.

 

[Psykel]

Re: Battery doors on pedals---yes or no?

I'm going batteryless soonish. It's not a huge hassle for me with the battery doors or whatnot, but I preffer toolless opening, like the TC Electronic screws.

 

[Ashurbanipal]

Re: Battery doors on pedals---yes or no?

My treble booster has a drawer that works nicely; only way to go if a pedal needs batteries. Well, would you call this a pedal in the proper sense?

Anyway, this thing doesn't glug down juice fast so I'm cool with it. Needing to take apart things to to change batteries = :thumbsdow.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Battery doors on pedals---yes or no?

+1 to Way Huge having the best design.

When I worked at a guitar store, I definitely preferred and recommended pedals that had easy battery access just to save time on the sales floor. I can pop a battery in a Way Huge or a Boss in about 3 seconds and send the customer to demo it. It takes like 3 minutes to unscrew the back of an MXR or similar pedal and rig everything up.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Battery doors on pedals---yes or no?

I spent so many years in the 80's using batteries that I don't care. But I prefer the option.

Sometimes you just want to plug in the cables and go. Other times, the power supply is an obvious need, and a good thing.

I only recently moved to using a one spot. Mostly I don't use pedals that much though. When I used a 20 of them, I used batteries. Then I went to a powered floorboard multi-fx. Then I went amp. Then I went modeler. Now I'm using six for my acoustic stuff with the one spot.

A time and a place for everything. I agree though, Boss rules this area. Plastic cheapy doors that break suck. My Diaz Tremodillo is 9v only, but the battery lasts a long time in that so whatever.

 

[Brow]

Re: Battery doors on pedals---yes or no?

I tend to not use batteries on my pedalboards, but If I'm having a jam and only using 1 or 2 them sometimes I will use batteries.

As for battery access the best designs (that I've used myself, can't speak for others) in my opinion are:

BOSS: The thumb screw design is very easy to use, also very good on dark stages.

Digitech: The design on the Bad Monkey (the only Digitech pedal I've used) is similar to the BOSS, but you have to press a button with a guitar pick to open the pedal. Still very easy.

Ibanez Tone-Lok series: Again very similar to BOSS but you press a tab on each side of the pedal and it opens up.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Battery doors on pedals---yes or no?

Yes, I want the option of using a battery. I generally only use 1 or 2 pedals at a time and I'll usually end up just throwing some batteries in there. The best battery door I have seen is the Way Huge as well.