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Jerry,
> I seam to recall somewhere that different kind of 9V
> batteries (alkaline, etc...) make these older stomp
> boxes sound differently.
This myth has been around almost as long as the infamous
Monster cable dustup. In point of fact, in this scenario,
the test is a no-brainer - either you have little electrons
flowing from a source (battery), or you don't. Simple,
no? The supply of power (electrons) has no effect at all
on the tone of a circuit, be it analog or digital, and
regardless if it's silicon, germanium or whatever.
Well, there is a qualifiter to that statement, namely, the
circuit must have enough power to actually operate as it
was designed. If you use (unintenionally) a battery that
is "under-producing" right from the start, then a circuit
could well misbehave, leaving you with bad tone. Perhaps
the battery had sat on the shelf too long (before you bought
it), or it came from a factory where quality control was very
lax, it doesn't matter. Bottom line being, if it can't
produce the juice, then we can pretty much guess what's gonna
happen, right?
That said, most stompbox circuits will operate correctly down
to about 6 1/2 or 7 volts before they start going south on you.
Not all, by any means, but most. Indeed, many of the early
germanium-based circuits could work reliably down to about
3 or 3 1/2 volts, and it wouldn't surprise me to find current
circuits doing that too.
Try to find and use quality batteries, but in any and all
events, always have at least two spares! In fact, you might
consider a 'rotation' system of using the backup battery
you bought last time, and placing your newest battery in
the backup slot. That way your backup should always be
pretty fresh, right? <g>
Otherwise, alkaline is good for longer life, at a slight
premium in purchase price. Rechargables are OK, but they
don't have nearly as long a "charge life" and if you forget
to change it just before a gig/practice session, you might
get that embarrassed feeling, know what I mean? <g> If you
want/need more info on battery life, just google for it, and
pick a link - there are plenty of sites out there that have
done the research for you!
HTH
unlunf
--- In , "Jerry" <jerry.soetewey@b...> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> Ok; I might be a bit off now, but I really would like to know.
> Well the thing is a vintage 60's fuzz with germanium transistors
> and as you can guess only 9V battery fed.
>
> So what kind of 9V battery type should I use for it? I seam to
> recall somewhre that different kind of 9V batteries (alkaline,
> etc...) make these older stomp boxes sound differently.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Jerry S.
>
