Active Pickups || When Should You Change The Battery?

[@machello9]

Battery is found in me

[@assnapkined9295]

Yo could you send me the full res version of your pfp?

[@assnapkined9295]

Matteo Vitali that’s a sick pic of james

[@lamardixon9410]

Cannot stop the battery...

[@VōxBellum]

Yeah man you gotta take that out it could be dangerous for you health

[@thequietgamer1889]

i wonder if he likes blackstar

[@Kullvir]

Hard to tell haha

[@pierrebedard7778]

I think all he likes is black :)

[@XeLYoutube]

or EMG :D i got the emg and the 9v igh quality i just need the blackstar now

[@mikemmarshall8201]

Not at all 😅

[@Muhammad-s9r7z]

No. It’s just his bread and butter. He has an orange in his room.

[@ruioliveira3025]

No matter what you do you CAN NOT STOP THE BATTERY

[@riff_junkie]

omg I was about to type the same thing how crazy 😂🤘

[@lamardixon9410]

Victim of destruction

[@jakobfrei1121]

Jeez! All the information in this video can really be boiled down to these few lines of text: - low battery gives you unpleasant noises, e.g. crackling when turning the volume knobs - it's depending on your guitar how hard it is to change the battery (Flying V being a PITA) - standard batteries will give you probably couple of thousand hours of playing - Matt likes to change them once a month though - higher quality batteries may give you longer life - leaving the cable plugged in drains the battery - if you experience funny noises from your guitar, check the battery - Matt likes to learn new stuff :D I may have saved you about 9 minutes of your life, you're welcome.

[@XeLYoutube]

thx i love shot short description. yep alot of repetition, but i just wasted time replying too

[@austinthenoob]

thanks Jakob :)

[@iarreolav]

Ty

[@michaelcho6039]

I just spent an extra minutes to read your comment that is a repeat on top of this 10 minutes video ...

[@DanielSouza-nq1hw]

God of metal bless you sir

[@dpark551]

I just change the battery when I restring my guitar... has never failed.

[@XeLYoutube]

plz donate the half dead battery to poor

[@unclekriskrz4538]

@@XeLKZbin lol that’s fuckin great

[@anshupradhan3356]

In that case I've to change battery my every 2 weeks😂

[@DeliriumXM]

Dawg your batteries are definitely like almost completely full, unless your waiting multiple months to change strings...

[@dpark551]

@@DeliriumXM I do wait months lol. I buy quality strings and always wipe them down after playing. Plus I always play with clean hands. They’re able to last a long time.

[@BatFan1]

once a month??? bro, you're throwing away money, might as well buy a rechargeable battery. even if you play/stay plugged in for 24hrs straight for 30 days that's only 720 hrs. I can imagine touring musicians swapping them once a month, but for the home player? 5 hrs a day for 30 days, that's only 150 hrs. I only practice once or twice a week for a couple hrs, i could go a couple years with one battery, but i change it every 6 months, just in case it's a dud or a battery that sat who knows how long before purchase so you dont really know how much charge it has.

[@ivanmicallef5962]

Believe it or not, a battery lasted 10 years on my ibanez active bass

[@beast99dp26]

6 months with lots of playtime sounds about right to me. 1 year otherwise

[@TheRealFrankWizza]

I ended up putting 2 9v usb rechargeable batteries in there and glued in a little micro usb extension. Now I have enormous battery life and can just plug my guitar into a phone charger for a few hours to rejuice when they get weak after a long time.

[@cornelius5595]

Do you happen to know which parts you used? I'm interested in swapping to some EMGs in the near future and have wanted to find a rechargeable solution instead of getting new 9volt batteries every so often.

[@TheRealFrankWizza]

@TriVos Ahren I am not really a content creator. If you look on amazon for usb rechargeable 9 volt, you will find them. Just run a usb splitter cable ( I am pretty sure I bought a 2 pack of batteries, and the cable was included. ) between 2 of them and the other end of the cable, I drilled a small hole in my cavity cover of the guitar and glued it in. Now I can plug a usb into my guitar for charging. Run the batteries in series if you want 18v, parallel if you want 9v with a large capacity. That's all.

[@XeLYoutube]

i plug mine on my bike and cycling recharge it

[@adamduncan123456]

Fishman makes rechargeable battery pack for guitars

[@TheRealFrankWizza]

@@adamduncan123456 Yeah, and when I saw the price, I was like no thanks, and made the same thing from batteries for like 14 or whatever.

[@bmorgan8447]

Thank you, this verified my idea. My bass had crackling and a hum, so I tore the thing apart trying to find the problem, then I remembered that I haven't changed the batteries in about 10 months.

[@muhdnasharuddin1053]

How your bass sounds when the battery died? Can i know it specifically, Any reference?

[@TheTeaTVI]

@@muhdnasharuddin1053 plot twist, you can actually hear the bass in a full mix 😂

[@familytree3479]

Distortion does not sound right on a dead battery 🔋

[@mikewallace9193]

I've started stealing from the smoke detectors and making my wife buy batteries for those...

[@And_Justas_For_All]

Mike Wallace Improvise, adapt, overcome

[@hooper8935]

Hahah YES

[@raydog_97]

Mike Wallace 😂🤘

[@swamphunt]

added bonus it also wont start beeping in the middle of the night if the battery is in your guitar.

[@bumstudios8817]

Lol

[@9671548]

I bought a whole new amp thinking my amp was having issues. When turns out it was my pick ups lol. Well it was a good excuse to upgrade my amp ;)

[@keimurr1]

LOL I started to bang on my Preamp....

[@AdoreYouInAshXI]

Bro, I almost did the exact same thing. I had my new amp picked out and everything, and I swear God just said "No, no my son... think about the batteries...", because the thought just popped into my head. Changed the battery and BAM. Fixed. ...Now I still want to buy the amp.

[@Matacuri_666]

LITERALLY ME RIGHT NOW LOL

[@harsh__djents]

i just realized i haven't changed my guitar's battery for 2 years ._.

[@lunareclipse7698]

I haven’t changed mine since I got it which was 5 years ago. 😭 I honestly thought my guitar was broken before it crossed my mind to change the battery.

[@XeLYoutube]

ya get a new battery and burn it down with 10 000 hour :D unplug guitar between

[@michieladriaansens5977]

haha yeah i did change my battery once.. like 7 yrs ago if not longer xD

[@thrashboidjentboimusic1055]

Battery life for my 81/85 Is about 1500 hours which is accurate to advertising

[@ARMYStrongHOOAH17]

1500 hours?! That's 8 hours a day for 6 months straight. I notice a significant tone and gain saturation change in less than 40 hours on mine. How in the world does your battery last that long?

[@salvadorricardojimenez5401]

@@ARMYStrongHOOAH17, it's probably a combination of a high quality battery & active guitar.

[@paigeguitarplayer]

damn i heard it was a 1000 how do you know when there dead?

[@thrashboidjentboimusic1055]

@@paigeguitarplayer Sounds gets progressively quieter/less saturated, it's more of a "something feels wrong" than a "know they're gone" in my experience

[@paigeguitarplayer]

@@thrashboidjentboimusic1055 that makes sense or wait i heard it was actually 3000 hours the battery’s can go. but i could be wrong. but 3000 sounds right i love using emgs with drop c tuning. such a ferocious tone. sounds like a damn tank rolling through a thunderstorm lol

[@Frontbuner]

Cannot kill the family, battery is found in ME!!! BATTERY!

[@juztinking8813]

I was young and bought a guitar with EMG pickups not knowing about this. Around 8 years later averaging 6h of playing a day I swapped the battery for a new one because I wanted to hear and it made absolutely no difference. Tried that to all my other guitars with EMGs later and never seen a single difference between old and new batteries. I always keep a few batteries in my guitar case just in case. No humming, no scratching on any pots neither any volume drops or nothing. I have yet to see a battery failing...🤣

[@RobertMurphy-wm3ge]

@1:40 When the beer buzz wears off... haha We've all been there

[@rodneykandel3162]

Thanks for the info on active pickups. I'm new to the guitar world. I just got me a Washburn Dime with Seymour duncan blackouts. The battery was dead. Sounds much better now. The way metal should sound. Oh man they are great!!

[@kaanarslan9270]

Got the 81/85 inside but smthng is broken cause the battery does not make a difference in sound

[@alexisargote]

nice one, mate...cheers

[@GuitarAddict101]

Time to have a 9V DC input for every guitar with active pickups. No more worries for batteries!

[@VangeliRock]

I came here because I started hear crackling out of my amp, and more when playing with the pots and wondered , could it be the battery? Thx man, think my problem is now solved.

[@salvadorricardojimenez5401]

I like how you addressed the topic with such enthusiasm & emphasis. You made this video fun.

[@Rupert_chiesa_gigliotti]

But can I ask a question 😅 is true that with active pickups either can be guitar or bass the duration of battery can change due to pedals like distortions or noise gate or compressor? 😅 or if not using a quantity of 5/6 pedals can actually have a negative impact on active pickups?

[@Plantsman1989]

I have the EMG Het Set in my Truckster. I'm thinking of replacing the passive Seymour Duncan's in my EC1000 but I'm not sure to what.

[@bt6135]

Energizer ultimate lithium will last at least 6 months with average players. They cost a gang of cash though (as far as battery prices go) Like 8-10$ ea. But worth it. The kind of battery you use for smoke alarms and such. And it does specifically say on the packaging “smoke alarms and musical audio equipment “. So there ya go. Or just buy rechargeables and save over time.

[@mockbel]

One month !! I had my guitar for around 6 years and started to sound weird so I am checking this video 😂

[@simonlacroix3916]

I think that, on the data sheets of the pickups (available on the EMG website) , it says about 3000 hours for regular EMG (exemple 81/60) and 1500 hours for the Het Set . For myself, I change the batteries every 6 months, at the same time we change time on the clocks. I do so because a those times we change the batteries on the smoke detector as well ha ha ha. I personnally use both Het Set and 81/60.

[@greggriffiths9053]

Thanks for the video l just bought my first guitar with active pick ups and i knew nothing about them now I know what's going on.

[@Guitarchie]

would the battery still be running if the guitar is plugged in but the other end isnt plugged into an amp?

[@shaneb1313]

New drinking game. Drink every time he says “Batchry” in this video!🤣🥴

[@mattriffmaster]

Fuck I’m down !! Let’s do this

[@bradleyhardeman8644]

Thank you so, so much for this video. It's probably so simple for most musicians, but this bass is my first bass with active pickups, and when the signal just completely stopped coming through, I was panicking haha. Learning the difference between active and passive pickups and better ways to preserve the battery today. Thank you!

[@xaphan8581]

Bro same, lol I just got a guitar with active pickups for the first time and never knew this stuff.

[@dementedone2503]

best video explaining active pick ups and battery, thx for the upload.

[@jacelii]

I’m using Fishman fluence pick ups and it lasted a week and it was turned off at the plug, so I don’t know what to do

[@droptherapy2085]

is it normal for it to cut out and cut in rapidly while accompanied by a clipping popping sound? I have a six string ibanez bass and I never really had to worry about pickup batteries before I got it because the previous bass didn't have active pickups. I forgot I had active pickups so when this happened I freaked out, thought it was my cord and spend 40 dollars on a new cord. I know it isn't my audio interface because I've plugged other things into it with no problems. I also get static around the knobs when the signal comes back temporarily as well as crackling.

[@MicroGabe-qx1qh]

Either your battery or maby you need a new input jack in your guitar

[@stevehayward8891]

I have a Gretsch 5024E Acustic guitar . It has avtive pickups i would say. If i have no battery in guitar it will not come over amp . And i only played it 1 hr and battery was new . And was dead after playing 1 hr . How do i keep battery from going dead so fast

[@familytree3479]

I have an ESP EMG and it will just sound horrible low output and sound especially on hard power chords horribly flat still after recheck tuning especially on the E&A strings the music sounds just as dead as the Battery 🔋.

[@BrendNicc]

I'm a first time active pickup user and left my fishman fluences plugged in. The sound of my brand new guitar's battery dying inflicted fear I never thought I would feel haha.

[@stevenmgyori3826]

Well done Matt! Helpful to many! Thanks for sharing brother!

[@reggiewherry5957]

Hi there. Love your video. Where to go to present a guitar idea to make your playing more trouble free?

[@Absolut3mayh3m]

Sweet, i just bought a used ESP LTD EC-401FR .. never owned an active pickup guitar. Thanks Matt!

[@azrael666ethereal]

I have that guitar also.. It's awesome.

[@paulkielt9301]

I'm actually using Seymoun Duncan Blackouts and never experimented any volume drop. When the battery voltage starts to decrease, the sound becomes more organic and more saturated than natural. This is the way I realize my battery is weak.

[@TheSturling]

So my volume is on full blast and no noise till I turn it a little from like 10-8 then there's noise is that normal

[@brianman4351]

I have not changed my battery in 25 years and it still works fine. I have not used the bass either but after plugging into the amp the other day, it worked perfect. No corrosion either . I got lucky!

[@random_an0n]

ten you must not of used it much,my batt lasted less than 2 weeks cause i had it plugged in and it was a duracell

[@dildojizzbaggins6969]

@@random_an0n10? And what does must _of_ mean? Are you dumb? (Ironically you got the difference between "than" and "then" right. Luck? Coincidence? Planets aligned?)

[@stephengperez]

bro I agree to all you say im using fisherman humbuckers especially unplugging the cable if guitar is not in use... if i just leave it plugged my battery will last like 4 days only... but if I unplugged it... it will last like more than 4 days

[@AdoreYouInAshXI]

My main two guitars for the last 5 years have been a Gibson Explorer and a strat. However, I just ordered a Snakebyte (camo model) and a Kraken V4 preamp. Got everything in and hooked it all up and was blown away by how good it sounded. Two weeks later I turned on my amp and almost all of my distortion was gone, and the volume was quite a bit lower. Since I sold my other guitars before buying this one I couldn't try anything else, but I was almost sure my amp had eaten shit. I was so bummed out. Went for like 4 days feeling absolute disgust when I looked at my new rig. It never dawned on me to think of the battery. When I thought of it I rushed downstairs, and tore the house down looking for a 9 volt. Popped it in, and SON. OF. A. BITCH. Not only is my tone, distortion and volume back to normal but the feedback issue I had is gone and it sounds even better than before! I was so elated (and felt stupid as hell too, lol).

[@minceraftfornite4334]

Do I have to have batteries to play active basses or can you still play it with out batteries how does it work

[@michieladriaansens5977]

i noticed the the light on the gain knob of my Focusrite didn't lit up when playing.. after testing with my bass wich did lit up the thingy i realized something was up with the signal of my gituar plus it sounds like shit even tho my strings are in tune. So i guess it's time to change battery's

[@amarehurley40]

Anyone know where to get the spinning battery box

[@nextusone]

I use lithium 9v

[@donsly7357]

I got actives on my Jackson matt tuck Signature.. i played it for 6 years and today was the day the battery died! 😂

[@wonderwalls3565]

YOu did not mention if the sound issues start to come when theb battery is dead or the sound issues start appearing on when the battery is lets say maybe at 30% or something.

[@usmetaltv]

Thank you I fixed it my sister strat with the Steve Lukather pick guard I forgot to put on the stupid ground called the green one we had to come out somehow so thank you very much I appreciate your videos the world loves you

[@luizhenriquerdias]

I got a reminder in my phone to replace the battery of all of my EMG guitars ONCE A YEAR and it works just fine for me. Keep in mind that Fishman is WAAAAY MORE battery hungry than EMG.

[@kopan14]

any recommendation on those EMG81/85 height ? should it be as closest to strings as possible ?

[@mattriffmaster]

With the bridge you want it fair close obviously not touching but the closer it is the more output you’re gonna get ? So play around with it

[@kopan14]

@@mattriffmaster thanks man, i might start from the highest to see how sound is differently affected

[@bumstudios8817]

I see people wire them series to 18v to mod but why not do parallel instead and get longer batteries

[@boundsy88]

i only really notice when i play on clean. when i hit a low note theres a yucky distortion about it.

[@sramh846]

praise be matt! i thought my guitar was done for

[@NsIX3]

Should we be worried about these batteries corroding inside the guitar? Say if your guitar is sitting around not being used for half a year, it wouldn't hurt to remove the battery, right?

[@Emir-cq1dw]

How long Does the battery lasts how often do I need to change my battery in emgs

[@biglar769]

ok So I have one gutar with active pickups there EMG 57-7H and EMG 66-7H in my Schecter Hellraiser Hybrid C-7 . I bought it 3 yearsago and just changed the battery today (4/16/22) .

[@martinfrappier1434]

If you suspect your battery is dead or about to die, ultimately you could use a voltmeter and make sure the battery still pushes 9vdc. If the voltage starts to get lower than it is time to change it.

[@shizzrich]

Thx, important Information for me was that plugged cable will exhaust the Batterie.

[@jessebreakspear6656]

get a volt tester and once you read below 6 volts or whatever get a new battery? maybe IDK I've never used active but who knows I might love them definitely on the to-do list before I die to try out some active pickups

[@jessebreakspear6656]

oh my favorite pickups are Epiphone firebird mini-humbuckers...not Gibson, Epiphone! the Gibson ones are too weak

[@xxhoulosxx356]

I thought my brand new guitar was just not working now I’m going to get batteries

[@samgertau]

Can there problems tuning your active bass guitar if battery is low either in bass or tuner

[@mattriffmaster]

No tuning has nothing to do with the battery , itl just give out less output

[@jorgeloo3131]

What do you think about rechargeable 9v bats for your axe?

[@MrJak427]

Even if you have the cable plugged into your guitar..... but nothing on the other end it will still drain it... as soon as the pickups see something plugged into the jack they are activated weather it’s plugged into an amp or not Iv left a battery in my esp explorer for two years and it was still good but I unplugged it every time

[@zoidasteire]

Hello. I change the battery (not cheap ones) a week ago, when i played nearly 1 hour (at home). the guitar was not pluged to amp. the knobs were off. Tonight I pick the guitar and the sound was terrible...just couldnt ear it. The pick ups are EMG and I love it but, it sucks chang battery. I believe, if they're live 2 hours straight in my guitar. cheers.

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

Lithium Ion Batteries would help. Active Pickups do have a Punchier sound.

[@mikewallace9193]

Damn! I leave mine plugged in every so often. I get called away and shut down real quick or something, and just drop the guitar on the stand. I'm getting pretty sick of buying 9 volt batteries. I wish they would just make a built in lithium or better rechargeable that lasts at least as long as the 9v and charges in about an hour. If they can do it for my phone, why not my guitar? Either that, or my wife needs to leave me the hell alone when I'm jammin!

[@pauloftarsus8145]

NO, I just plugged in and got NOTHING. My amp may be the problem OR will a dead battery cause NOTHING? I GOT no spare batteries.

[@angusorvid8840]

When you need actives, there is no alternative, and as far as actives go, EMG rules the roost. I remember when they got popular in the 80s. I started using them around '86. A general rule I have is that the battery has to be easy to reach. Also, if you're playing it a lot you should expect to change batteries every two months. I've never owned a guitar with a fast access box but I will be getting one soon, maybe a Schecter. I also use DiMarzios, when it comes to passives. I find they tend to have a lot more piss and vinegar than Duncans. But yeah, EMGs are terrific and they take the guitar to new levels. My rule is to not leave a guitar unplugged overnight. Also, if you have EMGs get a battery tester so you don't have to guesstimate when the battery will go on the fritz. Always carry some batteries in your guitar case for every guitar with EMGs.

[@NEO_RKX]

Unplugged or plugged in over night ?

[@szaki95]

No alternative? Dude you're living in a cave. There's also Blackouts, Fishmans, Harley Benton HBZ.

[@kaonashi4693]

I have never changed my battery in three years, is that normal? 😅

[@KyleP133]

Ive had the same battery in my guitar for years.... I just noticed it going dead the other day, wondered if I missed any warning signs hence why Im watching the video. Either way, the output is just low, not that noticeable when you run into a higher gain amp until it gets really bad. I gave it some thought, and Im pretty sure the battery in that guitar hasnt been changed in several years, somewhere between 5 and 10. Once a month is crazy overkill.

[@wazwag755]

My bass makes a siren sound, is that a battery issue?

[@FrankFurther]

New battery Battery died in my new guitar with fluence classic pickups in less than a week. This normal? Do I need to keep the guitar volume down to stop it wasting battery or something?

[@mattriffmaster]

That’s not normal no! Always unplug your guitar when not playing

[@FrankFurther]

@@mattriffmaster just got to that point in the video, I use Bluetooth cables that stay plugged in all the time. Guess that explains it! Thanks!

[@LilHachirou]

Thx for the Video, i get a guitar with Emg's and i'm Really exited

[@CHESTER9871]

Not so much that I didn't know they ran on batteries , its more of, I completely forgot I had installed pick ups that need batteries, and after 2 and a half years it finally started to get weak on me and finally remembered after I took the back plate off 😂

[@FifthAssassin]

What about 9volt or the newer 9volt 2's?

[@proteinprofeten]

I’m gonna be honest here, not my proudest moment.. Been playing guitar for 8 yrs or something, got my esp eclipse 5 yrs ago but haven’t really been playing it much since it’s laying in the hard case. I play much more on my acoustic simply because i’m lazy as fuck. Lately i started playing more on the ESP and suddenly realised: oh shit i have active pickups and I’ve never changed the battery... i’m about to change and see the difference lol have a good day.

[@NEO_RKX]

How was it ?

[@NobodyNewsNetwork]

Whenever your plugged into a guitar with actives it's drawing power. Make sure to unplug your guitar when your done playing. I was blowing through batteries till someone told me about this. Now, I change batteries once a year at most!

[@IDGAF_PLUS]

OK, old a/f thread but here's what I just experienced. I got a guitar with Fishman Fluence pups and it came with a Duracell 9v from the factory. I wasn't even thinking about the battery when I plugged in an OD pedal that I hadn't used in a while. It's a slightly noisy pedal, nothing too crazy, but now it was screaming with awful noise and sounded just weak sauce. I thought the pedal was jacked. So I hooked up a different one and it was super noisy too. So then I thought it was that they just weren't digging the amp so I unhooked them and just played the amp. Notes were dropping off as if a noise gate was clamping down on them and there was zero sustain. Then it hit me. Battery. Changed it and voila, all good. Both pedal sound perfect. With EMG's the only thing that ever happened that I can remember is that I'd plug in and have no sound. This was a whole different set of symptoms. I never would have suspected that a low battery in my guitar would cause my pedals to sound as noisy as they did but that was definitely the problem. Very strange.

[@DaemonPredator]

I changed my battery of my EMGs once since 2006 (in 2011), and I never hear the problems this video describes. Maybe is time for a fresh battery, hahaha

[@Geeko-vd9ld]

DURACELL Industrial edition is the best battery for your pickups. As the battery gets worn with time, it keeps the voltage at a very stable level. Often batteries will drop voltage noticably as they wear down. The Industrial version of the battery keeps the voltage.

[@billybat5790]

my first time owning an emg bass and i modified it & thought the new slight hum/crackling sound was my bad wiring but it started phasing in and out so im guessing its a dying battey now owned for a month and dont know how long the last wonder used it, fuck me

[@markseparovic1600]

I got a new Mick Thompson signature jackson soloist, I thought it was broken 😅

[@NEO_RKX]

I have one too, my guitar started sounding off. Then I remembered. At one point I was playing 10 hours a day. Lol haven’t changed the battery since may it’s December now so 7 months I think it’s time to change !

[@Rocketmonke34]

I haven’t changed my battery is my LTD ouija since I got it a year ago!!!

[@VS-kn5uq]

im glad, this was driving nuts finding what was wrong with my guitar sound, I know Im pretty bad but man even the clean sound sound distorted. C'mon man!

[@albertn872]

Great video, I have an old Jackson warrior model with active pickups, at the moment there's both rustling noises in the volume knob and somehow only the bridge pick started losing some of the low end. I sprayed it with some electrical contact cleaner but seems like I have missed the obvious problem with the low battery, will try it out for sure!

[@BlakeSpohn]

Hiwd it go?

[@paddeemusio]

One question about active pickups, do you have to have a dedicated separate battery compartment?

[@mcfetridgewilliam]

Usually, depends on the guitar. The silver plate on the back of the guitar in the video is the battery compartment.

[@paddeemusio]

@@mcfetridgewilliam I have a Jackson king v

[@allenwhite1978]

This is old but you should use alkaline or lithium preferably. It’s not recommended to use rechargeables per emg. They also note about 1000 hrs. When mind get low my guitar just sounds like a piece of trash. I try and keep good quality name brands for the sake of not having to do it extra times. I don’t wait because hot batteries sound the best so if I think it’s been awhile I just swap em. I’ve noticed my guitar don’t sound good long before they are dead. Probably because I run 2 AAs not a 9 or 18v. I’d say I get a good month of playing depending on the use of that guitar. IMHO passive can sound just as good or different. If everyone had emgs there would be no tonal differences. So experiment!

[@2008israelramos]

Does it only draw current when it's plugged into the amp?

[@downfallofmankind]

2 things ive heard about actives i wanna ask: 1: does the battery drain even when the guitar is not used? 2: is the "few thousand hours lifespan" statement true or just for advertising purposes? im thinking of swapping to actives but there are still so many things unknown to me

[@thrashboidjentboimusic1055]

lil ligma battery drains when plugged in and with my EMG 81/85 set battery lasts approx. 1500 hours

[@philter820]

Actually a battery loses a bit of power over time but it is only a minor difference

[@ironlabelofficial8263]

You can't go wrong with actives. Just be sure to change the battery at least once a year. Also, if you leave it plugged in when not playing, the battery dies much faster. That being said, you won't find a pickup out there that can push your amp better than an EMG or other active.

[@pizzaes]

i don’t know why i’m watching this when i’ve got a passive guitar 😭

[@JHenzly]

I have an Ibanez with a Sh/ sh/81 set of EMG's . One volume, two tones. Had guitar for a long time. All throughout the years, I would obviously know when the battery was gone. Until recently, I have been getting an intermittent crackling and popping sound. Only when volume pot was turned up. I would take out battery and measure it with meter and it seems to start when battery is at roughly 7 volts. Having this guitar for such a long time, I'm pretty sure it never did this. I've changed output jack, volume pot. I have a new 5 way switch but haven't put it in yet. It seems to have started after re soldering 9 volt clip wires that broke off. Tried a few different battery clips but still does it. It does it on any position on 5 way switch. So I can rule out a bad pup? Do I need a new original EMG battery clip? Any advice would be great. Thanks!

[@КристианГеоргиев-ф3ы]

When I was changing the level on the tone control on my new guitar I noticed there's no big difference between the changing. Is that because of the low battery?

[@theunholinesswithin70]

Would my dead battery be why my Reaper Metallics IR's all sound like shit?

[@nickcaptain13]

EMG claims 1500 hours if im not wrong.. but i change it every 4 or 6 months just to keep my mind focused on other problems that might come.. and i wanna be sure its not the battery..

[@lethalpenguin61]

That’s got to be wrong mine ran out way before that

[@rosshorne4769]

I always used rechargeable batteries when I was gigging saves a fortune

[@zerbsy6686]

What if you recharge the battery?

[@brockmulhearn3490]

duuude i always thought that when i played it was loud and then it got quiter i always thought it was my ears