Voltage. AA and AAA are 1.5 volts. A 9volt has essentially 6 AAAA batteries in them ran together in series to provide 9-volts. It’s a common standard, and has the snap terminals which is good for things that are moving around instead of a spring loaded compartment.
Honestly, if I were designing active guitar gear, I might just try to push 24v phantom power and XLR cables. Have a little power box at the amp or pedalboard and ditch the onboard battery entirely.
Voltage. AA and AAA are 1.5 volts. A 9volt has essentially 6 AAAA batteries in them ran together in series to provide 9-volts. It’s a common standard, and has the snap terminals which is good for things that are moving around instead of a spring loaded compartment.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/9V_innards_3_different_cells.jpg
Cool picture showing the various cells making up the typical 9v battery.
Thank you for your answer.
Is there some advantage to having 9 volts instead of 1.5?
Some of the components typically used (e.g. op-amps) in audio gear like pedals need at least 5-10V to work.
If you used AA for those scenarios you’re either going to need a load of batteries or you’re gonna have a short battery life.
9V batteries are just a better fit for the use case basically and mean things like active pickups & pedals can be kept small
Honestly, if I were designing active guitar gear, I might just try to push 24v phantom power and XLR cables. Have a little power box at the amp or pedalboard and ditch the onboard battery entirely.
But I loathe alkaline batteries…
Fascinating. I had no idea, but this is starting to make sense.
Thank you.