My Seagull Entourage is sending me to poor house

[tnvolfan5]

I love my Seagull Entourage but it eats batteries faster than a high school boy eats all the groceries. I'm wondering if having the volume knob turned all the way up all the time would cause battery drain? I do this because the Godin electronics are very quiet in this guitar. This is my second Seagull Entourage as the first one also was very hard on batteries. I have 3 other acoustic-electric guitars that seem to run forever on one 9-volt. But I'm getting skiddish about not changing the battery in the Seagull after every 2-3 two-hour gigs per month. Adding maybe 25-30 hours a month rehearsing, that's way less than the 100 hours you might expect a battery to last.

Last night I had to change batteries during a solo gig. Embarrassing! Plus the battery pouch is in the soundhole so you have to loosen strings to get to it.

Love the guitar, hate the Godin electronics. ANY ideas or suggestions? Thank you!

[ssstewart]

dunno if it helps but have you tried using a long life or hi power 9 volt battery? energizer and duracell both make one, its not that they hold power for extended shelf life but they give more juice per say over time of use. if you search online or at local hardware store they should have some. they cost a bit more but worth it for items that draw more

or the obvious would be rechargeable 9 volt batteries, thats what i switched to for some of my pedals and metronomes

just a thought

[nitram]

Do you unplug your patch cord into your amp when you're not using it? It'll absolutely drain your battery. Dont have any cord plugged into the guitar unless it's being played.

[tnvolfan5]

Good question. Yep, I'm always very careful about unplugging even during a gig break or at home rehearsing. If I ain't playing then it ain't plugged in.

[lkingston]

Originally Posted by nitram

Do you unplug your patch cord into your amp when you're not using it? It'll absolutely drain your battery. Dont have any cord plugged into the guitar unless it's being played.

It’s worth investing in a guitar cable with a silent plug (which self mutes when you unplug it), so that you don’t have to mute the sound board channel every time you unplug to save battery.

[nolesj]

My Martin GPCPA1 goes thru batteries pretty quick too, about the same rate as your Godin. I think the more processing that occurs in the preamp plays a role in power consumption. For a while, I switched to lithium 9V batteries which almost doubled the life expectancy, but they are quite expensive. I switched to two rechargeable 9V batteries (one in the guitar and one on standby) and I haven’t bought another 9V in about two years. The nice thing about my Martin vs. the Godin is the battery compartment is located in a pocket near the end pin, so all I have to do tow swap is is unplug and unstrap.