well of course if you got LEDs in your bass, that one 9V aint cuttin it.
TWO 9V. And the LEDs aren't powered by the batteries. They only work under external power. Some Alembic models that don't have external power can be ordered with LEDs, but then those LEDs have their own separate battery system!
Seriously, the bass draws that much power that if I mess up and leave a 1/4" cable plugged in overnight, both batteries are toast. I use the external about 90% of the time.
The other thing is, with the older basses, like my 4 string, the pickups are wired stereo, so if you use a regular 1/4" cable, only the neck pickup plays. You need the external power to power both pickups, or a special 1/4" stereo cable. The trade-off is that since it is wired stereo, you can plug any set of stereo headphones into it and get the total sound without needing a practice amp or Pandora. In fact, you can plug it straight into a power amp, without even using a preamp. I have never done this, but I know of others who have.
My 5 string is wired mono, so the headphone thing doesn't work, but I can play both pickups through a 1/4" jack. If I were smarter when I ordered it, I would have ordered a stereo / mono flip switch (as if that bass needs any more controls!)
