External Power
We have been considering this and it could potentially be a future option. The idea is to avoid being tethered to the wall when using TWA, however!
If you're not using rechageable batteries, try them! Our favorite is the Panasonic Eneloop Pro 2550mAh. We're getting about 8 hours per charge per set.
William Murphy
Having the MIDI cord attached to my iPad negates the not being tethered idea. The rechargeable battery option is already being used. Was noting the unused USB port as an option for power/
I would like to eventually see a rechargeable battery pack that I can charge like my cordless drill...
It would be fabulous if the spare USB port could be used to supply power to the Tonewood. Then, users could choose to power via internal batteries, a "wall wart", or a high capacity rechargeable USB power bank.
I'd also love to see an external power option. I've no issue with being permanently plugged into a wall-wart or whatever for those scenarios (e.g. playing at home; using the TWA as a ToneRight type device, etc); happy to use rechargeable batteries when being plugged into the wall isn't convenient.
William Murphy
After using rechargeable batteries for the last two years on it, I can say that they suck. Different brands, high output, normal output, rechargeable batteries can't keep up after 1 hour. You get distortion that you can trace directly to the rechargeable batteries by exchanging them for normal alkaline batteries and playing for the same amount of time.
Would I mind having a power cord while practicing? NO!
Please give us this option.
I'll pass that experience along to the design team. Thanks, William.
Just to add my support for this - external power via a lead would be great.
Most of my AA recharagables don't fit in the TWA, which has very narrow battery slots. I specifically bought some Eneloop ones (at some cost), but even they don't last that long. It's relatively rare (e.g. principally playing outdoors) that I need to be "untethered" and rechargeables work for that scenario, but I'd rather avoid that hassle where possible, e.g. using mains power adapter to the USB socket. I'd certainly get more use out of my TWA if that were possible.
No-one ever considered McGyvering your own external power supply?
I mean c'mon people - how hard is it to fab up a piece of wood or plastic to fit into the battery slot with the appropriate wiring to feed 4.5 watts into the unit?
I could do it in an afternoon if I was bothered enough to - it's not rocket science after all, not even ballistics, or skipping stones across a calm pond
Just an AC adaptor - some wooden dowels, or plastic rod, seom duct-tape or glue, and a notch in the battery slot cover - hell you could even add a plug so that you can detach the cord from the unit - simples
-=A=-
!
This came through as an email reply rather than a reply to the chat, but solid tip!
William Murphy
The DC noise from a direct plug in becomes annoying. Looking at the code embedded in the TWA and tracing shows that the need to just enable the USB power.
It would be incredible to you have The ability to use external power, I have been using it with my electric guitar a lot as a multi effects processor and it seems very silly not to be able to plug it in like everything else is plugged in, just having the option makes sense especially with the extra USB ports available
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Off topic yes, but still...
Brendan - if you want some really nice tones to go with the Electric when using the Tonewood as a pre-amp? If you have a cajon? rest it on that, with enough weight to keep the unit flat - the bass tones are gorgeous
William Murphy
I bought the iDevice cable and associated programs. I put in fresh batteries into my Tonewood Amp, after about 7 straight hours of playing with the midi interface, I was forced to replace the batteries. After another 3 hours I can see that the batteries are going to need to be replaced soon. Due to the addictiveness of this device along with the midi interface I think you need to add this feature ASAP! =).