So we all know that there’s never a 9V battery in your guitar case when you need it. Trailing sockets and extension leads do the trick but they do get in the way and there’s all those wall-warts and their associated knot of power cables to consider.

Sanyo reckon they have the answer. Pictured left* is the Pedal Juice (or KBC-9V3U Pedal Juice, to give it its catchy moniker). It’s a rechargeable, Lithium-Ion battery that provides 9V of clean, DC, power to your pedals. Neat.

Depending on use, it can supply up to 50 hours of juice (see infographic below) and it can be recharged in three and a half hours. It’s water and shock resistant and features a handy on/off button so you can turn off all your pedals at the same time and not have to worry about unplugging them to save power. A red/amber/green indicator shows remaining charge.

Sanyo also tout the fact that, by eliminating the requirement for mains power to your pedals, and the possible ground-loops and interference that could be associated, your signal path could actually be cleaner and your tone improved. While technically true, I’m a little sceptical as to the degree of improvement that would be evident but I’m open to being convinced.

At a cost (reported by Engadget) of US$149.99, the Pedal Juice doesn’t come cheap but this seems like a relatively neat and handy solution to fiddly wall-warts and the requirement for a never-ending supply of 9V batteries.

More at Sanyo.

*Of course, you could argue that, if you’re putting it in a powered pedal-board, like that shown in the promotional image, you are lessening the argument for its existence – not totally, but maybe just a little?