I know several of the members on this circle have Dodd gear. If you have one of the first Gen. Dodd battery preamps, this is a cautionary tale.
I had to move gear around a couple of weeks ago to check out an amp that had been sitting for a while. I didn't notice that power cord to the battery charger had come loose. So I listen to the amp for a while and the batteries went dead. No problem, I knew they were old and ordered new ones, without checking the old ones. The new ones arrived today, so it was time to open the Dodd. And that's when I discovered the charger was unpluged. The old batteries (which probably would have kept going ok it I hadn't disconnected the charger) were so swollen I had to cut the frame to get them out. 3 of 4 were close to popping and making one hell of a mess.
If you have one of these preamps, visually check those batteries occasionally. Mine were 5 1/2 years old, and I hadn't realized that much time had elapsed. I dodged a bullet. But being lucky rather than smart isn't really a good plan.
