diff --git a/qiskit_experiments/warnings.py b/qiskit_experiments/warnings.py
index c5197ef07d..19c9733025 100644
--- a/qiskit_experiments/warnings.py
+++ b/qiskit_experiments/warnings.py
@@ -29,3 +29,7 @@
 HAS_DYNAMICS = LazyImportTester(
     "qiskit_dynamics", name="qiskit-dynamics", install="pip install qiskit-dynamics"
 )
+
+HAS_TESTTOOLS = LazyImportTester(
+    "testtools", name="testtools", install="pip install testtools"
+)
diff --git a/test/base.py b/test/base.py
index d1ad6e8ed6..c6658a1100 100644
--- a/test/base.py
+++ b/test/base.py
@@ -16,14 +16,16 @@
 import os
 import json
 import pickle
+import sys
+import unittest
 import warnings
 from typing import Any, Callable, Optional
 
 import fixtures
 import uncertainties
-from qiskit.test import QiskitTestCase
 from qiskit.utils.deprecation import deprecate_func
 
+import qiskit_experiments.warnings
 from qiskit_experiments.framework import (
     ExperimentDecoder,
     ExperimentEncoder,
@@ -36,18 +38,62 @@
 TEST_TIMEOUT = os.environ.get("TEST_TIMEOUT", 60)
 
 
-class QiskitExperimentsTestCase(QiskitTestCase):
+# If testtools is installed use that as a (mostly) drop in replacement for
+# unittest's TestCase. This will enable the fixtures used for capturing stdout
+# stderr, and pylogging to attach the output to stestr's result stream.
+if qiskit_experiments.warnings.HAS_TESTTOOLS:
+    import testtools
+
+    class BaseTestCase(testtools.TestCase):
+        """Base test class."""
+
+        # testtools maintains their own version of assert functions which mostly
+        # behave as value adds to the std unittest assertion methods. However,
+        # for assertEquals and assertRaises modern unittest has diverged from
+        # the forks in testtools and offer more (or different) options that are
+        # incompatible testtools versions. Just use the stdlib versions so that
+        # our tests work as expected.
+        assertRaises = unittest.TestCase.assertRaises
+        assertEqual = unittest.TestCase.assertEqual
+
+else:
+
+    class BaseTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
+        """Base test class."""
+
+        pass
+
+
+
+
+# TODO: copy enforce_subclasses_call decorator?
+class QiskitExperimentsTestCase(BaseTestCase):
     """Qiskit Experiments specific extra functionality for test cases."""
 
+    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+        self.__setup_called = False
+        self.__teardown_called = False
+
     def setUp(self):
         super().setUp()
         self.useFixture(fixtures.Timeout(TEST_TIMEOUT, gentle=True))
+        if self.__setup_called:
+            raise ValueError(
+                "In File: %s\n"
+                "TestCase.setUp was already called. Do not explicitly call "
+                "setUp from your tests. In your own setUp, use super to call "
+                "the base setUp." % (sys.modules[self.__class__.__module__].__file__,)
+            )
+        self.__setup_called = True
 
     @classmethod
     def setUpClass(cls):
         """Set-up test class."""
         super().setUpClass()
 
+        warnings.filterwarnings("error", category=DeprecationWarning)
+
         # Some functionality may be deprecated in Qiskit Experiments. If the deprecation warnings aren't
         # filtered, the tests will fail as ``QiskitTestCase`` sets all warnings to be treated as an error
         # by default.
@@ -60,6 +106,17 @@ def setUpClass(cls):
         for msg in allow_deprecationwarning_message:
             warnings.filterwarnings("default", category=DeprecationWarning, message=msg)
 
+    def tearDown(self):
+        super().tearDown()
+        if self.__teardown_called:
+            raise ValueError(
+                "In File: %s\n"
+                "TestCase.tearDown was already called. Do not explicitly call "
+                "tearDown from your tests. In your own tearDown, use super to "
+                "call the base tearDown." % (sys.modules[self.__class__.__module__].__file__,)
+            )
+        self.__teardown_called = True
+
     def assertExperimentDone(
         self,
         experiment_data: ExperimentData,
diff --git a/test/framework/test_store_init_args.py b/test/framework/test_store_init_args.py
index df46c68a8d..aa30bc56c1 100644
--- a/test/framework/test_store_init_args.py
+++ b/test/framework/test_store_init_args.py
@@ -12,8 +12,8 @@
 
 """Tests for base experiment framework."""
 
-from qiskit.test import QiskitTestCase
 from qiskit_experiments.framework.store_init_args import StoreInitArgs
+from test.base import QiskitExperimentsTestCase
 
 
 class StoreArgsBase(StoreInitArgs):
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ def __init__(self, a, b, c="default_c", d="default_d"):
         pass
 
 
-class TestSettings(QiskitTestCase):
+class TestSettings(QiskitExperimentsTestCase):
     """Test Settings mixin"""
 
     # pylint: disable = missing-function-docstring
diff --git a/test/library/characterization/test_cross_resonance_hamiltonian.py b/test/library/characterization/test_cross_resonance_hamiltonian.py
index 1df5c80aae..f06b1e407c 100644
--- a/test/library/characterization/test_cross_resonance_hamiltonian.py
+++ b/test/library/characterization/test_cross_resonance_hamiltonian.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 from ddt import ddt, data, unpack
 from qiskit import QuantumCircuit, pulse, qpy, quantum_info as qi
 from qiskit.providers.fake_provider import FakeBogotaV2
-from qiskit.extensions.hamiltonian_gate import HamiltonianGate
+from qiskit.circuit.library.hamiltonian_gate import HamiltonianGate
 from qiskit_aer import AerSimulator
 from qiskit_experiments.library.characterization import cr_hamiltonian