Amplifier/battery question

sound engineer

sound engineer

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G'Day All,

I have a 2013 pro series bass, active, with jazz pickups.

The batteries seem to get eaten fairly quickly, but after reading through some other message threads earlier, I found that leaving the lead plugged in (in my case continuously for a couple of weeks) is the cause of that. :-) I was going to install a push button switch to counter that problem, but now I don't need too. :-)

My concern though is, when the battery is flat, the output is NOT what you would consider normal... That is with or without the preamp turned off. You certainly can't practice at home with it, nor could you perform with it.
Is that normal????? I was under the impression that I should be able to play with or without a battery, with a normal sound. Fortunately I don't perform very often. :-)
As it's only a couple of months old, I thought it best not to go redesigning things just yet. :-)

Thanks for any feed back.

Cheers,

Phill.
 
They must be..... I haven't downloaded the circuit diagram yet, but in hind sight, I would say that they seem to be permanently active, with the push/pull switch turning on or of the preamp.
Is that a wiring fault, or by design? That's the information i am after. I was advised at the time by several people that it was supposed to be active/passive by the switch.
 
The pro series have active pickups and active preamp. The push/pull ONLY bypasses the active preamp, you still need a battery for the pickups :)
 
So....

Since my model is permanently active (not that it actually worries me, only that I was led to believe otherwise), does plugging in the lead turn it on or not? Or is it a case of minimised power loss due to the circuit not being completed when it's not connected to an amp?

I just went through the circuit diagram (Thanks Warwick for providing all the details in a user friendly support page, it's much better than some other manufacturers that I have seen) and it looks like it only draws really on the battery when the lead is plugged into an amp. turning of the amp will not stop the draw, as the circuits in the amp still close the circuit regardless. Therefore, it doesn't use any if the lead is plugged in to the guitar, but not plugged into anything else.

I suppose my lesson has been not to accept a salesperson's speech, regardless of how good an instrument sounds and feels...... :-)

Thanks Ivo and Schlobodan for your replies. It's greatly appreciated.


Cheers,

Phill.
 
Hi Phillip,

If you have active pickups (Gold logo MEC) then they will not work without a battery
Leaving the plug in, will drain the battery faster, even if the amp is switched off.

However, even if you let the plug in, the battery should not drain sooner than a couple of months... Is it draining faster than this? Are you using good quality alcaline batteries?
Cheers,
Flo
 
Hello Flo,

I have the active pickups. But if the plug is in the socket and the other end plugged into the amp (amp mostly off) then I get a couple of weeks out of a battery. I did notice that the battery was flat when I took it out of the case last (about a week ago) and it was a new battery that had had about 4 hours of jamming. I thought it was a bit odd, but shrugged and put a new battery in, as it had been a couple of months in the case.

I use Duracell Copper Tops, or, Energizer batteries. That's it.
The battery that was in it, when I recieved it still had power, so I just dunno'......

I haven't used it since Christmas Eve, so I don't know if it's still got power.... Some days I wonder how I got a degree....... I will check it right now. Yep still have power. That would be about a weeks worth, but this time I have been avoiding leaving the lead plugged into the bass.

In the mean time I have been playing my '02 Rockbass. :-)


Cheers,

Phill.
 
Hmm, I have the same problem with my Infinity right in the moment. And it is even worse: a new battery runs empty within 30 minutes!!! It very quickly starts with a distorted sound of the E-string. Also I have to leave some more space between the E-string and the pickups, otherwise right from the beginning the E-string gives too much signal, plucking it too hard creates a loud cracking sound.
 
First problem seems to be solved, the installed battery was weak, the replacement-accu maybe damaged. It took just minutes to recharge it, that´s why it runs empty that quick. The third installed battery works now. Still I have the problem with the distored sound of the E-string. Let´s see how this will be solved. Maybe I try some less magnetic strings.

The more basses you have, the more problems you meet...
 
G'Day Ladies and Gents,

I just thought I would provide an update on my battery consumption delemer.

As advised in the posts above, I have been pulling the cord from my Corvette every time I finish using it. Since i have been doing this, I have not had to replace my battery. Admittedly, I only use the guitar every second week (for the week), but I have not yet had the need to replace it.

Thank you all for your advice. You were all very helpful.


Cheers,

Phill.
 
Hardy said:
First problem seems to be solved, the installed battery was weak, the replacement-accu maybe damaged. It took just minutes to recharge it, that´s why it runs empty that quick. The third installed battery works now. Still I have the problem with the distored sound of the E-string. Let´s see how this will be solved. Maybe I try some less magnetic strings.

The more basses you have, the more problems you meet...
Click to expand...

If you are thinking of less magnetic strings, why not just angle down your pups slightly. Remember the strength of a magnetic field drops very quickly with distance (inversely proportional to the distance cubed IIRC from physics long ago, but that could be wrong) So a slight change in distance can be a large change in output.
If your pups are producing too much gain, mover them. Easy. if its just the e, just drop that side slightly. No need to muck about with different strings when two min with a screw driver and you can find the sweet spot for your pickup height.
 
Too bad I already had this idea. I had to shorten the screws of the pickups to get them lower. Still the problem exists. I will post some pics and a vid tomorrow. My Infinity NT5 with regular pickups doesn´t know this problem. Also my Infinity NT5 fretless with the same pickups like the objective NT4 just works perfectly. I have no more ideas.
 
Hardy said:
First problem seems to be solved, the installed battery was weak, the replacement-accu maybe damaged. It took just minutes to recharge it, that´s why it runs empty that quick. The third installed battery works now. Still I have the problem with the distored sound of the E-string. Let´s see how this will be solved. Maybe I try some less magnetic strings.

The more basses you have, the more problems you meet...
Click to expand...
PLease check if you have a trimpot to set the preamp gain. If it is set too high, it will distort. Also if you boost lows too much.
 
Florin said:
PLease check if you have a trimpot to set the preamp gain. If it is set too high, it will distort. Also if you boost lows too much.
Click to expand...

Any trimpots there?

image.jpg
 
Yep, I can see two! the little blue boxes on the circuit board. you use a small screw driver to turn the grey bit on top to adjustthe settings. No idea why there are two, normally you have one to set the gain, maybe its a SD pre? they have another trimpot to set the 'slap contour' level.
 
O.K., this could help. Afaik it is a SD pre. Which one to turn in which direction? Maybe I just try it tomorrow, child is already asleep.
 
`




On my SD it works like this:
SDpreamp adjust.jpg

Yours sit in a different position than mine,
but you have a 50/50 shot at getting it on
the 1st try and a 100% shot on the re-try.
 
Please keep in mind that those trim pots only make a difference when the slap contour is engaged (i.e. the volume knob is pulled out)
 
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