Dead battery in a Streamer LX

Absolute Beginner

Absolute Beginner

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I posted a short time ago about TI Jazz flats (particularly the E string) sounding crap on my Streamer.

Active power just 'cut-out' completely last night and I changed the battery for the first time.

It could be my imagination, but I'm sure these strings sound fantastic now!

Does the sound quality diminish progressively as the battery power gets weaker rather than it being an 'all or nothing' thing where it's great and then dead?

Also, does battery strength affect the sound even if you play in passive mode?
 
The phrase "passive mode" is often used incorrectly - your LX has active pickups and an active preamp, so you are never running passive - you are bypassing the preamp. When you bypass the preamp it should reduce the battery consumption, but the battery is still needed to power the active pickups. P.S. You should always unplug your bass when you stop playing. ;)
 
Absolute Beginner said:
Does the sound quality diminish progressively as the battery power gets weaker rather than it being an 'all or nothing' thing where it's great and then dead?
Also, does battery strength affect the sound even if you play in passive mode?
Click to expand...

1.- Usually active instruments don´t suffer from "sudden death", so you´ll hear the sound weak, or even distorted, when the batery is going death..

2.- Your Streamer LX doesn´t have a "passive" mode, because both pickups and pre-amp are active. So, The passive/active switch is actually a "Pre-amp ON/Pre-amp Bypassed" switch, that means, the pickups always need the batery in order to work.

Hope that help.
 
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Thanks Jeff/Nacho

Yes Nacho- really great help and answers my questions and explains why these strings that most everyone seems to love sounded so crap and now sound ace.... :)
 
The "sudden death" occurs only when using accu batteries.
 
Evolve mentioned unplugging your bass when you're not playing, you're tracking that if it's plugged in, even if the amp end is unplugged, it still activates the pre-amp, right?

Edit: haha, badly typed, that was meant to be backing up what Evolve said and make sure the OP understands why it's important to unplug the bass when not using it :)
 
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Bulletproof_Bass said:
Evolve mentioned unplugging your bass when you're not playing, you're tracking that if it's plugged in, even if the amp end is unplugged, it still activates the pre-amp, right?
Click to expand...

Yes, sir. Plugging in "activates" the pickups and/or preamp.
 
Anytime brother, I just wish someone had told me earlier! I showed up to practice when I used to play at the on-post chapel on Benning, plugged in and the most HORRIBLE sound possible from a bass came out of my amp! I tried all sorts of things and couldn't figure it out, thought I'd fried my amp or my electronics or something! Man, that was a really cruddy feeling lol
 
I remember the first time I replaced the battery in my Streamer cause it sounded distorted, it suddenly became way more aggressive.
 
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