Wierd Electrical issue

Warfender

Warfender

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I have had my Thumb power die several time in the past couple weeks. I went to rehersal and it seemed to have a dead battery. Replace the battery and everything was fine. That happend twice. Then yesterday, my bro-in-law who is a professional Bassist was playing it and digging the tone and when he pulled the passive switch it died. We tried a new battery and it still wouldn't work so he grabbed my Fender. I went to my other amp and was looking at the wiring to see if anything obvious was apparent, but nothing. I plugged it in and it worked. I gave it back to him and everything was fine. What the heck can it be??? I have two gigs coming up and don't want a malfunction.

BTW, the battery plugin does seem a little flimsy some I wondering if it could be the culprit.
 
Yes, the battery connector is a common weak point, so is the output jack which completes the battery connection. It is possible that there could be a loose solder joint in the power supply connections. Passive mode is not truly passive, as the active pickups still require power supply.

I'd suggest (with a fresh battery, and the bass plugged in to an amp:

Move the cable at the jack end around a bit and check for intermittence. You can also follow the red and black wires from the battery and wiggle them a bit where they connect. Try this right at the battery connector as well.

It does happen that other mechanical connections in the control cavity (like the wiring harnesses) can lose contact and kill the signal, giving the appearance of a dead battery. You can move these about at the connectors and check for intermittence.

If a short circuit is indeed killing the battery, you might feel it become physically warm as it drains. This is an unlikely case.

The most likely case is the loose battery connector, as it physically expands when a new battery is pressed on. The female connection is the one that bends. For a quick fix, you can tighten the female connection with needle-nose pliers, but the metal will eventually lose its temper, or even break. The better fix is to replace the battery connector. They're easy enough to find, but it takes a little soldering.

If you have a volt meter, you can verify if battery voltage is losing connection, or watch the battery voltage gradually drop in the case of a short.

Hope this helps,

O
 
I played with all the wires and battery connections and couldn't get it to do it. I'm sure my gig friday will have it happen. Argggggg!!!
 
Well, there are even wierder things that can happen in an active instrument. It is possible that wiggling wires could have made the difference. Do you have time to have a tech check it out? If not, do you have a spare bass?

O
 
I have a few basses so I'll bring my trusty Fender P-Bass as switch out some anyway. I just don't want it to happen in the middle of a song.

I don't have a tech in my area. I'll see if luck happens to fix it and if not I'll send it off I guess.
 
This happened to me & it turned out to be a cable.A right angled cable.
 
6 hours of playing and it hasn't happened again. Cross my fingers it fixed itself.

Greg,
I had it happen with 2 different cables on 2 different rigs and neither was a 90* cable. I have heard many horror stories of the 90* and have stayed away from them most of the time.
 
Warfender said:
6 hours of playing and it hasn't happened again.
Cross my fingers it fixed itself.

Greg,
I had it happen with 2 different cables on 2 different rigs and neither
was a 90* cable. I have heard many horror stories of the 90* and
have stayed away from them most of the time.
Click to expand...
`

I find that the metal 90* available in many brands is troublesome.
But the molded type from Planet Waves and from Monster is real
good. The molded one from Monster is on their economy line. The
top of the line is not the same.

`
 
O_o
More infos please!
I've got 90° cables for quite a while now - no problems!
It's Neutrik-Plugs. They are said to be pretty good - but I never even heard about 90° plugs making trouble *!*
 
boebl said:
O_o
More infos please!
I've got 90° cables for quite a while now - no problems!
It's Neutrik-Plugs. They are said to be pretty good - but I never even heard about 90° plugs making trouble *!*
Click to expand...
`

The typical silver metal 90* plugs on cables that sell for $20 to $25,
not the really cheapo cables but the regular grade that so many of
us use with no problems when there is no 90* on them, these are
very decent cables. But .......

There seems to be loose standards for the "1/4" mono phone plug".
Shaft diameters vary very slightly but IMNSHO the very most worst
variable is the shape of the tip, of everything on the hot side of the
insulating ring. Especially problematic is the shape of the narrowing,
or "waist", which of course engages a curved hot contact inside the
jack .... where we encounter MORE variables: is it a cabinet jack,
panel jack, or PC board jack ?

Suffice it to say that of all the variables in both plugs and jacks, not
all are equally commonly encountered. For the more common jacks
on instruments, the particular shape of the hot contact on the typical
silver metal 90* plug is not a good contact, and I think the barrel or
"sleeve" on these plugs is at the thinner end of the diameters in use
as "1/4inch". So it's not that it's shabby production controls or lousy
materials in these plugs, it's just that they are not middle of the road
in terms of the range of inexact "1/4inch" specs and so frequently or
more frequently than other plugs, are found to be a sloppy fit and an
unreliable or poorly compatible connector for many jacks.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

There is a whole other problem, involving plastic PC board-mounted
jacks whose internal contacts are very different in design from the
typical "leaf springs" in a typical instrument or panel jack. These PC
board jacks do not "like" a plug with a squarish shoulder where the
hot tip returns from the waist diameter to the full 1/4" just before
the insulator ring. A rounded shoulder is OK to these jacks. But a
square shoulder may wreck them or not go in at all. Worst culprit for
squarish shouldered plugs ? Old, heavy duty, top of the line Monster
Cable. The fix ? File or Dremel the shoulder to round it down. Dremel
is better, and watch your rotation so you don't spin the tip inside the
sleeve and ruin the plug.

Nothing is as simple as it seems .... and blessed, or lucky, are those
who just seem to never ever encounter all these problems or snags.

`
 
i have a planet waves, 90* cable and it is perfect i've had it for two years, but it has turned to spaghetti
 
golem said:
Warfender said:
6 hours of playing and it hasn't happened again.
Cross my fingers it fixed itself.

Greg,
I had it happen with 2 different cables on 2 different rigs and neither
was a 90* cable. I have heard many horror stories of the 90* and
have stayed away from them most of the time.
Click to expand...
`

I find that the metal 90* available in many brands is troublesome.
But the molded type from Planet Waves and from Monster is real
good. The molded one from Monster is on their economy line. The
top of the line is not the same.

`
Click to expand...

It was Planet Waves circuit breakers that I had the dramas with.
It was a contact issue between those jacks,& my old Thumb NT5.
Normally,I'd forget about such a minor inconveience & never mention it,but man,it made me look like such an idiot in front of all the guys at the music shop.To this day,whenever i see anyone from that shop,they ask me how's the jack goin?Even though they know the bass now resides in sunny Queensland with it's new owner.What makes it worse,is these guys are our equivalent of GC staff.They give me huge discounts,but always try to steer me onto non Warwick gear.Imagine that. :lol:

**Peter.
If you ever need to change that jack,just let me know & I'll cover the cost. :wink:
 
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