Flat Batteries - Active Circuit
Last updated on 5 years ago
Sorry if this has been discussed before. I did search the forums but couldn't find an answer!
"What actually happens when the active circuit batteries go flat?"
Do you get no sound at all? Or is it just a weak signal from the pups? How much 'notice' do you get that they are going to fail?
I'd hate to be scrabbling around for two 9vs mid gig!
Thanks for the help.
"What actually happens when the active circuit batteries go flat?"
Do you get no sound at all? Or is it just a weak signal from the pups? How much 'notice' do you get that they are going to fail?
I'd hate to be scrabbling around for two 9vs mid gig!
Thanks for the help.
Quote
Wombat wrote:
Sorry if this has been discussed before. I did search the forums but couldn't find an answer!
"What actually happens when the active circuit batteries go flat?"
Do you get no sound at all? Or is it just a weak signal from the pups? How much 'notice' do you get that they are going to fail?
I'd hate to be scrabbling around for two 9vs mid gig!
Thanks for the help.
I cannot say I have ever had batteries go flat on my KB. The battery life stated on a good make of battery is a really high number of hours, so unless you have left them with the jack plugged in for ages then I don't think you are going to have a mid gig problem. I have found with my DR strings, I can get about 10 gigs out of them, so I change my batteries when I change my strings, that way no potential flat batteries. I could probably go a lot longer between changing them, but for me I know how old my batteries are and approximately how many hours they have been active for. You can get a pack of 10 Duracell Industrials from Amazon for around £7 to £10 (the same make Status fit in their new basses), so not a lot to shell out.
If they did go, I would imagine it would be similar to an old fuzz pedal, you would start to get signal break up slowly getting weaker and then eventually nothing. Have to admit I have never tried plugging in the bass with no batteries fitted. Might give it a go now its been mentioned :)
The battery lifetime in my S2 is veeerrrryyyy long. After playing you just have to disconnect the cable from your bass and every thing is fine and your battery will live for long. If you would like to know what happens when your battery is flat.........just disconnect it.
Status S2 classic-neck through 4-string headless
Fame MM400
Trace Elliot AH400SM; 1048; 1518
Fame MM400
Trace Elliot AH400SM; 1048; 1518
Ok, so when you take a battery out there is no sound. Note to self, make sure you always have spares!
I was hoping that battery strength was causing a loss of power to the bass boost/cut but sadly not. The treble will boost to the point of distortion but the bass and mid filter make very little change wherever you turn them.
I have a 2016 s3 if that helps. Am I doing something wrong or are they like that? I’ve only had the bass for a few weeks and vaguely recall all the knobs making vast changes to the sound but you know what it’s like, you find a sound you like and just leave it like that so I haven’t really played with the sounds since until I started worrying about battery life.
I was hoping that battery strength was causing a loss of power to the bass boost/cut but sadly not. The treble will boost to the point of distortion but the bass and mid filter make very little change wherever you turn them.
I have a 2016 s3 if that helps. Am I doing something wrong or are they like that? I’ve only had the bass for a few weeks and vaguely recall all the knobs making vast changes to the sound but you know what it’s like, you find a sound you like and just leave it like that so I haven’t really played with the sounds since until I started worrying about battery life.
The mid filter only works with the little switch in the upper or lower position. The filter is switched off with the switch in the middle position.
Is the distortion still present when you turn the input gain on your amplifier down? Maybe this will help determine if the problem is caused by your bass' electronics or by the increase in output when you boost it.
Is the distortion still present when you turn the input gain on your amplifier down? Maybe this will help determine if the problem is caused by your bass' electronics or by the increase in output when you boost it.
Lefty
S2 Classic 5-string headless, black sparkle
S2 Classic 4-string headless, pure white, Roman numeral inlays
S2 Classic 5-string headless, black sparkle
S2 Classic 4-string headless, pure white, Roman numeral inlays
Thanks, the mid filter seems to do very little in the up or down position and, as you say, nothing in the middle.
My comment about distortion was really only to say that there is sooo much tone/gain available on the treble knob with little or nothing available on the other two. Should the bass boost/cut not have the same ‘power’ as the treble which would necessitate fiddling with the amp controls if you want to use the extremes?
Thanks for the support.
My comment about distortion was really only to say that there is sooo much tone/gain available on the treble knob with little or nothing available on the other two. Should the bass boost/cut not have the same ‘power’ as the treble which would necessitate fiddling with the amp controls if you want to use the extremes?
Thanks for the support.
On my Empathy, the batteries last for years, literally. 2-3 years.
The killer is when they start to go, distortion creeps in. And it's quite nasty. I remember years ago when it happened, I was convinced it was a physical problem with my combo. I ended up dismantling things, and then suddenly twigged what was causing it.
The moral of the story - replace your batteries every couple of years before they get the chance to crap out on you.
The killer is when they start to go, distortion creeps in. And it's quite nasty. I remember years ago when it happened, I was convinced it was a physical problem with my combo. I ended up dismantling things, and then suddenly twigged what was causing it.
The moral of the story - replace your batteries every couple of years before they get the chance to crap out on you.
Status Empathy 4-string headless 1995
TC RH450 (x2!) with Genz Benz NEOX 212T & STL-10T
TC RH450 (x2!) with Genz Benz NEOX 212T & STL-10T
Quote
Wombat wrote:
Ok, so when you take a battery out there is no sound. Note to self, make sure you always have spares!
I was hoping that battery strength was causing a loss of power to the bass boost/cut but sadly not. The treble will boost to the point of distortion but the bass and mid filter make very little change wherever you turn them.
I have a 2016 s3 if that helps. Am I doing something wrong or are they like that? I’ve only had the bass for a few weeks and vaguely recall all the knobs making vast changes to the sound but you know what it’s like, you find a sound you like and just leave it like that so I haven’t really played with the sounds since until I started worrying about battery life.
Ok, having had this looked at in Colchester it seems that the strings were dead. Although the bass I bought hadn’t been played so the strings weren’t tarnished they still had a massive (negative) affect on the tone controls.
Just in case anyone else is as stoopid as me...
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