odd distorted noised

[Big chicken]

so I have a 78 p bass fretless passive with a active pickup added and whenever i turn the original tone knob down and the newer one up i get natural distortion i know their is no battery connected.
will this affect the bass in a bad way?

[crentest]

should not hurt anything unless there is a (going) dead battery (acid can leak), acctive's usually need a battery though.

[Big chicken]

the previous owner never even bothered to attach a wire to attach the battery he also took of half of the finish not even a clear coat on the upper half of the thing

[crentest]

wow, it could be conected if you want it, usually easy to do.