Active Bass Question?

[WillaiMC]

How often do you change your battery for your active basses? How often is too much?

 

[Stumpy]

How often do you change your battery for your active basses? How often is too much?

I don't think that you can do it too much.

I change batteries before every show...every single one.

But, I only change the battery every six weeks or so when all we are doing is rehearsing. If the battery seems a little week, or I might have gotten a bad one, I will change it more often.

 

[svtb15]

whenever it needs it.. which is not that often

 

[evan_phi]

whenever it needs it.. which is not that often

same.

when i hear it start to die out, sound weaker, or distort... i gets me a new one!

 

[MuzikMan]

I think different preamps last longer than others but FWIW I change mine about every 4 months in my EMG loaded P-Bass. That's probably more than it needs, I have never heard the battery going dead in the 5 years I've been using it.

 

[Dave]

whenever it needs it.. which is not that often

Same here. I probably should change mine real soon. I havent changed them in like 6 months.

 

[AxtoOx]

whenever it needs it.. which is not that often

+3 sometimes a long time on one I don't play much. Unless you do something stupid like leave it plugged in. I always have a couple spares around. (except the last time I needed one which was at home thank goodness). You need to add a seldom category.

 

[svtb15]

for both my sadowsky and alleva coppolos... i should be more specific.. i guess it is about every 8-9 months or so.. and when i pull the old battery.. it is still running at about 9 volts and runs my tuner for months... I do play alot too.. from 5-6 days a week.. i dont use that much boost in my preamps. Preamps in those two basses are so efficient that i never even think about the preamp batteries..The Preamp in my 77 music man has been in there for about 3 years.. I took it to a session and it worked fine... i did check the battery and it was almost like new when doing the touch to the tongue method..
In an emergency the Sadowsky and Alleva Coppolo have a pre bypass but in owning my one one sadowsky for 13 years the battery has never died on me anywhere...

 

[Flintc]

Some questions here for the electronics buffs:

1) If you have an active/passive bass and only use passive mode, are the batteries even being drained (is this like leaving them in the original package)?

2) If you have an active-only bass but never use the EQ knobs to boost any signals, does this place any drain on the battery?

If not driving any active boost means no battery drain, then I suppose battery life in the bass is normal shelf life of the battery.

 

[AxtoOx]

Some questions here for the electronics buffs:

1) If you have an active/passive bass and only use passive mode, are the batteries even being drained (is this like leaving them in the original package)?

2) If you have an active-only bass but never use the EQ knobs to boost any signals, does this place any drain on the battery?

If not driving any active boost means no battery drain, then I suppose battery life in the bass is normal shelf life of the battery.

It's been a while since I was doing electronic work, but put it this way. If you leave it plugged in and everything is off it will drain. The on switch is the jack. It may not use as much juice, but It's like leaving a pedal plugged in, It will drain.

Open for correction.

 

[high mileage]

Doesn't have anything to do with how old the battery is - what's the voltage? I change them when they get down to about 8-1/2 volts, no need to change them before that. Whether that works out to one month or one year is up to a lot of factors - how long your bass is plugged in, what the bass is, to some extent your settings...

Notice I said "how long your bass is plugged in" - you can unplug at breaks, etc. When it's plugged in, it's on and draining the battery.

Get a multi meter at Home Depot for about $20 that checks DC voltage. Mine has a 20v scale which works very well. The meter will pay for itself quickly with (I'm guessing) all the batteries you WON'T have to buy...

 

[scotch]

Wow, and I thought I was being a little paranoid changing them twice a year!

 

[BassGod]

Eight weeks is the longest poll option?

Damn, I only change two or three times a year.

Graeme

 

[PocketGroove82]

Some questions here for the electronics buffs:

1) If you have an active/passive bass and only use passive mode, are the batteries even being drained (is this like leaving them in the original package)?

2) If you have an active-only bass but never use the EQ knobs to boost any signals, does this place any drain on the battery?

If not driving any active boost means no battery drain, then I suppose battery life in the bass is normal shelf life of the battery.

If your bass has a passive/active switch, then running it in passive does not require any juice.
If you have an active bass but never use the EQ knobs to boost, you are still using up juice.

As far as changing the battery, I do it when the old one starts to crap out. Which is usually 8months-1year. Honestly, they last a long time, if you don't keep them plugged in.

 

[AxtoOx]

If your bass has a passive/active switch, then running it in passive does not require any juice.
If you have an active bass but never use the EQ knobs to boost, you are still using up juice.

As far as changing the battery, I do it when the old one starts to crap out. Which is usually 8months-1year. Honestly, they last a long time, if you don't keep them plugged in.

So, is what your saying, you can keep your bass plugged in as long as it's in passive? It won't drain?

 

[ibnzneksrul]

Something's wrong if it ain't lasting more than 8 weeks.

I've had batteries that were down to +7.5 to 8V still working OK.

 

[yellofury]

I got my Spector active before Thanksgiving and its still kicking with the cheapo STOCK 9 volt

then again I unplug the jack whenever its not being used

 

[Dan Knowlton]

I change mine the day after Christmas and the day before the 4th of July - never been stuck with a bad battery, although 4 of my 5 basses can do the passive bypass for backup.

Tuners, now they are a different thing - I have real problems with bumping the switch and having them on in the gig bag.

Dan K.

 

[AxtoOx]

I change mine the day after Christmas and the day before the 4th of July - never been stuck with a bad battery, although 4 of my 5 basses can do the passive bypass for backup.

Tuners, now they are a different thing - I have real problems with bumping the switch and having them on in the gig bag.

Dan K.

That's the one nice thing about rack tuners. No batteries, even though I sold my Korg and went to a Peterson flip. I can't even count how many times I left my old one on, went to use it, and it was dead.:scowl:

 

[mikeswals]

I change all my active basses batteries twice a year. I use daylight savings time changes as my guide...something easy to remember.