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Active basses

Rolfskylark

Rolfskylark

Guest
Nov 27, 2013
81
3
#1
I have an ibanez active bass and I love it.
Unless I find a fantastic bass that I just must have I think i will always buy active basses.

The one problem that everyone knows is that active bases use 9v batteries which become expensive.
Are rechargeable batteries an option?
Also I would love to hear/ see your favorite active basses.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
 
#3
One thing that will drain a battery very quickly is if you leave your bass plugged in when you're done- make sure you unplug the cable from the bass when not in use. My batteries last about 6 months at least. I have Ibanez active basses, the two in my icon are my favorite.
 
#6
Ibanez basses usually has a long battery life. At least my Ibanez sr305 has a long battery life. And my schecter stilleto basses. If you don't want to keep buying 9v batteries, you should invest in buying a passive bass. I've recently own a Fernandes atlas 5x and it sounded pretty cool for a passive bass guitar. I do like both active and passive bass guitars and I got them both in my arsenal. Anywho, if you're concerned about the battery life on your active bass, you should invest in a back up bass. Its usually a good idea to have a back up bass if you're a gigging musician.
 
#8
Crystalman85 said:
Ibanez basses usually has a long battery life. At least my Ibanez sr305 has a long battery life. And my schecter stilleto basses. If you don't want to keep buying 9v batteries, you should invest in buying a passive bass. I've recently own a Fernandes atlas 5x and it sounded pretty cool for a passive bass guitar. I do like both active and passive bass guitars and I got them both in my arsenal. Anywho, if you're concerned about the battery life on your active bass, you should invest in a back up bass. Its usually a good idea to have a back up bass if you're a gigging musician.
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Agree about having a passive as a backup. There are basses that have a passive/active switches - these are great to have. So even if you're on stage and the battery dies, just play the bass as passive. I have a couple of these basses.
 
#9
I get some really cool weird tweaky tones and sounds out of mine when the batteries get low but theyre too eratic to record. I have a couple of distortion boxes ill put half dead batteries in for that reason too. Its a crap shoot recording them though, hard to get it to do it all the way through a section
 
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#11
Maxdusty said:
Agree about having a passive as a backup. There are basses that have a passive/active switches - these are great to have. So even if you're on stage and the battery dies, just play the bass as passive. I have a couple of these basses.
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can you tell me what mid-priced brand of basses that has a passive/active switch? The Yamaha trbx basses are the only bass guitars I know that has that feature.
 
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#12
Crystalman85 said:
can you tell me what brand of basses that has a passive/active switch? One of the new Yamaha basses is the only bass I know that has that feature.
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I can't speak to specific basses, but be wary of this claim, as it often means 'EQ bypass' rather than actually making the circuit passive ie if you're batteries die, you still won't get any sound whether it's set to active of 'passive'
 
#14
Wolffgang said:
I can't speak to specific basses, but be wary of this claim, as it often means 'EQ bypass' rather than actually making the circuit passive ie if you're batteries die, you still won't get any sound whether it's set to active of 'passive'
Click to expand...

I am aware that these kind of bass guitars would bypass the active eq, but I think as long as the bass sound cool in passive mode, I think it be all good. The Yamaha trbx basses is one bass that sounds pretty cool on active and passive mode.
 
#15
I have a couple of active basses that get quite a lot of playing time. I would estimate my annual costs for batteries to be the equivalent of $20. It's a tiny fraction of what I shell out on strings!! :woot:
 
#16
Crystalman85 said:
I am aware that these kind of bass guitars would bypass the active eq, but I think as long as the bass sound cool in passive mode, I think it be all good. The Yamaha trbx basses is one bass that sounds pretty cool on active and passive mode.
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I have a couple of Hohner basses with this (they will work with a completely drained battery). One is a headless, yes, I know.. lol. The other is the Hohner Phoenix deluxe which I've never heard of before but just purchased used from GC for $99. Nice bass.Picture's attached. Trying to look for another one.
From Hohner's own website regarding the passive/active functionality of the headless bass (same control scheme on the Phoenix)

The B2ADB has an active/passive switch and is one of the very few active basses that can also be used in passive mode. You will never be down again because of a drained battery! The active status is indicated by a red status LED.
 

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#17
mmbongo said:
You cannot use rechargeable batteries because they do not supply a full 9 volts.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
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My bad, didn't realise. I swear I've read people around here saying they use rechargeables. Having not bothered using them before, I will continue to not bother :P

Crystalman85 said:
I am aware that these kind of bass guitars would bypass the active eq, but I think as long as the bass sound cool in passive mode, I think it be all good. The Yamaha trbx basses is one bass that sounds pretty cool on active and passive mode.
Click to expand...

My point wasn't that you'd lose the EQ and that would be bad, but more that it's often not a 'gig saver' feature if your bass goes, as you'll still have no sound either way. I just thought that was the direction of the question considering the thread it was in. If I'm wrong about the function, I'm happy to be corrected.
 
#18
mmbongo said:
You cannot use rechargeable batteries because they do not supply a full 9 volts.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Click to expand...

Not just that, but also the fact that they don't last very long. Rechargeable batteries drain themselves, even when they are just sitting around.

Using rechargeable batteries is silly to begin with, since the current draw of the average active component is too low for battery life to ever be a concern.
 
#19
Crystalman85 said:
can you tell me what mid-priced brand of basses that has a passive/active switch? The Yamaha trbx basses are the only bass guitars I know that has that feature.
Click to expand...
I don't know about mid-priced but as I posted in reply to yours, the Hohners I have can work with completely depleted batteries. I bought them used pretty cheaply, brand new I do believe they were mid-priced. I don't know about the original new price of the Phoenix deluxe- there's very little info I can find on this bass. Both basses actually sound great on passive, there's just a drop off in volume so you may have to run to your amp to turn the volume knob up when the battery dies and you switch to passive. Haven't run into that scenario as I haven't used up the batteries on either one yet. They also still work (in passive mode obviously) if for some inane reason, the battery falls out or you inadvertently remove it from the compartment.
 
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#20
Hi.

+1 for unplugging when You're not playing, and if the battery still doesn't last long, do check the current draw.

-1 for using rechargeable batteries, they just won't work satisfactorily.

davy4575 said:
I get some really cool weird tweaky tones and sounds out of mine when the batteries get low but theyre too eratic to record. I have a couple of distortion boxes ill put half dead batteries in for that reason too. Its a crap shoot recording them though, hard to get it to do it all the way through a section
Click to expand...

Modify the power supply to allow voltage adjustment.
On some cases just dropping the voltage is not enough though, and You have to limit the current as well in order to mimic a dying battery.

Regards
Sam
 

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