Bart NTMB very short battery life

[thumbs3000]

Hi all,

I have a Bartolini NTMB 18v preamp recently installed by my luthier in a warmoth build of mine. It's a 3 band, 4 knob, 2 pickup version with blend control. I'm running it with Nordstrand MM pickups.

The batteries are going completely flat in less than two weeks, regardless of how much playtime I've given it. This has happened three times now. That's six 9v batteries it's chewed through, so it's not a cheap exercise! I am of course unplugging it the bass when not in use.

My suspicion is that the preamp is not disengaging when I unplug the jack, that it's remaining in an "on" state. I'm open to any other ideas.

Could this be a faulty unit, or is it more likely something wired up wrong during the install?

Please help.

 

[eukatheude]

Very likely it's shorting out at the jack. Can you post a pic?
By the way, how does it sound?

 

[thumbs3000]

Here's a pic. I'm not sure what I'm looking for, but I can't see any exposed wires.

Aside from this issue I've been really happy with the sound of the pre. I had Bart p'ups in it originally but swapped them for the nordstrands as the Barts have a split coil design and the split was right under the D string causing volume drop. The nordstrands actually sound much more appealing to me though, very natural with plenty of grunt.

Heres a demo I made before I installed the nordstrands if you're interested

 

[eukatheude]

Unfortunately the jack plate is not exposed in the picture, so can't tell from there. You have to check if the black wire coming from your battery is on the ring lug, and more importantly nothing else is.
Will check out your demo later, thank you.

 

[mmbongo]

Yeah sounds like the jack is not wired right.