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hot pre/clipping regarding the active preamp in a flea 5..

Discussion in 'Pickups & Electronics [BG]' started by schmittuml, Dec 4, 2005.

  1. Dec 4, 2005 #1
    schmittuml

    schmittuml

    Oct 25, 2004
    Lowell, MA
    i have a flea 5 with a nordstrand mm5.2......... when i am playing the bass makes a pop noise and the amp clips..........doesnt have anythign to do with my style of playing or my action or the amp or any other basses or the cab........when the back gets bumped it clips and makes a loud popping noise through my amp. im guessing somethign is loose inside? is it cool to put like...cut up t-shirt in it to secure the battery or whats the deal? lemme know.....



    -Schmitt
     
  2. Dec 6, 2005 #2
    luknfur

    luknfur

    Jan 14, 2004
    DIXIE
    FWIW:

    I use temporary intstalls with wire-nuts and get some popping occassionally but nothing of the magnitude you're referring to. About the only time I've gotten anything approaching that is from driving strings into the poles on rare occassion.

    Bumping from the back and no relationship to technique are both indications it's internal. The battery should be secure and not flopping around period. With most control bays that's not an issue cuase there's no spare room to speak of. Battery clips I hate and pull those things immediately.

    Usually I just take thin packing material (that silk like stuff or whatever is the appropriate thickness) and wrap the battery to get the desired size to snug it in place. I keep it loose enough to where I can slide the battery in and out but long enough to where the battery will snug in place. But no part of the battery itself touches anything and there's no way it can slide out. I've even wrapped a few batteires in electrical tape.

    It sounds like you may have enough room to velcro it in place. Usually, you don't have the space to work your fingers to pull it loose but you'd only have to pull one end and you could use a small tool for that. No big hassle no more often than it's required.

    I would definetly look all connections over very closely and turn the amp volume down low and jiggle the wires around to see if you can locate the source.

    Whatever ever is happening is spiking the signal to the amp and that could trash you speaker.

    Another thing I'd check is the clip itself. Some clips have the terminals exposed enough to where they could short if they came into contact with something. Others are made with a hard plasic cap so the terminals are completely enclosed and there's no way they could short from contact. I'd chunk those flimsly terminals (ones that feel that way when you pull them from the battery) from the gitgo cuase I've had to much trouble with the wires coming loose inside the cover where you can't see it. Caused me a lot of grief jacking with the wrong thing when that was the problem once - so I've made sure that doesn't happen again.

    I'd also jiggle the cord around at the jack cuase the jacks a common source.

    I personally wouldn't put cloth material in the bay because it's pretty bourgeois and flammable to boot - but whatever works and it sounds like an improvement over the current state.