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How can I save batteries? Or my sanity

#121
noi5emaker said:
Those post-it notes are what encourage the repetition and develop a good habit. That's what mnemonics are for. Except you contradicted yourself when you said they enforce a habit but then get ignored. By then the habit is learned!

Of course this isn't the hardest. Does it have to be? I wasn't making this a life issue or a basis of a psychological assessment! My original post was light hearted. I just wanted to... oh forget it.

I should have said at the very beginning "could only those who have faults and have forgotten something reply, please".
Click to expand...
Hmmm... I think you'll find I said that IF you manage to make the habit stick before the visual reminders get filtered out then chalk that up as a win. But there's no guarantee that the habit sticks before the visual aids become background noise. In which case chalk it down as a back to square one and relying on will power... no contradiction at all.

Here is a little psychological assessment for you.

This column will change your life: making and breaking habits
"...a new study by the University College London psychologist Invalid Link Removed and her colleagues helps confirm. On average, her subjects, who were trying to learn new habits such as eating fruit daily or going jogging, took a depressing 66 days before reporting that the behaviour had become unchangingly automatic. Individuals ranged widely – some took 18 days, others 245 – and some habits, unsurprisingly, were harder than others to make stick..."

Chances are the post-it note has faded into the background waaaaay before then...

The light hearted response?

JUST_DO_IT._%28NIKE%29.gif
 
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#122
noi5emaker said:
I have an Ibanez SR505 with active pickups. Love it. But as hard as I try, I keep forgetting to unplug the thing and I end up draining the battery.
Click to expand...

Actually this struck me years ago. I kept on unplugging every bass I owned even before I went into active electronics. Because I haven't owned any J or P bass*, the bass couldn't be put away residing on its bottom without the plug getting in the way. P and J basses had their plugs at the front so there was no big deal about it. I learned too that - as well as turning down all pots after playing - keeps the electronic and di-electric hygiene alive. In and out yanks it, so it won't get stale. And the cable was always in the way somewhere else between amp and bass. Or at home, in the couch. If the cable got caught in something it didn't drag the bass along in the fall. There are solutions to it, but I didn't need to keep me reminded of it, or it wasn't that often I forgot the plug in. I think you have a way to turn off and on because your bass doesn't have active pickups although it is active ...! :confused:o_O I e EMG and e few select other have pickups which can't be run without batteries and you can have NO SWITCH. If you just have an onboard preamp/eq it can be switched active/passive. I e you can run it in passive mode, should the battery drain, however, at a much lower output, and not that much to do with EQ, as well as you have to be wary of length of the cables which can inhibit output and high treble response in sound.

You can install with red led. But keep in mind the red led drains battery too. I equippend my EMG equipped basses with TWO 9 volt batteries, not to produce 18v, but to produce "longer lifespan 9 v". On top of this, I bought LITHIUM batteries. These lithium batteries only works with low drain active electronics. As an example, most regular dirt pedals draws 25-50 mA, digital pedals considerably more. However, EMG pickups draws in not milliampere but MICROAMPERE which is that of a smoke detector. They lasts for ages, and I could even forget the cable plugged in now and then. Last february I had to changed them out, and they counted 9 years, it was as old as the bass. Don't ise lithium on anything that draws regular mA (milli) but microamps. Just a tip.

Unless that, there's no two ways about it. I unplug even from friends guitars, basses, with passive pickups, or actives. It's just like that. You have to keep it up. It's the same for those people who wants amps, combos and amp heads with an UN-DETACHABLE power chord, so they don't forget it. They just keep on forgetting them. I loathe this, because nothing gets in the way more when transporting or stacking the head, combo, amp in the truck, van. Yes, I bring spares, both springs and power cables, as well as signal cables. I don't bring spare batteries because there's always an open shop around at night.

*EDIT=In the beginning, but much later on, and several.
 
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#127
TrevorR said:
Hmmm... I think you'll find I said that IF you manage to make the habit stick before the visual reminders get filtered out then chalk that up as a win. But there's no guarantee that the habit sticks before the visual aids become background noise. In which case chalk it down as a back to square one and relying on will power... no contradiction at all.

Here is a little psychological assessment for you.

This column will change your life: making and breaking habits
"...a new study by the University College London psychologist Invalid Link Removed and her colleagues helps confirm. On average, her subjects, who were trying to learn new habits such as eating fruit daily or going jogging, took a depressing 66 days before reporting that the behaviour had become unchangingly automatic. Individuals ranged widely – some took 18 days, others 245 – and some habits, unsurprisingly, were harder than others to make stick..."

Chances are the post-it note has faded into the background waaaaay before then...

The light hearted response?

View attachment 2748519
Click to expand...
Ok, my apologies, I stand corrected.

I do happen to understand something of the psychology of learning and practice but I'm not boring enough to bring that up here. Honestly, post it notes will do the trick! Trust me, the back door IS locked!
Blimey....
 
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#130
Ok, I've modified one of the answers above and have come up with an easy, fool-proof method that is 100% guaranteed to work (unless you fall asleep while playing).

Plug the bass in, run the cable between the bass and strap towards your back. Bring the cable up, loop it around your neck twice and back down again and to the amp. The learning curve will be dramatically reduced and the goal will be quickly achieved.
 
#134
noi5emaker said:
I have an Ibanez SR505 with active pickups. Love it. But as hard as I try, I keep forgetting to unplug the thing and I end up draining the battery. It's not that big a deal, and I have resorted to exchanging two rechargeables to compensate for my stupidity.
Click to expand...

The main thing is: You DO remember this, don't you? That you do remember that you've forgot to pull out the cable? You are AWARE of this ailment, or bad habit of yours. This is - by far and most - important thing to be brought up. It's the same as when everyone was a beginner, and you tried to practice on something...you KNEW when you played it wrong, even if no one told you... you detected it... you couldn't put your finger on it, or why, but you KNEW that something was wrong. Same part of the brain.

I tell you a thing about the other end, the cable plug that you have to pull out. Ever been into soldering? I have. You know what manufacturers made? They made solderless cables or plugs (Neutrik et al) with collars and shield protection that could be assembled AFTER you've soldered the wires onto the plug. Prior to that, everyone INCLUDING me always had to solder the wires, and was proud of myself UNTIL I discovered that I forgot to put on the sleeve further down the wire because you can't put it on afterwards, you have to unsolder the wires and put the sleeve on again, because it's a sort of RING that has to be around the cable. Do you think I got that from the get go? No way Jose. It took me YEARS! But when I eventually became skilled at it and remembering this, all these other cables came around, and they came around just because you could do it, i e solder it, and put on everything afterwards. They came around because people swore and cursed from the moon and back when they detected that the sleeves were still on the table besides the cable and not ON the cable.

This is closely related. Because I think you could well be having some kind of led on the cable plugs that detects the small current from the batteries inside. And that the LED should actually reside on the plug. However, if the plug on any bass is inside some kind of recessed cavity it will be hard to detect. You could have a led start to blink if it hasn't got any signal in - say - 10 minutes or so, but then you might as well have left the room, or rehearsal space.
 
#137
I know this isn't a helpful answer, but this is why I don't use active basses anymore. I've had a battery die on me on a gig before and that was it- done, no more active basses. And the one active I still have that I might use on a rare occasion I always run in passive mode (Lakland).
 

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