US Spector active Shorty bypass / passive options?

[AntonB]

Hi Folks,

My bass has passive Nordstrand Big Split pickups and a Darkglass Tone Capsule preamp, 3-band (bass on one knob and lo mid and hi mid stacked on another knob). I'm curious what y'all would do to enable a passive operation? That might sound a bit different? I could play even if battery dies, which it does more than I think it should.

Bypass switch? Wire battery to the jack? Use a volume pot with a stacked bypass, and turn the other volume control to a blend? Leave it? Just remove the battery when I'm not playing? I *think* I've been turning the volume knobs all the way off (they have no detent). I don't understand why the battery is draining on me...

I've attached a few pictures of the external controls. I'll open the cover later.

Thank you for your thoughts! I don't want to do anything that would mess up my super groovy bass, and I know just enough to be dangerous.


Thanks again for your help!
AJ

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Are you leaving the cord plugged in? Most active EQ’s or pickups are installed so plugging the cord in turns the battery on and unplugging turns it off. Doesn’t matter where the volume, tone or any active / passive switch is. If you are unplugging the cord and still getting excessively short battery life there could be another issue which should be relatively easy to track down and repair.

 

[AntonB]

Are you leaving the cord plugged in? Most active EQ’s or pickups are installed so plugging the cord in turns the battery on and unplugging turns it off. Doesn’t matter where the volume, tone or any active / passive switch is. If you are unplugging the cord and still getting excessively short battery life there could be another issue which should be relatively easy to track down and repair.

Thanks Matt! Yes, I always unplug. What would be your next step?

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Look for any of the battery negative connections that might be touching ground or the shielding anywhere including where the jack enters the control cavity. If you have a multimeter set it amps or, better, milliamperes and connect one lead to the battery negative and the other to the battery negative connector. It should have a minimal reading with the jack plugged in, maybe 5-10mA. With the jack out that should read 0. If it doesn’t disconnect components until it does. The last thing you disconnected was the issue.
I don’t recall what type of output jacks those had. If it’s a barrel jack it could just be a bad jack.

 

[AntonB]

Look for any of the battery negative connections that might be touching ground or the shielding anywhere including where the jack enters the control cavity. If you have a multimeter set it amps or, better, milliamperes and connect one lead to the battery negative and the other to the battery negative connector. It should have a minimal reading with the jack plugged in, maybe 5-10mA. With the jack out that should read 0. If it doesn’t disconnect components until it does. The last thing you disconnected was the issue.
I don’t recall what type of output jacks those had. If it’s a barrel jack it could just be a bad jack.

I'm on it! You're amazing! Thank you so much Matt!

 

[Matt Liebenau]

I'm on it! You're amazing! Thank you so much Matt!

Don’t thank me until it’s fixed..

 

[sunbeast]

Did you install the DG pre yourself? Did you wire the input jack or was it pre-wired? The battery “-“ should be attached to the “ring” connection of the stereo output jack, and all the other grounds should be run to the “sleeve” connection. This makes it so the battery is only connected into the circuit with a cable connected. If you just have the battery “-“ going straight to a ground connection then your battery will drain 100% of the time. Sometimes in a tight jack cavity connections can ground out against shielding, so that’s something to check if the jack is wired correctly.

 

[AntonB]

Thank you! I did not install the DG preanp, but I'll look for the things that you mentioned when I get a chance to investigate this weekend! Thanks!!!