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what kind of battery do you use?

#41
energizer or duracell. maybe it's the placebo effect but they seem to last longer. For a test i use the tounge check, gross but it works - after 40 some years of zapping the lingual area i can kinda tell how much juice a battery has left. That skill is probably worth about 10 cents............:p
 
#43
brianchiu said:
cause I change my battery every 1~2 month; I know it's not used up but I can't take the chance of losing power in the middle of the show...
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I've had a similar experience. on my bass it seemed that the negative pole on the battery was soldered to ground - I guess that would make batteries die fast - at least I went through a new battery every other week... but on the up side - the bass was always dead quitet - even when the powerchord wasn't grounded! :P
 
#44
crusie said:
I've had a similar experience. on my bass it seemed that the negative pole on the battery was soldered to ground - I guess that would make batteries die fast - at least I went through a new battery every other week... but on the up side - the bass was always dead quitet - even when the powerchord wasn't grounded! :P
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That defeats the entire purpose of the switching done at the output jack. The negative terminal of the battery should connect to the ring terminal of the output jack. That way, it's only grounded when a cable is plugged in.

OTOH, IIRC, early MusicMan basses did not have TRS jacks. Their preamps were turned on 24/7.
 
#45
line6man said:
That defeats the entire purpose of the switching done at the output jack. The negative terminal of the battery should connect to the ring terminal of the output jack. That way, it's only grounded when a cable is plugged in.

OTOH, IIRC, early MusicMan basses did not have TRS jacks. Their preamps were turned on 24/7.
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could you elaborate a bit ? I'm not sure I fully understand - you are saying that the negative on the battery should be connected to ground or ?
 
#47
crusie said:
could you elaborate a bit ? I'm not sure I fully understand - you are saying that the negative on the battery should be connected to ground or ?
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The negative terminal of the battery should connect to the ring terminal of the output jack, not ground.

When you insert a "mono" 1/4" TS connector into the jack, the sleeve portion of that connector shorts the ring and sleeve terminals of the "stereo" TRS jack together, which grounds the battery.

The battery only gets grounded (Which completes the circuit to power the preamp..) when you have the bass plugged in.
 
#49
I used to work for an AV company about 20 years ago and my hearing was much better then compared to this point in my life.

A couple of us Audio tweakers used to swear that Duracell Alkaline's sounded better than the Energizer Alkaline' s in the wireless systems of the day. So I have always stood by that logic (right, wrong or total BS) and used Duracell's whenever possible. I also recall that they seemed to last a bit longer.

It's all speculative I am sure but I am a Duracell man all the way.

WRT comments about power cords, I use power cords on my hi-fi which cost hundreds of dollars and they DO make a difference. I also use a power conditioner from this company http://www.richardgrayspowercompany.com/ and I can tell you for certain it makes a huge difference. I was messing around with it on my bass rig for a couple days last week and it honestly makes a very noticeable difference. Would I ever gig with one no but it does clean everything up in quite a noticeable fashion. On my bass amp I have a 12' cable IEC cable that I made which used 10-3 and I never worry about choking my amp with some 25 cent cable made in who knows where.
 
#53
scowboy said:
WRT comments about power cords, I use power cords on my hi-fi which cost hundreds of dollars and they DO make a difference. I also use a power conditioner from this company http://www.richardgrayspowercompany.com/ and I can tell you for certain it makes a huge difference. I was messing around with it on my bass rig for a couple days last week and it honestly makes a very noticeable difference. Would I ever gig with one no but it does clean everything up in quite a noticeable fashion. On my bass amp I have a 12' cable IEC cable that I made which used 10-3 and I never worry about choking my amp with some 25 cent cable made in who knows where.
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How do you address the branch circuit wiring which is likely to be solid (non-exotic) copper 12 gauge conductor, the receptacle, the wire nuts, the circuit breaker, the main panel and then (oh gosh) all the aluminum wire that makes up the feeder and many distribution networks? Does the fancy 6' power cable magicly correct for the many thousands of feet of "inferior" wiring (including transformers, network relays and PFC devices) between you and the power source?
 
#57
For years now I haven't paid for a battery. Our tech guy at church is mega paranoid about one of the wireless mics going out, so they change the batteries out by the case. Every few months or so, I will walk around during soundcheck and pickup the "used ones." I still get 3-4 months out of them. I probably have a half a shoe box full at home.
 
#58
agedhorse said:
How do you address the branch circuit wiring which is likely to be solid (non-exotic) copper 12 gauge conductor, the receptacle, the wire nuts, the circuit breaker, the main panel and then (oh gosh) all the aluminum wire that makes up the feeder and many distribution networks? Does the fancy 6' power cable magicly correct for the many thousands of feet of "inferior" wiring (including transformers, network relays and PFC devices) between you and the power source?
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Sssssshhhhh!!! The placebo effect vanishes whenever you drag it out from under a rock and expose it to the light!
 

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