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What The...? Is this supposed to happen?

B

Bassin Since 91

Oct 18, 2007
42
0
35
Havelock North,New Zealand
#1
Right, heres my problem-

I plugged my main bass (Custom Guitar Workshop bt405) into my amp this morning for a little practice, as you do, but it wouldnt go. There was no sound coming out of the amp at all.
I was confused, but when i plugged one of my other basses (just a Cort Action 4)into the amp with the same cable it went fine.
Now i was just plain pissed off, but not irrational. I knew the bass wasnt damaged. i checked the internal workings and all soldering was absolutley fine, and there were no loose ends.
So i thought about what it could be, then it hit me!
My main bass is active, the cort is not. So i thought id put a new battery into my main bass and- Lo and behold! it worked perfectly. So it was 'out of battery'.

im a little confused as i was always under the impression that even if the battery in your active was flat then it would still run- it would seem that i am wrong? is every active bass like this? or is it just my model?
 
#5
lol the first time this happened to me i didnt know that patch cords in the input makes the circut live regardless if its actually on or not. So my battery dies... i spent so long trying to figure out whats wrong, freaked out, called the store i got it from, told me to change the battery lol. Yea most basses that are decent and active have a switch or in my case a pullout volume pot to switch it into passive, life saver since theres not way to tell when its close to dead, granted if your bass is like mine, you might end up losing some volume.
 
#6
tremor100 said:
granted if your bass is like mine, you might end up losing some volume.
Click to expand...

i actually gigged with the bass last night!!! i noticed nothing was wrong with it and my amp was set at the same level it usually is. I guess thats luck though, if the battery had run out of juice in the gig i would have been screwed.
Ive decided to take my other bass to gigs now,
just in case!

Cheers for your reassurance people!
 
#7
Bassin Since 91 said:
Right, heres my problem-

I plugged my main bass (Custom Guitar Workshop bt405) into my amp this morning for a little practice, as you do, but it wouldnt go. There was no sound coming out of the amp at all.
I was confused, but when i plugged one of my other basses (just a Cort Action 4)into the amp with the same cable it went fine.
Now i was just plain pissed off, but not irrational. I knew the bass wasnt damaged. i checked the internal workings and all soldering was absolutley fine, and there were no loose ends.
So i thought about what it could be, then it hit me!
My main bass is active, the cort is not. So i thought id put a new battery into my main bass and- Lo and behold! it worked perfectly. So it was 'out of battery'.

im a little confused as i was always under the impression that even if the battery in your active was flat then it would still run- it would seem that i am wrong? is every active bass like this? or is it just my model?
Click to expand...

if your pickups are active (e.g.EMG) then a flat battery will produce no sound at all. most active basses have passive pickups so they still work without the battery.
 
#13
Alternately, you might want to check the battery connector. Some actives might be high quality, but fail when it comes to the 9v connector itself. Radio shack sells some hard plastic ones that are really decent. But you have to make sure that the batt. will still fit in the cavity with said new connector if the old one proves bad. I've replaced the one in my yamaha and haven't had a problem since, but it's a really snug fit with the new connector. As for testing batteries, if you don't want to route to install an indicator, just randomly take the battery out and test it with a multimeter or a cheaper single function voltmeter.

You might want to invest in some rechargeable 9.6v nimh batteries (same as 9v, but slightly higher voltage). Paintball stores carry the 9.6v's... though the nimh mah rating is lower on them.... so probably best to go with a 9v rechargeable with the highest mah rating you can find and a charger for it... it'll save you a ton of cash in the long run since the battery is reusable for roughly 1,000 recharges. However if you don't mind the cost of buying alkalines all the time, then I'd suggest the Panasonic Alkaline+ 9v's. They're consistent with build, and tend to last longer than duracells and energizers.
 
#15
haha, ahhh. if only I had seen this thread about 10 years ago. i bought my first bass from a Pawn Shop, a friend and I were going to takeover the world, playing our Cover of "Peaches" by the Presidents of...... anywho, after we got that song memorized, my bass crapped out. Took it to a local shop around here, to "fix" the problem, charged me 50 bucks.

Kind of glad he went out of business. Memoriesssss
 

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