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why have a battery in your bass?

#21
MrLenny1 said:
I agree with bassgodOdmw.
I own 4 active basses.
Put in a battery box in the bass if it's an issue.
Slide in, slide out.
Click to expand...

Same here - I'm currently at 13 basses, atleast half of them are active - it's just not an issue for me... I pretty much always gig wireless, so an external PS for my actives isn't possible - and even if it were, I wouldn't use one...


- georgestrings
 
#22
I play active basses, and see both sides, batteries are a concern, mainly because they last so long they can be ignored, and die when it's most inopportune.
There would be no issue sending 9 (or18)VDC along with the signal through a TRS cable to power the bass, mic's and DI boxes are fed higher voltages via phantom power the same way. I have often thought about doing it myself.

However, now you would be stuck using the power supply all the time, it's just one more piece of kit to drag along, you'd have to make a battery pack to use with a wireless transmitter, and most importantly, you're adding failure points.

My setups all use a pair of 9v batteries for 18v operation and require removing screws and an access plate to test or change the batteries, so that is a PIA as well.

I think what I'm going to do is to add external test points for checking the batteries without disassembly. For me that seems to be the most workable compromise. If you have easy access (pop out) battery holders, than this is all a non issue.
 
#23
Stanley Clarke has very custom wiring with his basses, part of the system is an external power supply to the active electronics. There are some details on his Wikipedia page, and I believe he's done some interviews (videos and magazines) that describe it in limited detail. Somehow the basses are bi-amped??? to send different signals for manipulation and amplification. I could be wrong in recalling, but I do know it's externally powered.
 
#24
Here's my input:
1) This has been done before.
2) It's not that hard
3)A few things to be aware of:
3a)Batteries tend to be quieter than mains powered devices. Mains is an AC signal that has to be rectified and smoothed. It's not hard to do this, but even in very good designs, there is still some ripple. Probably not noticeable, but just something to be aware of.
3b)Sometimes you want to run off batteries for simplicity, so I'd wire it up so that you can still use the original battery.
3c)You might research if the existing electronics can handle 18V which would give more headroom
3d)TRS is a fine solution, but make sure nothing breaks if you use a standard TS instrument cable.

Have fun!
 
#25
Yes - this has been done (tried) before. The REAL issue is that you need a non-standard cable - a TRS. Try and find that when yours gets lost or breaks and you have a gig in an hour and you are away from home. A min-XLR would also be a good solution, and have the same problem. As you may have noticed, the MI industry is VERY slow to make changes like this - even for the better. Look how long we have been using 1/4" connectors for high-powered speakers! D'OH!

The best solution is to run the power up the regular guitar cord, but this is very difficult, because the pickups are high impedance and the power is very low impedance - it takes a hatful of ciruitry to do this without affecting the sound. My genius engineer claims to have solved this issue, but I've never seen it.
 
#27
Sounds like something I've want to try before. The only problem with a TRS cable is someone can just plug a TS cable in and short the ring to ground. Whereas with an XLR cable, you won't hurt anything as nothing can be accidentally inserted, and most XLRs can carry 48V phantom power on a daily basis. Just put an XLR jack on the bass you want to use, and provide a regular 1/4" jack on the supply box to allow normal basses to plug in.

Just my opinion. If I am wrong in my thinking, please correct me.
 
#31
Shippy said:
Stanley Clarke has very custom wiring with his basses, part of the system is an external power supply to the active electronics. There are some details on his Wikipedia page, and I believe he's done some interviews (videos and magazines) that describe it in limited detail. Somehow the basses are bi-amped??? to send different signals for manipulation and amplification. I could be wrong in recalling, but I do know it's externally powered.
Click to expand...
Ya, those Alembics he uses have an external box to do some fancy schmancy stuff if you want. I don't believe they're mandatory, though. I remember playing through a Series I or II at the music store without it a long time ago.
 
#33
I had a high qaulity custom power supply for my EMG loaded fretless in the '70's. Not any different than the Alembic version. I had to have a special cord too. EMG built it for me after I had a battery die onstage, just to humour me, really.

Forget the power supply, or the special cord (it was Tip Ring Sleeve 1/4") and you were s-o-o-l.:D It happened. So anyway, 9v (and later 18v) battery operation was quieter than the power supply in the end.
 
#35
Yes this seems so much easier than taking out 4 or 5 screws and replacing a battery????
Maybe I'll do this with my car and a battery charger and million mile long extension cord.
Or I'll just stick with a battery.
 
#37
I personally love active pickups on my stingray bass, I like the more EQ options and the bite and crunch from the extra power, and I don't mind switching out the batteries, the compartment on musicman basses are so easy to open and you can switch out a new battery in less than 10 seconds, a lot of new basses have those compartments, though I can see the frustration with the batteries being inside the back plate and having to unscrew all the screws to gain access...maybe drill a battery box? I dunno just a thought
 
#38
I know nothing about the details of electronics, but would it be possible to build some sort of rechargeable Lithium-Ion power supply, like what you find in some handheld gaming things? I remember having a Gameboy SP several years ago and it had a rechargeable battery with a red/green charge level indicator, and I thought it'd be great to have something similar for an active bass.
 
#40
bkbirge said:
Didn't early Alembics do something like this? And yeah, don't use TRS, use XLR or something similar.
Click to expand...

Yep, they used 5 conductor XLR and a bipolar supply IIRC. I had one bass wired this way for many years, first using two cables, then later a 4 conductor cable and a regular 3 pin XLR, using the shell for ground. I still have one rack preamp ready to go with an XLR on the front panel. If I ever do this again I will likely put a regulator circuit right in the bass, use a 5-pin, and have a balanced output at line level that can drive a power amp directly. No point in underkill if you're going to put up with all the hassle.

I nearly play through other people's rigs more than my own when playing out these days though, and don't relish carrying around a power supply box and non-standard cable, especially if I'm just going to plug into a generic rig anyhow -- not that there's anything wrong with generic rigs...;)
 

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