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Novice Active bass questions


la bam
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Hi all,

I've just got an active bass after 25 years of playing passive, and ... well...... wow!

Flipping eck, it's amazing! All those sounds at the turn of a dial. Love it!

However, just a few daft active questions...

1. My bass G&L m2000 is active only. There is no active passive switch. So how do you switch this off? Is it just unplug the cable to the bass? Is there any way to fit an active / passive switch, or is it pointless. (Just paranoid about it cutting out mid gig).

2. How long does a battery (albeit this takes 2 9v batteries) last for on average?

3. How do you know when your batteries are going? Do the just go and the bass goes dead, or is there an element of obvious signs?

Cheers.

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1. Yep remove the lead. Depends on the circuit, some can be wired active/passive fairly easily, some not.

2. Depends on use. Normally months with alkalines.

3. Get a battery tester. You'll probably hear some distortion before the batteries die, but alkalines may die pretty quickly once they start to kick the bucket.

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Thanks.

I had it a day and last night at practice it slowly went quieter and quieter until it ran out of juice. So I'm guessing that's how it will work - slow lack of volume.

I put x2 new Duracell in and it was like a turbo charged machine. I'm guessing the batteries had been in the bass for months previously.

Loving the active part of the bass. Found cutting the bass eq is much more beneficial so far for getting a nice tight sound.

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Welcome to the dark side of active basses!

I've gone from being a purely passive player a couple of years back to also now really enjoying the additional and convenient EQ adjustment that active basses provide - cutting the bass EQ a touch when required to tighten up the low end as you've mentioned, boosting the mids to cut through or rolling off the treble for a more vintage tone.

I've typically been using my basses either just in active mode (Ibby SRs or Yammy BBNE2 - the latter is purely active, in any case) or just passively in the case of my one purely passive bass (Yammy BB 1025). The latter is quite nice for practice at home in terms of not needing to remember to remove the jack lead to save the battery! :) 

Very recently got a Yammy BB 735A and have unexpectedly found a bass where I'm likely to be using both active and passive modes during the same gig, given the varied tonal palette I can get from the electronics of this bass. 

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On 22/03/2019 at 16:31, la bam said:

1. My bass G&L m2000 is active only. There is no active passive switch. So how do you switch this off? Is it just unplug the cable to the bass? Is there any way to fit an active / passive switch, or is it pointless. (Just paranoid about it cutting out mid gig).

2. How long does a battery (albeit this takes 2 9v batteries) last for on average?

3. How do you know when your batteries are going? Do the just go and the bass goes dead, or is there an element of obvious signs?

Cheers.

1. It can definitely be done, it'll cost a few quid but definitely worthwhile if you just wish to switch between active and passive, let alone when batteries die. 

2. How long is a piece of string? I tend to find with an 18V (2x9V) preamp tend to last a little longer than a 9V, but doesn't mean twice as long but on the other hand, the sound from such a preamp sounds a lot cleaner and rounded.

3. From my experience, if you're playing for long enough, you tend to know, sometimes the volume drops or the bass EQ dissolves and gets to a weak crackling sound, if any sound at all but being batteries, temperature can affect the battery life as much as brand and quality of battery.(reflecting back to #2)

I do love an active bass but too many let downs for me and my anxiety is always hightened in case I've got to spend 5 minutes switching bass or a 9V battery on stage... It's embarrassing. So I've always stuck to a passive bass for safety and a sound I can always rely on. 

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I suppose that your bass is "half-active" meaning that only the tone circuitry is active. Then it is an easy task to add a bypass switch to tone. You only need a DPDT switch and a place to put it to. I suggest that you consider a push-pull pot with a DPDT switch. Then you do not need extra holes. Price is decent and the work takes an hour or so.

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1 hour ago, TheGreek said:

Remember, unlike a passive bass you can't leave a lead plugged in when it's not being played...well you can but don't expect the batteries to have any juice left when you next go to use it.

That's overstating it a touch. Yup leaving the lead in drains it. But if you remember to unplug it at the end of the day when putting your gear away the battery should last a fair while (months in my experience). 

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