stewblack Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 Bought an active bass. Immediately noticed the output was pretty weak so popped in a new 9v and all was fine. Just picked it up a few weeks later and nothing. The battery is totally flat. When it is unplugged on a stand what could be draining the juice out of it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
songofthewind Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 Gravity makes the juice drain down to the bottom bout, and then out through the jack socket. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted September 25, 2020 Author Share Posted September 25, 2020 8 minutes ago, songofthewind said: Gravity makes the juice drain down to the bottom bout, and then out through the jack socket. Cool, I will store it the other way up from now on. Thank you, glad it was a simple solution. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 Or a small cork in the jack socket? Wall hangers can be complicated upside down. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted September 25, 2020 Author Share Posted September 25, 2020 Is there a danger of electric shock to my dogs if any leaks out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulThePlug Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 (edited) Are all the Harley Benton's looking at it... ganging up on it? Edited September 25, 2020 by PaulThePlug 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teebs Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 17 minutes ago, stewblack said: Is there a danger of electric shock to my dogs if any leaks out? Maybe the dog is secretly weeing on the bass & shorting the circuit? 🎸 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted September 25, 2020 Author Share Posted September 25, 2020 52 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said: Are all the Harley Benton's looking at it... ganging up on it? They are a mean bunch. You should hear them laugh at how much some of the others cost. 37 minutes ago, Teebs said: Maybe the dog is secretly weeing on the bass & shorting the circuit? 🎸 Right that's it. I'm phoning the vets 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 Are there any LEDs or similar? If an electro-acoustic, what about the preamp and tuner? In fact, is there a piezo pickup at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted September 25, 2020 Author Share Posted September 25, 2020 30 minutes ago, Happy Jack said: In fact, is there a piezo pickup at all? Yes, yes there is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 It shouldn't draw current when no jack is plugged in but hey, it's a piezo, and there's probably also an on-board pre-amp. Lots of room for wiring to be done badly. What you need now is for someone who knows what they're talking about to come along. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted September 25, 2020 Author Share Posted September 25, 2020 Just now, Happy Jack said: It shouldn't draw current when no jack is plugged in but hey, it's a piezo, and there's probably also an on-board pre-amp. Lots of room for wiring to be done badly. What you need now is for someone who knows what they're talking about to come along. You played me brilliantly there Jack. I thought wow! A serious answer - who'd a thunk it, but you just reeled me in. Bravo - beautifully done sir. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 Bizarrely enough, I was actually being serious. A piezo (as I understand it, within the limits of my very limited knowledge, alternative facts are available) generates so little power compared to a magnetic pickup that it requires power to operate at all. Some piezo rigs get their power from the instrument cable, but your bass has a battery which implies otherwise. If you have a piezo pickup and an on-board battery, it would be odd to not have a preamp on-board too, also requiring power. So your signal path is presumably battery --> piezo --> preamp --> amplifier and suddenly you have pretty coloured wires everywhere and blobs of solder where perhaps they shouldn't be. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted September 25, 2020 Author Share Posted September 25, 2020 Sorry - I didn't mean the advice wasn't good, just that as you took me in hand and walked me to the answer this - What you need now is for someone who knows what they're talking about to come along. Just felt like a great punchline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 Always leave them wanting less. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 Broken socket. My wrongo was like that. As was another bass I picked up second hand. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 Badly wired....I had a bass with a similar problem. Simple fix if you know what you're doing (or know somebody who does) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itu Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 4 hours ago, Happy Jack said: A piezo (as I understand it, within the limits of my very limited knowledge, alternative facts are available) generates so little power compared to a magnetic pickup that it requires power to operate at all. Actually not literally, but you are right because it is quite complicated source. It generates high voltages (up to hundreds of volts), but the internal impedance is so high (mega or even gigaohms), that the output is weak without decent buffering. The reason for this is that while the impedance is very high, a low impedance input (low compared to the piezo) would reduce and limit the frequency response. This is the reason the plain piezo tends to sound so thin. When the piezo output is buffered, any amp can handle the output and the sound becomes usable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itu Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 @stewblack, could you please send few photos of the circuitry? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete.young Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 17 hours ago, Happy Jack said: A piezo (as I understand it, within the limits of my very limited knowledge, alternative facts are available) generates so little power compared to a magnetic pickup that it requires power to operate at all. I'm not sure this is right. Anecdotally, I have 3 different Piezo systems (2 by KK Sound, one by Shadow) which do not require power and which generate enough signal to be heard when plugged into a random amp. They do all sound better with a high impedance it is true, so I would guess the battery is there to power the preamp and isn't required for the piezo. The problem sounds like a short to me, either the socket is broken or the wiring has a fault. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderbird Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 From experience I would say broken socket or its touching something inside the bass therefore creating a circuit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted September 26, 2020 Author Share Posted September 26, 2020 12 hours ago, itu said: @stewblack, could you please send few photos of the circuitry? will do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted September 26, 2020 Author Share Posted September 26, 2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 I would say that jack socket has the ring and body shorted out so the battery is on permanently 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted September 26, 2020 Author Share Posted September 26, 2020 10 minutes ago, Woodinblack said: I would say that jack socket has the ring and body shorted out so the battery is on permanently I'll get a closer look at the socket tomorrow, thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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