Schoolboy error..............

[Stub Mandrel]

11 hours ago, drTStingray said:

@Stub Mandrel and the four likes - a number of active basses around currently were designed at a time when it was the direction of travel for basses - fatter, more lively sound altogether, and more hi fi if desired - back then (the mid/late 70s/early 80s), the idea someone would want to pay the extra price and then play say a Wal, Alembic or Musicman in passive mode would have been somewhat laughable. Look at the trouble Marcus Miller went to make his 77 Jazz usable for his requirements at the end of the 70s!! The pre amp was often, in any case part of the whole system design, and the pick ups may have been lowered in output to compensate, thus rendering switching out the pre amp (if anyone had taken leave of their senses) somewhat a solution to a largely non existent problem (battery failure), because the drain on the charge (in most basses) is so small - and the bass may not have worked as well without it switched in. 

Frankly if my active basses did have an active/passive switch, I wouldn't use it (same as if my car had some gizmo to turn off the turbo - it does have one to turn off the aircon part of the heating/ventilation system but I've never pressed the button once).

If I felt the need to aim for the exact sound of a bass designed 60+ years ago into a scenario where bass was a barely audible component of popular music, then I wouldn't be playing an active bass designed to get the all together more beefy bass sounds of the later 70s-late 90s at all 😏

So it's a largely non-existent problem which only arises if you make a c*ck up, as per @ProfJames - best bet is carry spares like you and I 👍

Have you ever had one of your basses go flat mid song? I have, fortunately when practising, my mid 80s five-string active bass goes flat over a less than 30 seconds, when it goes. It's quite extraordinarily dramatic and not what I would expect, but it does happen.

Having a switch over (which is not difficult for anyone with the ability to design a decent preamp) is an insurance policy, not a lifestyle choice.

MInd you, I have never really understood what advantage having a pre-amp in the bass has over having one in a pedal (or even a decent one in your amp). Sonically the only possible different so a slightly greater signal-to-noise ratio that can just as easily be achieved with a decent cable...

[Stub Mandrel]

11 hours ago, pete.young said:

Well, either you're right, and I'd better throw my BBNE2 into a skip.

Or ...

I'm not criticising having such basses, just noting that it seems like cutting corners to save a few pence and little effort.

[4000]

20 hours ago, drTStingray said:

I've carried two in my lead box for years - so long that I've rotated them into basses and put new spares in the lead box.

Ive had three failures of active bass batteries in 40 yrs of using them - and non were mid gig - you get more warning than that - each time has been before the start of a gig. One was in a situation where I didn't have spares - luckily the singers had a box of spares for their radio mike equipment.

Avoiding active basses because the battery might run out is about as invalid a reason as refusing to use lighter than a 50 gauge G string on a bass in case it breaks!!! (Or not using radio mikes!) 

I find the batteries in my Musicman basses last for several years - so much so that I replace them on a rota basis. 

The moral is carry spares and don't leave the bass plugged in for lengthy periods when not in use 👍

 

I’ve had a battery fail mid gig. I’ve also had one decide to leak on me at a bass bash and so fail that way. It happens. 

[Woodinblack]

21 hours ago, peteb said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-Duracell-9V-Industrial-PROCELL-Alkaline-Batteries-Smoke-Alarm-LR22-MN1604-BLOC/113707992641?epid=9032157047&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item1a79864641:g:rzQAAOSw32lY0nAA&amdata=enc%3AAQAFAAACcBaobrjLl8XobRIiIML1V4Imu%2Fn%2BzU5L90Z278x5ickkAgU0umhwUTmgTFbE5cu7zfLzqGgP6VCouLVsERdqNSMXWquzW8FbJ9EZ8RT2qj017oWIhbCviPb62cgfGk7ESSzROJ0PuerrLbLLDzlvvYR4jjfW%2BZ6a%2BgWSJtZmDncbDifiSr267J006N2%2F%2FSOzmP%2Fgdsv6V1kEKVzJhNlMCCvScjPunBIhLLFfkI9optzCAs376BduorIvNz4jxmjAs9Z1euU%2B2%2BcAsaczY9PctEfJ8f8qQFEl2xC8BNR5PL0a1Ev2uVlzwui3pp0h%2FRwFkAUTD%2FRl%2BicRv54vkzo3jCJ1X3U9iJpeQ8pgu1q04YBixh6pfI0sHoYrU6yQQFb9zzte2x2DV5jolR5ZKmsXCkmDdVTb7SuConXHOxrAFJ6lqe6Flag%2FW%2F6LFssAa8zAMu3oi87wJbu42iIU3Ev4BwcPWa0k1Itv%2FFH%2BFmrGkoNNRxh%2FlQP31JhrinpsiviHrGAC2iM5g25bJLADmY0Jk0prXuLXhMezW1NjeQVaXaogi3pmwOqc8cyo30SlZKLyyXn6xeq%2B3iccUwDcemfE%2FrPHoT0AzRpj9yvDDEdhSr3VrHbo5KKXpsUiX3U5Jtbr%2B%2BQ6u72OqNbnfsr7OqPA2ikXvtYYdu%2BzbCawSD7ftFP7pzC9aY8oMi0BKEFX%2BrK9TnmmfFT5xgbULpW%2BUkpTR4ArjFfXBuA7uX99g83liinr65M%2BE1XlB0TthccsyeEBYEg6hZ9x1y9YQggBU%2FHJZ52ZYWCtJAWd7fNnfkoiUgCe0XhodtNHCwrw%2FZFbisgxuw%3D%3D|cksum%3A11370799264147d6fa20ddb0459a8684336bd551ecde|ampid%3APL_CLK|clp%3A2334524

 

Or

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/113707992641

to its friends!

[Woodinblack]

I have spare 9v and a box of AA & AAA. And a screwdriver for those basses.

Never lost a bass mid gig, but I had a problem wtih a badly wired bass (my wrongo) that didn't actually have an off, so you had to take the battery out, until I fixed it, and the one time I gigged it I had forgotten to do that.

[Woodinblack]

33 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Have you ever had one of your basses go flat mid song? I have, fortunately when practising, my mid 80s five-string active bass goes flat over a less than 30 seconds, when it goes. It's quite extraordinarily dramatic and not what I would expect, but it does happen.

The only times where I have had a flatter battery on a gig, the battery went flat over a number of days, not less than a minute. That is an odd thing. My first ibanez got quieter and quieter and I didn't realise what it was at the time but it was that Ihadn't changed the battery in the 4 years I had it.

Must be taking a lot of power (or a defective battery) to do that.

Luckily if it was going to go dead in a short time I only need to get to the end of the song and then I have enough time to change the battery while the guitarist is tuning!

[Teebs]

20 hours ago, ProfJames said:

...only came here for sympathy!!!

Second schoolboy error!

 

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

...Must be taking a lot of power (or a defective battery) to do that...

The chemistry of batteries can be quite complex. One of the 'features' often designed in is the ability to stay at nominal voltage as long as possible, then drop off suddenly (a 'cliff edge'...). Others will gradually decline (a 'slope'...). The pre-amp, too, will have its own design parameters, so may continue to work normally with a lowering voltage until it can no longer do so, when it suddenly becomes mute. Our Cort will start to distort heavily if the battery is low (but has a 'pull for passive' volume pot...). Each combination of bass/battery is potentially different. There are also those basses that need tools to change the battery, often with tiny screws that fall between the stage boards, and are always black so that they become invisible in dim light, anyway. I'm glad that I'm a drummer. 

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

Must be taking a lot of power (or a defective battery) to do that.

I do wonder... it goes flat in about a week if left on. It has an LED which might be worth replacing with a modern low current one and a bigger resistor.

[Stub Mandrel]

2 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

Our Cort will start to distort heavily if the battery is low (but has a 'pull for passive' volume pot...). Each combination of bass/battery is potentially different.

Mine is Hohner out of the Cort factory may have a similar circuit...

[Woodinblack]

4 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I do wonder... it goes flat in about a week if left on. It has an LED which might be worth replacing with a modern low current one and a bigger resistor.

The led will probably take orders of magnitude more power than the preamp.

[Woodinblack]

15 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

There are also those basses that need tools to change the battery, often with tiny screws that fall between the stage boards, and are always black so that they become invisible in dim light, anyway. I'm glad that I'm a drummer. 

You are joking, I have spent much more time in the last few years fixing the lights on the drums than any battery work

[chris_b]

So far my stash of batteries has come to my rescue twice. Then again, l seem to have “lent” more batteries to guitarists than used them myself.

I did have an awkward gig when my strap broke and I didn’t have have a spare. I carry a spare for everything now.

[4000]

I’ve had about 3 active basses go dead due to a wire coming loose whilst playing too. The Schack circuit was a bugger for that. I got fed up of checking my wiring before each gig, so they were moved on.

[pbasspecial]

I’ve had batteries go flat before the end of the first set during a gig once.  Sound started to dip in and out and get a bit fizzy. Wasn’t sure if it was the amp, lead or batteries. Thankfully there was an ASDA across the road. Happened about 18 months later during soundcheck (before I learnt the Jan 1st tip). Thankfully I always take a passive P bass with me. Bit paranoid and have broken strings too. Takes the fun out of gigging when you’ve to do repairs on the fly! 

Bands don’t mind occasional little technical problems but they do mind you not having solutions. 

Once did a big gig where the guitarist didn’t have any plectrums. He had to cut up an old credit card. Amateur!!

[bass_dinger]

3 hours ago, chris_b said:

So far my stash of batteries has come to my rescue twice. Then again, l seem to have “lent” more batteries to guitarists than used them myself.

I did have an awkward gig when my strap broke and I didn’t have have a spare. I carry a spare for everything now.

A spare for everything?  Now you have set me thinking!  I have spare cables, battery, a spare tuner (headstock) and a spare 2032 battery for that tuner, and even tools to tighten up ring nuts.  I check the battery once every two months (this, after my batter died during a broadcast gig).  I have bought a DI box, in case the amp fails.

However, I don't have spare strings, nor my own spare bass.  However, there is a four-string at the venue at which I play.

I had one battery that lasted 8 years - and another, just two months.  That variation probably reflects the difference in playing time that I put into the bass, during my current phase of paying, and my previous "bass dark ages".

EDIT - a more complex error.  I bought a pair of batteries for an active acoustic bass.  One battery died, having first given a distorted sound via the pre-amp.  I replaced it with the other battery, and about a week later, the pre-amp was distorting again.

I reasoned that it was the pre-amp at fault - it could not be the battery, as it was fresh. 

In fact, the battery was freshly in the bass, rather than freshly made - both batteries were the same age, and both had deteriorated at roughly the same rate, and both died at the same approximate time.

Now, I buy one battery at a time, and place the old spare into the instrument, and make the new battery the spare. 

 

Edited October 19, 2020 by bass_dinger

[Woodinblack]

17 minutes ago, bass_dinger said:

However, I don't have spare strings, nor my own spare bass.  However, there is a four-string at the venue at which I play.

I have a spare bass. I always throw my hofner B2V in the car, its takes no space and stays in the car, just in case.

I don't have a spare amp, but can always go into the PA if required.

[drTStingray]

8 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Have you ever had one of your basses go flat mid song? I have, fortunately when practising, my mid 80s five-string active bass goes flat over a less than 30 seconds, when it goes. It's quite extraordinarily dramatic and not what I would expect, but it does happen.

Having a switch over (which is not difficult for anyone with the ability to design a decent preamp) is an insurance policy, not a lifestyle choice.

MInd you, I have never really understood what advantage having a pre-amp in the bass has over having one in a pedal (or even a decent one in your amp). Sonically the only possible different so a slightly greater signal-to-noise ratio that can just as easily be achieved with a decent cable...

Some of the things you raise here are a wider debate eg onboard active v outboard pre amp pedal v completely passive (but still electric) - or even onboard active PLUS outboard pre amp pedal (as advertised with the Sadowski pre amp pedal at one time)!!

As I said many of these designs date from when it was either not possible or certainly not desirable to have an active bypass with switchable passive ability for one reason or another - the reliability and functionality of some active basses (and especially lower priced budget ones) has always been questionable - however this doesn't just extend to active basses - the switches, pots and most particularly the Jack socket connections have sometimes been unreliable in even expensive basses where you wouldn't expect it - it's unlikely you will have this as a general issue either with the general electronics, or the active circuit on a quality bass like a Wal, Alembic or Musicman. 

Of course, if this was the 60s, many of the bass die hards of the day 🤔 would tell you this is a good reason for using an upright!!! There was a lot of upright v electric bass snobbery back then, especially in jazz. 

With regards to your bass suddenly dying mid song, this is generally not how active circuits behave - if the battery discharges it's usually gradually over a period of time resulting in the controls being less responsive and the bass generally sounding a bit compressed, and eventually a bit far*y sounding. I think you must have had another fault as well there (I've had that with a dodgy lead before now). 

Edited October 19, 2020 by drTStingray

[paul_c2]

Didn't the teacher have a spare bass?

 

Who plays bass and owns 1 bass?????????????

[Woodinblack]

8 minutes ago, paul_c2 said:

Didn't the teacher have a spare bass?

 

Who plays bass and owns 1 bass?????????????

People who are not on here!

[ProfJames]

17 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

People who are not on here!

Made me laugh!  I have a choice of seven at hand, yes I could have asked to loan a bass but I was already part way through my hissy fit!!!

[Stub Mandrel]

47 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

I think you must have had another fault as well there (I've had that with a dodgy lead before now). 

I wonder if the battery ran flat without me realising, then I pulled the lead out. Then when I plugged it back in the battery had recovered enough to run for a while.

[Thunderbird]

23 hours ago, pbasspecial said:

Just had a low battery warning light fitted to my active bass. Not worth the worry if the batteries will go flat at the gig. A local pro gave me this tip, he changes his battery on 1st Jan each year. 

Looks like a good idea might keep my eye out for one of those 

[pbasspecial]

3 minutes ago, Thunderbird said:

Looks like a good idea might keep my eye out for one of those 

I bought it from here on BC! 

[ProfJames]

Just now, pbasspecial said:

I bought it from here on BC! 

Where else would you get things!