NancyJohnson Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 Just a quick question on end of battery life. Most of my kit is now active and I've been fairly diligent in changing the PP3s annually (on my birthday start of December, or thereabouts), but that slipped as I haven't really been doing much musically. Six months late.... I'm just curious about end of battery life experience. I pulled one of my Lulls out yesterday/John East circuit. Circuit was still live, but quite unpleasant tonally, no clarity, farty. I've experienced batteries being dead, never when they're on their last legs. I've got a few Duracells arriving today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 Farty sounds right for a dying battery in an active circuit. As the voltage dwindles, the the circuit won't have enough headroom for clean operation and it will go flatulent. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 Modern battery driven active circuits are very frugal with their power consumption. Unless you play for several hours every single day or leave your bass plugged in by mistake for more than a couple of days a good quality PP3 should last well over a year. It's a long time since I have encountered the symptoms you are describing since I normally change the battery in the one active bass I still own well before it starts to run down, but it was a regular occurrence in my 80s Overwater basses which did well if the battery lasted more than 3 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbiscuits Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 I’ve had weak distorted tone on dying batteries in my Yamaha BB604. Anecdotally they seem to have gone flat extra quick when I’ve knocked the Nathan East pre-amp switch on while they’re unplugged and in gig bag, which doesn’t actually make any sense. But otherwise yeah they tend to suddenly be dead rather than taking ages to fade away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted May 10 Author Share Posted May 10 Well it appears the preamp is at fault. Swapped the battery over, preamp is dead. There appears to be activity on it; I can tap around exposed contacts and this registers on the amp (you can hear a buzzing), beyond that no sound. Groan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 I got a swooshing noise out of my US Lakland when the battery was on the way out, also a nasty distortion from the Wal. My Sadowsky lasts a year, approx 80 gigs, between battery changes. I keep the old batteries to power my tuner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quatschmacher Posted May 14 Share Posted May 14 I got some amazing distortion and oscillation going on in a Peavey Cirrus BXP when the battery was dying. I wish I could have replicated it as it added a very humorous touch to one piece during a band rehearsal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted May 14 Share Posted May 14 On 10/05/2024 at 21:40, NancyJohnson said: Well it appears the preamp is at fault. Swapped the battery over, preamp is dead. There appears to be activity on it; I can tap around exposed contacts and this registers on the amp (you can hear a buzzing), beyond that no sound. Groan. Have you got a multimeter, and can you check that 9v is actually getting to the preamp? Might be the jack socket (especially if it's a barrel jack) not making good contact between ring and sleeve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted May 14 Author Share Posted May 14 4 minutes ago, tauzero said: Have you got a multimeter, and can you check that 9v is actually getting to the preamp? Might be the jack socket (especially if it's a barrel jack) not making good contact between ring and sleeve. I have a meter - from memory the output jack is the same as the one in John's photo below (it just bolts into a jack plate). I'm getting some noise from one of the jumper points behind the rotary trim pots indicated below, beyond that, nothing. All the loom cables are in and tight. A while back I'd have been desperate to get this fixed, now you just kind of shrug your shoulders and pull out another bass, because fixing it is a job from future Nancy! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huge Hands Posted May 14 Share Posted May 14 1 hour ago, NancyJohnson said: .....because fixing it is a job from future Nancy! I'm happy to change my name to "Future Nancy" if you just want to bin the guitar off.......😃 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rollin Thunder Posted May 14 Share Posted May 14 Farty is defo flat battery. Funnily enough I've had batteries 🪫 easily last 3+ years with 1-2 hours playing a day. Although i have 3 current active bass’s so doing “the math” thats about a year each. all though my ibby in my profile pic has never changed the battery and its 5-6 years old, but i mostly play in on passive mode. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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