Jump to content
Please note: You can easily log in to MPN using your Facebook account!

Dead bass - part deux


Chewbubba

Recommended Posts

Back in mid-September, I was onstage and with only a few minutes before start time, I pulled the battery out of my Ibanez SR1000, and popped a new one in. A few minutes later, the bass died and there was a distinct "burning plastic" smell. Apparently I put the battery in backwards and fried some stuff. I sent it off to an electronics shop 75 miles away that works on gear for a local guitar shop, got it back a few weeks later and all seemed fine-ish. Little things would happend, like occasionally the signal would drop, or the volume would be low, but I never could determine if it was a dirty amp, bad cord, or the bass.

 

Fast-forward to today. Grabbed the bass for the last tune and ... nothing. I unplugged and replugged everything, and still nothing. So I Milli-Vanillied it through the song. Afterward, I hooked up a different bass, and it worked fine, so I hooked mine back up. Mine worked, but the volume was low, and then kept dropping until there was nothing.

 

Sounds like the battery, but I just replaced the battery when I got the bass back in October.

 

Frustrated and unsure of what the next step should be. Suggestions?

A stiffy somewhere in the city sewer system...
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 16
  • Created
  • Last Reply
Usually they put a diode wired backwards across the battery so that if you reverse polarity, it shorts and drains the battery rather than damage the electronics. Sounds like first time around you may have fried that diode. If the replacement isn't up to spec, it could be draining your battery when hooked up the right way. Specs to look at would be the reverse breakdown voltage.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know on my Carvin basses, if you put in a new battery with the bass plugged in it could fry the pre-amp. Don't know if that's the case with my current basses or yours, but I never take the chance.
"Tours widely in the southwestern tip of Kentucky"
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is exactly the kind of reasons that I prefer passive electronics.

 

At this point it seems as if you might need to replace the preamp altogether. If you cannot get an exact replacement from Ibanez you could use an aftermarket brand, there are several very good ones available.

Nothing is as it seems but everything is exactly what it is - B. Banzai

 

Life is what happens while you are busy playing in bands.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Depends. I have three basses that have active electronics and gig regularly with two of the (Peavy Millenium V and the NS CL-4).

 

It requires a little bit of hand holding sometimes, but I love the tonal control I get from an active pre-amp, and when you are sitting in or filling in and they want to run you into the PA (i.e., my blues gigs), the active electronics allow you to skip all of that direct box stuff.

 

That said, I have no idea what went wrong. I know the actives in my AEB10BK die after about 40 minutes of playing, so I don't trust Ibenez active electronics as a rule.

 

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Until all of this mess, a battery would last me 5 months or more, and even then I would not experience any volume drop off or anything, I would just remember to replace it and go on with life.
A stiffy somewhere in the city sewer system...
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ha! I've never seen a 3 volt preamp.

 

So is the system passive pickups with an active preamp (like EMG Select), or are the pickups active a la the more expensive regular EMG? If the latter, then the pickups will have to be shitcanned also if the preamp can't be fixed. If the former, then I'd bypass the electronics and go with an outboard preamp if your tone can't be achieved via the amp knobs.

Things are just the way they are, and they're only going to get worse.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Here's the solution I came up with for my two main basses.

 

http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt232/kenfxj/a1_zps207036e6.jpghttp://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt232/kenfxj/a2_zpsdcaa15f3.jpg

Push the button Frank.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a Yamaha BB 614F and I change the battery more or less every year. I write the date on the battery and check voltage once in a while. If it drops below 8V I change it.

By the way, the preamp in this medium price Yamaha is fully discrete components, I expected the usual couple of op amps instead of transistors, capacitors and resistors.

Oh, and Ken, nice basses indeed.

-- Michele Costabile (http://proxybar.net)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...