SuperSeagull

An update. Back in the country and been exchanging emails with the ever helpful Rob at Status. After about 18 hours of playing the new Duracells were at 8.8v He hasn’t yet commented on the mA reading but asked me to check there were no volts registering without a cable in which there wasn’t. Also asked to look for any stray cables, twisted Jack socket connections - none that I could see. He has also asked for photos of the control cavity. 

5 hours ago, Mickeyboro said:

A three-band bill of folk (State of Undress), blues (my own Otis Jay Blues Band) and Americana (World Gone Wrong) at New Milton’s Forest Arts Centre. Capacity audience of 125, which is gratifying.

 

Sound technician Alice did a brilliant job considering the variety of instruments involved. A super fun evening, and though we had a few duff intros - new drummer’s first gig - no one seemed to mind.

 

Photos show me having foolishly raced to the top of the theatre with Sandberg in hand, and descending rather more gingerly…

 

Love to take this package to other venues - suggestions gratefully received.

 

Nice venue. I do like that part of the world, we keep looking at whether to move New Milton / Barton way. 

Thanks Ron. Will get onto that tomorrow. Cheers. Graham

Hi, sorry for delay in replying but was on a long haul flight! Yes, available. Cheers 

Pub gig last Friday. MB combo and 1x12 cab. Always take the Elf as backup. Status plus a Fender Flea J. 

5 hours ago, sandy_r said:

 

Sorry ....Ziiiiiiiip! 

 

No! Been playing 45 years - still good to learn stuff! And appreciate people taking the time to share their knowledge. 

33 minutes ago, sandy_r said:

 

Thanks for the update

 

A couple of points which might be worth pointing out:

• If you're having to monitor battery discharge for comparison purposes (either with itself or with some other battery/ies, it's more representative of the battery status to measure the voltage whilst it's powering the circuit;
• If you look at the graph i posted earlier you can see that the biggest rates of voltage drop occur at the beginning and ending of the battery charge life

You've measure current drain around 1ma+/- which should mean you'd get over 450 hours of use from those batteries - maybe you should fit/check a new set, run them for 10x 2.5 hr gigs and then recheck to see if the (onload) battery voltage has settled down to roughly the middle of the 'plateau' on the 2mA curve shown above?  Just an idea ...but do ask Status when available what they have to say about the average current drain for your bass model

 

Hope all goes well with family commitments and forthcoming trip

 

Cheers

 

 

 

Again, thanks. Every day a school day! 

On 09/03/2024 at 18:56, sandy_r said:

 

Anyway, hope all goes well, let us know how you get on

 

Update - there isn't one. Family life has got in the way of sorting anything over the last week and I know Rob was away from the office at Status. Gigged last night, voltage on both batteries was 9.27v pre and 9.02v this morning after a 2.5 hour set. Next week we fly to SE Asia for a few weeks so I'll get back to it when home again. Thanks again for all the advice. 

5 hours ago, sandy_r said:

Will you be contacting Status before visiting Badlands?   Would be good for you to know how close/far your bass current drain is from average before you get any possible costs from someone looking at it

 

If there is some kind of fault with the jack power switching, then it must be intermittent - the jack switch was operating ok (ie. it was open) when you measured the current between Ring and Shield lugs, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to get a current reading through the meter (which is acting like the jack plug)

 

Anyway, hope all goes well, let us know how you get on

 

I will although sometimes they are tricky to get hold of. A call on Monday I think. 

I’ll give the control cavity a good check before I take it in. If those readings are broadly within tolerance then perhaps it is the Jack socket gone rogue. Thanks all for your help and advice - much appreciated.

Just spoken to the guys at Badlands in Brighton. He said it’s the third Status they have had with similar issues in the last few months, one just last week. One needed a new Jack socket, the other a new preamp board. I’m hoping for the former! Will pop it down next week. 

13 hours ago, sandy_r said:

 

Hah - smart move, Status - which version bass do you have?

[Edit - actually the info on their site implies that all use TRS jack socket switching, so....]

 

You should be able to get the mA reading across the ring & shield of the bass jack socket (without a lead inserted):

• leave the batteries correctly installed in their compartments;
• remove wiring coverplate;
• do not plug instrument jack cable into bass jack socket;
• select DC mA range on meter (or DC A if meter autoranges?)**;
• hold black meter probe onto metal of jack shield (nearest to plug entry end) solder lug ;
• hold red meter probe onto metal of jack ring (middle) solder lug;
• read mA drain on battery by bass control circuit (changing range if necessary to get valid display)

[** If your meter has a suitable DC mA range (and with the red meter cable in the socket marked mA, if necessary, otherwise red cable in usual red socket)]

 

After a quick visit to my Dads who has a much better meter than I do, I was getting a reading of 1.3mA but after I pulled and then reinserted the batteries dropped to 0.8mA, then another check had it at 1.5mA. I also checked the voltage on brand new Duracells put in pre gig last night and both have already dropped 0.5v. Your instructions were superb, thank you. I’ll speak with Status next week to get their view on those readings. Intermittent fault maybe?

3 hours ago, sandy_r said:

 

I would try & find out a ballpark value for the expected (nominal) current drain first of all  [either from owner(s) of similar version/age bass, or from Status], so you can then select an appropriate current range on your meter, if necessary

 

If your meter has a suitable DC mA range (and with the red meter cable in the socket marked mA, if necessary, otherwise red cable in usual red socket):

• disconnect battery from its connector clip and reconnect with just the negative terminal of the battery connected to the  usual connector on the clip;
• plug instrument jack cable into bass jack socket;
• select DC mA range on meter (or DC A if meter autoranges?);
• hold black meter probe to unoccupied positive connector on battery clip;
• hold red meter probe on battery positive connector;
• read mA drain on battery by bass control circuit (changing range if necessary to get valid display)

HTH

 

That’s really clear and helpful, thanks. I need to think about how to deal with step 1 as there are two batteries for the pre amp and they each sit in a flip up compartment rather than using the simpler clip on connector. 
 

Thanks all. I've a multimeter but little competence beyond that - how do I measure the current preamp drain 😬. My thought was to do that and then give Dawn at Status a call to check with them.if it sounds right. 

58 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

You do unplug when you're not playing, right? 

Yup! 

32 minutes ago, sandy_r said:

 

If you want to get a measure of the 'drain' it's better to measure inline on a mA current range, not the voltage across the terminals

 

Battery life will be affected also by the manufactured quality of the battery (eg. more expensive Duracell, Panasonic, etc will have better capacity than cheaper, lesser-known brands) - better ones being rated at around 500mAh = approx 50mA for 10 hours or 25mA for 20 hours, 10mA for 50 hours, etc

 

The discharge graph below, for the Duracell 'Ultra Power' PP3, suggests that an on-load terminal voltage of 8.7V would be expected at a drain somewhere in the region of 2-10mA. If your battery reading was off-load then the drain has probably been higher than that

 

For electronic circuits (as opposed to, say, torches) the minimum usable voltage is usually dictated by the circuit not the battery - ie, how low a supply voltage can the circuit receive and still operate correctly (no distortion or noise) - the battery graph below has an inflexion point around 8v, which is very roughly the middle of its power capacity (unrelated to the circuit needs!)

 

 

 

 

Thanks - I've paid attention to the description of the batteries on the box for the first time. They are Procell Constant Power for low drain devices - perhaps the wrong choice? 

Thanks. Procells with a best before of 3/27. Going to try some duracells and see how they compare I think. If still not right then it's to a tech. 

You might recall I had a nightmare with the batteries on my Status giving up halfway through a gig recently. Consequently I'm a bit obsessed with checking them pre gig. Today I've put both on a meter - one reads 8.7v, the other 8.5v versus 9.6v on a brand new one. These were replaced at the end of Jan, since then I estimate the bass has been used / plugged in for between 24 and 28 hours. Does that sound like a reasonable drain - appreciate it's variable but I was surprised at those readings. And at what level does a battery become unusable? I've played active for years and never worried about this, just had a regular regime of replacing batteries. I'm curious!

11 hours ago, SimonK said:

That sports hall must be fun acoustically - reminds me of my youth at cutting edge events in Littlehampton...

A big investment in the FOH system, an excellent tech team and a lot of self discipline by those with amps mean it is manageable - once they move into their new building suspect the whole learning process will start again.  

Terl said hi. Lovely to play with him this morning. 

50 minutes ago, Richard R said:

I sold Terl Bryant a bookcase for £1 on ebay many years ago!  It was no reserve value, collection only from Solihull. He picked it up in a big Saab estate and said he had come up from the South Coast, but that was OK as he was playing a gig in (I think) Wolverhampton. Obviously I asked what instrument and who with, and we chatted about music in general and Graham Kendrick in particular.  A few days later a CD of The Acoustic Gospels came in the post, with an accompanying letter.  Lovely chap. This is still a CD I play regularly,  especially around Easter.

 

 

 

I wonder if he still has the bookcase?

 

 

I'll ask him tomorrow! And yes, he is a lovely chap and every time I work with him I learn a little more about how to play with a really good drummer. 

Looking forward to tomorrow morning. I’m back at a church we moved from a couple of years ago to play at one of their last services before they merge with another local church and finally get a building to call their own - no more building everything from scratch every Sunday. I get to play with their worship pastor and great friend Stu Barbour and Terl Bryant who is just back from touring with Kendrick, Martin Barre and Barbara Dickson (not all at once!) I’ll try to hang onto their musical coattails….

Helpful, many thanks. That’s not quite the right schematic, I think that is the guitar version inc reverb. Couldn’t see any obvious bulges on first look but will try all else you suggest. I’m content it’s not a cable issue having been caught out on that before 😬. To be honest, if it can’t be sorted it will function perfectly well with a preamp pedal in front of it in that environment. Thanks again, appreciate your expertise. 

If you could stretch to Brighton I'd thoroughly recommend Badlands Guitars but appreciate a bit out of your area. 

Sorry, that would have helped! Hum.