FiFoFum

Hello there, Basschatters -- Joel here, on the west coast of New England (Vermont), and truly inspired/amused/warmed/educated/humoured/delighted by what I've found in this community. Probably a bassist because low frequencies carry furthest. I'm a musical omnivore. Have played in cover bands, originalists, theatre pits -- and through it all, for decades, co-composing and recording improvised and faux classical (Euro and Hindustani), blues and jazz, rock and roll -- as one-half of "Orchestra naïF". No regular gigs these days, but haven't ruled 'em out. So long as they'd wind down well before midnight. Meanwhile, I play, and work to unlearn unhelpful habits.

Late to the party: Just on-shored (to Vermont) a Batking fretless. It's remarkably well built, especially for the price. Oddly the gut-buster (white) strings that came installed seem to have been pre-stretched...they very easily tuned up to pitch and (almost) stay there, day after day. But about the battery: my red indicator light is on when I use the tuner, and I'm now worried that the pre-amp might be cursed with that always-on "feature." @mcnach and @tauzero: any fixes you've come up with? My over-the-air troubleshooting suggests that the ring and sleeve connections might be reversed, but I thought I'd sound out the gang before attempting micro-surgery. Also, should a swap-out be needed, I see there's a pre-amp that looks identical to the one in the Batking for $14US, called "EVALM." Its input impedance is listed at a whopping 22Mohms!