vmaxblues Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 Hi All, My fave bass is my Grendel active bass, problem is it is eating batteries at an alarming rate, or is it? about 10-12 hours play time will destroy a 9v battery. If I use the tone boost micro switch it goes even faster. How long should it last? is there anything I can do? Cheers Stuart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowieBass Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 (edited) Most people will tell you that active basses should run for pretty much hundreds of hours on a single battery (lasting for at least 6 months if played for an hour or so a day) so it's likely there's a fault in your wiring - it could be a short in the battery connector. I presume you're also not leaving a cable plugged into the jack socket (which also functions as the active circuitry on/off switch). Edited April 7, 2015 by HowieBass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alyctes Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 What HowieBass said, at least in my limited experience. There's a short somewhere (and leaving the lead in would count as a short in my book ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vmaxblues Posted April 8, 2015 Author Share Posted April 8, 2015 No never leave lead in, when not playing always pull lead. I thought I was right in thinking it should last longer, will check wiring. Cheers Guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UglyDog Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 First thing I'd check is the jack socket. An active bass I had many moons ago developed a fault unbeknown to me, whereby the two rings became shorted together -- it still worked and played ok, as the tip was unaffected, but it meant that the circuit remained live even when the lead was pulled. Consequently it ate batteries, much like yours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 What battery do you use ? My dad bought some totally useless ones recently from wilkinsons, they wouldn't even take one photo with his camera. A Duracell lasts maybe 3 months in mine, it's got a John East pre, I use it maybe 3 hours a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWalker Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 I've had my Grendel for 18 years and swapped battery twice. Ok, so I'm not playing it regularly anymore, but even when I was, it lasted for years, not hours. There's definitely something wrong with your wiring, I think. It's Bartolini stuff, so you could email Michael Tobias and ask, he's used these units in all of his basses over the years. If there is something with the unit he might be able to give you a hint in how to find out. It's an awesome bass, BTW. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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