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Active basses and computers


Tom Mc1

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My son called and had a question about his bass not working anymore. It had EMG active pickups and takes a 9v battery to work. Although he has an amp, he also plugs it directly into his computer. He told me that he left it plugged into the USB port for 2 weeks. The battery was dead and even with a new battery, the bass doesn't work. I haven't looked at the bass yet. Can plugging an active guitar directly into a computer cause damage over time?

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No the computer shouldn't have any direct connection to the battery. Its likely the battery is dead from leaving the cable plugged in. The guitar cable jack is switched and when you have a cord plugged in it turns the active pickups on. The battery has to be a new alkaline too. A cheap carbon battery will get sucked dry in no time.

 

The only power you'd get is either using a USB cable or using the mic input to a computer sound card which has 5V phantom. Neither of those should be supplied to the pickup signal or the battery. The ground to the battery is common to the jack shield but the positive lead to the battery is completely isolated.

 

I can say the active EMG's tend to have a flaky pickup connection. I know a bass player who had them and he told me he was always getting intermittent connections with the plug that connects to the pickup. In his case he has to change the pickups a few times.

 

I took a look at it and was able to get his dead pickup working on his Steinberger. I wasn't sure weather it was the vibrations from his bass strings or something else that was causing it, but I tightened the connectors and the problem went away.

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Thanks WRGKMC. This is a used guitar that he picked up somewhere and from what he described, it had been modded. The cutting out of the pickups is probably the reason the last owner got rid of it. He's only used it a couple of times. Anyway, thanks for the advice. It might make me thing twice about putting active pickups in any of my guitars.

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Yea the EMG's have a three pin connector that plugs into the cable harness. The pickups are sealed in epoxy which prevents counterfeiting but it also prevents any repairs being done to the pickup itself. If the pins sticking out of the pickup get twisted, it can break connections inside the epoxy and the pickup is toast. And like I said, I goy my buddies working through a combination of tightening the connector and tapping on the pickup. I have no idea ho long that lasted beyond the one session we played together.

 

I do have a set of non active Select EMG's in my Steinberger guitar and bought an EMG Soap Bar type pickup for a bass build I did. Both have worked flawlessly for may years. Other then doing some repairs and installs on the active, I haven't actually owned a set. I find I can get just as good results if not much better just using an active Preamp/EQ using passive pickups. Artec makes some excellent active electronics with current drain so low, the batteries last for years. I have one guitar where I left the cord connected for a week and it had no drop in level after discovering I had left it plugged in.

 

I can say I'm not a huge fan of on board active electronics. I use them to improve specific performance issues. My electric sitar for example just didn't sound so hot with its lipstick pickups alone. I put a 3 band EQ in it and it did wondrous things to get those buzz notes to come through the amp playing live and for recording purposes.

 

In a strat I put in a 5 way distortion circuit. This allows me to get a driven tone from an amp without any pedals. In a third I put an active midrange expander circuit which boosts or scoops the midrange depending on which way the knob is turned. That one made the TX special pickups I wasn't real happy with come to life.

 

Everything else I do with pedals and all my other guitars are strictly passive.

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