Volume cutting with StingRay Special

[DrMatthewCross]

Hi,
I bought a brand new StingRay special a week ago. I played it at the shop for a while before buying it, and eveything was absolutely fine.
Yesterday I was reviewing a couple of songs before rehearsals on my headhpone amp, and suddenly... the bass turned off completely. I plugged the cable out and in and it worked again, so I didn't worry about that.
During rehearsals, it happened again 3-4 times and everytime I "solved" the problem doing the same thing, basically. I dindn't hear any crackling when touching both the cable and the input jack on the bass, so I guess it's the batteries? They're 2 9v Duracell, marked with "april 2017".
This is my first active bass, so I'm not an expert, but I would expect a dropping volume with low batteries, not instant cutting like this. It seems like something it's going into "standby mode" and plugging the cable out and in make the thing work again. When it starts to work again, I hear some sort of "pop" coming out of my headphones or cabinet.
Suggestions?

PS: the bass sounded great the whole night and I love it.

 

[danny-79]

New batteries first port of call.
The batteries are activated when you put the jack plug in the bass and stays activated till it’s removed (so if it’s been left plugged in while not in use it’s easy to drain battery)
Symptoms of flat batteries are cutting in and out

 

[DrMatthewCross]

Thanks, Danny.
The reason why I'm asking is because I always thaught that the usual symptoms of a low battery is lack of headroom, distortion, volume drops. This seems more like an instant cut of the signal which is solved by plugging the cable off and on again and basically send a signal to the "sleeping" circuit to wake it up.
While practicing, I'm just observing its behavior and it seems to go off/on quickly and completely randomly. In the last 10 minutes it didn't happen anymore, like it's coming back to life after some playing.

EDIT:
I don't have new batteries at the moment, I'll change them as soon as possible.
Anyway, I tried to open each battery box while the bass make sound and after a second the signal cuts out completely. When I closed it I hear the exact same pop I described and the signal comes back, so it's definitely the battery... or the battery box.
I'll keep you posted, thanks.

 

[danny-79]

The battery boxes them self, I have had several issues with them in the past. Another tip is to make sure the battery fits the box, you would think all 9v batteries would be the same size but they are not so it could be a case of a bad connection.
Anything Duracell is a good fit for them ( I personally use the ones with the blue stripe on them)

 

[DrMatthewCross]

The battery boxes them self, I have had several issues with them in the past. Another tip is to make sure the battery fits the box, you would think all 9v batteries would be the same size but they are not so it could be a case of a bad connection.
Anything Duracell is a good fit for them ( I personally use the ones with the blue stripe on them)

Both batteries are Duracell. I've taken a look inside both battery slots and honestly I don't know where and how the batteries make contact. How does that work?
I'll also try to move the bass a lot when playing to see if somehing is loose inside the battery box.

 

[Double Agent]

The battery boxes them self, I have had several issues with them in the past. Another tip is to make sure the battery fits the box, you would think all 9v batteries would be the same size but they are not so it could be a case of a bad connection.
Anything Duracell is a good fit for them ( I personally use the ones with the blue stripe on them)

I have had this exact problem on my Stingray. Thought something was wrong with the bass, but it was actually the battery (Duracell) was too short in the box to be in constant contact with the preamp. I solved this by taking a small piece of the battery packaging and using it like a shim on the back of the battery. It pushed it forward just enough to stay in touch with the contacts all the time. Haven’t had an issue since. Might be worth trying.

 

[danny-79]

Both batteries are Duracell. I've taken a look inside both battery slots and honestly I don't know where and how the batteries make contact. How does that work?
I'll also try to move the bass a lot when playing to see if somehing is loose inside the battery box.

Copper terminals at the bottom. Sometimes they weaken and that’s another possibility. Removing the box and bending them upwards a little bit is another suggestion (providing new batteries haven’t fixed the problem that is)

I have had this exact problem on my Stingray. Thought something was wrong with the bass, but it was actually the battery (Duracell) was too short in the box to be in constant contact with the preamp. I solved this by taking a small piece of the battery packaging and using it like a shim on the back of the battery. It pushed it forward just enough to stay in touch with the contacts all the time. Haven’t had an issue since. Might be worth trying.

On two of my StingRays I have completely removed the box in favour of a battery snap, a bit of foam padding and a silver plate off a Classic.
I’m really not a fan of the battery compartment. Too much to go wrong with them.
Is really that hard of a job to undo two screws once every 12months to change a battery?
A battery that’s now safely locked onto a snap with little chance of it accidentally breaking contact.

 

[DrMatthewCross]

I've replaced the batteries but the problem was still there. Touching the plug was instantly bringing the signal back, so I thought about a faulty jack socket or bad contat or soldering. I removed the metal plate and inspected the whole thing and all the solderings were ok, so I just gently bent all the metal contacts in order to make eveything tighter and put the metal plate back in its place.
It's been an hour and it's still working. I hope I solved the issue.

 

[ksandvik]

I still think the battery connection is the issue, with a similar problem I had with a Luke II I could fix it by pushing the volume knob. But the real issue is the connection in these fancy battery holders. Use Duracell and put something soft on top of the battery to make it more tight before you push the holder back into the body.

 

[DrMatthewCross]

Thanks for the suggestions.
I'll see if I permanently solved the issue with time and constant use of the bass.

 

[DrMatthewCross]

It's still working..

 

[danny-79]

It's still working..

A dodgy battery box hardly fills you with confidence though. Easy enough job to replace

 

[DrMatthewCross]

If the bass keeps working, I can't see any reason why I should replace anything. Plus, I don't think the battery box is the culprit, to be honest. Yesterday it worked fine again, it's two days now.

 

[strummer]

If the bass keeps working, I can't see any reason why I should replace anything. Plus, I don't think the battery box is the culprit, to be honest. Yesterday it worked fine again, it's two days now.

I'm thinking you should probably take it back to the store to have them check everything over, having maybe solved a problem isn't really acceptable (to me at least). I mean, on stage the bass WILL cut out and at a very bad moment, you can be more or less sure of that...

 

[DrMatthewCross]

If the problem was just a stupid loose input jack, which I easily fixed in 5 minutes, there is nothing to worry about. If it's not, the problem will shop up again for sure, and I'll see what to do.
Like I said, the bass is new, looks new, and doesn't show any kind of internal or external damage. I would take ANY instrument back to the seller/shop for all kind of big problems, and I don't think this is the case, at least for now.
Now that the bass is working, if I take it to the shop, what do you expect to hear from them?
"Hey, we tested your bass and it's fine! Nothing to worry about."
I'll contact both the shop and EBMM if the problem appears again and ask to fix the bass of course.
Thanks.

EDIT: In the meanwhile I informed the seller about the problem and he's contacting EBMM. I'm sure everything will be solved.

 

[strummer]

Fair enough, I just meant that since you haven't actually located the problem, an experienced shop tech might recognize the issue, but I guess since you alerted the seller you've done just that.

 

[DrMatthewCross]

Fair enough, I just meant that since you haven't actually located the problem, an experienced shop tech might recognize the issue, but I guess since you alerted the seller you've done just that.

I'm a humble person and I don't like to overrate my tech skills at all, but I'm pretty sure that if I struggle to locate a problem, most of the repair shops wouldn't do much more than I did until now, and probably close the case saying that "the bass works ok". Because it works, now.
Both the shop and EBMM has been alerted, let's play this thing as much as possible and see what happens!

 

[Daniel]

If the problem was just a stupid loose input jack, which I easily fixed in 5 minutes, there is nothing to worry about. If it's not, the problem will shop up again for sure, and I'll see what to do.
Like I said, the bass is new, looks new, and doesn't show any kind of internal or external damage. I would take ANY instrument back to the seller/shop for all kind of big problems, and I don't think this is the case, at least for now.
Now that the bass is working, if I take it to the shop, what do you expect to hear from them?
"Hey, we tested your bass and it's fine! Nothing to worry about."
I'll contact both the shop and EBMM if the problem appears again and ask to fix the bass of course.
Thanks.

EDIT: In the meanwhile I informed the seller about the problem and he's contacting EBMM. I'm sure everything will be solved.

Hi Matt, shoot me an email at [email protected] and I'll help you out.

 

[DrMatthewCross]

Hi Matt, shoot me an email at [email protected] and I'll help you out.

Sure.
Anyway... I've talked with the shop where I bought the bass and they offered me a free full check, so I accepted. We don't have EBMM here, so the bass will be shipped to the italian distributor (Eko music group) which will take care of everything and send it back asap. I hope to have it back soon, I love that bass and I play it every day.
I hope you can propose a better solution?