- Thread starter sandro
- Start date
Jimmyb
Well-known member
Hi, it's absolutely normal.
The battery is used to power the silent circuit, they're not active pickups.
The battery is used to power the silent circuit, they're not active pickups.
yes I know they're not active pickups, but I thought the path of the signal from pickups was "one way" through the silent circuit, maybe it is in parallel with pickups, not in series.Thankyou Jimmyb for the response.
Anyone tried to play without battery?
andynpeters
Well-known member
I bought a S/H SS in 2004 & sold it in 2007....only when I sold it did I notice it had no battery. They're pretty quiet guitars anyway.
threeminutesboy
Well-known member
yes silo needs the battery only for the silent circuit without battery it's just a regular PUP configuration the silo HSS is using the silent circuit ONLY for position 5 an SSS for POS 1, 3, 5
beej
Moderator
The Silent Circuit is in series with each pickup. Basically, you wire each p'up to the Silent Circuit, rather than ground.
Thankyou Jimmyb for the response.
The battery powers its onboard op-amp ... basically it picks up hum but no string vibration, that hum is then subtracted from the pickup's signal.
When you remove the battery, the Silent Circuit doesn't function and so has no effect. Essentially it's as if you'd just wired your pickups to ground and it wasn't there.
So yes, it's absolutely normal to have it sound just fine w/o a battery. You may notice a bit more hum than usual, that's all.
John C
Well-known member
Mine have also been very quiet; my first Silo Special was a 2004 and through the rig I had at the time (a Rivera Clubster 25) it actually sounded better to my ears with the battery out. Of course at that time I was coming from playing a Fender reissue Strat so I was used to a bit of hum. The Silo Special would really only pick up hum from florescent lights or from TVs/PC monitors with picture tubes - much quieter than the Fenders even with the Silent Circuit deactivated.
With the later Silo Specials (I used to have a 2007 and currently have a 2010) I've just left the battery in; it sounds fine with my current rig (Fender Princeton RI and various pedals for gain).
With the later Silo Specials (I used to have a 2007 and currently have a 2010) I've just left the battery in; it sounds fine with my current rig (Fender Princeton RI and various pedals for gain).
paranoid70
Well-known member
When I play in my room, it's noisy as hell! Actually even humbuckers are noisy....Yeah, the wiring in my 80 year old house sucks.
kbaim
Well-known member
When i remove the battery from my AL i seem to notice a slight difference in tone. A bit brighter to my ears...
Haven't played that guitar in a couple years though. Too in love with Lukes
Haven't played that guitar in a couple years though. Too in love with Lukes
John C
Well-known member
That is a very good description. When I had that particular 2004 Silo Special, it seemed a bit "dark" to my ears through the amps I used at the time (a Fender Deluxe Reverb RI, which was quickly replaced by the Rivera Clubster) so I pulled out the battery on it. I didn't feel the need to do that with the 2007 or the 2010.
