When Bongo batteries die...

[adouglas]

Last night, in the middle of practice, something seemed amiss. My Bongo just lost a whole bunch of punch, clarity and output. No distortion, just no cojones.

I figured it was the batteries (the original ones were still in there...bass manufactured late last summer). Swapped 'em, and all was back to normal (I like the battery compartments that don't let you put your 9Vs in backwards).

I was expecting dead batteries to show up as distortion, not fading output.

What are others' experiences with this?

 

[barkatozz]

I had it happen recently as well.....one of the batteries was completely dead.
One thing I noticed & don't understand.......my SC/H Bongos seem to have more output than the H/H ones.

 

[Figjam]

Could be the way the pickups are voiced. The sc is a humbucking single coil. Maybe since the HHs are so powerful, they lowered the output for em or something.

Just a guess. My H sterling is hotter than my HH sr5.

 

[drgroovenstein]

Could be the way the pickups are voiced. The sc is a humbucking single coil. Maybe since the HHs are so powerful, they lowered the output for em or something.

Just a guess. My H sterling is hotter than my HH sr5.

Say what? Are you saying that the single coil is actually a humbucker? Tis not true, my bass hums like a real single coil heh.

 

[Figjam]

According to the sterling vids where he keeps saying 'and this is a humbucking single coil' .

That was on a sterling HS though. Different pickup?

 

[Steve Dude Barr]

I have a bad habit of not unplugging active basses after playing them and my Oakland is constantly eating batteries as a result...no distortion...just fading output as you experienced.

 

[Oldtoe]

As I understand it, the single coil has a hum-cancelling phantom coil.

 

[tkarter]

I understand it in this manner 9 volt batteries are supposed to be 9 they work good to 8.5 and will not let you down at that number. It isn't 9.

I prepare for my gigs and I check the batteries.

tk

 

[drgroovenstein]

As I understand it, the single coil has a hum-cancelling phantom coil.

Hrmm.. Can this be confirmed? If this is the case, then there is something up with my bass. It hums when the SC is even slightly on. Dead quiet when panned full to the H. I think I started a thread about this last week... Nobody said that the SC was hum cancelling.

 

[strummer]

Hrmm.. Can this be confirmed? If this is the case, then there is something up with my bass. It hums when the SC is even slightly on. Dead quiet when panned full to the H. I think I started a thread about this last week... Nobody said that the SC was hum cancelling.

Um, I think Sterling is talking about the Sterling bass, which has a phantom coil. That's where the humbucking single coil comes from.

 

[drgroovenstein]

Um, I think Sterling is talking about the Sterling bass, which has a phantom coil. That's where the humbucking single coil comes from.

The review in bass player, you can find it on bassplayer.com as well, says that the single coil on the Bongo has "Music Man single-coil pickup with neodynium magnets and hum-cancelling Music Man Silent Circuit." That is in reference to only the neck SC pickup. They have other verbage for the H pickup at the bridge.

 

[strummer]

The review in bass player, you can find it on bassplayer.com as well, says that the single coil on the Bongo has "Music Man single-coil pickup with neodynium magnets and hum-cancelling Music Man Silent Circuit." That is in reference to only the neck SC pickup. They have other verbage for the H pickup at the bridge.

That I did not know, but never too late to learn