Active EMG Bass p/u's

[ZoSo58LP]

well, i got them in and working finally..but my q now is, how often should i probably change the battery? its a real bitch to do seeing as if i gotta take off the control cavity and all the wires are a bitch to stuff back in there..but whats the usual life span? and does it matter if i unplug the chord from the bass or anything?

 

[ez_willis]

Short answer, up to 600 or 700 hundred hours, and thats hours that a chord is plugged into the jack. Long answer(from the EMG ) website-

How long does the battery last?
All EMG pickups and EQ systems are designed for extremely low current drain. In addition, the pickup jack included with all models has a switch that disconnects the battery when the guitar is not plugged in. To maximize battery life, you should always unplug your guitar when it's not in use.
The Specs Page includes current requirements and estimated battery life for each model. Generally, each pickup requires about 80 microamps (uA), except for the Vintage Series pickups which require 220 uA each. EQ circuit requirements vary widely but are higher than pickups.
For your reference, a standard 9 volt alkaline battery provides 580 milliAmpHours (mAh) of power. That means that it will provide 580 milliAmps for 1 hour or 1 milliamp for 580 hours. There are 1000 uA per mA. You can figure the approximate battery life of any setup by adding up the individual power requirements, then dividing 580,000 by this total. Here's an example:
1 - EMG-81 = 80 uA
2 - EMG-SV = 220 uA*2 = 440 uA
1 - EXG = 410 uA
--------
Total required = 930 uA

Total life = 580,000 uAh/
930 uA = 623 hours
If you left your guitar plugged in day and night, the battery should still last a month. Under normal playing conditions, you would probably be looking at changing the battery twice a year. Of course, you should treat these numbers conservatively and not try to drain every last uA out!

 

[ZoSo58LP]

oh man thanks..butthis bass is starting to piss me off.....now, my P-pickups sound distorted for some damn reason, whereas my J is fine...when theyre both on, you only hear the distortion a bit, and for some reason the E string sounds lower than the rest...but why the hell are my P's distorted now!? its pretty bad..when i run something metal over the pickup, you hear the distorted noise come out a bit too.....god damnit if its the wiring again im gona flip..any ideas?

 

[ez_willis]

I'm not sure if this is a continuation of another thread or what, but can you you start from the beginning? For example, I have a *insert bass model* that I *insert modifications*.....

I'm kinda lost.

 

[ZoSo58LP]

lol sorry there was anotehr topic but nobody replied...i have a 2001 schecter model-t, and i put in EMG active pickups...so yeah i had to squeeze the battery in there etc...like they seemed fine yesterday, but i played today and realized that my P-pickups are like fuzzy distorted a bit and its annoying, sounds as if the speaker is cracklinmg, but its only those pickups..

 

[NL5]

I have EMG's in my bass that I put in about '94. I wired in battery holders, and they are not a big deal to change. i also put two 9v's in series in there (per the instructions - 1-3) The batteries last a long time if you leave it unplugged - in fact, my bass sat for more than 3 years, and the batteries were still good. When I was heavily using the bass, I changed them out about once a year w/o a problem.