Why Does My Guitar Have a 9V Battery in it?

[Junkie Joel]

Ok. I have a Dean Markley guitar that I bought when I was young and dumb. It's a great one piece guitar and all, but everytime I plug it into a nice expensive FX processor I get no sound. It works fine on amps, but no FX processors.

There is a 9V battery connected to the wiring that really confuses me. If anyone know what the problem is, let me know.

I have tried playing it with and without the battery and been unsuccesfull in solving the problem.

 

[Rick Stevens]

Has the guitar got any built in FX or EQ? the battery might have something to do with that, or is it active, can't speak from experience here, but I heard that some guitars are 'active' and you can plug headphones straight into that jack socket, I presume you would need some power for that. With your FX problem, have you tried it on just one processor, or a number of different ones? If you can get a signal directly from your guitar to an amp I would have thought that it would rule out the guitar. Have you checked the settings on the FX processor eg noise gate threshold too high, volume turned down, cables in the right sides, I know these are real obvious ones but I got caught out with the cables in the wrong sockets once and it took me ages to figure it out, some people just tend to overlook the obvious, especially me.

 

[Cliff]

I'm far from an expert on the subject but I would say you have an active pickup system. I have a guitar with one and when the battery starts to go dead it sounds kind of like you have a cable with a short in it. I have no idea why it would work with amps but not with effects. Get a new battery and see if that helps. Also remember to unplug your guitar when you are not playing it because as long as it is plugged in, it is draining the battery.

 

[Junkie Joel]

I don't have any built in FX or EQ, but it does make that "faulty connection" noise whent the battery starts to go dead.

My guitar works fine on regular stomp boxes and pedals, but not on big FX proccessors. It makes no sense to me. I have a Smokey Amp, the little amp made from a ciggarrette box, and no sound came out of that either.

 

[Daddy-O]

I'm going out on limb here Junkie,
Your FX unit and your Smokey, are you using
an AC to DC "plug in" adapter to power these devices? If so, sometimes the 120 volt wiring in the home/building that you are playing in may have reversed pollarity, meaning that the black hot wire is where the white neutual wire should be and vice versa.
This will cause some pollarized adapters not to work properley. Like I said. I know this is a stretch but it is possible. But before you call an electrician, try the FX unit in different rooms (most likely it will be a different circiut) or in another building. As for your guitar, you deffinatly have an active system. If the problem can't be solved, the active circuits can be bypassed.
There should be a small circuit card or a shrink wrapped device inside your guitar. This is the preamp. If you trace the red and black wires from the battery terminals, you should find the preamp. You can completely remove the preamp from your guitar and wire the pickup(s) directly to the pots and the pots to the 1/4" jack. YOU WILL LOSE all the
functions of an active system, but as long as everything is grounded you should be OK. P.S. {If you have a continuity tester, you can check your 120 wiring for pollarity by placing one lead into the neutual slot(it will be the taller slot on the outlet) and place the other lead to ground(the rounded
hole) If the tester lights or beeps the pollarity is good. You can also buy a outlet tester at a local hardware store for about $5
It's good to have one anyway.} Daddy-O :}

 

[JoeRobinson]

Hey,

What you have is an active pickup, probably the humbucker. I had a Fender Strat with an EMG active pickup and it also had a 9 volt battery.

The batteries last quite awhile, so don't worry about changing it if it has a charge. It makes a difference in how the pickup sounds, you'll get extra sustain and better attack. It's a nice feature, I'm thinking of getting an active pickup for my Les Paul Studio.

I can't remember if you can hear direct from headphones, but I don't think so. They're great pickups, enjoy!

Joe

 

[David]

Hey J. Joel ever get over to Heber Springs any? lived there for a while, pretty laid back place...seen one black person the whole time I was there, freaked me out man and all the women were ugly too...well most of them anyway, hope ya get your problem solved, I'm to damm drunk to even read what you said..Peace

 

[Junkie Joel]

I hate to burst your bubble, but I hate Arkansas. I hate the fact that I don't have enough money to move out AND get my career started at the same time. I try not to think about where I am, so please don't remind me.

About the guitar stuff. Yeah I had a feeling it had something to do with polarity. The Smokey amp uses a battery, and the FX processors I tried to use are powered by the non-walwart wires. I don't know if that's AC/DC(rock on!!).

Thanks for all the help guys.