Bought my first Westone (Thunder 1A) and have a question

1 )The battery cavity has 2 batteries and while it took a while to get a good connection the active controls (at least for the time being) seem to work, Why are 2 batteries needed?

2) This guitar (which I am loving by the way) has crackly switches - mainly because I dont think its been used for a time. How do I best clean the switches?

3) How do most people use the active/passive switch - is it mainly used to boost volume/tone for solos or do people just leace it switched on one or the other?

4) Does the active need to be switched off to prevent the batteries running down or will they just last for ages "on"like a smoke alarm.

5) How do people find the action on Thunders - this seems a little high and Imay teaked the truss rod given its probably not used to my 11s

Sorry these are naive questions but I've never owned a westone or a guiatar with active pickups before

Thanks

Check this link for the wiring diagrams for the active Thunders:
http://www.westone.info/wiring/thunderlead/index.html

Shunter wrote:1 )The battery cavity has 2 batteries and while it took a while to get a good connection the active controls (at least for the time being) seem to work, Why are 2 batteries needed?

That's what makes the "Thunder" dontchaknow!

2) This guitar (which I am loving by the way) has crackly switches - mainly because I dont think its been used for a time. How do I best clean the switches?

Contact cleaner, in liberal amounts. Apply, let sit a minute, then work the bejeezus out of the pots and switches. Rinse. Repeat.

3) How do most people use the active/passive switch - is it mainly used to boost volume/tone for solos...

Yup!

4) Does the active need to be switched off to prevent the batteries running down or will they just last for ages "on"like a smoke alarm.

Turn it off if not needed! Also a good idea to remove the cord before placing the guitar in a stand, which just good practice anyway.

5) How do people find the action on Thunders...

Mine is like butta! Yours should be fine if you make the appropriate saddle and/or neck adjustments.

Sorry these are naive questions but I've never owned a westone or a guiatar with active pickups before

No such thing as a naive or stupid question. We've all been there. Ask away!

Thanks - that very helpful.Just one more question on the 2 battery thing. When I got it it had one battery in it which was obviously very old abd flat. Doesit need 2 batteries.? that might sound daft but I had to wiggle it around a lot to get a connection so its hard to tell.

thanks

Yes it needs 2 batteries.
When not using take out the lead so it doesnt set any smoke alarms off.

My VA900 - which also has 2 batteries - uses one for the pre-amp, or boost circuit, and one to run the little red LED which indicates on/off for the boost circuit. Odd.

I never used my on board pre-amp for soloing as I prefer to use outboard gear for that kind of a boost, via an overdrive or an EQ pedal etc. hence I never put the batteries in from one year to the next!! If you leave the lead in the guitar, you will flatten those 2 9Vers deader than dodos in very short order; always remove the lead!!

No such thing as a naive question, my friend; just a thirst for knowledge... welcome here!!

I run a test on my Thunder 1A and the two batteries are there because the circuit definitely runs on 18v.

Um, what he said.

umpdv5000 wrote:I run a test on my Thunder 1A and the two batteries are there because the circuit definitely runs on 18v.

There's 18 volts there only because there are two 9 volt batteries in series, the circuit does not require 18 volts

The only active component in the circuit (The op amp) will run on anything between 3 and 30 volts on a single rail supply - though in this circuit since there's a diode in the positive supply line which will have about a 1 volt drop across it the minimum supply voltage is effectively 4 volts. It would run perfectly well on one battery, but for a much shorter time. Instead of claiming that it runs for 200 hours between battery changes they would have had to use a much smaller / less impressive figure. Two batteries in series will power the circuit substantially longer than double the time that a single battery would.

With one battery, nominal 9 volts, once the battery voltage has dropped to 4 volts the circuit stops working. Voltage drop - 5 volts.

With two batteries in series, nominal 18 volts, the voltage needs to drop 14 volts for the circuit to stop working, nearly three times more than with a single battery. Also each battery is only supplying half the current the circuit needs, a single battery would supply it all, though at the small current levels needed here that won't make all that much difference.

I'm learning a lot here. thanks

Ok one question about cleaning hardwear. thebrass is tarnished - is there any truth that leaving the bridge to soak in coke will clean it up? Seems a bit unlikely and Idont fancy rubbbing every individualpart with Brasso for 1/2 hour

Thanks

Brillo pads or wire wool then brasso. You could try coke but I doubt it would do it and youre not going to get much change from 1/2 hour.