My Schecter is messed up

[Bassplayerjoe]

My Schecter is making a weird buzzing noise, it sounds as if I have my bass overdrive petal running through my amp. I know for a fact it isn't my amp because my fender doesn't make that sound. I tried putting in a new battery, and that didn't work either. Does anyone know what could be the problem?

[David King]

Is the Schecter output much louder than the Fender, you could just be overdriving your amp's input. Turn you amp's input gain down or the bass' volume pot down until the problem goes away. If that's not it then you may have a bad ic in the bass's preamp. It could also be a bad cable or a cold solder joint inside the bass.

 

If it's a 60 Hz buzz then check the string ground wire under the bridge.

[Fred TBP]

Sometimes it helps to dial down the treble on the bass as the lower-budget preamps on active basses tend to hum at certain frequencies. I usually start out with a flat EQ setting on the bass during setups and work off the preamp and FX pedals to get my tones together. Then I use the boost knobs for on-the-fly adjustments in the middle of a song.

 

It could also be a ground loop (does it stop when you put your hands on the strings or bridge?) or a faulty input jack. Hard to see from where I'm standing, but it wouldn't hurt to eliminate those factors from your search.

[g.]

Fred the bass player: Sometimes it helps to dial down the treble on the bass as the lower-budget preamps on active basses tend to hum at certain frequencies.

Uh. Usually hum is 60 cycles (in countries that use 60-cycle AC), and multiples of that, especially prevalent up to about 180. And that derives downline from an onboard. Usually noise from an onboard comes from either poor design and/or components {in that case you need to roll off ALL frequencies;}, and bad shielding/grounding - which will exhibit as 60 cycle and overtones.

 

 

It could also be a ground loop (does it stop when you put your hands on the strings or bridge?)

Sorry. Nothing to do with a ground loop. All an operational bridge/wire connection does is allows one to use their BODY as additional grounding/earth.

[Fred TBP]

Originally posted by greenboy:

Uh. Usually hum is 60 cycles (in countries that use 60-cycle AC), and multiples of that, especially prevalent up to about 180. And that derives downline from an onboard.

So what would you call the hum that comes from artificial stage lighting that enters into a single-coil pickup? I think that's much higher than 60 cycles and AC implies a sine wave as opposed to a flat (DC) signal. OK, maybe it's not technically called "hum", but it sure sounds that way to me. I had that problem creep up on me on one of my vintage Ibanez Musicians (single-coil pickups through an active preamp).

 

Also during a recording session last summer the engineer used something in his ProTools setup to show me that my Bartolini preamp was generating noise around 2.5 KHz. He could have been technobabbling, and I'm not a rocket scientist by any means, but it looked like that was the culprit that was ruining my tracks.

 

Usually noise from an onboard comes from either poor design and/or components {in that case you need to roll off ALL frequencies;}, and bad shielding/grounding - which will exhibit as 60 cycle and overtones.

agreed, I'm not very happy with my Bartolini preamps at the moment for that reason. All my on-boards (EMG, Bart, Fender-Lace, Ibanez) are copper-foil shielded and connected to a common ground going to the output ring. And no one seems to know how to reach Mr. B to discuss the problem.

 

Sorry. Nothing to do with a ground loop. All an operational bridge/wire connection does is allows one to use their BODY as additional grounding/earth.

I was just guessing here. Again, my Sears engineering degree doesn't qualify me for real diagnostic work.

[g.]

As I said, overtones of 60 cycles, and usually 180 Hz seems prevalent. If you are hearing other things it is likely a poor s/n ratio somewhere in the signal chain (not even neccesarily the onboard pre itself though it could be feeding enough noise to another noisy component to magnify it), and not specifically hum.

 

As for the lighting example, what does that have to do with the onboard preamp? If there is no onboard preamp you would still have a problem with dimmers etc on the same AC circuit.

[g.]

As David King said, sometimes an intermittent or broken wire or a bad solder joint at the PCB can make all kinds of bad noise. But with the description mentioning a kind of distortion pedal sound, it seems more likely a component is damaged.

[Fred TBP]

Originally posted by greenboy:

As David King said, sometimes an intermittent or broken wire or a bad solder joint at the PCB can make all kinds of bad noise. But with the description mentioning a kind of distortion pedal sound, it seems more likely a component is damaged.

on this we agree.

too bad I can't ship the offending Bart to you as it's on a fretless 5 I'm quite fond of, but I'm convinced you'd get to the heart of the problem and get it fixed right.

 

SO when does the greenboy line of high-quality audio accesories hit the market? I'd like to get my order in for some handmade-onboard preamps before you license them out to an overseas manufacturer. And you might get Mr. B to think twice about ignoring customer queries. PayPal or credit card?

[g.]

too bad I can't ship the offending Bart to you as it's on a fretless 5 I'm quite fond of, but I'm convinced you'd get to the heart of the problem and get it fixed right.

It'd be the long way around the block though since I'm really not qualified beyond basic troubleshooting when it comes to active electronics ; } ...I wish I could help you and joe beyond saying take it to a qualified person.

 

 

SO when does the greenboy line of high-quality audio accesories hit the market? I'd like to get my order in for some handmade-onboard preamps before you license them out to an overseas manufacturer.

Plenty of decent choices around. And I'm hoping the new Carvin onboard will be made available in their parts section. Though I rarely use the mid sweep on my most excellent SR506 preamp (of which there seems to be several versions some of which may not be so nice), for people who do use the boosts/cuts instead of footswitchable head/preamp EQ it sure can be a route to useful tones (and more toneful distortion driving).

 

 

And you might get Mr. B to think twice about ignoring customer queries.

Yeah, I hear ya. For some years now Bartolini (and maybe his [still?]listed rep) have not interfaced much with the end user, preferring to deal with bass makers and let dealers handle anything (if they are even capable of doing more than taking orders). Pity that at least the chain of command isn't more visible and proactive...

[Bassplayerjoe]

It's all good now.

[Cthulhu Fhtagn]

Why the secret? What was the fix?