polvo

By "preamp switched out" do you mean the active/passive switch set to passive? Because I do still get a pop in that case. But no pop when I remove the battery. I'm still a bit confused about what conclusions to draw from that.... So are you suggesting that replacing the capacitor in the preamp circuit board might not solve it? What about the suggestion to add a separate capacitor in front of the output jack?

No, I still get the pop even when switched to passive. It only stops with volume at 0% or with the battery removed.

Just checking I've understood this... Would something like this be what I need? https://ebay.us/m/EnJIZt And where in the circuit would it go? Between volume and output jack? Or immediately after preamp?

Replied above - yes, reducing volume to 0% is a workaround for now. I've been putting up with it for a while but with some big gigs coming up I've now decided it's no longer "acceptable procedure"! Pics above - but I don't really know what I'm looking at and can't see anything recognisable to me as a capacitor. Sounds like that (or the pedal version posted by @chyc) might be less fiddly than replacing the capacitor inside the preamp circuitry, and a cheaper solution that replacing the entire preamp. Will check it out, thanks.

Thanks for all the replies. Here's a bit more info and some photos.... The problem does not occur when volume knob is turned to 0%, or when the battery is removed. It does still occur when the battery is plugged in but the active/passive switch is set to passive. (This means at least I have a workaround as I can just roll of the volume between songs to activate switches.... but that's not really helpful in the middle of a song!)

Also getting the same issue across different power supplies. I was previously using one that gave me a lot of buzz when gigging so I recently switched to a Cioks PSU in the hope that would solve all my noise problem. It completely cleared up the buzz, but I'm still getting the pops. Haven't tried batteries on the pedals... that's not gonna be a sustainable solution but worth testing out just to see if it makes any difference. I'll test that later today.

It's a Cort B4 Plus AS RM bass. Tested with multiple different pedals and amps, it repeats the same issue with all of them.

Sorry for a kind of cryptic subject line. I've been down a bit of a chatgpt rabbit hole trying to figure out what's going on here, but I don't know if I can trust what it's telling me. Think I need some human input on this one! Problem: I get a loud pop when turning my pedals on or off. This is only on one particular bass. Likely cause (according to chatgpt): Output coupling capacitor is likely leaky or failing, causing DC leakage and popping. BUT My bass has nothing that looks like the replacement capacitor I found online (e.g. https://ebay.us/m/62aZgK). It's a Cort B4 Plus AS (wiring schematic here: https://www.cortguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cort-b4-plus-as-basses-schematic.pdf). My questions for the wise heads of basschat: Based on the tests I've done (listed below), is the capacitor likely the problem or is chatgpt hallucinating? If not, what else could I try? If I can't see a capacitor, does that mean it's likely build into the circuit board of the active electronics module? And if so, is that something I could realistically fix myself with basic soldering skills? Tests I've done to identify the cause of the problem (summary by chatgpt): Measured DC voltage at output jack: ~1.75-2.0 V DC present with battery, 0 V without battery (confirms DC leakage). Battery voltage verified healthy. Output jack switching continuity: Functioning as expected, switches battery ground on connection. Push-pull active/passive switch continuity tested: Switch behaves correctly on both positions. Pickup resistance measured at circuit board inputs: Neck pickup ~3.25kΩ, bridge pickup ~9.2kΩ (normal ranges). Output coupling capacitor tested for DC leakage with multimeter: Resistance readings 0.3 MΩ and 0.046 MΩ, lower than ideal for a blocking capacitor, suggesting leakage. Battery connected vs disconnected test: DC leakage present only with battery connected, consistent with capacitor leakage causing DC to output.

Ah ok makes sense, thanks

Just picked up this beauty, a 1987 reissue of a JB-62. I'm partly just posting here to show off, of course, but also because it has a couple of weird features I haven't seen before and I'm curious if anyone knows what they are. First, the metal strip running from bridge pickup to bridge (that line is not painted, it's literally a piece of metal embedded in the body). And second the two small holes either side of the neck pickup. See the third photo for closeups.

Hello! I'm fixing up a second hand bass and the tone knob is not working. Can anyone help me find out whether it's a wiring issue or a faulty pot that needs replacing? I've taken some photos of the wiring, it looks correct to me but maybe I'm missing something. All the solder connections seem pretty solid. Thank you!

This is not a basschat.co.uk event so not sure if it counts (looks like Janek has decided to steal the Bass Bash name from you lot though!) But is anyone else going to this? Give me a shout if anyone is going and fancies meeting for a beer after.

I’m heading to a bass masterclass next month with Janek Gwizdala and Ian Allison. My first time going to something like this, so I’m kind of excited and curious to hear other people's experiences. If you’ve been to a masterclass before, what was it like? Did you come away with anything unexpected? Any advice on how to get the most out of the experience? Would be great to hear any tips, reflections, or stories—especially if you’ve seen JG or IA live before (they seem very different stylistically so I'm hoping that might bring up some interesting discussions).

'Weak link' might have been the wrong way to put it, but I think I just saw too many reviews raving about the MXR and got it into my head that on some level it must be objectively 'better'. Maybe also subconsciously thinking that because the Spectracomp is mini and so simple to use, it might not be as good (ironically those are actually the exact reasons I love it). This thread has reassured me that I'm not just missing some magic sauce that the MXR has. But it does look like it'll be a great tool to learn about compression parameters, with all the controls on the pedal rather than hidden in a toneprint app. So I think it'll replace the Spectracomp on my board at least temporarily while I try and get my head around compression a bit more. Might well sell it on later though, and just go back to the tiny simple beauty of the Spectracomp!

I'm totally on board with this, and I'm definitely in favour of some compression in my chain! When I A/B the spectracomp or M87 against a dry signal it's a big improvement. It's just AB-ing between the spectracomp and M87 that my ears can't hear a difference. This isn't quite what my problem is... I understand compression, and I know in theory what effect all the parameters should have on the sound. I just can't hear it! It all makes complete sense in theory, I just can't hear it in practice. Yes, I think you've hit the nail on the head here. At this point I've probably spent too much time reading up on what the parameters do and not enough time playing around with them (especially with the band). In my post I kind of dismissed the on-board controls of the M87 as irrelevant to my situation, but it turns out they might actually be the perfect way for me to learn more about compression (can't exactly start tweaking Toneprint settings for the Spectracomp in between songs!) A follow-up question on this... I've noticed that what works well at home with a practice amp doesn't always translate to a band practice. But is the same true when going from band practice to live gigs? If I spend time dialing in compression, I imagine there's a good chance that won't translate to a gig (where the entire band is using different gear, plus sound is going through a PA, plus we're in a whole different space and in reality we're probably all playing with a different energy). Do you have any tips for getting around this? (the answer is probably just play loads of gigs)

TL;DR - Should I updgrade the compressor on my gig pedalboard, even though I can't hear the difference? Should I trust my ears even though they have never undestood compression? I've been using a Spectracomp (always-on, at the start of my pedalboard), and I like the punch and consistency it gives me when playing live. But as I upgrade other bits of my gear, I'm wondering whether this is a weak link in the chain. So when I saw a good deal on an MXR M87, I picked it up to try it out... but to be honest I can't hear the difference, and definitely no huge improvement . But since compression is such a subtle, almost subconscious effect, part of me wonders if I'm better off sticking with the M87 even though I can't tell the difference. So time to ask the reddit hive mind... do you think I will be getting better results by using a 'better' rated compressor? Obviously nobody in the crowd is going to actually notice a difference, so I'm really talking about the subconscious level (which, let's be honest, is where we do most of our best work as bass players anyway!) A potentially relevant factor here is that I generally find compression super hard to hear, so I might just not be dialling it in as well as I could. I understand in theory the effect that ratio, attack, release, etc. will have on my sound... I just can't really hear it unless it's super obvious. M87 is currently set up to compress pretty hard and emphasise the attack. In the Spectracomp's favour - I do love how little space it takes up on my pedalboard. I only really use compression as a 'set it and forget it' pedal when I'm playing live, so it's not like the extra controls on the M87 really bring much value for my use case.

I've been acquiring random bass & guitar effects pedals for a while, basically buying up anything interesting that I find being sold cheap second hand. I've played around with various different combos, but I'm interested to hear what other people would do with this. So treat this like a box of lego - what are you gonna build? And what's it gonna sound like? Bonus points if you can point me to a recording of the kind of sound you're aiming for. You can also add in one or two missing pedals if you think there are others I should be adding into the mix here. Pedals include: Sansamp BDDI MXR blow torch fuzz/overdrive (NOT PICTURED) EHX bass big muff Boss ODB-3 bass overdrive MXR sub octave bass fuzz MXR blue box octave fuzz EHX octave multiplexer Boss OC-3 super octave 'Dumble' homemade overdrive* TC Electronics skysurfer reverb MXR smart gate Neewer noise gate Marshall ED1 compressor (*Seller's description of the Dumble: Based on the NE5532 chip. Can go from full distortion to light overdrive with the drive knob. Has a smooth sound that works with single coils and humbuckers. Mid-focused overdrive tone.)

Thanks everyone, good sleuthing!

Would love it if someone can tell me anything about this bass, or have a guess at who made it and when. Here's what I know... neck thru double truss rod active serial number 00134 Bonus points if you can tell me what's going on in that last photo, I've never seen electronics like that (but also don't know much about active electronics). What's the rectangular thing and is meant to look that lumpy?

This is an update on my previous post: I had a go at rewiring the bass, and it mainly works ok. But there's a problem with the volume knob - first, it doesn't actually control the volume at all, and second there's a buzzing noise when I touch it. The buzzing suggests a grounding issue but I don't know what... Can anyone help me figure out what's causing the problem? I more or less followed the wiring diagram below, except for a couple of changes to make the rewiring simpler. Do either of the changes below sound like they would cause the problems with the volume knob? 1. The original wiring had everything grounded to tone, so I left it like that (instead of unsoldering all of those ground wires and resoldering to volume) 2. The tone pot was wired completely differently and I kept it pretty much as is: volume wire goes to the left lug (instead of the middle lug, like in the diagram) left lug also connects to middle lug capacitor is on the middle lug (instead of the right lug, like in the diagram) and then grounded to the top of the pot right lug grounded to the top of the pot

Thank you to everyone above for your help! But now comes the follow-up question, where I try to understand what I've done wrong and how to fix it... EDIT: Removed the rest of this comment and moved it to a new thread here:

Thanks, but I want to give this a go myself. I make a complete hash of it then good to know I have a backup option!