Spector Euro 4 - problems. Help needed

[chuck_stones]

Good afternoon all,

I've recently picked up a second hand Spector Euro 4 circa 2003 and I've got some problems which I'm hoping someone might be able to help with.

Firstly, I've got a buzzing or rattling noise which appears to be coming from the neck, which is particularly pronounced when I'm tuning the G string using harmonics (i.e. 5th and 7th frets on the D and G strings respectively). The rattling becomes more pronounced the harder I pluck the string.

Secondly, if I pop the open G string, seemingly only when I have the treble boosted, I get a really weird noise which sounds like two discordant and distorted notes playing together.

I've tried to resolve the issue by the following;
- replacing the battery in case it was running low.
- tweaking the 'dual-action' truss rod to ensure that it wasn't resting in the 'neutral' position.
- lowering the pickups to see whether they were being over driven.
- holding the strings past the nut (near the tuners) to eliminate them being the source of the rattle.
- ensured that all screws were tight and all other movable parts were fastened securely (i.e. the locking bridge saddles and making sure the strap locks were tight).

I'm at a loss as to what else to try. Has anyone else had similar issues, or experienced anything like this before, and come to find a solution?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!

Edited April 20, 2011 by chuck_stones

[MarkBassChat]

Chuck,

With most problems that you have I would go to a luthier. But regarding the sound of G string (especially with treble boosted), I think that the gain of the preamp is set to high and you just overdrive the preamp. Can you check whether there is a little trimmer in the preamp, and if there is one, just turn the gain lower. If not, decrease the gain of the amp (and increase volume).

Mark

[chuck_stones]

[quote name='MarkBassChat' post='1206372' date='Apr 20 2011, 08:25 PM']Chuck,

With most problems that you have I would go to a luthier. But regarding the sound of G string (especially with treble boosted), I think that the gain of the preamp is set to high and you just overdrive the preamp. Can you check whether there is a little trimmer in the preamp, and if there is one, just turn the gain lower. If not, decrease the gain of the amp (and increase volume).

Mark[/quote]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the comments. Unfortunately, the pre-amp is one of the earlier Tone Pump models which doesn't have the gain trim pot, so I can't adjust the gain there. I'm not 100% convinced that it's overdriving the preamp as surely it would happen with the other strings too, especially the bottom strings? The same issue doesn't present itself on the other strings, and when I lowered the pickups, the sound remained -I'd have thought lowering the pickups would reduce the signal enough to eliminate the noise, if it was a gain issue?

Regarding the rattling truss rod, I tightened it a little last night, and this morning it seems to have mostly eliminated the rattling, so that's good news.

If I can only figure out the weird noise on the G string, I'll be a happy bunny!