MoonBassAlpha Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 Hi knowledgable ones. Has it ever been known for an old tone cap to cause distortion? As I wind the tone towards 10 (more bassy on Hofners!) a bit of distortion seems to be introduced. It only does it on the neck p\u and gets worse from about 6-10. The tone changes as it should. The pickups have been rewound this week. I listened on headphones and monitor speakers-sounded the same on both, even at low volumes. Bass is a '64 Verithin. Cheers Jules Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 Well the tone caps don't do much work, but if these are the originals then they're 47 years old - probably far older than the manufacturer expected them to last. I'd be tempted to unsolder one leg of the cap and stick another one in temporarily and see if that resolves the situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ou7shined Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 Could it be that the bassier the tone the hotter the signal? I have to be careful with my 'ray's settings depending what I'm playing it through as it can do this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonBassAlpha Posted November 27, 2011 Author Share Posted November 27, 2011 I was monitoring the levels into my Zoom HD recording thing and made sure it was well short of clipping, so "hotness" shouldnt be an issue. Being a semi-acoustic, the tone control isn't the easiest to get to, but that is a top suggestion - any idea what the value it would have been originally? I'm guessing 0.022 or 0.047uF ish. Thanks chaps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonBassAlpha Posted November 27, 2011 Author Share Posted November 27, 2011 Hi All Tried it again with amp and speaker. It's much mure noticable on headphones. I tried playing a lot harder, and the distortion got a bit worse, then suddenly.... it fixed itself and is now working correctly with no distortion. I can only assume it was someting to do with the pot wiper, and a bit more voltage going through it cleared the path. Anyway, result! (especially as the owner is collecting it this week!) Thanks for the help though. Jules Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ou7shined Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 Good stuff. Do you think it might have been an errant vibration that was being picked up which you have now "fixed" by playing harder? Playing hard to clear the path of the pot wiper sounds a little like blowing down the phone to clear the fluff at the exchange... if you're old enough to remember that one? Regardless, get some switch cleaner on your pots just in case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 Sounds more like a duff connection if playing harder cleared the problem. Either way round, you need to get to the bottom of it if the owner is due to collect and you don't want it coming back to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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