Ryder35 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Hi All, New here and to Bass (I have been playing guitar for 4 years) I have just got a roadworn P bass in Fiesta Red (tho don't think the colour is relevant to this problem!) and when I plugged it into my broco 40 amp I noticed a loud humm/buzz that reduced when I touched any metal on the guitar . Lots of reading on the net leads me to believe it is my lights in the living room that are on a remote controlled dimmer switch as the noise goes away if I move to a different room. Unfortunately my wife is very ill at the moment and has a hospital bed installed in my usual practice room so I have to use the living room for daily practice and the noise is driving me nuts. I need to fix it but am wondering whether the shop should be sorting it or if it is my problem. I swapped a VM Squier Jazz for this one and the Jazz did not make the noise. My strat does humm in that room but no where near as loudly. Worried that if I go back to the shop (GAK) and complain they will plug it in there and it will be silent (It was when I tested it prior to buying) so they will deny any responsibility. What do you guys think? Should the retailer sort this, based on the fact it is noisier than the squier or my strat or should I sort it based on the fact it is only present in the one location in my house? The bass is fantastic othewrwise so I really want to keep it. Thanks for reading John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikay Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 It sounds like something on the bass itself isn't earthed properly. Loads of threads on BC about how to check and fix that. If you have a multimeter, do a quick continuity test between the bridge and the sleeve of the input jack socket (there should be an internal wire going from under the bridge to the input socket sleeve). If this indicates there is a connection (which means it's OK) then remove the scratchplate and look inside to check that the rest of the wiring is all earthed correctly. If everything is earthed correctly ignore this post and seek better advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 It 'could be' that you have an earthing issue with your PB but the fact that your Strat is exhibiting a similar behaviour kinda detracts from that a little bit. Dimmer switches can produce some really nasty hums so the first thing to do is to turn the lights off and see if the buzz disappears. I don't know how your house electrics are wired up but it's possible that the ring main you are using has something 'noisy' plugged into it - try running an extension lead from your original playing room and using that instead. I think you're going to struggle if you try and compare a Strat and a PB - they are two totally different instruments with different electrical\electronic characteristics. If you can't isolate the source of the noise and you're local to GAK then pop it back to them, explain the problem and try it again under the same conditions you did before - my experience with GAK has been very good over the years and I'm certain they won't mind helping you out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mornats Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Electric night storage heaters can also cause the pickups to hum in my experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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