Phaedrus Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 (edited) I know it's only a cheap bass, but the excitement is still there. There was a bad mains hum when I connected it up first. Tried a few different cables and routings, but it only mysteriously stopped after reconnecting back to the initial way. But there's still a slight hum when I'm not touching the strings - do they "all do that?" I'll have to keep an eye on it over the next few days. I got really nice tones from it. It's my only passive bass, bar my Westbury Track 4, which I never use now. Tuners seem really tight, so hopefully it'll hold tuning properly. I got a Minotaur bass strap with it and a set of Warwick lock-nuts and a set of D'Addario ENR71 half-round strings. The strap is lovely soft leather and it's 11cm wide! I'll update on the noise in a few days. Mark Edited June 24, 2008 by Phaedrus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutToPlayJazz Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Hi Mark, the little hum you get when not touching the strings or any metal part of the bass is normal. Mine did it, too! I seem to remember my Geddy Lee & Squier VMJ maple doing it as well. I even get a little from my Marcus Miller Jazz. It's the cycle hum from the single pole pickups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phaedrus Posted June 25, 2008 Author Share Posted June 25, 2008 Neither of my active 5s have anywhere near this hum - in fact they are both practically silent. The hum on the VMJ only goes away when I touch the strings, not when I touch the bridge or the control knobs. It's still acceptable - it's by no means too loud to render the bass unusable. Live, no-one would know. In a studio, I'm sure fancy noise gates would eliminate it. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJA Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 sounds like the control cavity and pickup routs need screening. use aluminium or brass foil, or screening paint and connect it to ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2112 Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 They are cracking basses, I have one too! I really like the tone, but it's very bright. I was tempted to say it was the ebonol board, but alas perhaps it's not, my Hohner fretless has an ebonol board too and has a much more classic, growling fretless tone (which is what I was after, I love that Jaco sound!). For the first time in my life I have two fretless jazz basses and I love them both! Here is the Hohner jazz, I'll get a "sisters portrait" shot of the two soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Snap i got one on monday also has a bit of noise not unexpected at this price but very nice bass for the money The strings on it are roundwound and are marking the fingerboard allready Does anyone know how long (approx) this fingerboard (ebanol) can handle this before its a problem or would i be safer switching to roundwounds or half roundwounds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phaedrus Posted June 25, 2008 Author Share Posted June 25, 2008 I plan to put the D'Addario Half Rounds as soon as I get the chance. Is it strange to fit round wounds on a fretless? Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2112 Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Round wounds on a fretless is not a strange thing. Jaco did it! They may look like they are marking your board and it's true, theya re. However, you won't need any kind of work on the board for many, many years unless you play ridiculously hard, and even then.... At the end of the day, I'd never sacrifice my round wound tone for the sake of protecting from a few marks (which even flats cause, to some extent!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerley Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 My hummed quite a bit as well so I fully shielded with copper (the pickup cavitys, the routing between pickup and control cavity and the control cavity) and the hum has gone 100%, so nothing to do with the single coil pickups for me. My MIM P Bass also hummed until I shielded it. Maybe I am just easily annoyed by humming, my Warwick Corvette is the only bass I have had (only had 4!) that didn't hum. Guess they are made to higher standards! Apart from that, have to agree it is a very nice bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 Cheers chris this bass will probably never see a gig , so not too worried if it marks but its nice to know its not a problem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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