Bass sounds weak and dull, quieter than it used to be.

[Ross]

As the title says, my bass is sounding just really weak and dull, any amp i use it on needs to be turned up a fair bit for it to be heard.
Can anyone help me in diagnosing the problem. The bass itself is a fender '62 reissue jap i bought second hand (i don't know how old it is), has a badass bass II bridge on it.

I've tried changing cables and amps, it's definitely the bass. I've had a go at adjusting the pickup height, and changed the strings, gave it a set up.

[chris_b]

You didn't pick up putty instead of your ear plugs by any chance?

[Ross]

I don't wear earplugs at the moment, i haven't been in a band/ gigged in nearly 2 years.

[Musky]

[quote name='Ross' post='455373' date='Apr 6 2009, 01:09 PM']As the title says, my bass is sounding just really weak and dull, any amp i use it on needs to be turned up a fair bit for it to be heard.
Can anyone help me in diagnosing the problem. The bass itself is a fender '62 reissue jap i bought second hand (i don't know how old it is), has a badass bass II bridge on it.

I've tried changing cables and amps, it's definitely the bass. I've had a go at adjusting the pickup height, and changed the strings, gave it a set up.[/quote]

Have you checked the output of the pickups with a multimeter? You should be getting something like 10.5k out of them.

Otherwise check all the solder connections are good and the pots are sound (I think P's use 500k pots, just in case anyone has been tinkering - might be worth looking for signs that the pickups could have been replaced with cheaper copies while you're at it).

Probably a long shot, but you could check the cleanliness of the jack sock as well. I noticed a loss of bottom end on one of my basses and tried spraying some switch cleaner in the socket to no avail, but when I opened the thing up I discovered a hard coating of what looked suspiciously like reside from beer. A bit of scraping at the socket with a screwdriver sorted it out...

Edited April 6, 2009 by Musky

[umph]

have you tried changing the strings / battery if its active?

[umph]

i could do with some glasses i think. try using some contact cleaner on the jack / pots

[beerdragon]

[quote name='Musky' post='455503' date='Apr 6 2009, 02:40 PM']Have you checked the output of the pickups with a multimeter? You should be getting something like 10.5k out of them.

Otherwise check all the solder connections are good and the pots are sound (I think P's use 500k pots, just in case anyone has been tinkering - might be worth looking for signs that the pickups could have been replaced with cheaper copies while you're at it).

Probably a long shot, but you could check the cleanliness of the jack sock as well. I noticed a loss of bottom end on one of my basses and tried spraying some switch cleaner in the socket to no avail, but when I opened the thing up I discovered a hard coating of what looked suspiciously like reside from beer. A bit of scraping at the socket with a screwdriver sorted it out...[/quote]

Feeding your bass beer heh! not tried that.

[Ross]

That beer thing sounds possible, i have split beer on my bass before. I'll give it a look and try and get hold of a multimeter, see whats going on.

[Musky]

[quote name='Ross' post='456332' date='Apr 7 2009, 12:43 PM']That beer thing sounds possible, i have split beer on my bass before. I'll give it a look and try and get hold of a multimeter, see whats going on.[/quote]

Seems like I'm not the only one feeding their bass beer then.

[Ross]

I've had a look, the jack looks clean.
The pots however are all 250k, well they say they are. I also noticed that there was some brown stuff round the edges of a lot of the solder connections, is this normal or is it rusty maybe?
The pickups are slightly rusty on the metal parts.

I cannot get hold of a multimeter to test the pickups.

Edited April 8, 2009 by Ross