High pitched noise/whine - shielding?

[Happypants]

I have recently acquired two Fender basses: a Flea active and a Player Plus active Jazz. I'm playing them through either a Genzler Magellan 350 or Markbass 802 combo (both of which have tweeters).

 

I'm getting a high pitched whine when plugged into my amps that goes away when you touch the strings/bridge etc. I don't get this with any of my other basses, active or not. I thought at first it may be my amp but I'm getting it with both amps. I'm therefore assuming this is poor shielding on the bass, the common denominator being Fender.

 

I have tried them on a friends rig (TE Elf and 2x8 cab with no tweeter) and there is no whine at all which has me a little stumped. Could this be the tweeters on the cabs I have at home amplifying the whine?

 

Also getting some crackling when turning knobs, again nothing at all on my friends rig.

Any other thoughts before I look at re-shielding?

 

 

 

 

Edited May 9, 2022 by Happypants

[Count Bassy]

Was the test with the friend's rig in the same room as you tried yours? If not that could explain the difference, iether your mains earth is not very good, or your room is electrically noisy (dimmer switches?), (or it's something else). First thing I'd do would be to do more tests to narrow it down, and only look at your bsses' screening/earthing if that is indicated.

 

[Downunderwonder]

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/459896-buzz-be-gone/

 

Touching the string making it go away is a good clue.

[Happypants]

On 09/05/2022 at 23:12, Count Bassy said:

Was the test with the friend's rig in the same room as you tried yours? If not that could explain the difference, iether your mains earth is not very good, or your room is electrically noisy (dimmer switches?), (or it's something else). First thing I'd do would be to do more tests to narrow it down, and only look at your bsses' screening/earthing if that is indicated.

 

Good point, was in a different house. I've tried it all over my house in different rooms and on different parts of my house wiring with the same results, it's possible there is an issue with my house ground but then I wonder why it's only these two basses that I have this issue with. An issue with the ground may explain the god awful whine I had on a CMD121P even with no bass plugged in.

 

I'll take my amp to my friends place to try in the first instance.

 

 

 

[Downunderwonder]

1 hour ago, Happypants said:

no bass plugged in.

How about the cable? If no cable plugged in then there has to be something gone very wrong in either your wiring or environmental RF load. If the latter I wouldn't want to be living there!!

Edited May 11, 2022 by Downunderwonder

[Happypants]

3 minutes ago, Downunderwonder said:

How about the cable? If no cable plugged in then there has to be something gone very wrong in either your wiring or environmental RF load. If the latter I wouldn't want to be living there!!

From some googling it seems to be a common complaint for the Markbass tweeters and that model in particular, if you bypass the tweeter it goes away. I sent it back in any case and don't get that with any other amp/cab I've had in the same room.

[Downunderwonder]

35 minutes ago, Happypants said:

From some googling it seems to be a common complaint for the Markbass tweeters and that model in particular, if you bypass the tweeter it goes away. I sent it back in any case and don't get that with any other amp/cab I've had in the same room.

Was there a cable in the amp input with no bass, or not?

[Happypants]

4 minutes ago, Downunderwonder said:

Was there a cable in the amp input with no bass, or not?

Can’t remember I’m afraid, and no longer have the amp. Although I wouldn’t normally have a cable plugged in the amp with no bass attached.