Active circuit on a Westone Thunder II

[W1_Pro]

Morning all,
I wonder if anyone can help me with this. I have a (very nice) Westone Thunder II.
It has three pots, and three micro switches, and of course the pickup selector switch.
From closest to the headstock the pots are volume, tone, and a centre indented knob that does not seem to do anything; this I assume is the active tone boost.
I'm not really sure what any of the micro switches do, but the bottom one (closest to the bridge) appears to turn the guitar on and off, but again, this may be to do with the active circuit not working.
I've had a look in the back of the bass. The batteries are new, and they seem to be sending 9v everywhere they should.
Anyone got any troubleshooting ideas or suggestions?
Thanks in advance.
Stuart

[Andyjr1515]

Hi Stuart

The attached has a rundown of the versions and the control options http://www.westoneguitars.net/basses/thunder/

From what I can gather, the knobs are Master Vol; Passive Tone; Active Tone and your toggle switches are In phase/Out of phase; Series humbucker/Parallel Humbucker; Active on/off.

Based on that, it sounds like your guess is right, that the active circuit isn't working for some reason, so you have the responses from the passive controls but not from the active.

I'm not familiar with Westone active circuits so I'm afraid that's where my input probably fizzles out!

Edited August 19, 2016 by Andyjr1515

[W1_Pro]

Thanks Andy.
Yes, that would make sense.
Could be time for a new active circuit!

[HowieBass]

I've got the Spectrum LX which has the same EQ options (except on mine the Volume is a push pull pot for In Phase/Out of Phase). The Active Tone should do nothing until you engage it using the Active On/Off toggle switch, at which point clockwise rotation from centre position should boost treble (which seems to offer a fixed boost as you sweep through a range of frequencies) and counter-clockwise rotation from centre position should boost bass (again it sounds like this is across a range of frequencies). The centre position of the active tone is not flat, there's definitely a change in character as soon as you engage the active tone. On mine, the other mini toggle switch is a coil tap which offers a sound closer to a single coil instead of a humbucker, though my bass is a P/J pickup configuration. My bass has an 18v circuit and if the Thunder II is the same you need to check that both batteries are supplying power correctly before consigning the active EQ to the dustbin (eg. there could be a problem with one of the battery clips).

EDIT: Here's a circuit diagram for the electronics:

http://www.westone.info/wiring/thunder2abass/index.html

Edited August 20, 2016 by HowieBass

[W1_Pro]

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1471676153' post='3114894']
I've got the Spectrum LX which has the same EQ options (except on mine the Volume is a push pull pot for In Phase/Out of Phase). The Active Tone should do nothing until you engage it using the Active On/Off toggle switch, at which point clockwise rotation from centre position should boost treble (which seems to offer a fixed boost as you sweep through a range of frequencies) and counter-clockwise rotation from centre position should boost bass (again it sounds like this is across a range of frequencies). The centre position of the active tone is not flat, there's definitely a change in character as soon as you engage the active tone. On mine, the other mini toggle switch is a coil tap which offers a sound closer to a single coil instead of a humbucker, though my bass is a P/J pickup configuration. My bass has an 18v circuit and if the Thunder II is the same you need to check that both batteries are supplying power correctly before consigning the active EQ to the dustbin (eg. there could be a problem with one of the battery clips).

EDIT: Here's a circuit diagram for the electronics:

[url="http://www.westone.info/wiring/thunder2abass/index.html"]http://www.westone.i...bass/index.html[/url]
[/quote]Many thanks for posting. Righto then. Multimeter on, hyperdrive engaged....