Overwater Contemporary Preamp

[brinkledink]

Hi all,

I was wondering if someone might be able to help me out. I recently bought a second hand Overwater Contemporary bass with an electrical fault (which I knew about before hand). I have some experience dealing with guitar electronics but not preamps.

When I play through an amp, I get a hugely distorted but really quiet sound that comes and goes (as in fading, no crackling). Initially I assumed it was the battery, but there was no change after I put a fresh battery in.

I took the backplate off and got the electronics out, and all connections/soldering seem solid.

After seeing a few posts on this forum I tried a multimeter at several points. Keeping one end on the jack ground and measuring around various components I get ~9V everywhere I tried. However, when I plug a lead in, where I previously saw 9V I get 0V. Due to this I have ordered a new jack and it is on the way.

Am I on the right track, or could it be something else? Is there anything else I should test in the meantime?

Many thanks in advance

[MoonBassAlpha]

You could take the battery off and check continuity between the positive terminal and ground when the jack is plugged in. That would tell you if it's the socket that's grounding the battery.