BOD2

Have you got any of the built-in FX switched on ? Check through the menus and switch off everything just to make sure it's not one of the FX set to a wierd setting.

Well done ! I think that looks like a "collet knob" with a coloured cap. It might be tricky getting the exact knob colour - also check the size required. Maplin do them in black... [url="http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=1827"]http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=1827[/url] Or CPC Farnell do have a grey range ... [url="http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp;jsessionid=RKUIWCHYWCVGQCQLCIPJK0Q?N=411&Ntk=gensearch_003&Ntt=collet+knob&Ntx=&suggestions=false&_requestid=547410"]http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.j...equestid=547410[/url]

Don't shield the insides of the pedal at all - there's too much risk of something touching the earth foil and short circuiting, which could damage the pedal. If the hum changes as you move the cable then that suggests there might be something in the cable path that is generating the hum. Are there any power supplies near the cables ? If so try moving the power supply rather than the cable. Some power supplies can be quite "noisy".

If you can't find the exact same "pattern" of pot that will fit into the PCB it's quite acceptable to use a standard pot and solder short "leads" from the PCD to the tags on the pot. You can actually use short lengths of stiff wire for this very successfully (I once bught a commercial mod for a small guitar amp and that was the recommended technique).

On the face of it, it should be fairly easy to fix. Are you handy with a soldering iron - would you be doing this yourself ? What you'd need to do is access the solder side of the circuit board, undersolder the 3 contacts for the pot and remove it from the board. Once remove you can establish the value of the pot - you can use a meter to read the resistance between the two out tags of the pot, ignoring the middle one. Then it's a case of identifying a similar component and replacing it ("refitting is the reverse of removal", as they used to say in the Haynes car maintenance guides). Removing the pot will help identify the component properly. These should be availabe from ... [url="http://www.maplin.co.uk/searchtemplate.asp?criteria=POTENTIOMETER%20ALPHA"]http://www.maplin.co.uk/searchtemplate.asp...IOMETER%20ALPHA[/url] [url="http://cpc.farnell.com/"]http://cpc.farnell.com/[/url]

Thanks for that. Some useful information there and you seem to have answered the question on what value of capacitor and resistor to use for treble bleed on a bass.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='414685' date='Feb 19 2009, 08:09 PM']Will the output still be the same on full?[/quote] It should be - it's more how the volume varies as you turn the pot that will differ slightly according to the pot value.

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I used a Bass POD XT Pro in gigs for a couple of years with no problems. Here's what I found - Presets that sound good through headphones or a low volume might not sound so good at gig volumes. I always tried to tweak the presets at rehearsals, at proper gig volumes, to get the best results. You will need amp/speaker simulations to get the best sound as the PA should be fairly transparent. The mic placement setting isn't so important but won't do any harm. Can the PA handle the spectrum ? It depends on the PA really. I never bothered with hi pass filtering but I don't see any point in sending much below 50 Hz to a PA - it would just be a waste of energy really. Try to avoid big level changes in your presets - it causes the sound engineer no end of problems trying to balance the sound if the bass level changes every other number. I actually ended up using only 2, sometimes 3 presets throughout an entire gig - and I tried hard to ensure the levels on those presets were as close as possible by checking on a VU meter. Remember that you'll need some good monitoring to hear yourself - don't understimate the importance of this as it's no fun playing when you cannot hear yourself.

I've never seen any specific info on this mod for a bass. However, given that it's TREBLE bleed I'd be inclined just to try the standard guitar values and see what happens. The values I've used on guitar were 0.001uF and 150 ohms. I get the impression that varying the values (e.g 0.002uF and 100 ohms) will not make a huge amount of difference.

Check through some of the points in this sticky here [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=194"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=194[/url] Might be of some use.

When Fender launched the Strat in 1954 they made a big thing about "straight string pull" and how it help the tremolo work better. But the basic headstock shape (flat angle, tuners in a line) had been established since the Tele and Precision Bass were launched in 1951 so I don't think that was one of the features of the original design. Given Fender's "ethos" (ease of manufacture and repair) I would suspect that it was the ease of manufacture that decided the lack of angled headstock. I don't think they invented the "tuners in a line" idea either, or the actual headstock shape - these ideas were borrowed.

Angling the headstock back (i.e. Gibson) produces a steeper break angle on the string as it goes over the nut. This keeps the tension up in this area which prevents strings popping out of the nut and may improve sustain. BUT... this technique means that the headstock is often a separate piece of wood "scarf-jointed" onto the neck otherwise there would be a lot of wastage carving the shape from a single piece. There are no strength issues - this type of joint is very strong but it does require a higher degree of craftmanship to manufacture. Leo Fender set out to keep manufacturing costs down and manufacturing processes simple. The scarf joint would have been an issue here, so his solution was to simplify the headstock design - making neck and headstock from a single piece of wood (no back angle). The headstock was further designed to give "straight string pull" - the strings don't splay out at all after the nut which is good for tuning stability. BUT... the break angle was too shallow therefore the "string tree" was a simple engineering solution to the problem. That's my understanding of how it arose.

You might get some information from these guys [url="http://reranchstore.stores.yahoo.net/fencuscol.html"]http://reranchstore.stores.yahoo.net/fencuscol.html[/url] but they don't ship overseas (I suspect there's a genetral problem shipping aerosols by air) In the UK there is this supplier... [url="http://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/lacquer.html"]http://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/lacquer.html[/url] I think they call it "Surf Green" rather than "Seafoam Green". Remember that the colour you see on your screen is infuenced by the colour balance of the screen and the background lighting.

So that's - - red wire from tone pot to centre tag - insulated wires from pickups to each of the othetr two tags - bare wires from pickups to ground. It might be that extra tag on the switch is meant to be connected to ground (i.e. to a pot shell) and then you connect the bare wires from the pickups to that tag too. Keeps it all neater. I can't see any way you could do a "kill switch" though - sorry !

[quote name='bobbass4k' post='394138' date='Jan 28 2009, 10:41 PM']Thanks for the help, would i be wrong in assuming the extra wire from the blue pickup wire goes to ground?[/quote] There should be an extra wire from BOTH pickup leads. The extra wire is the screen cable around the pickup wire and also forms the earth. So, yes the extra (bare) wire goes to ground but check the red pickup wire too as there should be the same bare shielding wire around that too.

+1 Since it's in a Jazz bass it's more likely to be a blend pot.... [url="http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Potentiometers/Blend_Pots.html"]http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_p...Blend_Pots.html[/url] A blend pot is like two pots connected to the same single shaft but the resistance tracks on the pots work in opposite directions. So - as you turn the shaft the resistance on one pot increases while the resistance on the the other decreases. It allows you to blend the output of two pickups using a single control - all neck at one extreme, all bridge at the other, with varying degrees of both in between. From what I can see in that photo it looks like only one half of the pot is wired up, so it'll just act like an ordinary pot.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='392146' date='Jan 26 2009, 09:16 PM']Just out of curiosity what does it do to maple boards? I bought some for my old OLP guitar but couldn't use it because of that very reason.[/quote] Most maple boards are sealed with varnish and the lemon oil can't soak in and so just makes a sticky mess on the surface.

+1 The first thing to do is try a different cable. Even good cables can go faulty, so you need to rule that out first.

[quote name='~tl' post='385674' date='Jan 20 2009, 07:29 AM'][url="http://www.allparts.uk.com/inch-input-jack-switchcraft-stereo-p-2900.html?p=product"]http://www.allparts.uk.com/inch-input-jack....html?p=product[/url] You need a stereo one for the input (to allow disconnection of the battery when you unplug your guitar lead). The output jack [i]can[/i] be a [url="http://www.allparts.uk.com/inch-input-jack-switchcraft-mono-p-2894.html?p=product"]mono one[/url], however I just tend to use a stereo one for both.[/quote] +1 Although you might find them a little cheaper... [url="http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/product/SWITCHCRAFT%C3%82%C2%AB_JACK_1%7C4%27%27_STEREO_WDE12S"]http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/product/SWITCHCRA...7_STEREO_WDE12S[/url] Switchcraft jack sockets are generally thought to be the best around, are reasonably priced, and virtually indestructible. You can use stereo ones for mono applications (you just ignore one of the contacts).

Have you tried moving the amp to a different part of the room ? I'm not an expert on radio station reception but it sounds to me like there is something in the PD7 that, when connected, is creating a "tuned circuit" that is unfortunately tuned into the frequency or a radio station. The guitar, or leads, will be acting as an antenna but you need this "tuning" effect to actually pick up the radio station. It may be that you're in a relative "hotspot" for the radio signal so that it doesn't need much to tune into it. If that was the case then the chances of setting up at a gig and being in another hotspot would be pretty remote. Screening the bass might help but it's no certainty. Can you borrow another bass or guitar and try that plugged into the setup to see what happens ? The PD7 itself probably isn't faulty - it's just that when combined with the rest of your setup it creates this "tuned circuit". I would try moving things around a bit to see if that helps.

Some background information here [url="http://www.billlawrence.com/Pages/All_About_Tone.htm/Pickupology.htm"]http://www.billlawrence.com/Pages/All_Abou...Pickupology.htm[/url] [url="http://buildyourguitar.com/resources/lemme/"]http://buildyourguitar.com/resources/lemme/[/url] [url="http://goran.tangring.com/index-filer/Pickup-cabletheory.htm"]http://goran.tangring.com/index-filer/Pickup-cabletheory.htm[/url]

An RCD .... [attachment=18385:RCD.jpg] Probably costs about £10 or less but it could just save your life ?

Have you tried looking for "pearlescent white" paint ? That seems to be the "in" word when describing a subtle metallic finish. I would have thought that you 'd be able to get that type of thing from custom car paint suppliers but it's not something I've looked fo rbefore.

Don't get too hung up on power ratings. The relationship between power and volume is not straightforward. All other things being equal you need approximately 10 times the power (watts) to get 2 times the volume. Think about that for a minute. That means that, into the same speaker cab, a 1000 Watt amp is only around twice as loud as a 100 Watt amp. That makes the difference between, say 200W and 300W not so significant. What does make a difference in volume is the efficiency of the speaker cab (i.e. how good it is at turning power into volume) and the number of speakers that you have. Provided the speakers work well together, having more speakers will give you more volume.