Bass electronics knackered again

[DaveB]

Right folks i'm gonna need to get my only 5 string bass fixed or get a new 5 string bass as i've been called up for two bands, like buses none then 3 came along, had to turn one down due to lack of time!

Anyway the bass is a Yamaha RBX375 which some of you may have seen my rants about it. To cut a very long story short the barrell jack is knackerd yet again on it, the electrics inside have been bodged once already and are on the blink again. Basically the bass is ungigable.

So i'm thinking:

*Change the jack barrell for one of those ones that's actually screwed into the body on a plate
*Rip all the electronics and pickups out and replace with decent pickups and EQ board.

My question, is this actually worth it on a £300 bass or should I use it for firewood and look for another bass? I'll do the jack socket anyway as i'll then be ok to practice with but the electronics will need to be sorted asap. This only needs last another year till the Roscoe fund is ready so I don't know what to do

[neepheid]

[quote name='DaveB' post='1219898' date='May 4 2011, 02:35 PM']Right folks i'm gonna need to get my only 5 string bass fixed or get a new 5 string bass as i've been called up for two bands, like buses none then 3 came along, had to turn one down due to lack of time!

Anyway the bass is a Yamaha RBX375 which some of you may have seen my rants about it. To cut a very long story short the barrell jack is knackerd yet again on it, the electrics inside have been bodged once already and are on the blink again. Basically the bass is ungigable.

So i'm thinking:

*Change the jack barrell for one of those ones that's actually screwed into the body on a plate
*Rip all the electronics and pickups out and replace with decent pickups and EQ board.

My question, is this actually worth it on a £300 bass or should I use it for firewood and look for another bass? I'll do the jack socket anyway as i'll then be ok to practice with but the electronics will need to be sorted asap. This only needs last another year till the Roscoe fund is ready so I don't know what to do [/quote]

Worth is a relative, personal thing. I put the best part of £200 worth of EMG stuff in an Epiphone Les Paul Standard I picked up for about £170 if memory serves. Am I mad? Maybe, but it turned out to be one of my favourite basses.

If you like the neck and the basic sound of the pickups then it's probably worth trying to fix it up. The most cost effective thing to do in the pursuit of reliability is probably to rip the EQ out and rewire it passive VVTT. Next up is replacing the EQ. The pickups are more than likely working fine and it would probably push the cost way beyond what is sensible (although see above) to replace them, not to mention the ballache of trying to find ones which fit in those particular holes.

If you're firewooding it then I'll give it a home

[DaveB]

Cheers the reply buddy, Im happy with the feel of the instrument. The pickups have a horrible buzzing sometimes and don't really sound all that, they are ok but I think I have some sort of phasing issue (possibly) that comes and goes, I can't describe it but I sometimes get an odd chorusy echoy sound then it returns to normal.
Don't worry I wouldn't actually set fire to it all lol, i'm just pissed off with it thats all. When I've been looking at pickup sets I can see it's gonna be about £250 for everything, I don't even know where to start with different brands. In my guitars I went through this nightmare before finding Lace pickups.

[icastle]

Right, first thing to do is take a deep breath because it might not be as bad as you think.
Those barrel sockets aren't the best thing in the world, but they are used quite succesfully on hundreds of production guitars.
Replacing it with a skeleton type jack is going to mean hacking the woodwork of the bass about.

If the socket is damaged then there is every chance that it will render the rest of your electrics unreliable or dead.

The brand escapes me right now (someone will jump in here with the name I'm sure), but there are reported issues with a brand of cable that has a misshapen tip - it bends the socket contacts further back than they were intended to go - that could be a reason for your repeated failures.

I reckon that replacing that barrel socket for a new one will probably fix the electrics problems and be the quickest, cheapest and easiest fix - especially for a bass that you're only going to sell on in a years time when you get your Roscoe .

[DaveB]

Ok deep breath taken, i'm calmer now
The problem I can see with the jack socket is it's cracked the finish/wood and won't actually stay tight anymore, any recommendations on a style I can use instead? I'll take a picture so you can see the problem

[DaveB]

OK here we can see the outside crack, sorry best photo I can get as I don't have my macro lens to hand. I was thinking of trying to find or make a metal plate that the jack socket is suspended on or when I change the electrics make one of the tone pots a stackable and then using one of those holes for a jack input

[icastle]

[quote name='DaveB' post='1219982' date='May 4 2011, 03:46 PM']OK here we can see the outside crack, sorry best photo I can get as I don't have my macro lens to hand. I was thinking of trying to find or make a metal plate that the jack socket is suspended on or when I change the electrics make one of the tone pots a stackable and then using one of those holes for a jack input
[/quote]

That doesn't look like it should stop the socket from tightening up.

One thing that's just occured to me is that some of the wear in that area is going to be because the socket is rigid and takes the full brunt of any stress caused by the lead pulling.
How about getting a tap washer and sliding that onto the socket before tightening up the nut?
As long as you have a metal washer between the tap washer and the nut you should be able to get that nice and tight but still leave a little 'play' to prevent it from loosening?

[fonzoooroo]

If the socket itself is dodgy, replace it, and on the new one, pop a bit of threadlock on the retaining nuts. The tap washer isn't a bad idea. You could also run some thin superglue into the crack from the unpainted side. it'll soak in and help strengthen.
The alternative is to go for an "open" type socket (stereo if you're staying active!) on one of this type of jack plate:
[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/OVAL-GUITAR-JACK-PLATE-SOCKET-GOLD-BLACK-CHROME-/190406419586"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/OVAL-GUITAR-JACK-PLA...E-/190406419586[/url]
You'll need to have a good measure up first, and see how it'll sit before you start... The width of the "flat" face of the edge is often too thin for that type of plate on instruments that had a barrel as standard. The hole in the body'll need opening up quite a bit to get an open socket in too. So consider what drilling tools you have access to. Using a "flat bit" will result in disaster unless you fill the hole 1st. (piece of dowel could be the easiest.) The socket is a more reliable design though.

Don't mind me saying this, but you do use rigt angle jack plugs? Yes? Failure of barrel sockets is often down to straight jacks and their huge leverage being used.

[mart]

[quote name='fonzoooroo' post='1221911' date='May 6 2011, 08:29 AM']... Failure of barrel sockets is often down to straight jacks and their huge leverage being used.[/quote]

That sounds intriguing. Can you explain this leverage issue a bit more? Most of my basses have barrel sockets, so I'm very interested in anything that makes them work better.

[neepheid]

Another thing I heard they don't like is jack plugs with the sprung loaded collar on them like these:



Could be BS, but that's what I seem to remember hearing, and I certainly try to avoid using such plugs in my G&L.

[DaveB]

Cheers for the replies guys, I hadn't thought about leads before but I am very carefull (feed them through strap with plenty of slack on them so it shouldn't be that. Couldn't hurt for me to change to using angled cables just to be sure though, good tip on the sprung collars, don't think i'll risk buying one.
fonzoooroo think I will order one of those up!

[DaveB]

Oh yeah and pickups and EQ. Whats good whats not? What do I look for?

[geoffbyrne]

I bought a Yammy RBX375 a few years ago & the barrel jack socket failed within a few months. I changed it for a good brand name & had no more trouble with it.


I read somewhere on the web that a guy had found that the pickups had been wired out of phase in the factory. I checked this out (by swapping round one of the leads) and found this to be true of mine also - immediate gain in bottom end in all positions where pups were paired.

Apart from that, I liked the pickups very much - good & broad with both bottom end and plenty of gritty low-mids.

The only reason I parted with it was the wide neck which didn't suit my smallish hand.

I play a Yammy BB415 now, so still like Yamaha.

G.

[Bloodaxe]

[quote name='neepheid' post='1221996' date='May 6 2011, 10:13 AM']Another thing I heard they don't like is jack plugs with the sprung loaded collar on them like these:



Could be BS, but that's what I seem to remember hearing, and I certainly try to avoid using such plugs in my G&L.[/quote]
Not BS, they're pure evil & totally unnecessary.

Way back when the very first SE Bash happened in Guildford, I took my Ashdown Superfly & Epi UL 110. One of the other 'bashers' had a gorgeous trans-blue Spector 5-string with a barrel jack into which he'd religiously plugged a Planet Waves cable with the collars as per the photo. I handed him my usual lead (10' of Van Damme cable with a Neutrik on each end) & it rattled around in the barrel jack making all sorts of worrying pops & crackles - I think the phrase 'p***k in a bucket' got used.

A swap was made & I was surprised (& not a little alarmed) at how much force was needed to persuade the PW jack into the Ashdown - it was a two-handed job, one on the back of the amp & the other pushing like buggery trying to get the damn thing in.

I used the Superfly as the House Amp at a local jam night a year or two back, & someone used a cable with oversized plugs. Result? at the end of their set, the chrome bezel on the amp came out with the jack & wouldn't screw back in as it had mangled the thread in the socket's plastic body.

Subsequent inspection revealed that Ashdown had come up with a stupendously daft means of attaching the socket to the front panel which resulted in it being cross-threaded from day 1, so there was a sporting chance of it failing sooner or later, but the oversized plugs killed it in two hits.

Never again. PW & Monster cables are banned from my rig & basses.

Pete.

[wrinkleygit]

Best barrel sockets can be found in Maplins, I think current price is £2.15, their part no N39GB, they are made by Neutrik, my advice is to use a rubber "O" ring behind the head of the socket, tighten nut with a 15mm spanner but don't go mad or you may crack the wood around the socket, works for me, mike b.

[fonzoooroo]

[quote name='mart' post='1221972' date='May 6 2011, 09:58 AM']That sounds intriguing. Can you explain this leverage issue a bit more? Most of my basses have barrel sockets, so I'm very interested in anything that makes them work better.[/quote]
Same with most sockets to be honest... The only types you should really be using a straight jack plug with are 1: strat style socket plates. 2: recessed sockets where you can't use a right angle plug.

The issue is simply how far the plug sticks out of the socket before the cable emerges. Pull on the cable, and you're straining the socket. With a right angle plug, the height of the plug is reduced, hence the leverage is reduced. That's all.

[mart]

Ok, that makes sense. Ta!

Now I'll stop using right-angled jacks in my strat.