99mustang Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 Hi everyone, I've read a lot of the previous threads on this kind of problem, and tried most of the various fixes. All to no avail. I have a Squire pbass, which I have modified as follows :- Badass II bridge, mirror scratch plate, Seymour Duncan SBP 3 pickups, new tone and volume pots, ( the old ones were really noisy), Rotosound Steve Harris flat wound strings. Played through a Zoom BFX-708 pedal and Peavey TKO115 amp. The bass hums unless you touch a metal part. This hum gets louder as you increase the tone control. Only the hums volume alters, not the sound of the hum. If you touch one of the magnets on the SPB 3's without touching another metal part the hum goes very loud. When you touch it there is a noticeable click. The pups are wired exactly to the diagram supplied by Seymour Duncan. The bridge wire has a small ring terminal on the end that has one of the bridge holding screws passing through it. There is no cavity shielding as such and there is no shielding on the scratch plate. Played without the zoom pedal makes no difference to the hum, and without the bass connected, the amp is quiet. There are no dimmer switches in the house, and it makes same buzz/hum in any room. I am not in a position to be able to start spending loads taking It to a luthier, don't even know of one near Blackpool. So somehow I need to fix it myself. So I hope someone can add something to this and help me out. Thanks in advance everyone. John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowieBass Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 I have a Vintage V900 bass off eBay (bought as a 'throw it in the back of the car' bass that I wouldn't worry about); it has a P/J pickup configuration. It also exhibited the same kind of hum problem. The control cavity has some shielding via conductive paint but it's clearly not as good as a decent full shielding with copper foil job. I thought I would just have to live with it and whilst tinkering with pickup heights whilst trying to balance the volume of the split P pickup at the neck to the J pickup at the bridge I screwed the P pickups down as far as they would go into the body (so that they're flat and NOT angled to match the string/neck radius) and strangely the hum has vanished! The only explanation I have for the change is that maybe the pickup holes are also shielded with conductive paint and most/all of the pickup coil is now surrounded by the body of the bass. Note that I haven't noticed any major diminution of volume by increasing the string to pickup distance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiOgon Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 (edited) Try a good cable - bass to amp 1st! I remember last year working on a bass with a new Seymour Duncan 1/4lb SPB-3 IIRC, this had nasty noises when you touch the pick up poles, I measured a <2K resistance between the poles & the wires, I believe some of the inner windings were shorting to the poles. Edited January 5, 2014 by KiOgon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99mustang Posted January 5, 2014 Author Share Posted January 5, 2014 If it was the cable, wouldn't it be noisy with my Ibanez SR600 as well, which is active btw, not passive like the squire. The Ibanez is silent when not touched. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiOgon Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 Why not follow the suggestion & try a good cable - before asking more questions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderbird Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 I had a cable like this it was fine with my G+L bass but noisy and "poppy" with my Yamaha it is weird took me a while to figure out the lead was my problem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99mustang Posted January 5, 2014 Author Share Posted January 5, 2014 blows cheeky raspberry and then txt a mate to try borrow a different lead !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99mustang Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 Sorry for delay in reply, bought a quality lead, di'addario or how ever you spell it, sadly made no difference what so ever I have take a pic of the wiring, but the dialog box in the PM reply section won't let me paste a link to the photobucket image for KiOgon and just tired to post is in this reply and don't know how to do that either. Thanks again to anyone replying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pst62 Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Click more reply options , then you should see attach file Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99mustang Posted January 27, 2014 Author Share Posted January 27, 2014 (edited) Just thought I would update you all on my saga with this Pbass. KiOgon and I have been in steady conflab via PM's and I can't thank him enough, so publicly, you're a true gent Anyways , to cut a long story short, It's looking like the problem was caused by a missing earth wire in the electric wall socket. I've now fitted a new patress box, new twin & earth, plastered up the wall and waiting for it to dry so I can wire it to the mains. All being well, my troubles should be sorted. The thing that got me most about all this, was that I was convinced it was a fault with my bass, but for KiOgon's help and patience I'd be no nearer. So thanks again buddy Edited January 27, 2014 by 99mustang Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Ouch! A missing earth connection is quite serious and could be indicative of other wiring issues within the property. I'd seriously consider having a quick check of the other sockets in the house to make sure they are wired properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99mustang Posted January 27, 2014 Author Share Posted January 27, 2014 Way ahead of you, nearly crapped myself when I found it, been through all the others and they're fine, phew!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 [quote name='99mustang' timestamp='1390861664' post='2350722'] Way ahead of you, nearly crapped myself when I found it, been through all the others and they're fine, phew!!! [/quote] Good man. I know it probably seemed obvious, but IMO it's always better to ask someone if they know how to suck eggs rather than watch them become a scorched omelette. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99mustang Posted January 31, 2014 Author Share Posted January 31, 2014 (edited) Solved & Final update, Got my room back together again this evening, hooked up my squire, full volume on the bass, full tone and quite a bit of loud on the amp Yippee, not a hint of noise from my bass, and only the slightest click if you keep tapping the bridge to earth it and I can live with that. So a lesson learned there guys, the fault is not always your gear! Once again many thanks to all who responded, especially KiOogon. Best regards, John. Edited January 31, 2014 by 99mustang Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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