Unusual earthing issue

[grayn]

I recently acquired a Warwick Streamer CV.

Great bass that sounded really good, even with the old strings,it had on it.
I put some new Elixirs on it, yesterday.
The bass came alive tonally, with a lot more brightness, as you'd expect.
Unfortunately it also brought to light an earthing issue, I'd not picked up on, with the old, dead strings.
The bass seems to randomly crackle, when playing.
I can stop it by resting my hand on the anchor of the 2-peice bridge.
It's not the lead, amp or room, as all my other basses are fine.
What makes it unusual is, that the bass has passive treble & bass controls.
If I turn the treble control from full on -10, down to 6 or 7, the problem is resolved.
And infact, I prefer the tone that way but it's still something I'd like to resolve.
I'll take it to a tech but just wondered if anyone has had a similar experience?

[prowla]

Several options: i. a loose wire, ii. a cap or pot has failed, iii. a ropey jack socket, iv. the earthing of the bridge/tailpiece isn't connected, v. (if active) a problem on the board.

I recently bought a bass and we swapped the amp lead over because it was crackling in the shop when I tested it; it turned out that the jack socket's connections weren't snug against the plug when inserted, so the contact was intermittent. Easy fix - just pushed it in a bit; it didn't need replacing.

[grayn]

Thanks.

I'm certain it's not the jack socket, it's just not that kind of effect.
The bass is passive.
It's strange how when the brightness of tone is reduced how the problem seems to disappear.
My hope is a stray wire/connection.

[grandad]

Try to make it crackle by physically wiggling everything, all the wires etc and press and wiggle and twist the pots. If you can't locate it then re-solder all connections, earths first. It sounds like the tone pot is a prime suspect though.

It sounds like an easy cheap fix.

Edited February 7, 2017 by grandad

[prowla]

With a passive, the tone pot simply taps off the live signal (of the volume pot, usually); you could easily disconnect it with a dab from a soldering iron and see if it stops the issue (in which case you've isolated it.

Looking for grey solder joints is a good one too.

The other one which has occurred to me is if the pots are (or have been) loose, so that they've turned and twisted or frayed their wires.

[grayn]

Thanks guys.

All things to get sorted.

Sounds like a small but niggly problem.

[grayn]

Things took a turn for the better.

I took the Warwick to band rehearsal. last night,

Using my gigging amp and there was no problem at all.

Must be a problem between my home amp and the Warwick, as it's OK with my other basses.

So, that's pleased me.
Loud and proud with no earthing crackle.
Cool!

[yorks5stringer]

I transferred a 30m cable from a broken reel to a new one last week. Thought I'd just check the plug whilst doing the job and the earth wire had come out of the earth pin and the screw was loose in the plug. Not sure how long it had been like that, must have been all that twirling..... Sometimes earth problems can be something very simple!

Edited February 11, 2017 by yorks5stringer

[ped]

I think it's the coating on the strings. Because you're not always earthed when you're playing due to the coating between you and the string itself. This explains the tiny crackles as you move your hand. Some basses are more susceptible to this than others for some reason, but I used to notice it at home with may Marleaux bass. Try replacing maybe just the G string and see if that works.

As you say, it's not noticeable when at volume and IIRC it stops after you've played the strings for a few hours.