Low pickup output - help ☹️

[dodgnofski]

Hi Guys,

I have a Yamaha Fretless which is a joy to play, but unfortunately the volume / output is very low compared to my other Basses with the the amp volume at the same settings ☹️?

I 'think' I have measured the pickup output correctly with a multimeter and they are both around the 10K mark. Do I need to change the pickups, or could it be something else - Help?

 

Edited April 6, 2019 by dodgnofski

[Cuzzie]

Pick up height?

Bring it closer to the strings

[dodgnofski]

Hi,

Thank you for your response, sorry I should have said I'd tried that ☹️👍👍

[fleabag]

10k should be pretty good, when you consider that jazz basses have less than that. Maybe they're wired out of phase ?

[ikay]

1 hour ago, fleabag said:

... maybe they're wired out of phase ?

If they're out of phase you'll get a drop in output when both pickups are full on. What's the volume like with just the neck pickup or just the bridge pickup?

Having a low output doesn't necessarily indicate a problem (unless it's stupidly low). If you can adjust the input gain of your amp to compensate for the lower output and get enough volume then it's probably nothing to worry about.

What model of bass BTW?

Edited April 6, 2019 by ikay

[fleabag]

Good point

Edited April 6, 2019 by fleabag

[hooky_lowdown]

Is the yammie passive and your others active? If not, 10k is medium output for passive, might look for some hot pickups.

[dodgnofski]

Thanks Guys,

Yes, I would have thought that 10K was ample too. Just tried the 'out of phase' test and I couldn't notice any difference in volume with both pickups flat out ☹️ 

The model is a Yamaha BB404F - passive,  with two covered Jazz pickups - I had a very similar model a few years ago which had two soapbar type pickups and that was as loud as heck 🙉

Edited April 6, 2019 by dodgnofski

[hooky_lowdown]

4 minutes ago, dodgnofski said:

Thanks Guys,

Yes, I would have thought that 10K was ample too. Just tried the 'out of phase' test and I couldn't notice any difference in volume with both pickups flat out ☹️ 

The model is a Yamaha BB404F - passive,  with two covered Jazz pickups - I had a very similar model a few years ago which had two soapbar type pickups and that was as loud as heck 🙉

The soapbars would be active, and I believe the 404 is passive. This would explain the sound level difference.

[dodgnofski]

The one with the soap bar pickups was the BBNF lll which was also passive and if memory serves, looked exactly the same as the BB404F apart from the pickups 😳😳

[hooky_lowdown]

In which case it could be a loose connection.

[Grangur]

First,  have you checked the lead from the bass to the amp?

Next, clean the contacts in the Jack socket and connect the pump wires direct to the Jack socket. Does this rectify the problem? If yes, the problem is in the onboard electrics, not the pups or Jack.

The OP talks about checking the output with a multimeter. He says it measures 10k. What? 10,000 watts? I think he means he checked the resistance of the pickups, maybe?  But, where did you measure? If you didn't remove the pickups from the circuit you could have been measuring across the volume pot, with an open circuit pickup.