The Short Scale Bass Appreciation Society!

[BabyBlueSound]

Here's some comparison, the first recording is the Sterling, the 2nd is the Ibanez. The Ibanez is clearly much louder (-22dB on Sterling VS -15dB on Ibanez) but there's absolutely no distortion.

 

[BabyBlueSound]

7 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Maybe it is a pickup issue then if it has changed, or something between the pickup and output. Does the tone affect it, ie, has the capacitor gone funny somehow. For me the first thing would be to disconnect the pickup hot output and connect it straight to a jack plug to see what that sounded like.

 

The tone is something I have checked briefly but not in detail, did not hear any weirdness going on over there... I think I'll talk to my tech about it at this point and get this checked, hoping it's just some loose capacitor or the like (I checked that too the best I could, everything seems soldered properly, nothing seems loose)...  Thanks for all the assistance, Everyone!

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, BabyBlueSound said:

 

The tone is something I have checked briefly but not in detail, did not hear any weirdness going on over there... I think I'll talk to my tech about it at this point and get this checked, hoping it's just some loose capacitor or the like (I checked that too the best I could, everything seems soldered properly, nothing seems loose)...  Thanks for all the assistance, Everyone!

IIRC there is a push/push switch on the volume control, on the SS ‘Ray, that engages a volume cut cap, it could be that there is something amiss with this.

[BabyBlueSound]

5 minutes ago, ezbass said:

IIRC there is a push/push switch on the volume control, on the SS ‘Ray, that engages a volume cut cap, it could be that there is something amiss with this.

 

Yep there's a switch, and it might be problematic, but nothing indicates that directly. It should not be very worn, I barely used it, sounds and feels right.

 

If I push it, it does the same kind of distortion, just on a different volume  

[MJJS]

Perhaps try reviewing the wiring to see if there are any loose or dry joints. High impedance points can cause sound issues & distortions.

[BabyBlueSound]

I have a very esoteric theory, hope someone can clarify this  

 

I got a new ABY switch recently, it's passive, and there's definitely some slight signal bleeding inbetween the channels.

Recently I hooked up the Sterling through this ABY to both my amp, and my audio device. But I noticed that even if I use A for Amp and B for the device, and switch it to purely A, there's still a very faint, quiet signal being recorded by the interface on B, so some A bleeds over to B and vice versa.

 

If that's the case, I suppose the very slight bleeding goes all directions, so maybe my pickup was getting some input signal it did not expect?

I really don't think this should destroy a pickup by any means, but this is literally the only new thing I have done since recording the same bass successfully in early October, when it sounded all fine.

 

3 minutes ago, MJJS said:

Perhaps try reviewing the wiring to see if there are any loose or dry joints. High impedance points can cause sound issues & distortions.

 

I checked the cabling and pots and they all seem fine and sturdy, but then again I'm no expert, and I definitely don't feel confident enough to rewire/solder myself. So I asked my tech about this whole issue and will see how he gets on  

[grayn]

Just acquired this lovely Sandberg California V Short Scale.