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Buzz Be Gone......


FirstBass
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1 hour ago, Downunderwonder said:

Either the bassist is a rebroadcast station or not. That is a binary thing not a mystery.

Well I wouldn't term it a rebroadcast station as that implies some sort of active amplification. But yes the human body is a factor in the environmental noise being picked up by the bass. Whether you regard it as rf depends on what you call rf. In this case it's primarily mains related frequencies that are 'everywhere' that are detected by a High Impedance magnetic pickup. So 50/60 Hz depending and associated harmonics.

It's relatively simple to show that a hand near an inductive pickup induced a signal in that transducer.

Also bear in mind that the bass bridge/strings are already grounded. It doesn't matter whether you ground yourself by touching the strings or another bit of grounded metal eg a chassis screw on a rack unit or mixer. In either case the noise will be reduced.

Depending on your own skin dryness / conductivity you may get better results with a dampened finger 🙂

Edited by rmorris
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So, congrats to @GlamBass74 for fixing his buzz issue then (which I'd prefer what this thread be all about instead of this f'n bickering)

 

If it's any consolation, @GlamBass74, you inspired me to get off my butt and shield my G&L Tribute LB-100 which absolutely hates the fluorescent lighting in our rehearsal space.  When I opened it up I could see why - the application of the shielding paint was pretty pathetic, more like a sieve than a shield!

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@neepheid Hurrah! some good vibes!

 

Yep... 20mm wide copper tape

Good lighting

Scissors

Tea/Coffee/Cocktail

Soldering iron (to remove and replace wiring)

Meter (to test that all strips/cavities/parts have continuity)

Spanner to remove pots & jack socket

Screwdriver

 

It was a strangely rather enjoyable job

 

Just checked....My copper tape was £6.99 for 20m. I probably used about 500mm 😁

 

I don't know the science behind it all, but I really don't care. I did it. It works. I'm happy

 

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On 21/01/2022 at 12:32, GlamBass74 said:

I bought a Harley Benton Jazz copy in the Summer of 21 purely out of curiosity. £139???? It's gotta be rubbish hasn't it? Err , no!

 

Natural finish Vintage Series JB75-MN

 

I had one of those (not the natural though), when we went to the setup day down in the southwest I took that as I didn't want to damage any of my ibanezes, so that got set up and fret dressed and everything. It was a fantastic bass, sounded good and due to the fret work, one of the nicest to play, amazing value.

Only moved it on because after doing a gig with it I would start walking round in circles it was so heavy!

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4 hours ago, neepheid said:

So, congrats to @GlamBass74 for fixing his buzz issue then (which I'd prefer what this thread be all about instead of this f'n bickering)

 

If it's any consolation, @GlamBass74, you inspired me to get off my butt and shield my G&L Tribute LB-100 which absolutely hates the fluorescent lighting in our rehearsal space.  When I opened it up I could see why - the application of the shielding paint was pretty pathetic, more like a sieve than a shield!

Shielded my JMJ Mustang’s cavities with copper tape as there was nought but the ground wires to reduce hum. By adding a small strip of the tape from the pickup cavity to the control cavity over the top, it connected with the metal control plate and is now quiet as a quiet thing. I can’t remember who pointed out that the shielding needed to be earthed too, but if they hadn’t, it would still be buzzing away (I knew this, but had managed to forget as it’d been years since I last shielded a bass), so thanks for that.

Edited by ezbass
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3 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

Ironically, if you're being literal it may have been a valid attempt! You could make a very good Faraday cage out of a sieve.

 

Indeed, but I was being grumpily figurative.  I'm not grumpy any more though, my LB-100 is now silent when it is supposed to be, even in the RF hellhole that is our rehearsal room, even though my efforts ended up being more of a Faraday tub than a Faraday cage because I ran out of tape :)

 

Edited by neepheid
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