bigevilman Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 Hey guys I don't know if this is in the right section or not..... I've had a problem with my jazz bass for a while now, and was wondering if you could help me out. Basically it sounds as if its not earthed properly when i have the tone pot turned up. Even when I have both volumes turned all the way down, if the tones turned up, theres an almighty hum :/ I've attached a recording from my iphone. Apologies for the quality, but it shows the problem. Its an extreme hum, which is doing my head in, its not healthly!!!! I'm not sure whether its a dodgy pot, or whether its a earth problem.... cheers guys Joe [attachment=44641:Bass_humming.mp3] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomBassmonkey Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 (edited) Could be earthing or shielding. Does it get better/worse when you move towards/away from power heavy stuff like TVs or Fridges or even your amp? Does it go improve/worsen when you're plugged into different circuits (i.e. different buildings, maybe upstairs/downstairs in the same building depending on wiring)? If you answer yes then no, it's probably shielding, I have this problem with my bass. Fairly simple to fix, though I couldn't tell you how. It never affects me though, on stage I'm usually far enough away from anything that causes interference. It's annoying when I'm jamming near my TV but it's not a serious problem. If you answer no then yes, it's more likely to be earthing, though usually with earthing you can hear the difference when you touch the metallic parts of your bass. How easy it is to fix will depend on where the problem is, definitely worth getting checked out though because it can be dangerous. It's also possible that it's just hum from having single coil pickups, new pickups could solve this problem. To be honest, I've never really used single coils on bass so I'm not going to be any use there at all. That's all the help I can provide I'm afraid. Edit: just listened and it sounds like when you touch the strings, the humming stops, right? That'd be a grounding issue. Edited March 11, 2010 by ThomBassmonkey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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