Gamechanger bass doesn't make a sound - URGENT HELP NEEDED!

[TimBosby]

Hi, I'm a former Game Changer bass owner. A gentleman recently bought a GameChanger bass from me on EBay. I, in turn, got it on Talkbass.com (where I traded a G&L M2000 plus some cash for it), and I believe the Talkbass guy may have been the original owner.

In any case, the bass worked awesomely for both me and the Talkbass guy but the Ebay gentleman received it from me on Friday and it won't make a sound. He and I have been e-mailing, trying to diagnose the problem, to no avail. We are hoping you can help.

So far he has tried: changing the batteries, resetting the instrument to factory defaults, different amps, cabs, cables, etc. He made sure it was not in "Mute" mode (this was the first thing I thought of since I think position 15 on the upper horn switch is "Mute" mode.)

When I owned it, Talkbass guy had just put new batteries in it, and I only owned it briefly, so I don't know if that's the issue. I think there's more going on that neither he nor I has thought of.

Perhaps it needs a firmware update?

One other thing to note: The EBay gentleman said the instrument would not connect to the web app. I never used the web app when I owned it, but I had no problems whatsoever with the instrument.

He also said there is a light in the battery compartment that is OFF.

As far as we're aware, it was not damaged in shipping as it was well packed and there were no signs of FedEx abusing or dropping the box, etc.

Please help us out if you can! If he can't get it to work, he'll return it to me, in which case I'll obviously need to get it to work. One way or another, it needs to work; but this is very new technology and neither of us have any idea what's going in that little onboard computer.

Thanks!!!

P.S. I already emailed AJ at Ernie Ball but I thought it would be a good idea to post here too.

 

[DrKev]

Sorry I can't help (no experience here) but you will need to be patient. Monday is a holiday in the US, Music Man customer service don't work Friday so there will be back log on Tuesday to get through. If there is no response here and no response from customer service by Wednesday evening, email again. You can also phone (toll free from the US and Canada but you can till call from overseas).

Just wondering - if it worked for previous owner and you, and light off in battery compartment, and it won't connect to the app, I'd wonder if this is a power issue before looking at other things. Loose wire? Was battery installed backwards? Firmware update may not even be possible, right?

 

[TimBosby]

I really have no idea. It's difficult to troubleshoot since it's 1200 miles away in someone else's possession. I'm trying to be the nice guy here and help him out because it's a cool bass and I want him to be happy with it. I also don't really want it back since that money I made on the sale is already spent. It was an EBay sale, though, so he has the right to return it and EBay will forcibly take my money back if he files a return claim. Which is his right, but you can see why I'm fretting about it since 1) it worked perfectly for me 2) it worked perfectly for the previous owner 3) both the previous owner and I have sterling reputations on Talkbass.com and I have 100% feedback on Ebay 4) My Ebay auction said "no returns" 5) I cannot be there to troubleshoot but spent the better part of last evening e-mailing the buyer, presenting various options to him, making suggestions, sending him a half dozen links and resources (including this forum) and sending emails to multiple customer service channels on his behalf.

I feel like I'm out of options on this one and may have to pay to have it shipped back, pay again to have it shipped to EBMM to be fixed, pay a third time to have it sent back to me and then re-sell it and pay a fourth time to have it shipped to its new owner. Kill me now.

Sorry I can't help (no experience here) but you will need to be patient. Monday is a holiday in the US, Music Man customer service don't work Friday so there will be back log on Tuesday to get through. If there is no response here and no response from customer service by Wednesday evening, email again. You can also phone (toll free from the US and Canada but you can till call from overseas).

Just wondering - if it worked for previous owner and you, and light off in battery compartment, and it won't connect to the app, I'd wonder if this is a power issue before looking at other things. Loose wire? Was battery installed backwards? Firmware update may not even be possible, right?

 

[TimBosby]

And before anyone asks...why did I sell it? Because I found the body shape too small for my large frame and prefer the "feel" of more traditional style Fender and Fenderish basses against my rather large frame. The neck was killer, the tones were great. I also am more into passive basses, lately, and the GameChanger is not only active but almost has TOO MANY features. Very cool concept, and fairly intuitive; just more than I needed when I have 5 other basses.

 

[Johnny Alien]

This will be difficult for anyone to troubleshoot over the phone or over the web. The bass is not warrantied to you or to the new owner only the original one. The best advice would be to have him take it to a tech that has a good reputation and that he trust and have them look over it and see if there is anything wrong with the wiring that could be easily fixed and refund him the amount for the repair. If it worked when it left than it's possible it's user error or it got damaged in shipping even though it looks OK.

Not sure that this public forum is the right avenue for you to troubleshoot a bass that you sold to someone else and replaced with something from another company.

 

[TimBosby]

Well I'm sort of out of options, so here I am. He should be taking it to a tech on his own; granted, but ultimately the bass will probably be coming back to me, so I wanted to get some ideas.

Here's a question though: is your average guitar tech even going to be able to figure out what is wrong with a GameChanger if it's a GC software problem? It's not exactly your "average" instrument.

 

[TimBosby]

BTW the serial # is F40841.

I have no idea how old that makes it but it's probably past its one-year warranty. The GameChangers inherently cannot be that old though, as didn't they come out around 2012? In any case, that's what it is.

 

[Johnny Alien]

It doesn't matter if it's less than a year or not because it's only warranted to the original purchaser.

The switching system is passive so even if the saved presets system wasn't working it still seems that the bass would still make sound and allow switching. The fact that there is no sound suggest that maybe it's in the standard wiring.

So my answer would be yes, I believe that a standard tech could at least check to make sure that the wiring was no messed up somewhere. To go deeper than that I don't know. But what you are suggesting does not seem to jive with being a problem with the wire switching preset stuff.

 

[TimBosby]

He refuses to take it to a local tech and he refuses to ship it directly to EBMM (even though I told him I'd refund him the full purchase amount and pay for the shipping.) So now its gotta travel from New Jersey to Omaha to San Luis Obispo when it could go right from NJ to SLO.

Ugh. This sucks. But I'm done dealing with it. I told him just now to send it back to me and I'd refund him in full. For all I know it could be user error. Until the bass is back in my living room giving ME the same problem it's giving him, I'm not even 100% convinced there's a problem.

I'm done with EBay for selling expensive things. Never again. I'm sticking with Talkbass from here on out. Or Craigslist. Lol.

 

[Big Poppa]

ok a couple of things. Welcome to the forum even though it is a fourth party customer service thread. hahahah Can you tell the guy to calm down and give us a chance to fix it through customer service and not a forum? That would be splendid. Tell him that the owner of the company responded on labor day and will have his team evaluate it.

On the comment that you are into passive basses...the game changer is both passive and active. The circuitry that drives the game changer never touches the signal. It is a switch. In the passive game changer settings it is 1,000 passive.

I hope everyone can relax and enjoy labor day.....it more than likely is something very very small.

 

[TimBosby]

Hahah, thanks Big Poppa, for not only responding on Labor Day, but also putting things into perspective.

I've traditionally been into active basses but have lately come to appreciate the beauty of passive. As far as the GC, I wasn't a huge fan of the Reflex/Les-Paul inspired shape. But fear not, there are other EBMM basses that tickle my fancy in the worst (best?) possible way. I'd love an all-rosewood neck Bongo or Sabre. And there are a lot of HH Stingrays that I dig (just not a fan of single H Stingrays)

 

[Big Poppa]

no worries...i think people need to play what they need to play and that can change...I was just making sure that the public especially new that the gamechanger was passive too!

 

[Punk-fun]

Hi!
I have the same problem with my Music Man Game Changer bass. But it's not in the first time. Sound can disappear and after some time release again. I suppose that problem with programs, because I has already given my instrument for check and no one problem with wires or with other components hasn't found.

 

[Big Poppa]

ok this is the forum issue....how can someone say they have the same issue from russia witout seeing the instruments side by side

 

[Punk-fun]

Ok. I can say it is similar problem, because I have read previous discussion and my education of engineer and also work in analysis of aerospace technics and of course sixth sense are suggesting me think like that. And if suddenly sold bass of TimBosby will start work again, it is the same issue.
My bass started live own life and stops working when it want since the end summer. Usually after couple a day bass start make a SOUND again. But why it is happening is really question.

 

[TimBosby]

Hey guys,
Just a quick update. AJ Braman at MusicMan has been amazingly helpful and great about keeping in touch with me and the EBay buyer. I've been in an e-mail chain with both of them for a couple days. The problem could not be diagnosed over e-mail but the EBay buyer agreed (after I called EBay and made sure he was still covered by their Buyer Protection) to ship the bass to MusicMan in SLO, CA and at that point I'll refund him.

Thanks to all you guys for chiming in; sorry to post in the forum. And props to Sterling and all the good people at MM for great instruments backed by great customer service. Even the best products occasionally have problems; it's how you tackle them that matters!

Peace,
-Tim

 

[beej]

Ok. I can say it is similar problem, because I have read previous discussion ...

Regardless of whether it's the same problem ... the answer is the same- there's no way to diagnose the problem over the Internet.

Best bet is to call or email the customer service guys and ask them to help you out. They're the experts.

 

[beej]

And props to Sterling and all the good people at MM for great instruments backed by great customer service. Even the best products occasionally have problems; it's how you tackle them that matters!

Glad to hear they're on it Tim.

And you're absolutely right- it's how you fix the problems and support customers that really matters. And these guys do the best job in the business.

 

[Big Poppa]

Its going to be a small problem. Sorry that it took the time and effort of a big one.

 

[Punk-fun]

Regardless of whether it's the same problem ... the answer is the same- there's no way to diagnose the problem over the Internet.

Best bet is to call or email the customer service guys and ask them to help you out. They're the experts.

Thanks. I have already done like that.