Re-shielding Dargie....an answer to my problem?

[Frantic Slayer]

ok so my SR5 HS Dargie is noisy, ive contacted CS a long time ago and they said they couldn't find anything wrong with it. however i still find it to be "randomly noisy" in all positions. some times i can make it go away by moving around the room, ect. but it still gets annoying. so that got me to thinking...maybe i could have my luthier put a stronger shield on the electronics...my question now is: will this accomplish anything?

thanks

 

[maddog]

have you checked to make sure it isn't a cable or wireless problem?

intermittent problems are the suck.

 

[Frantic Slayer]

have you checked to make sure it isn't a cable or wireless problem?

intermittent problems are the suck.

swapped out cables, swapped out rooms, changed batteries, i can hear it at my teachers building as well, CS staff said it was all clear in there rooms.

i am using fender california cable's, and monster cable's at my house, not sure about the cables that my teacher has (haven't looked)

its kinda weird, i can intensify it by rolling the treble pot up, and it if turn around, or adjust my position from the amp the buzzing,humming noise will change in volume depending on what ive done....hope that makes sense.

 

[maddog]

tells me something is acting like an antennae.

does it do it when you have your hands on the strings?

 

[Frantic Slayer]

ok, it does it regardless of weather or not my hands are on the strings. i did notice that i could make the sound really loud by moving the part of bass where the preamp is (the knobs, output jack, bridge, etc.) near the head of the amp and it got very loud the closer those two where.

 

[INMT]

Are you plugging into grounded outlets? (3 prong) . Get a outlet tester (about 5 bucks) make sure your power is properly grounded.
Have you or someone else defeated the ground on your amp (removed or bypassed with an adapter) ?
Also try to sit about 5 or more feet from your amp and turn left and right. If the sound comes and goes the most likely suspect is grounding problem with the outlet or amp.
Does the amp have a ground lift switch? If it does flip that then back away from the amp again, see if the problem is still there.

 

[Frantic Slayer]

thank you for your information, i will go check that right now. in the mean time i would like to add that my buttercream does not have the humming issue last time i plugged it in. (let me double check that)

 

[Oldtoe]

Are you plugging into grounded outlets? (3 prong) . Get a outlet tester (about 5 bucks) make sure your power is properly grounded.
Have you or someone else defeated the ground on your amp (removed or bypassed with an adapter) ?
Also try to sit about 5 or more feet from your amp and turn left and right. If the sound comes and goes the most likely suspect is grounding problem with the outlet or amp.
Does the amp have a ground lift switch? If it does flip that then back away from the amp again, see if the problem is still there.

Sounds like a grounding issue to me, too.

Have you tried it through different amplifiers? I saw you said that it did the same thing in different rooms, but are there different amps you're playing through?

 

[Frantic Slayer]

i only have one amp, it does the same thing when i plug it into my teachers amp tho. at this point i think its a problem with the bass because my buttercream SR4 HH is completely silent through the same amp in the same room, etc.

i believe i have 58Supers Buttercream...maybe he can chime in and let me know if he modified it at all

the amp i have is a Fender Bassman 250 2x10 combo it does have a GND Lift button but it does not seem affect the sound. as for turning left and right, Bingo! it did just what you said it might do, come and go, and vary.

 

[Oldtoe]

How do you set your EQ on your bass and on your amp? Do you use a bright switch or some other tone-shaping button on your amp?

The basses with single coils have the potential to make a little bit of noise even with the silent circuit, but it has never been a problem with my SR5 or Bongo H/S basses. Certain EQ or amp settings can greatly exacerbate some hisses and other unwelcome noises.

 

[Frantic Slayer]

mostly just all flat. it really buzzes when i roll the treble pot up on the bass...(not that i play with the treble pot rolled up!) i understand single coils humming, but when i have only the humbucker on shouldn't it be silent just like the buttercream?

my amp does have a bright/dark knob. i sometimes will roll that over to bright but regardless i get the same buzz/hum.

 

[maddog]

detective work over the internet is not the most efficient.

something is transmitting and something is receiving.

I assume from mentioning CS, that you've sent it back to EBMM and they don't hear it. Problem with that is different amps, different cables and different power source.

I've had both a HS and a HH bongo. The HS was noisier than the HH. Noticeably so. Was it detrimentally so? No. 10 feet away from the amp, I couldn't hear it.

The treble knob on the bass indicates that the bass is part of the chain but the bass may not be the cause.

Since I can't listen to the noise I can't tell you if it is what I've experienced.

you can try extra shielding. It won't hurt anything.

How loud is it? At a reasonable practice level, how far away from the amp do you have to be from the amp to not hear it?

also, can you get a battery operated headphone amp to run the bass thru?

 

[strummer]

Fwiw, my Bongo HS does exactly that at our rehersal space, in one of the rooms. This room was wired by an idiot.
At home and other locations the bass preforms as it should. Not that the noise is any problem really, as we're dealing with loud rock, but anyway

 

[SquidLizard]

Why don't you just ask your luthier what he/she would do to fix it and trust him/her to do so? We could speculate about this endlessly, but it's a job for someone who has the bass in their hands.

 

[Frantic Slayer]

Why don't you just ask your luthier what he/she would do to fix it and trust him/her to do so? We could speculate about this endlessly, but it's a job for someone who has the bass in their hands.

im going to take it to one this weekend

 

[Oldtoe]

Here's the thing: If Ernie Ball has had the bass in their hands and said there's nothing wrong with it; then the problem is going to be on your end. They don't want problem instruments out there. I'm sure you'll figure it out.