Help needed with familiar Stingray buzzing/earthing problem.

[dinosaur]

Hi there,

I just bought my first Musicman Stingray this afternoon, it's a 4-string 2EQ model. Played it in the shop (The Bass Cellar in Denmark Street, London) and it sounded great. When I plugged it up at home into my amp (admittedly a small Orange practice amp) I was aware of a mains/buzzing noise.

It pretty much stops when I touch any of the metal parts of the guitar, but I play with harmonics quite a lot, and obviously when they're ringing out and I'm not touching the guitar the buzz is very noticeable - more so than I might generally expect.

I have tried plugging it in with a couple of different leads, which doesn't make any difference, and it's definitely not the sort of buzzing you get when near a TV or lighting dimmer switch. Also, I have an old Ibanez Musician (also an active bass) which I have plugged into the same set-up, and it doesn't produce the buzzing.

Just wondered if anyone had any advice for me, before I take it back to the shop. It's a shame, as this problem has taken the shine off the joy of getting a new Stingray to a certain extent!

Many thanks,
james.

 

[Oldtoe]

For the short time I owned a 2-band Stingray, I must say that it was quite susceptible to any sort of questionable grounding/earthing at different locations. It sounded fine in my house, but at my band's practice location (an old home) it hissed and buzzed angrily if I wasn't touching metal on the bass. FWIW, my Modulus with 2 Bartolini soapbars has the same problem. The Bongo 4HH is seemingly immune to such an issue, while my Bongo 4H/SC has some telltale hissing. I don't know how to solve your problem short of rewiring your home ( ), but I sympathize.

 

[shamus63]

For the short time I owned a 2-band Stingray, I must say that it was quite susceptible to any sort of questionable grounding/earthing at different locations. It sounded fine in my house, but at my band's practice location (an old home) it hissed and buzzed angrily if I wasn't touching metal on the bass.

That's weird, because the Ray didn't have that problem while I owned it, but then maybe it was just luck.

 

[dinosaur]

I don't know if this has any bearing on the problem, but I just plugged it up again, and although touching the strings or knobs stops the buzzing, when I touch the round metal parts of the pickup itself the buzzing actually gets louder.

But generally though, the buzzing is much louder than I might expect, having played a few basses in different locations before.

I hate getting wonderful new things like this and then finding it doesn't all work perfectly back at home. It just reminds me of the times I've bought shoes that seemed great in the shop but when I got them home, somehow they didn't fit as comfortably as they had before! Except shoes don't generally cost £1000 ...

james.

 

[phatduckk]

hmmm ... well, its the weekend so i dunno if someone from EB will login to teh forum and see this but come monday you should try n get a hold of customer support. They'll help u out for sure

from: http://www.ernieball.com/site/contact.php
1-800-543-2255

 

[bovinehost]

Here is what I would do.

Grab the bass and your practice amp - not too big to carry, right? - and head back down to the shop.

If your bass/amp is quiet in the shop, then you've got a wiring issue in your house.

If it does the same thing at the shop, then they see it and say, "Hmm, how can we help this guy?"

Win/win. Unless you have to re-wire your house, I guess.

Jack

 

[dinosaur]

Here is what I would do.

Grab the bass and your practice amp - not too big to carry, right? - and head back down to the shop.

If your bass/amp is quiet in the shop, then you've got a wiring issue in your house.

If it does the same thing at the shop, then they see it and say, "Hmm, how can we help this guy?"

Win/win. Unless you have to re-wire your house, I guess.

Jack

That sounds like good advice, although the natural pessimist in me would expect it not to buzz if I took it back to the shop! I guess in some ways I'd rather it's a problem with the wiring in my house than with the bass.

I want to use it for some Pro Tools recording at home though, which could prove something of a problem if th ebuzzing continues. I'm wondering if that would be a good enough reason to ask for a refund from the shop. Although the wiring in my house isn't really their problem, I wouldn't really be able to use it properly.

I play most Sundays at church, so I guess it might be worthing seeing if it buzzes there too.

Thanks for all of your responses though. I've been thinking about buying a Stingray for a long time, and I don't want to let this buzzing thing compromise the sound.

james.

 

[Oldtoe]

That's weird, because the Ray didn't have that problem while I owned it, but then maybe it was just luck.

The wiring in this house is so bad it jams radar. It also buzzed at a regular gig, where the wiring is similarly atrocious. I'm sure it wasn't a flaw with the instrument, but possibly a heightened sensitivity to bad line voltage due to the single-pickup configuration.

BTW, I know as much about this subject as I do the Quechua language.