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John Myung Bongo 4

Stingray SR5 HS Electronics questions.

I am planning, once this gets taken care of, looking for another SR5 HS, as I also like having the single coil sound as an option, which doesn't happen in any SR5 but the HS version. My SR5 is a ceramic, and I Think i'll go for a rosewood FB SR5 to get a warmer sound.
 
Gravesend Black said:
Buy the way could it be that noise appears because of old battery?
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old battery wouldn't cause mains hum. THat would cause distortion in the preamp, as the voltage would become too low to drive the op amps, so they would overdrive.

In my case, it's causing a bunch of head scratching, as there are only a few things that could really cause 60Hz hum to occur in 4 out of 5 positions. I think there is one resistor that might be involved if it had died, but I couldn't get to it, so given that my guitar tech is great but doesn't deal with the complicated stuff like active preamps.

All I know is that it was hum city on the SR5, and I put the bass amp on mute and plugged i my SR4, and it was dead quiet with all knobs maxed on the bass. just.. weird.
 
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And I finally got around to boxing it up, and shipping it off. should be there next week. Then i get to find out what's wrong with my baby.
 
Definitely. After emailing with AJ it was narrowed down to a few possibilities, so I'm hoping it's one of those. I mean the preamp still works, it just has noise, so it can't be totally shot. Maybe the IC is going, or a resistor went, etc. MM makes great basses, but they don't make the components, and over time even the best components can go.

I just can't wait to get it back and take it out on a gig. the SR4 will probably go out next gig.
 
Hi!
1) My 5 HS ceramic stringray's output is lower than passive squier p-bass (duncan spb-1, low output). Is that ok?
2) Bass is noisy with H pickup turned on, quiet with S pickup. Is that ok?

Battery was replaced six months ago. I don't want to take off pickguard((

p.s. I couldn't find any schematics diagram, please share anybody...
 
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First off, you shouldn't need to remove the pick guard to replace the battery. The door is on the back of the body. Can we see pics of this bass? Both front and back.
 
That could be a switching issue or a pickup issue. If one of the coils is bad or not connecting right through the 5 way switch, you could lose a lot of volume. Or the preamp could be going.

Also remember that the standard volume of an SR is about the same as a passive bass. It's the frequency response issues with passive electronics that was one of the reasons they went to active electronics. When you pump up the active EQ, then it will be louder than a passive bass.

Some active basses put out a much hotter signal than standard, but not the EBMM basses I have played. Some other basses have a trim pot to adjust the overall volume. You can boost it but that often ends up just making the battery drain faster.
 
jlepre said:
First off, you shouldn't need to remove the pick guard to replace the battery. The door is on the back of the body. Can we see pics of this bass? Both front and back.
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It's clear about the battery, I meant to fix electronics by myself. Will show photos in a day.
 
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tbonesullivan said:
That could be a switching issue or a pickup issue. If one of the coils is bad or not connecting right through the 5 way switch, you could lose a lot of volume. Or the preamp could be going.

Also remember that the standard volume of an SR is about the same as a passive bass. It's the frequency response issues with passive electronics that was one of the reasons they went to active electronics. When you pump up the active EQ, then it will be louder than a passive bass.

Some active basses put out a much hotter signal than standard, but not the EBMM basses I have played. Some other basses have a trim pot to adjust the overall volume. You can boost it but that often ends up just making the battery drain faster.
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thanx very much. I'll try to examine pickup and selector with multimeter tonight.
 
Well, since he's in Russia, sending it in to EBMM is definitely not an issue. I would get a piece of guitar string, and scratch it over all the pickup poles to make sure that the switching is working correctly.
 
jlepre said:
I'm sure he can find a repair shop in Russia.
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It's definitely hard...
I have some experience in pickup installing and shielding. So will try to repair without service.
All pickup poles are active, maybe grounding is broken down.
We'll see on a weekend.
 
Looks like they are building a new preamp. Components tested good, so I would guess it had a trace that went bad and resulted in an open circuit.
 
No idea. They are still building it. Depends on how much time it takes.

I was more worried that it would get there, and there would be no problem with it at all.
 
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Finally I've got a cab for my amp. And suddently my SR went quiet as it should be. Some hum is noticeable when volume is cranked very high. I guess that testing it with cheap combos at some local stores and cheap headphones at home was a big mistake, but that's what I could do there. I think some extra amp shielding will do the job to.So I have no worries about my honey monster anymore.
 
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