Raspy sound?

[Scionreality]

I've had my Tribute L2K for a few months now, and I've been very happy with it until last weekend.

While tuning, I noticed that when I plucked hard enough there was, for a second, this nasty raspy, rattling, distorted sound! I didn't know what was going on. I messed with all the settings and sometimes it got louder or quieter, I eventually narrowed it down to what I thought was some problem with the bridge pup. I noticed one pole piece was higher than it should have been by quite a bit. I figured maybe it was dragging at the string or something. A long shot, but I lowered it anyway and it seemed to work. For a while.

This weekend it was doing it a little worse. I couldn't figure out what was happening. It gets very quiet when the trebble knob is rolled off, or when the neck pup only is selected.

I had never heard what happens when an active bass' battery dies, but thought that might be it. Changed the battery, but the sound was still the same.

I hope someone here knows what's up, because I'd hate to have to leave it at home for the next few shows.

[darjama]

My gut tells me it's a setup issue, not an electronic issue. Do you hear it when the bass isn't plugged in?

[Scionreality]

No, I don't hear it when it's unplugged. And I don't believe it's fret-buzz, as it sounds so differant than any fret-buzz I've heard before.

When I get a chance, though, I'll listen again more carefully. It was fairly noisy there.

[darjama]

how about the pickup springs? try lowering your pickups all the way down and see if that helps.

[Scionreality]

Ahhh. I guess I assumed there was foam under there, but yeah, springs rattling might sound like that.

Thanks for the suggestion!

[Ken Baker]

If it's getting progressively worse and you're playing pretty much the same, try replacing the battery. Distortion does set it as they go flat.

Lowering the pickups is usually good advice with the L series basses, but I'd do the battery first.

Remember that the battery is in-circuit and being used whenever the cable is plugged into the bass - even in passive mode, so unplug it when not in use.

Ken...

[sunbeast]

I think older G&Ls used springs instead of foam under the pickups, and I have heard several people trace a similar problem to these springs- the fix is just to stuff some foam or something around the springs to dampen them! I guess all the newer ones must use foam, as I haven't heard much about this issue in quite a while...

Karl

[wyleeboxer]

Yeah just cut some foam and stuff it inside the spring like they do from the factory, Im pretty sure thats the problem.. you could always put foam in place of the springs as well.

[Ken Baker]

You've changed the battery, so that eliminates one possible problem.

Questions:

1. Under what configuration(s) does this occur? Passive? Active? Active/treble boost? Series? Parallel? Pickup selector?

2. Can this be reproduced in passive mode?

3. Can this be reproduced in passive mode with the battery removed?

4. Sounds silly, but have you tried a different cable?

5. Does this, or something similar, occur with different basses in the same amp?

Preamp death is quite unusual but not unheard of. If the bass is in warranty and you're the original owner, you should probably contact Chris Robosan at G&L for support. Contact info is here. You can also contact Chris for out of warranty support.

Ken...

[unclejane]

it's the pickups overdriving the onboard preamp. Both of my G&L's are capable of this (L2000 and 2500) and I get a nasty rasp if I really whack the string.

The MFD's are so hot they have enough output when plucked really hard to overdrive G&L's own preamp. This gets a little worse if the battery starts running down, but even fresh it can still happen fairly easily.

Best fix is don't pluck that hard . It doesn't happen in passive mode of course....

LS

[Scionreality]

For any future readers, it turns out that it was a spring beneath a pickup. I pushed down on the bridge pickup and it... realligned it or something, because it stopped. I put a piece of foam in the spring and haven't heard the sound in a week.

Thanks guys.