to shield or not to shield

[RwG]

I get a terrible buzz from my G&L's everywhere I play. With the treble maxed it's at it's worst. I tried a 3 to 2 prong adaptor to eliminate the ground but that didn't work. I also have 2 fenders (1 active, 1 passive) that are quiet as can be so I know it's something with the basses.

I know some of you have shielded your G&L's, did it eliminate this buzzing or humming? Did it affect the tone in anyway? Did you do it yourself or have it done? If you did it yourself how do you go about doing such a thing. I searched the forums for "how to shield" but found nothing.

I was thinking about getting a ebtech Hum X adaptor but since the other basses i have are fine then i'm not convinced the hum x with help.

thanks

[spideyjg]

Which ones ya got? Using active or passive?

I've sheilded my L1K's and SB-1. No tonal effect.



Also enhanced then ground contact for the bridge...

[RwG]

I have 2 L2K's, i run them active/parallel/both pickups with all tone and volume full on. great tone but buzz/hum from hell. most of the time when i'm playing you can't hear it but between songs at gigs it's annoying. also, i'm going in the studio soon and i don't want to have to fight it there.

i also did some more searching through the forums and found some info on shielding. i think i'll take my basses in and have it done, there is a great luthier here in orlando. i'd trust him to do anything.

[RwG]

so do most of you shield your G&L or just leave it alone? Is there any benefit to not shielding?

[Templar]

A good shielding job should help immensely.

If you still have a persitant buzz afterwards, you can contact G&L for a new op-amp chip. They will send it for free. Easy install.

I've done the upgrade twice, each time it cured a really LOUD buzz in active mode.

It's also not a bad idea to check for "no damping" in the pickup mounting springs, which can contribute to the noise.

Additionally, the ground connection under the bridge can sometimes be improved by adding a bit of copper tape.

Every little bit helps.

[bigbottomline]

What year? Does yours have the 2 large green caps connected to the middle pot and the switch nearby?

I shielded mine, but still had noise in series mode. Someone told be to disconnect the green caps. I did. Problem solved!

[Syrith]

By removing the green caps, you got rid of the bassboost in series.
Another way to get rid of the noise is changing the wiring from one pup, so it works the other way around.
This makes the both pups selection hum-canceling instead of hum-adding

You can find more info here: http://www.vintagebass.com/thedudepi...3&page=2&pp=10

Originally Posted by bigbottomline

What year? Does yours have the 2 large green caps connected to the middle pot and the switch nearby?

I shielded mine, but still had noise in series mode. Someone told be to disconnect the green caps. I did. Problem solved!