Amp producing scratchy/hissy/distorted sound

aarono · #1 11-01-2011, 10:09 PM

I'm currently playing an active Peavey bass and just recently I've noticed the sound I get running through my rig (cab + power amp + pre amp) will randomly be hissy/scratchy/cut out. It will happen randomly and seems to happen more at louder volumes.

It will sound fine for a bit then start getting very scratchy and randomly cut out. If I play notes hard on the E string I can consistently produce a terrible quality sound.

1. Can a low battery in an active bass be the cause of this?
2. I ran my laptop through the rig to see what a song would sound like. I kept the volume very low in fear of blowing something. Did I perhaps screw something up by doing this?

skychief · #2 11-01-2011, 10:41 PM

1. No
2. Not likely

sounds like theres a questionable connection somewhere.

Joe Louvar · #3 11-01-2011, 10:45 PM

Replace the battery.

aarono · #4 11-01-2011, 10:51 PM

Replaced battery, checked all connections/hook ups. Perhaps some loose wiring within the bass?

Joe Louvar · #5 11-01-2011, 10:57 PM

Maybe, have you tried a different instrument cable yet?

EDIT:
And make sure you're plugged into a good AC outlet.

rodl2005 · #6 11-01-2011, 11:00 PM

Clean fx loop??? Mine did similar last week, sprayed some pot cleaner onto a inst.plug & cycled the fx loop a few times.
Fixed. YMMV

Joe Louvar · #7 11-01-2011, 11:05 PM

Maybe a lose wire (ground, etc) but I bet it's a bad cap.

EDIT: +1 on cleaning the effects loop - if there is one.

skychief · #8 11-02-2011, 02:51 PM

could be 1 or more of many problems. First you should isolate which thing is causing the trouble.

Try your bass thru a different amp. Is the trouble still there? If so, the problem is in the bass. If not, the trouble could be in the amp/ pre-amp/ cab setup.

I would continue to further isolate the trouble source before doing a bunch of random "fixes".