Pickup noise

lwrthnwhalepoop · #1 07-04-2010, 11:01 AM

I've been really work-focused lately and not able to spend nearly enough time behind my beloved Roscoes, so I though I might use the downtime to address an issue I've had with a couple of them that I'd appreciate you guys' opinions and suggestions on. I haven't seen it addressed here, but if there's a thread that does, please direct me to it.

The problem, and it's present to greater extent in some of my Roscoes and less in others but present in all of them, is pickup noise. I get a buzzing or sizzling sound, the intensity of which varies according to which direction the bass is pointed. Usually there's a direction or orientation in which it's fairly quiet, and in any other orientation it's more noisy. Often, if I tip the bass flat, with the pickups pointed skyward, it's especially noisy.

I've eliminated pretty much everything else in the equation - the noise is there no matter what amp/preamp I'm plugged into, which cable I use, which outlet the rig's plugged into, what preamp settings I use, etc. I've checked the grounding, and everything's intact and solid.

My oldest Roscoe has a passive mode "pull" on the volume knob; putting it in passive mode silences the noise completely.

I'd wager some of you have dealt with this same issue. What has worked for you? Pickup and electronics cavity shielding? I'm ready for any suggestions you may have.

Thanks in advance -
Dave

ubone · #2 07-04-2010, 01:34 PM

The only time I've experienced pick up noise from either Roscoe was due to batteries running out of juice.. That may or may not be your problem, but I'd check that first.

Darkstrike · #3 07-04-2010, 02:35 PM

Odd, never experienced this before.

lwrthnwhalepoop · #4 07-04-2010, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ubone

The only time I've experienced pick up noise from either Roscoe was due to batteries running out of juice.. That may or may not be your problem, but I'd check that first.

I should have mentioned this. I change strings no less than once a month, and change both batteries at every other string change - or any time I can't remember if I changed them the last time or not.

Also, the noise doesn't change if I touch the strings, so I don't think it's a bridge grounding issue.

Darkstrike · #5 07-04-2010, 03:29 PM

Since passive mode clears it up, I'd guess it's the preamp.

sha975 · #6 07-04-2010, 03:35 PM

That's very weird that both of your Roscoes are doing that. The only time that I've ever had that sort if problem with several basses is when it was the actually electricity supplying the power within my home. Not sure what you mean by "it happens with every outlet." Does that mean every outlet in your house or every where period? They have something called a "60 sec" hum or something like that, it's very prominent in older homes with older electrcity but could happen in newer homes also.

The second thing could be if your plugging up where there's a lot fluorecent lights especially those new energy savings lights. A lot of stores have those lights so if they are near by your home that will do it ir if u have them in your home. Everytime I go to Atlanta Bass Gallery that's all I hear is lots of 60 sec hum and it gets worse depending on which way you point your bass toward the amp and gets better if you turn ur back and bass away from the amp. You could try using the ground lift switch on your amp if it has one. This may or may not help. If this is the case you can purchase a monster clean power rack mount surge protector which filters the electricity giving u clean electricity. Hope this helps.

lwrthnwhalepoop · #7 07-04-2010, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sha975

That's very weird that both of your Roscoes are doing that. The only time that I've ever had that sort if problem with several basses is when it was the actually electricity supplying the power within my home. Not sure what you mean by "it happens with every outlet." Does that mean every outlet in your house or every where period? They have something called a "60 sec" hum or something like that, it's very prominent in older homes with older electrcity but could happen in newer homes also.

The second thing could be if your plugging up where there's a lot fluorecent lights especially those new energy savings lights. A lot of stores have those lights so if they are near by your home that will do it ir if u have them in your home. Everytime I go to Atlanta Bass Gallery that's all I hear is lots of 60 sec hum and it gets worse depending on which way you point your bass toward the amp and gets better if you turn ur back and bass away from the amp. You could try using the ground lift switch on your amp if it has one. This may or may not help. If this is the case you can purchase a monster clean power rack mount surge protector which filters the electricity giving u clean electricity. Hope this helps.

It affects all four of my Roscoes to varying extents. I have a top-of-the-line Furman power conditioner, which I'd have in any rack rig anyway, but it doesn't help with this issue. If it were a dirty power problem, it'd still be present when I put the older Roscoe in passive mode, I would think. I can take a friend's ES335 or Strat and plug it into my rack and hear dead silence until it's played.

This is something more than the 60 Hz hum generated by the switching of AC current. There are a lot of higher frequencies in it - it's not perfect white or pink noise, but it's pretty close.

It's present at about the same level no matter what building or town I plug it in at. And other than the clicking sound I get when flipping the ground lift switch, that option has no effect that I can notice.

I'll keep experimenting, but I've already tried all the easy solutions and eliminated all the obvious things I can think of that normally cause pickup noise. The only thing I haven't tried is pickup cavity and control cavity shielding with sheet copper, but I'm reserving that as a last resort if nothing else can be done to solve the issue or at least get it down to some tolerable level. I couldn't take any of these basses into the studio right now. The engineer would tear the B string off and choke me with it.

LightGroove · #8 07-04-2010, 05:26 PM

whale...not sure if we're in the same ballpark but Ive always experienced a white noise hiss of sorts . I thought maybe switch heads would fix it , but no its still consistently there.

I just chalk it up to electronics and electricity. I dont think it translates over to recordings

I will say that my older Aggie OBP3 loaded LG was less extreme and the Demeter even less...so perhaps its a Bart thing

JOME77 · #9 07-05-2010, 06:17 AM

Good to hear from you Dave!

How close are to your amp when it occurs? What your describing sounds like the p/u's amplifying a/c noise from your amp (or another close by electrical device0.

RocketMusic · #10 07-05-2010, 02:23 PM

Rocket Music is located right next to a coin-operated laundy operation in downtown Bburg (think LOTS of BIG electric motors), so we've got some UGLY incoming power here. We do experience quite a bit of noise here, even with humbucking/active electronics. And it's definitely NOT 60 Hz, it's higher frequency content than that. But I can take the same setup home or out to a club, and the noise disappears.

I've never been able to clear it up here at the store, not that I've tried really hard. I've got a couple different Furman toys I've tried (all $200 or less, not the really good stuff), but they had no effect. I used to sweat it, I was ready to drop a couple grand for one of the more serious power conditioners... but I gave up on that notion long ago. One of these years we'll expand into the laundry place, and that'll solve it