Any chance of help with my ****** bart?

[voodoo92]

Hi there gang. so ive been doing a mod on a 2nd hand bass i bought and am at this time having troubles.
the bass is a samick artist series with P/J pups and standard V/3way pup selector switch/T which i have ripped out and made room for my most hated piece of equipment laying around. the infamous bartolini 3 band pre, cost me $A300~ so didnt wanna throw it out. Im trying to get it all working at the moment but dont know what the hell is on the go.
When in active there is an almost unhearable sound coming out, except when the electronics crack like crazy and scare the **** outa me. when in passive, i can JUST hear a little more, and even weirder, when i have the battery completly removed the passive works i suppose normally. but passive only has volume and blend so i cant stick with that because its even less than what i started with :/
Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on what this might be?
Cheers.

Btw heres a link for anyone interested in it, or pics or the electronics.
Mod a Bass | Facebook

[voodoo92]

Also, not related to the wiring problem at all, but when its finished the mods will include:
Paint stripped back to roadworn staind timber look,
frets polished/replaced
Bart 3 band preamp with battery box
Seymore Duncan Bassline pickups (still to be ordered)
Hardware sanded back to a sort of limbo between gold and chrome
Probabily new bridge, no ideas what type yet. Probabily some other stuff aswell but this will do for now

[bassgod0dmw]

I would contact Bartolini. It sounds like something is seriously wrong with either the pre itself or the wiring.

[ctmullins]

Sounds to me like you have something seriously wired wrong - possibly 9V battery voltage at the output of the jack? Better check that - that can be damaging.

Bartolini has good wiring diagrams on their website - double and triple check all connections; make sure no solder blobs are inadvertently shorting any connections; make sure your pot lugs are not inadvertently shorting against the cavity shield (ground); make sure you don't have battery + and - reversed.

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by ctmullins

Sounds to me like you have something seriously wired wrong - possibly 9V battery voltage at the output of the jack? Better check that - that can be damaging.

I agree. Check the output jack wiring.

[voodoo92]

it very well might be the output jack because i had to replace the stock one with one that would already fit into the hole for it. a longer thinner one. and the wiring i did on it was mostly guessing because it had its grounnd, then the two other poles were identicle and i didnt know what was what. my dad said it didnt matter though hes an idiot lol.

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by voodoo92

it very well might be the output jack because i had to replace the stock one with one that would already fit into the hole for it. a longer thinner one. and the wiring i did on it was mostly guessing because it had its grounnd, then the two other poles were identicle and i didnt know what was what. my dad said it didnt matter though hes an idiot lol.

Those panel jacks are tricky because they often vary. If you have a meter, plug a cable in and check for continuity between the tip of the other end of the cable and one of the lugs. That's your output. The other lug will be the "ring" connection, and goes to the black wire from the battery clip.

Ground is easy to spot because it's usually the long lug.

So, if you know which one is ground, swap the other two wires.

[walterw]

if you don't have a meter, plug that jack into a cable plugged into an amp; the contact that makes noise when you touch it is the "hot" lug.

[grendle]

Might be the pots too if you left the passive ones in. Most passive pots are 500k ohm. Most active are 25k ohm. That will cause all kinds of issues

[voodoo92]

ill check the connections out in a minute thanks for the help. hope it solves my little delema.
and no there not stock pots, its a full harness from bartolini worst buy ever i think.

[voodoo92]

ok so im preeeeety sure i just figured out what was wrong with the harness.. this time not a fault of bartolinis, even though its still ****, but instead me, or more accuratly my dad. I dont have the best knowledge of electronics and so him supposidly being a music guru in the old days said that it will deffinatly be a MONO circuit... ugh. just out of no where read on the wiring diagram from bart that its a sterio plug i need. i hope this fixes my problems, but wont knoe for a while as i just pulled apart the whole thing again to put on a new bridge, shield the cavities and replace the stockies with upgraded pups when i get the money for them...
wish me luck

[ctmullins]

Depending upon how old your father is, I'd be willing to bet that there was no such thing as an active bass in "the old days", and so your father is correct, but only within his limited experience. Technology advances, and things change.

Bartolini makes quality products. They also have a good selection of wiring diagrams available on their site. My suggestion: learn on your own. Research, research, research. The Search option here at TB will net you unbelievable amounts of expert advice. Read all you can, and you'll begin to understand the principles behind the way things (like active preamps) work. Then you can assess things for yourself, because you'll know the "why", and not just the "how".

[SGD Lutherie]

I'll second that Bartolini makes high quality products. I've installed plenty of them, and worked on basses that came with them. I've never had any issues with them.

Any installation is only as good as the way it was installed.