Bass Too Quiet?

[Torger]

So basically I'm new I'm still new to everything and have no idea what is wrong.

I've been a bedroom player for about a year with my regular active Ibanez, which goes plenty loud with the amp I have. I recently got a Fretless Squier J, and I've began to notice that it is way too quiet. I max out the bass and my amp and it doesn't really help any. I'm still new to passive bass and I don't have a preamp, so I'm not sure if that has anything to with it. Any advice would be helpful.

Forgive my lack of knowledge

EDIT: It's a little hard to explain, but I'm pretty sure it has somethong to do with my input. I just took the plate off and pushed some of the connections a little better into place. So I plug It and and bam! Full sound. The problem is, when I went to screw it back up, the sound would die down and fluctuate depending on how tight i tightened the screws.. So any suggestions?

[Stealth]

The wires connecting the pickups to the pots and the pots to the output are poorly soldered - it's likely there is at least one cold solder around that's not electrically good. If you know how to solder, you can do all the connections yourself, if not, find someone around you who knows how to solder electronics and have them reflow every connection so the solder becomes even.

[Davo-London]

If the bass is new, then take it back. Otherwise, redo all the soldered joints!

Davo

[Crater]

Originally Posted by Torger

So I plug It and and bam! Full sound. The problem is, when I went to screw it back up, the sound would die down and fluctuate depending on how tight i tightened the screws.. So any suggestions?

These symptoms sound like something is grounding out in the control cavity. Make sure none of the pot terminals (the 3 metal thingies on the side of the round metal can thingies) don't touch the sides of cavity.