Odd Hiss, Crackle, and Pop whenever I play

[touji]

I have a TRB6-II and I get this odd hissing / crackle / and popping whenever I play a note on my bass. I've replaced the battery, I've cleaned the pots, I've tried different cables and I've checked my input jack. I've narrowed the problem down to a battery issue though. It seems that I can just pull the battery out, touch it against the prongs of the battery box, and throw it back in and the hiss / crackling will be gone for 10-15 minutes. Then It'll be back! I went as far as ordering a battery box from Yamaha and replacing it, but to no avail. Anyone have any possible solutions? Help would be greatly appreciated, this bass plays and sounds awesome except for this hissing!!

[Musiclogic]

check your grounds at the bridge, and pots. This sounds like a grounding issue. It sounds like an incomplete circuit in the ground, also look for cold solders, they will be grey instead of shiny silver.

[mech]

Sounds like a cold solder joint or bad connection at a plug in connector (if the pre amp has any) to me too.

As a side note, modern Lead Free solder joints may not appear shiny but still be good. All electronics soldering had to go Lead free several years ago.

mech

[MonkeyBass]

I had the same thing happen with an old Carvin bass I had. I eventually, out of desperation, resoldered the whole electronics cavity (except the active circuit boards). The crackle went away. It must have been a cold solder joint somewhere.

[touji]

I'll make sure to check everything thats been mentioned! Again, thanks for all the replies and thanks for the mods for moving this to the right section! So it seems like I just need to resolder all the joints I can. But also, how would I fix a problem with a plug-in connector? Would I have to buy another pre-amp or is it an easy fix? Again, thanks everyone for the input so far.

[SGD Lutherie]

It could be a bad solder joint, or other poor connection. Plug in connectors are usually crimped, not soldered. Check to see if the pins look clean.

If none of that works, it could also be a capacitor failing in the preamp. Removing the battery allows the caps to discharge, and then when the power is back up they start making noise again.

Are the components on the preamp visible, or is it enclosed? If it's exposed do you see any caps swelling on top?

Personally I have found Yamaha electronics and pickups to be the weak area of otherwise nicely made basses.

[John Ruiz]

There's a snake eating rice krispies in your bass.



I also think it sounds like it could be a bad solder connection.