scratchy pot for

[awaywardson]

My bass player is our bandleader and lead singer, and he is "technologically challenged" to be PC, so I handle all of his gear for him while he handles booking, etc.

His volume pot is VERY scratchy and I know it needs to be replaced. I've never done this, but shouldn't it be just unsolder pot and resolder new pot, put nut back on kind of thing?

Main problem is I don't know what kind of pot to buy. His bass is a 99(?) Ibanez SDGR. It has 2 pickups and 4 knobs and is active (runs on 9V battery). Does anyone know what I need to get or where to order?

Thanks,
Joel R. Wood
guitarist/singer
Wayward Sons
visit us here

[Linas]

It might just need to be cleaned. But ive never done this before so i dont know how. Do a search something might come up. If cleaning it doesnt work, open the bass up, see if its a 250k or 500k pot, most likely 500 becuase its an active bass. And then go to www.basspartsresource.com or www.stewmac.com and find a replacement that will fit into the cavity.

[awaywardson]

yeah, i've tried cleaning it with electronics cleaner, but to no avail. still scratchy. i solder pretty well so i'd rather just do it myself than take it to a shop. thanks linas

[aquateen]

see if you can get the info from Ibanez. most manufacturers have been pretty helpful when I've asked for help.

[Maverick Blues]

Originally Posted by awaywardson

yeah, i've tried cleaning it with electronics cleaner, but to no avail. still scratchy.

Erm... just a thought, because there is another possibility.

Did you use actual contact cleaner (or tuner cleaner like Blue Magic) and did it not help at all? Or did the problem get better/go away for a while and then come back?

If the former, since the bass has an active preamp, it might also be a DC voltage on the pot. That can cause the cleanest, most perfect pot in the world to sound scratchy.

I think it's unlikely, but if the cleaning didn't help in the least, you might want to throw a VOM across the pot and see if there's a DC offset on it. It's conceivable a blocking cap has started leaking or somesuch.

As I said, unlikely... but something to keep in mind and possibly check before you spring for a new pot.

Good luck,
Rick

[awaywardson]

i used contact cleaner. every now and then we'll have a scratchy pot on our board and that contact cleaner works perfectly, but it just won't do the trick on this pot.