Sudden volume drop on my P bass

NineSpine · #1 07-10-2010, 09:30 PM

My bass has suddenly had a drastic reduction in volume. It's such a large drop that my Orange Terror Bass turned up to 75% is a reasonable practice volume for the apartment building I live in.

I have no idea what could possibly be wrong. I made sure it wasn't the amp or cables, and I opened it up to make sure all of the electronics *appeared* to still be connected. It is a Highway One model from 2006. Any ideas?

SurferJoe46 · #2 07-10-2010, 10:57 PM

I had the p'ups die - well, the E-A p'up did anyway and the studio sound engineer told me I had gone 'microphonic' on my P- and it was a bad p'up.

One thing I noticed was that I had a hard time getting my electronic tuner to 'see' my E-A strings and it took repeated twangs to get it to read the value.

Maybe this is it or not - but it's a start anyway.

darthplagis · #3 07-10-2010, 11:01 PM

this may sound silly, but you didnt pop the S-1 by accident?

they are on the volume pot right?

just an idea, if not it may be you just blew the pickup, well it lost its magnetic charge

NineSpine · #4 07-11-2010, 08:42 AM

Well it's a Highway One so I don't have S-1 so I can rule that out. Wouldn't it be very odd for both P pickups to go at the exact same time with the exact same level drop?

SurferJoe46 · #5 07-11-2010, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NineSpine

Well it's a Highway One so I don't have S-1 so I can rule that out. Wouldn't it be very odd for both P pickups to go at the exact same time with the exact same level drop?

I worked this over mentally too when I got told my p'ups had become microphonic, and it was just the E/A p'up that died.

The whole volume was generally down, but the D/G was still somewhat hotter. I think the series wiring sequence takes them both down a lot and even though only one p'up was close to totally dead, it sucked the power out of the other one too.

I dunnow for sure, but replacing them both got me back into the heat again.

Magnetically - I don't see both pups losing their value at the same time unless you were getting hit by stray micro- or gamma rays in sufficient quantities to degauss the magnets.

Were you sweating a lot for no reason or did you come away from the gig with a darker tan? Could be some corollary there!

darthplagis · #6 07-11-2010, 09:45 AM

i thought HW1 had the S1? ah well, my bad

#7 07-12-2010, 03:32 PM

Could it be a cold solder joint? Difficult to find since it will appear normal to the naked eye... But that would be my guess... If you are handy with an iron, you can re-heat all the solder connections to be sure. If you want to be a real fanatic about it, re-heat each joint and test until you find "the one," de-solder and re apply fresh solder to be sure you've got a good connection with good solder.

Me? I'd just reapply heat to each solder point and be done...

It's a bit odd for a pickup to simply die... Particularly an American pickup... Unless one of the winding wires broke at such a point where it isn't touching any other wires...

I suspect a potentiometer (pot) before a bad magnet...

I've witnessed one pole go bad on an "after-market" p'up (won't mention the brand). But that's it in 4 decades! And it didn't go all at once, but slowly, over several months...

Rick Auricchio · #8 07-12-2010, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SurferJoe46

Magnetically - I don't see both pups losing their value at the same time unless you were getting hit by stray micro- or gamma rays in sufficient quantities to degauss the magnets.

Gamma rays of that intensity would kill the OP.

big stubby · #9 07-12-2010, 04:36 PM

Same thing happened to my Highway one. The pickup was toast. Hope your still under warrnty

SurferJoe46 · #10 07-12-2010, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Auricchio

Gamma rays of that intensity would kill the OP.

Some of these OPs are tougher than you might think.

I wondered for a while why I was getting a lot of trouble with my tuner - as I said it was having trouble finding my E&A strings and would just stare at me blankly until I turned the VOL all the way up and then it sorta-almost got back to a normal signal.

I also ran a digital output with a MAX/MIN DVOM recorder and found that overall the bass was pretty weak in voltage for an average of three string hits for each. Someone figured my test was all hooey - but it made me believe that you can measure the output voltage of any bass and get a baseline value that you can compare later if you start having troubles.

So - microphonic p'ups aren't all that strange and I bet that a lot of this 'vintage tone' may also be attributable to weak pups and you crank the pre up to compensate into distortion or overdrive and that makes it sound 'vintage' to some players. You betchum!

NineSpine · #11 07-13-2010, 09:42 AM

Unfortunately I am not under warranty. Guess I should just look at this as more reason to get a Nordstrand!

SurferJoe46 · #12 07-13-2010, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NineSpine

Unfortunately I am not under warranty. Guess I should just look at this as more reason to get a Nordstrand!

Sorry. Does not compute.

Take two Rolaids and lie down and consider what it is you said first. Sleep on it - a long nap maybe. I'd go for the new p'ups first. I like what happened to mine when I did it.

interstatejoe · #13 07-13-2010, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Auricchio

Gamma rays of that intensity would kill the OP.

Or turn the OP into the Incredible Hulk...

Quote:

Originally Posted by SurferJoe46

Sorry. Does not compute.

Take two Rolaids and lie down and consider what it is you said first. Sleep on it - a long nap maybe. I'd go for the new p'ups first. I like what happened to mine when I did it.

I think he did say he was going for a new pup...a new one made by Nordstrand...

SurferJoe46 · #14 07-13-2010, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by interstatejoe

Or turn the OP into the Incredible Hulk...

I think he did say he was going for a new pup...a new one made by Nordstrand...

Green guys are good.

They are the same color as money.

So

Confused

I

Cannot

Keep

Up

With

All

These

Names.

Can someone get me a player ID card?

I think I just runned outta smilies.

NineSpine · #15 07-18-2010, 09:36 AM

Does anyone know any way that I can check if the problem is in fact busted pups aside from replacing them?

joeyl · #16 07-18-2010, 10:09 AM

first make sure your pickups did not simply drop down into their cavity, which would lower the output.

2nd. I had a Jazz that had this problem and I thought it was a bad neck pickup, turned out the volume pot was shot, it was scratchy before but then stopped working almost completely.

3rd test the pickup by soldering the leads straight to the output jack, if it's loud and clear, then the problem is in the volume/tone pots.