American Ultra Precision Bass noise issue

[hacomania]

I recentrly bought a new American Ultra Precision Bass from Guitar Center (within 45 days return period) and it makes noise. Touching the strings or not does not make differences and neither changing pickup selections. Noise is more pronounced in active mode. I have to apply noise gate in my hx stomp to handle the noise, but even with the gate, I can notice noise while playing in active mode. I think this instrument should not be that noisy. So, I plan to bring it to guitar center, but before that I want to hear from people here regarding what would be a solution. Do I need to shield the bass? or checking the grounding and fixing it? Or just return the instrument and get a replacement? I would appreciate your comments. Thanks!

 

[klattman]

I’ve fixed a lot of noise issues on many cheap basses. A new bass in that price range should be quiet, especially if only using the split p pickup. I suppose I’d check elsewhere in the signal chain to be sure but if it’s the bass I’d return it.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

If touching the strings or other metal parts on the bass doesn’t effect the noise checking the bridge ground is a good place to start. Easy enough with a multimeter.

 

[Nebadon2000]

Take it back to Guitar Center to spare yourself lots of time troubleshooting and trying to eliminate environment also since it is New and available for return or warranty fix [if Finish isn't available for immediate replacement or you just love the feel of it]

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

I recentrly bought a new American Ultra Precision Bass from Guitar Center (within 45 days return period) and it makes noise. Touching the strings or not does not make differences and neither changing pickup selections. Noise is more pronounced in active mode. I have to apply noise gate in my hx stomp to handle the noise, but even with the gate, I can notice noise while playing in active mode. I think this instrument should not be that noisy. So, I plan to bring it to guitar center, but before that I want to hear from people here regarding what would be a solution. Do I need to shield the bass? or checking the grounding and fixing it? Or just return the instrument and get a replacement? I would appreciate your comments. Thanks!

If it doesn't go away when your touch the strings, you've got either a ground issue, or a power/room issue. I'd check your grounds first.

Try holding the strings on the neck, and touching different pieces of metal on the bass at the same time. Knobs, jack, etc. That will either confirm or deny a ground issue. If it goes away, you've got a ground issue. If nothing changes, it's a room/power issue.

 

[hacomania]

I’ve fixed a lot of noise issues on many cheap basses. A new bass in that price range should be quiet, especially if only using the split p pickup. I suppose I’d check elsewhere in the signal chain to be sure but if it’s the bass I’d return it.

Thank you for your reply. I did more test and the results vary depending on the situation. When I plugged the instrument directly to my audio interface, it is quite quiet especially when the instrument is in passive mode and the input gain is not extremely high. In active mode, I hear slight hum especially when the input gain is high (to the extent the input source is clipping) or I increased treble on the active circuit. It seems that my hx stomp preset is not that great and making noise (maybe too much gain?). I also plugged the instrument to the bass amp on my church. The result is intersting. In passive mode, I hear slight hum, but in active mode it is rather quite (unless I play). So, definitely my stomp preset has problems but not sure if the instrument is completely normal.