Bad Volume control?

[JamesInn]

I bought a used Ibanez EHB bass but wasn't able to test the electrics.
After coming back home I connect to my AMP without using any gain.
When turning EQ off it seems things work fine including the volume control.
When turning EQ on there are a lot of random noise and playing string has a lot of distortion, or sometimes it's just quiet.
After some tests, I found when the volume control at somewhere in the middle things all the EQ related knob seem to work fine. But when the volume is turning to other places either lower or higher there will be random noise or distortion. Even when the volume turns all the way to almost the lowest position this can happen.

So is this a volume control issue, a bad connection between the volume control and the preamp, the preapm or could be all of them? The bass otherwise is very good so I really hope this can be an easy fix.

 

[JamesInn]

Actually, does anything need a charge?
I tried again after about 30 minutes and it seems the problems are gone.
When the volume is all the way down there is still a humming noise but that's probably normal I guess.

 

[JamesInn]

for the random noise, I mean quite loud random pop sounds, it's quite loud even when the volume control is at the lowest.

 

[ctmullins]

Have you tried a fresh battery?

 

[JamesInn]

I did try new battery. Today I tried again, there is still random pops and then the active mode is completely dead.​