Bongo issue with Piezo/preamp?

[gillento]

Hi just got a used MM Bongo 5H w. Piezo off ebay.
I was wondering why the Piezo had so much output comparing to the H.
So I opened the control plate for the piezo trimmers.

There are 5 individual trimmers for the individual string piezos.
There is a 6th trimmer. I assume this controls the "master" output of the 5 individual piezos.

However, turning this 6th trimmer does nothing!

There seems to be a black (ground?) wire that is loose, too.

Can someone enlighten me on this?

I do not want to send the bass back overseas.

 

[gillento]

Any Bongo user?

 

[Doctor J]

Try here

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Good luck

 

[gillento]

I already posted at the MusicMan forum on the Ernie Ball website.

No help there.

Contacting the customer service via email, got similar results

TB is my last hope

 

[bovinehost]

In case you missed my reply on the EBMM forum:

I can see why you're confused about this. The way the trim pots are placed on the circuit board it would seem like the 5 that are grouped together would be for the 5 strings, and the one pot that you would think is the master is actually the B string trim pot.

So the way they are set up is like this...The first one (G string side of the board) is actually the master, then it's the G,D,A,E and then the B string. The reason the B string trim pot is isolated is because of the board mounting screw.

As far as the difference in volume, it's very difficult to say without seeing/hearing the bass, but the above might help you figure out what's what.

Jack

 

[gillento]

Sorry,

I wanted to write the piezo has LESS output than the Humbucker.

Thanks for your help. I figured it out.
I just wonder why the Humbucker is so much louder than the piezo.
No it is not mounted excessively high. (about 4-5mm fom the top of the scratchplate). It makes panning to extremes without volume adjustment impossible.

 

[Smallequestrian]

Sorry,

I wanted to write the piezo has LESS output than the Humbucker.

Thanks for your help. I figured it out.
I just wonder why the Humbucker is so much louder than the piezo.
No it is not mounted excessively high. (about 4-5mm fom the top of the scratchplate). It makes panning to extremes without volume adjustment impossible.

That definitely makes more sense. On the piezo Musicmans the Piezo will always be softer than the Magnetic. Just how its made I suppose.