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Carvin 505S preamp noise issues

BassKick

BassKick

Apr 5, 2012
36
28
Australia
#1
Hey guys! I got a Carvin 505S 18 volt preamp installed in my bass recently. The treble pot gives off a harsh hiss when in flat position and when completely boosted (+20db). A thing to note is, the noise is not completely audible when played through an amp, even when the horn tweeter is on. However, it is very apparent when I'm recording. The audio interface I have is not faulty. I tested. Also I should mention, the internal cavity, where the preamp is, is not covered by the copper foil which is considered the best remedy for shielding electronics (I think). The pickup cavity is also not copper covered. Instead, both cavities are covered by a black conductive. As my bass is a mass production model ESP LTD B-5E, I doubt the guys were very cautious in shielding the electronics properly. I did check the bridge for shielding issues, and it's properly shielded. Pickups are not noisy as they are hum cancelling Seymour Duncans. I should also mention the noise disappears when I put my hand on the strings, just like it disappears on a passive bass when the tone is boosted. Help I need is: Is the noise occurring due to the missing copper foil in both the cavities? Or are the grounding leads reversed? OR is the preamp broken (I don't think it is as all the controls and EQs work fine)? Thanks in advance :) (The 500k volume pot is a dud.)
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#2
It may be a shielding issue. You could also try reversing the grounding leads. Also, it's possible the trim pot for the gain is too high. Try lowering the level (it's that trim pot with the Phillips head in the blue housing) and see if that helps.
 
#3
Thanks for the quick reply :) I actually did trim the gain. It's set to 1 at the moment (that's the lowest I think). The noise doesn't drop though. It's that persistent humming, or rather buzzing in this case, you get on passive basses.
 
#6
BassKick said:
Pickups are dual coils (Seymour Duncan SSB-5). And yes. The noise is completely gone when I bypass it. It's still very much present in active mode...
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I'd check the grounding. That sounds like the culprit. If all else fails call Carvin and see if they'll swap out the preamp. They're generally pretty good with customer service.
I did put a preamp in by myself once and had to have my regular tech clean up my soldering after the fact. I was having all sorts of random pops and hisses from bad cold solder joints, etc. May be worth running it by your bass repair guy if you have one you trust. It may be a $20 tweak.
 
#7
Roy Vogt said:
I'd check the grounding. That sounds like the culprit. If all else fails call Carvin and see if they'll swap out the preamp. They're generally pretty good with customer service.
I did put a preamp in by myself once and had to have my regular tech clean up my soldering after the fact. I was having all sorts of random pops and hisses from bad cold solder joints, etc. May be worth running it by your bass repair guy if you have one you trust. It may be a $20 tweak.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the suggestion! :) I will do that. I did get the pre installed by a tech guy though. I'll reverse the grounding leads. Will post results if it is fixed. Thanks again for your help! :)
 
#9
Funkinthetrunk said:
Check all your grounds and really double check the connections on the pots that were removed from the circuit boards and relocated with wires. Make sure there no shorts or any broken traces on the circuit board.
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I'm guessing it's either due to bad grounding or shielding. The noise was present before the pots were removed from the circuit boards. But I will do a double check again just to be sure (The installation was done by a very experienced tech guy). What other issues can cause this? I remember seeing a post in Carvin's forum where someone used the pots to ground the preamp. Should I do that? Invalid Link Removed The 4th last reply shows the grounding.
 

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