Constant noise - unknown electrical fault

[kendall92]

Hi everyone,
I'm a bedroom player who's been out of practice for almost a decade. Just retrieved some things from storage and am having a strange issue with an Ibanez SR300, everything stock and unmodified.

Whenever the bass is plugged in and the amp turned on, there is always static, crackling, buzzing noise, basically the same noise as you'd get from bad connections, dodgy cables, dirty pots. But it is constant, and very loud. You can just hear the bass itself under the noise.

This only happens with this bass. I have tried several batteries. The input jack is tight, so are the volume, pickup selector and tone pots. All the wiring seems to be intact, all the soldering is solid, all the components seem rust-free.

Should I just blast everything with contact cleaner? Is the pre-amp dead? What should I check next, or does anyone know what the issue is?

 

[Roland GR 88]

Contact cleaners will just get things messy and should never be used if you’re guessing about an issue as they can and often just make things worse. If you can’t find any obvious wiring problems then take it to the doctor who has the tools and knowledge to fix it. After 10yrs of storage this is almost to be expected.
Sorry, this isn’t the answer you’re looking for but noise can come from too many places in an active bass to figure out without putting it on a bench and testing all the components.
Remember, techs are our friends and a good one is worth much more than their hourly rate.

 

[uOpt]

No cleaner. That's unlikely to fix it and does more harm than good.

Did you try a different cable? Or a different amp for that matter?

Does the noise go away when you turn the volume knob on the bass to zero?

 

[kendall92]

No cleaner. That's unlikely to fix it and does more harm than good.

Did you try a different cable? Or a different amp for that matter?

Does the noise go away when you turn the volume knob on the bass to zero?

Tried different cables. I don't have another amp, but I've tried other basses with this amp, (one other active, one passive) no problem with those. The noise is consistent. Even with the bass volume at zero there is still noise. Strangely, I can EQ the noise, and give the static more bass, mids or treble.

 

[uOpt]

Tried different cables. I don't have another amp, but I've tried other basses with this amp, (one other active, one passive) no problem with those. The noise is consistent. Even with the bass volume at zero there is still noise. Strangely, I can EQ the noise, and give the static more bass, mids or treble.

Thanks.

That sounds (hehe) like a hosed preamp. If the pickups or anything in front of the preamp were hosed the noise would go down with the volume pot. Maybe some blown capacitor. Around 2010-2012 a lot of electronics products were made with bad capacitors, look up the Dell lawsuit they lost.

Next step is disconnecting a pickup from the preamp and testing it on the amp without preamp (crocodile clips or so).

 

[kendall92]

Thanks.

That sounds (hehe) like a hosed preamp. If the pickups or anything in front of the preamp were hosed the noise would go down with the volume pot. Maybe some blown capacitor. Around 2010-2012 a lot of electronics products were made with bad capacitors, look up the Dell lawsuit they lost.

Next step is disconnecting a pickup from the preamp and testing it on the amp without preamp (crocodile clips or so).

Aaaand that sounds beyond the limit of my technical skills. Thank you for narrowing down what the problems could be, I think it's time to do what Roland suggested and take it to the shop.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Hi everyone,
I'm a bedroom player who's been out of practice for almost a decade. Just retrieved some things from storage...

Should I just blast everything with contact cleaner? Is the pre-amp dead?

NOOOOOOOOO! A proper cleaning may be the order of the day. Going wild with a can of -spray whatever- is never recommended.

10 years in storage. Non-climate controlled storage? As in no humidity control?
This can lead to just enough corrosion to play havoc with low level, high impedance things, like your bass.

If it just happens with this one bass, then you've gone a long way towards isolating the problem. Now find someone qualified to help with the more delicate part of the task. A good inspection and cleaning shouldn't be prohibitively costly.

 

[60bass]

As far as contact cleaner goes, it depends on the type and brand. I've used Deoxit for decades on guitars, Amps, stereo gear, mixing boards, and anything electronic that needed cleaning and have never had an issue. Spray but don't overspray, wipe off any excess and it's good to go. Just don't get that crappy TV tuner cleaner with lube or use WD40 and it's all good. I've saved vintage pots by using Deoxit where people said they needed to be replaced. That's been my experience. Others may vary and that's OK too.

 

[Sean S]

Did you try new batteries in it?

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

As far as contact cleaner goes, it depends on the type and brand. I've used Deoxit for decades on guitars, Amps, stereo gear, mixing boards, and anything electronic that needed cleaning and have never had an issue. Spray but don't overspray, wipe off any excess and it's good to go. Just don't get that crappy TV tuner cleaner with lube or use WD40 and it's all good. I've saved vintage pots by using Deoxit where people said they needed to be replaced. That's been my experience. Others may vary and that's OK too.

Wow! TV tuner cleaner! Been decades since I've cleaned a mechanical TV tuner.
Thanks for the nostalgia.

 

[60bass]

Wow! TV tuner cleaner! Been decades since I've cleaned a mechanical TV tuner.
Thanks for the nostalgia.

Yeah, just jiggle the tuner knob till the picture is clear. It helps if you've broken the plastic knob and have a set of needle nosed vice grips on the tuner shaft. LOL

What I should've said was to avoid any cleaners that also have lubricants in them because they do leave a residue that can be messy.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Yeah, just jiggle the tuner knob till the picture is clear. It helps if you've broken the plastic knob and have a set of needle nosed vice grips on the tuner shaft. LOL

What I should've said was to avoid any cleaners that also have lubricants in them because they do leave a residue that can be messy.

Hee hee... I gots me some needle nose vice grips.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Yeah, just jiggle the tuner knob till the picture is clear. It helps if you've broken the plastic knob and have a set of needle nosed vice grips on the tuner shaft. LOL

What I should've said was to avoid any cleaners that also have lubricants in them because they do leave a residue that can be messy.

You forgot smack it on the side a few times!

 

[byacey]

As far as contact cleaner goes, it depends on the type and brand. I've used Deoxit for decades on guitars, Amps, stereo gear, mixing boards, and anything electronic that needed cleaning and have never had an issue. Spray but don't overspray, wipe off any excess and it's good to go. Just don't get that crappy TV tuner cleaner with lube or use WD40 and it's all good. I've saved vintage pots by using Deoxit where people said they needed to be replaced. That's been my experience. Others may vary and that's OK too.

Don't use any silicon based contact cleaners either; it'll cause nothing but headaches for you.

 

[60bass]

You forgot smack it on the side a few times!

Yep the vacuum tubes get loose on their sockets and need a good whack to get them going again.

Plus I remember when most drug stores sold tubes and had tube testers on the store. Radio Snack had them too.

 

[60bass]

Don't use any silicon based contact cleaners either; it'll cause nothing but headaches for you.

Yep and it will also damage some guitar finishes.

 

[kendall92]

Hey everyone, update, it was the pre-amp that had failed. Got a new one installed and it was good as new.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

I’m glad it was a relatively easy, if potentially not cheap, fix.

 

[Troglodyte1911]

Thanks.

That sounds (hehe) like a hosed preamp. If the pickups or anything in front of the preamp were hosed the noise would go down with the volume pot. Maybe some blown capacitor. Around 2010-2012 a lot of electronics products were made with bad capacitors, look up the Dell lawsuit they lost.

Next step is disconnecting a pickup from the preamp and testing it on the amp without preamp (crocodile clips or so).

Ugh. This just started on my BTB675. Volume on bass turned all the way down, but still noise. I was just about to order a replacement neutrik jack, but it sounds like that isn’t the issue.