cracking sound

[mullet0909]

I recently upgraded my Schecter Custom 5 with active EMG's. I took out all the old wiring and put in the pots and wires that came with the new pickups. This was my first time doing this and it was very confusing but I eventually got it to work. However a week later the pickups started giving a cracking sound to the speakers. I trouble shot until i found out it was the guitar causing the problem. The sound almost sounds like a crappy distortion that takes all the "umph" and deepness out of out of the bass. it sounds flabby and terrible. though the sound comes and goes, it is most prevalent when the bridge pickup is turned on. It happens with the neck pickup on too but only when i play hard (like you do when you play with a band). ne ways, i have a show next Friday and my bass just started acting up again. do you guys have any suggestions on how to fix the problem, know what is causing the problem, or have experience a similar problem? thanx

 

[Doc Labyrinth]

you could try reflowing the solder, sounds like you have a bad connection somewhere.

 

[kyral210]

I upgraded my C5 too

Here's a list of things to try

1. Make sure ALL of the soldering is good quality, good contact, and in the right places
2. The bridge wire is disconnected
3. Use 2 batteries over 1 for longer life, better performance, and more headroom. The more headroom you have, the less cut off you get!
4. Plug into an active input on your amp
5. Make sure the connections on the pickup are the right way round (arrow at the top) and pushed in firmly
6. Is the cable good quality? **** cables destroy sound, and can crackle themselves
7. Is the amp ok? Are you adding too high an input? If so turn the input down. Bridge pickups are almost always higher output than neck pickups. This could very well account for the problem as your original HZ's were as week as a baby in an arm wrestle.

That's about all I can think of now, let me know if you need any further help.

This photo shows how I have gaffa taped my wires down, and how I have added the second battery:

Link Removed

To be a geek, here is a reason to upgrade to the 18v suopply (oyther than better tone)

An EMG DC has a battery life of 1500 hours, we shall assume we are using two of these. So a single 9v supply will produce a resultant battery life of 750 hours. However that is from 9v to 0v, and we can assume that tone dies around 4.5v. In reality, a single 9v would give you 375 hours play. At 30 mins play a day, that works out to be 375/((0.5 x 7) x 4) = 375/ 14 = 26 months (2.16 years)

An 18v supply has double life to a 9v since they are in series, and we can effectivly say that we can achieve 1500 hours of battery life. Therefore to run from 18v to 3.5 v gives us an effective life of 1125 hours. Therefore 1125/14= 80 months (6.66 years)

 

[mullet0909]

kyral, I'm running it on 18 volts already. I know the problem is not my amp. im pretty sure its not the cable, ive tried 3 different ones. There was this extra wire from when i took the HZ's out but i assumed the actives didnt need it because 1. the active directions said nothing about it and 2. idk where it goes to. it just comes out of the bridge area (not the same place the pup wire goes). it had a hole of its own. i just taped the end and left it. idk of that has anything to do with it. but i do plan on re soldering everything.

 

[Marcury]

If the wire comes out of the bridge area it is probably the ground. Usually a bad or nonexistent ground causes hum, nit what you describe, but I'd suggest you find out where it goes and connect it.