Feeling Dumb

[Sonicfrog]

At a gig setting up. I was a bit delayed getting there at set-up time. I got there before we were slated to go on, but it was cutting it close. I set things up trying to sound check, but I was hearing noting coming out of my cabinet.

My first thought is my preamp battery is dead. Change that but still no sound.

Change my guitar cord.

Nothing.

It was when I was checking the speaker wire from my amp to my cabinet that I found the problem....

Where is the speaker wire?????

Yeah. "Someone" forgot to install said speaker wire.

 

[swagbotbilly]

 

[mrjim123]

I've done the same thing. All but one of my basses are Vol-Vol, and I'm thinking that when I pick up my Vol-Blend bass, which, by the way, is an ESP LTD D4.

 

[Winton]

I’ve done something similar where I get no sound so I check my amp volume, mute switch, my guitar pedals switches, the cables connected to them, the cables connected from them, and still getting no sound so I get steaming mad and……..oh, my volume knob was at zero :/

 

[rickwebb]

I only use a wireless system so i don't trip myself up with my cord. Anymore.
But i still trip over my monitor and pedalboard. C'est la vie...

 

[hbarcat]

I had my Ampeg SVT Pro4 listed for sale (locally) in the TB classifieds and agreed to deliver the amp to the buyer who responded about 30 minutes drive away.

We hooked up the amp to his speaker cabinet in his home studio so he could try it out. I was unpleasantly surprised when the amp produced some extremely distorted output, with the volume continuously dropping out every second or so.

I'd been using the amp in my own music room for home practice for the previous 2 years and it had always performed flawlessly. Obviously this terribly distorted output killed the deal and I embarrassingly apologized and took my amp back home.

I suspected that one of the three 12ax7 tubes had failed, perhaps damaged when I transported it from my home to my car and then to his home. I replaced all three with known good tubes, but the problem persisted. I set the amp aside and decided to deal with it at a later date. I changed the TB classified ad status to "no longer available".

About a week later, I was busy doing some monotonous work at my factory job and mulling over what to do with the amp and suddenly had a "Wait a minute!" moment.

When I got home from work, I grabbed my amp and checked the rear panel. Sure enough, the amp was set to "stereo/biamp" mode, which means that it was splitting the signal into the low frequency in channel A and the high frequency in channel B. In this mode, you need to run 2 cabinets, one for each channel.

But when we set up the amp in his studio, he only hooked up one cabinet, using the single mono/bridge output. This forced the amp to shove both the low frequency power out and the high frequency power out into a single output. They two internal amps were fighting each other, which resulted in the distortion.

I pushed the switch to mono mode and tried playing through it. Of course it worked perfectly.

 

[Fynn]

So, I was practicing the other day, and I could have sworn I heard a slight "crackle" and lost a bit of volume. I quickly determined my bridge pickup was not making signal. I kept playing as I normally use the neck pickup alone.

Today I get to investigating what might be broke on my bass. I'm sure some of ya'll are wondering what maker/model bass I have. It is an ESP LTD B4E. It has passive soap bar pickups and a 3-band equalizer. My assumption is the two large pot knobs are volume control for the bridge and neck pickups. I take the battery cover off, remove the battery. Take the back plate off looking for loose wires, bad solder connections, anything that might be obvious. Nothing pops out at me. I do a search for an ESP guitar owner manual.

After reviewing the manual, it turns out the front knob (what I thought was the neck pickup volume) is the master volume control and the rear knob (bridge pickup) is the blend control. So, there is nothing wrong with the instrument, the problem is with the tool holding the instrument.

Sigh.

I think that modern basses tend to not use seperate volume controls anymore and instead you just have a blend control if you get multiple pickups.
I just wish stacked pot jazz basses were still a common thing.

 

[WarwickE36]

That's not quite as bad as when the motorcycle doesn't start and you go taking things apart to check spark plug wires, grounds, etc. only to find that you forgot to switch the kill switch to the run position. Doh!

Or on an older one you don't turn the fuel petcock on.... and your work is right off the highway... and about 30 seconds onto the highways you start sputtering. Luckily I've always been able to flip it on the fly before it stalls.

 

[PDW30]

Old saying from software people: "it's impossible to make a system foolproof, fools are so inventive."

And yes, I've done the 'pedal wired wrong way round, why doesn't it work?' thing.

My pet hate: my Ibby SRs, where I swear no two have the same control on the same knob.

Which brings me to another software saying: 'when all else fails, read the manual.'

 

[factory presets]

Least your bass IQUOTE="Egg250, post: 26426001, member: 386866"]So, I was practicing the other day, and I could have sworn I heard a slight "crackle" and lost a bit of volume. I quickly determined my bridge pickup was not making signal. I kept playing as I normally use the neck pickup alone.

Today I get to investigating what might be broke on my bass. I'm sure some of ya'll are wondering what maker/model bass I have. It is an ESP LTD B4E. It has passive soap bar pickups and a 3-band equalizer. My assumption is the two large pot knobs are volume control for the bridge and neck pickups. I take the battery cover off, remove the battery. Take the back plate off looking for loose wires, bad solder connections, anything that might be obvious. Nothing pops out at me. I do a search for an ESP guitar owner manual.

After reviewing the manual, it turns out the front knob (what I thought was the neck pickup volume) is the master volume control and the rear knob (bridge pickup) is the blend control. So, there is nothing wrong with the instrument, the problem is with the tool holding the instrument.

Sigh.[/QUOTE]
Least your bass ain't broken. Seems to me, in my limited experience, that active basses tend to go the blend knob route. I'm assuming it has to do with preamps handling blend knobs more accurately than passives. I'm sure there'll be a flood of V/V actives posted up to prove me wrong. But looking dumb is what I do. I can live with it.

 

[furym]

So, I was practicing the other day, and I could have sworn I heard a slight "crackle" and lost a bit of volume. I quickly determined my bridge pickup was not making signal. I kept playing as I normally use the neck pickup alone.

Today I get to investigating what might be broke on my bass. I'm sure some of ya'll are wondering what maker/model bass I have. It is an ESP LTD B4E. It has passive soap bar pickups and a 3-band equalizer. My assumption is the two large pot knobs are volume control for the bridge and neck pickups. I take the battery cover off, remove the battery. Take the back plate off looking for loose wires, bad solder connections, anything that might be obvious. Nothing pops out at me. I do a search for an ESP guitar owner manual.

After reviewing the manual, it turns out the front knob (what I thought was the neck pickup volume) is the master volume control and the rear knob (bridge pickup) is the blend control. So, there is nothing wrong with the instrument, the problem is with the tool holding the instrument.

Sigh.

Doh!
I had a B4E and sold it because I was “supposed” to have a 5 string. That was a great bass, capable of very low action and sounded great. I would buy another in one a heartbeat. Glad you figured it out.

 

[Nuage420]

That's not quite as bad as when the motorcycle doesn't start and you go taking things apart to check spark plug wires, grounds, etc. only to find that you forgot to switch the kill switch to the run position. Doh!

Dude... leaving the sports bar jump on the bike and no start. Check kill switch turn key off and on but no start... I am not quite OCD but I definitely do more maintenance on my bikes than the average rider. I'm racking my brain, searching the forums, trouble shooting... everything I can before I call my guru.
I give in and call the guru, he chuckles and says "put it in neutral jackass"

 

[wildman2]

At least you didn’t look for your phone with the flashlight on your phone like I did for 20 minutes. Thank goodness I was home alone

 

[jamro217]

I just bought an Ibanez AF95FM. The manual has a page dedicated to "Safety Precautions". One of the items in this list is "Do not twirl the instrument". How can I check the back for damage without voiding the warranty? D'oh!


As far as my feeling realllllly dumb goes, have you met my first wife?

 

[Kubicki Fan]

I know that feeling. Sold a Bonneville to a friend and a few weeks in, it wouldn't start. We tested everything over a week or two. We couldn't figure it out. I was talking to another friend and he suggested checking the kill switch. So I called my friend with the bike and told him about the kill switch. He tears it apart and its corroded bad. A few minutes with a wire brush and the bike fired up first kick. That bike went on to become famous in the Great Memorial Day Police Chase of '87, but that's another story.

Lucky for you, you sold it!!

 

[whero]

OK, while we're fessing our idiot moments...

I used to do shift work and would often have brain fade at Saturday night gigs if I hadn't had enough sleep after working for 12 hours the night before. My worst was the night I was playing a small cafe-type venue and thought my 2x10 would have plenty of volume. Somehow I managed to take the extension cabinet and leave the combo behind. Quick 40 minute round trip to go home and get something that could actually make noise, and the night went off without a(nother) hitch.

 

[definenredefine]

I used to be a phone tech. I’d regularly get service calls for a reported dead handset. Walk in, notice the curly cord was unplugged, and click - fixed!

Yup.

Though that will never stop people from getting crispy when you start with "Please check to make sure your computer is turned on" type questions.

 

[micguy]

At least you didn’t look for your phone with the flashlight on your phone like I did for 20 minutes. Thank goodness I was home alone

I've gone looking for my sunglasses while wearing them. In my defense, they're wraparounds, so they fill my entire field of vision (you don't see the frames or the edge of the lenses), and they are so comfortable that...yeah, you can easily forget you have them on.

 

[definenredefine]

I've gone looking for my sunglasses while wearing them. In my defense, they're wraparounds, so they fill my entire field of vision (you don't see the frames or the edge of the lenses), and they are so comfortable that...yeah, you can easily forget you have them on.

I wear glasses for vision and I have definitely gotten in the shower with them still on my face...

 

[wiscoaster]

.... So, there is nothing wrong with the instrument, the problem is with the tool holding the instrument.

Been there, done that. When I figure out what the optimum settings are on a new bass I'd rather not even touch the controls after that. Trouble is knobs tend to move on their own ....

Duct tape, anyone?