Oh, ok, so it was an issue with the height adjusting screw. Still seems to me like the pup may be the likeliest culprit though.
Not a bass, but is this what it sounds like?
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Hot Pickup+Tube Combo=Nasty Squealing. Please help!
- Thread starter Riff Ranger
- Start date
Oh, ok, so it was an issue with the height adjusting screw. Still seems to me like the pup may be the likeliest culprit though.
Not a bass, but is this what it sounds like?
Here is a photo I found of the bottom of these.
6505s don't just sound like that anyway?
I tried one out yesterday and it was tough to tame.My issue sounds much like that, but a bit more irregular, and I can't play over it. It just squeals, and the first time it happened, something (I think it was my power strip) ended up turning everything off before I could think to swat the standby switch. Man, it was awful. I thought I'd killed my new-to-me amp.
That sounds pretty serious. Like, stop listening to armchair tech speculators like me, and get your gear to a proper tech serious.
Yeah, they're weird. They released them on Earth Day, and they use a fraction of the copper of a typical pickup. Made for bass playing park rangers like myself, it would seem, haha.
The bass side wobbles unless I crank it all the way down, but the treble side doesn't go down as far, and it throws the relative outputs of the strings out of whack. And yeah, I spend way more time on the fat strings than the skinny strings, but I do eventually use all of them, so cranking the bass side all the way down is not an acceptable solution, haha.
This was the bass I was playing when the speaker blew (I think) in the micro amp I just bought EDIT: micro amp is fine after all, but it gets along beautifully as-is with my solid state glorified practice amp (Orange 35b, which they don't make anymore, presumably because they're underpowered and any note you hold swells up a bit after the attack, but if you're chugging away with the gain cranked it sounds awesome). I might be rough on amps, haha.
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Well, I hope you can get it sorted out. I went to the lace site and can't find any installation instructions.
Perhaps you could call lace Monday and ask them if they can fax you or email a copy of installation instructions in case whoever takes a look at it can troubleshoot it.
That sounds like a really good plan. Thanks, @lowplaces and @Kro and @ahc and @JKos. I wasn't sure I'd get any answers at all, let alone a probable diagnosis within two hours. I'd better pony up and become a supporting member. I have received fantastic responses from this community.
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Back in the day there were pickups not dipped/boiled in wax and those gave of squeals in line with your description at high enough volume. Maybe your specimen still has loose windings and needs to be re-dipped. If you can provoke the squeal with a different amp then you pretty much know what's wrong.
You did, when you bought that Buster from me.
I think I gave you a diagnosis of that Westone.
You know where I live, come up with your basses again and we will wrench on your gear.
There was a can of Deoxit on my desk, I should have made you use it.
Fatdog and Gary Brawer used to come by the shops I worked at in high school and then when I came back from college in the early 90's to consult with whoever my boss was back then. I was in the back doing repairs and screwing together parts to make house specials.
You have a pickup height issue. I take a 1/8" allen and set height relative to each string with the highest fret down. Adjustments are made as needed. This won't help you bc that pickup is floating and popping up.
New foam may need to be cut to fit properly, screw holes need to be refilled if they're biting into air. The shrieking noise is probably rub, you heard it when my fret ruler went down on that Westone when it wasn't turned down. That pickup is hopping around making contact with strings. Anyone that's wrenched on gear has had a tool slip or the instrument is full up and hot while loose strings rub. It's a familiar sound. It also makes people switch springs for foam if they play really hard. That's not resolution in a nutshell.
Pop the cover and tell me what value pots and cap are in there. Check that against what is known stock for that model. Check with Lace to see what they recommend and compare it to what you have. That's where I suspect you are a step or more higher than that pickup wants to be. Thing was hotter than the J's I have here right now, and those pickups all measure above 12k.
Take a pic of your foams and post. If you are using springs we will replace with foam. Spin the pickup screws into the body and see if they thread clean and tight without wobbling when they're down. Normally I'd drill out the holes with a larger bit and retread with wood filler. Let the stuff setup. Tape down the pickup cavity, control cavity, plate, verify solder joints are good, spray out the pots, verify/clean jack. I have parts here, so I can jump in pots, jack, etc component by component if anything is bad.
my first guess would be pickup height. those laces are not regular pickups, and should not be installed as such. use spacers or some stiff sort of tubing to mount them solidly so that they do not wobble freely. they are 'hot', so they can be a further distance away from the strings than other types of pickups.
also, that bit about the magnet coming out of the top of the pickup--did i get that right? was it just the magnet, or the entire pickup?
also, that bit about the magnet coming out of the top of the pickup--did i get that right? was it just the magnet, or the entire pickup?
- Apr 18, 2008
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IMHO, the chances of the pickup being the culprit are very slim. Those Lace Aluma pickups are not like normal pickups, so they’re not susceptible to the same kind of microphonics as normal pickups, and any suggestions regarding wax potting them are missing that point entirely. That said, it is still possible that the small secondary winding underneath might somehow be loose. Was the pickup purchased new, or second-hand?
I do agree with those suggesting more solidly mounting the pickup, and perhaps even lowering it to tame a bit of the output.
I suspect it’s the amp (but I’m not that savvy about tube amps). Does it display the same behavior with a different bass, after having adjusted the input gain to match?
I do agree with those suggesting more solidly mounting the pickup, and perhaps even lowering it to tame a bit of the output.
I suspect it’s the amp (but I’m not that savvy about tube amps). Does it display the same behavior with a different bass, after having adjusted the input gain to match?
Mesa Busters are Mesa's clean mid wattage vintage tube amp whereas the d180 is the drivey one. If you're getting sea gull feedback without a dirt pedal take the amp and bass for a checkup because you could potentially get hurt or damage the head by troubleshooting it further.
A very quick test is to see if the squeal stops if you turn the bass' volume down. If it doesn't, well then, it ain't the pickup.
- John
- John
Since it works fine with your SS amp that pretty much points to your tube amp being the culprit. Microphonic tube. I had a micro once and it squealed just as you describe. Hit a note and screeeeeech! Popped in a NOS 12ua7 and bingo.
Swapping out preamp tubes is easy, just go ahead and do it. If its a power tube you need a matched pair and find out about how the bias works on your amp: good chance it’s automatic in a Mesa, but it might need to be set with a pot.
Note than when tapping tubes, a click or ding is normal. If one is micro, it will sing like feedback.
If your pickup is "popping up", the wood that holds that adjustment screw is likely gone. If that's so, you'll need to replace the wood (tricky but possible), or find a longer screw - but look out you don't pop through the back of the body. I'm not sure where to look for such an unusual screw - maybe check with your guitar tech. A thinner or less dense piece of foam below the pickup might also allow the pickup to go lower, if that's not a sonic problem.
- Apr 18, 2008
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- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
Actually the quick, easy, and effective remedy is to stuff bits of toothpick into the screw hole (glue optional) and carry on.
Select a drill bit a couple sizes up, check for depth, tape the bit, open the hole.
Use wood filler, let it set, reinstall.
In his case copper tape.
Actually you can drive anything gritty with a way hot pickup, ask any Nordstrand Single or Blade owner.
A pencil is what I use, powertubes on this amp are set automatically.
It has a full set of Mesa tubes in it.
I made him play a bass with pickups that are WAY hotter than his Lace to check if gremlins had crawled into the amp the night before.....I even had him roll back on the single coils and it ain't shielding that's his problem.
It does, that how I found the scratchy pot.
