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I am new here! (TECH QUESTION)

I

illstaygold

Feb 11, 2014
17
1
#1
:bassist::help:

I wanted to first tell you my name is Anthony. I have been a bass addict for over a decade and a half now. Played in a bunch of bands, yada yada yada. ANYWAY...

I love 6 strings--always have. So I did some trading around and scored an Ibanez SR506. I picked the bass up from a trade deal I did through Sam Ash. Everything works pretty well for the most part. The ONLY thing I am noticing is that I have a balance knob that works when I turn it all the way to the right. Otherwise, if I turn it to the left, I literally get NOTHING. So, I can safely say that the front pup is not working at all. Would that be in the Ibanez EQB3S preamp or the pup itself do you think?

Any and all help is appreciated. Obviously I will be taking the bass back to my friends at Sam Ash so they can fix it, but my mind is curious.

Thanks all.
A
 
#7
Sounds like a wiring problem from the pickup to the blend. If you want to check, open up the control cavity and check the wires coming from the pickup to the blend and making sure they are still attached.

Dry solder joints could easily be an issue too, it does depend.

Breaking a pickup takes some special skill :D
 
#8
mrmills said:
Sounds like a wiring problem from the pickup to the blend. If you want to check, open up the control cavity and check the wires coming from the pickup to the blend and making sure they are still attached.

Dry solder joints could easily be an issue too, it does depend.

Breaking a pickup takes some special skill :D
Click to expand...

The fact that it only works when the bridge pickup is soloed, and that the signal is cut out when the neck pickup is introduced means that the signal is being taken to ground. Dry solder joints or loose connections won't cause those problems.
 
#13
Great news! That's the best to hear.
I've only had one bad Ibanez pickup- was open circuit, (epoxy potted)
in used bass (SRX705), and got it that way, so just replaced the pickup.
Passive pickups are easy to check with a multi-meter, or just jumper it to the jack to see if it generates a signal or not.
Then go from there.
 
#14
Hopkins said:
The fact that it only works when the bridge pickup is soloed, and that the signal is cut out when the neck pickup is introduced means that the signal is being taken to ground. Dry solder joints or loose connections won't cause those problems.
Click to expand...

Sounds like the OP's issue is being well taken care of. However, being an electronics guy, let me elaborate on this statement.

It's true that the signal could indeed being taken to ground. This would happen if there was a short in the wiring somewhere, meaning a bare wire or a wire with the insulation skinned away, exposing the bare wire and touching a ground wire, lug, shielding, or even the shielding paint somewhere.

And cold solder joints and loose connections can work. Or not. At best, the connection will be intermittent.

If a connection isn't made, as in a wire being broken or disconnected in the circuit (say the wire going to the output jack is completely broken away), then the signal doesn't go anywhere at all. With an incomplete circuit, there's nowhere for the signal to go. In fact, you could get really picky and say that the signal never gets started because of the incomplete circuit.

However, I won't get that picky, I've been crowing enough semantics already...:roll eyes:
 
#18
Geri O said:
Yes, it is, but not the same thing as shorted to ground, although the result is the same.
Click to expand...

Not really. On a two pickup bass with both pickups on, they are both part of the circuit. If the pickup has an open connection then it just will not work within that circuit. If it is shorted, then the signal of the entire circuit is taken to ground, and the bass will make no sound, unless the pickup that is not shorted is soloed. If it was just open then the bass would act as if the good pickup was soloed at all times. Its a pretty major difference really.
 
#19
Hopkins said:
Not really. On a two pickup bass with both pickups on, they are both part of the circuit. If the pickup has an open connection then it just will not work within that circuit. If it is shorted, then the signal of the entire circuit is taken to ground, and the bass will make no sound, unless the pickup that is not shorted is soloed. If it was just open then the bass would act as if the good pickup was soloed at all times. Its a pretty major difference really.
Click to expand...

I can't believe I'm using this phrase, but it kinda depends on what "It" is...My mistake for thinking some things were common sense.
 

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