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Lakland Owners Group #53
- Thread starter smperry
- Start date
- Status
Whoa, the finish and wood grain on that bass looks amazing! 
Lakland certainly do that mod on request, but that's usually for new basses and anyway, I'm sure you don't want to ship your bass halfway across the world for a passive tone control mod.
Given their rep for good customer service though, it wouldn't surprise me if they'd ship you the recommended parts and some guidance as to where (electronically) to insert them.
EDIT: Here's how Lakland do it:
Andy
So I plugged in my newly acquired skyline 55-01 to do some quick recording,
and am quite disappointed by the amount of noise coming from the electronics.
A quick check on my system and cables with another bass confirmed that it is indeed an issue with
the lakland, so I had a look in the electronics cavity.
Quite messy in there, lots of excess wire and the only shielding is on the back of the cover.
The pickups are the bartolini mk-1, with Bart pre. (not sure if this is the current offering).
Killer bass in all other aspects, but it needs to be studio worthy, which it is currently not.
So, I'm asking lakland owners out there if anyone has had similar issues, and suggestions on how to deal with it.
I'm ready to do some surgery, and have my trusty copper shielding standing by but only want to get
Into that at this point if it will work with the current electronics package.
Any takers?
Thanks in advance!
Doug K
and am quite disappointed by the amount of noise coming from the electronics.
A quick check on my system and cables with another bass confirmed that it is indeed an issue with
the lakland, so I had a look in the electronics cavity.
Quite messy in there, lots of excess wire and the only shielding is on the back of the cover.
The pickups are the bartolini mk-1, with Bart pre. (not sure if this is the current offering).
Killer bass in all other aspects, but it needs to be studio worthy, which it is currently not.
So, I'm asking lakland owners out there if anyone has had similar issues, and suggestions on how to deal with it.
I'm ready to do some surgery, and have my trusty copper shielding standing by but only want to get
Into that at this point if it will work with the current electronics package.
Any takers?
Thanks in advance!
Doug K
Had a similar issue with a 44-02 that I ended up shipping back to Lakland to have it fixed under warranty (original owner). They discovered that there was a minor grounding issue with the single coil and fixed that, now it's as quiet as a mouse and works for recording as well.
Prior to the fix, I could not get a decent level without it getting completely distorted. And yes, it does seem their wiring tends to be a little unkept, based on my limited experience, at least with the skylines.
In short, if you are the original owner, contact Lakland and they'll take care of it. If not, they still might be able to help, but I would use a multimeter first to see if it might be a grounding issue. Hope that helps a little.
Thanks for the input,
It's second- hand so there is no warranty.
The amount of noise will change with my position,
thus my tendency to believe it is a shielding issue.
The pups are split coil soap bars, so they should generally be quiet. The noise does increase/ decrease with adding/ subtracting the onboard eq (mids and highs, the low frequency eq doesn't seem to add any noise in its' range).
Hoping some fellow skyline 55-01 owners might chime in with their experience as well.
No problem. If it is a shielding issue as you suspect then checking things out with a multimeter still applies. You may want to have a look at http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f38/jazz-shielding-pictorial-big-images-warning-159191/ to get some ideas of what you can do to alleviate the problem. This is for jazz basses, but should still apply to your situation.
Thanks for the link, i'll have to dig out the 'ol multimeter.
This wouldn't be my first shielding job, but any info or review is really helpful and appreciated!
I'd still really like to know if this is a common issue, or an exception with this model...
it would really move along the trouble shooting portion of dealing with it.
Cheers
I've been recording with mine since the day I got it (55-01).... I don't seem to have a [bad] noise issue.. There is some noise (a very minor hiss like sound) but I don't hear it in a mix or really after I start playing when recorded...... I hope you get yours sussed out .....
I had a Korean one and didn't have any trouble out of it.
I'm told that the latter Korean models weren't as tight as the first Korean models and the new Indonesian models because the Chicago crew couldn't keep up with the amount coming in and some questionable basses were let loose that typically wouldn't have.
Thanks guys, this helps clear things up a lot!
I'm thinking at this point mine is just in need of some attention,
being used after all, and I did get it with case for an excellent price.
Ha, just realized it has a passive pull pot...
same noise issue.
Shielding time.
Great passive tone!
I'm thinking at this point mine is just in need of some attention,
being used after all, and I did get it with case for an excellent price.
Ha, just realized it has a passive pull pot...
same noise issue.
Shielding time.
Great passive tone!
Lakland certainly do that mod on request, but that's usually for new basses and anyway, I'm sure you don't want to ship your bass halfway across the world for a passive tone control mod.
Given their rep for good customer service though, it wouldn't surprise me if they'd ship you the recommended parts and some guidance as to where (electronically) to insert them.
EDIT: Here's how Lakland do it:
Andy
Cheers Andy, I might check that out. I'm all fine with the active setup, but the only issue I can see is when recording at the studio, the tech might get all iffy about me using a preamp as opposed to going in with a passive signal.. mehh they get so territorial when it comes to the mixing desk. I'll check with dan and co and see if they can send the mod out here so I can get my tech to trick it up.
D.A.R.K. said:
That's not a passive bypass if I understand correctly. It just bypasses the eq for a flat signal.
Hey, stupid question time. The string 'tree' on my DJ5 looks like an area of potential future problems because of the size of the screws holding it in place. When changing strings do you normally remove the tree or just leave it in place and run the new strings under the bar. Anyone ever replaced that system with something else that matched the string spacing?
nervous said:
Don't remove the screws. Just run the strings under it.
You shouldn't need to replace it; it's worked fine got me so far.
That makes sense, as there is no gain difference and it matches the flat eq sound.
Time to go to town on it, thanks again for the help all.
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