Low volume from new SBMM Ray4

[McSalterson]

I just bought a new Ray4 online that arrived yesterday. When I plugged it in, the volume was extremely low. For a decent bedroom volume, I had to crank my amp up quite a bit. I plugged in another bass, and it was shaking the walls at that volume. I replaced the battery, but that didn’t make a difference. The E string is 4mm above the pickup.

I’ve looked it up and saw that some others have had an issue with the 9v wire. Nothing is obvious when I opened it up. It looks like the black wire from the battery connector was soldered together with a bare wire coming from the pickup. I was thinking of snipping the battery wire and soldering it directly on the pot, but I’m worried that might be wrong.

Another thing I saw was that it could be a terminal on the input jack that needs to be bent, but nothing was obvious by looking at it.

Any ideas before I bring it to a tech?

 

[kgbeast]

Either the 9v does not get to the preamp or the opamp chip is fried.
It is possible to kill opamp with reversed polarity of the battery is installed wrong.
Or the power from the battery simply does not get to the board. If you have multimeter, easy to check, if not, you can try to remove the battery and see if the bass sounds the same. In the opamp it is possible to fry just one half at which point the volume will be slightly louder with the battery than without.
So basically, if with the battery it is louder, then it is possible that opamp chip is done for.
There are other reasons for bass to sound weak, such as broken wires and pots. You can poke in the pots lugs and see if you hear anything popping in and out. For pickup check, you can measure resistance with multimeter.

 

[kgbeast]

I see something that looks like a large diode on the preamp, perhaps it is there to protect from reversed polarity. So perhaps it is not a dead opamp, but something is misswired and power does not reach the preamp board. Perhaps the jack is faulty. You need a multimeter to troubleshoot.

 

[McSalterson]

Thank you. So I removed the battery and tried it. At first I couldn’t hear anything. After almost maxing out my amp’s volume, I could hear sound very faintly. So it sounds like the preamp could be bad?

I wanted to eventually switch out the pickup and preamp, but was planning on putting that off a bit. Maybe a good time to do that.

 

[McSalterson]

I see something that looks like a large diode on the preamp, perhaps it is there to protect from reversed polarity. So perhaps it is not a dead opamp, but something is misswired and power does not reach the preamp board. Perhaps the jack is faulty. You need a multimeter to troubleshoot.

I do have a multimeter or two around here somewhere. Do you mind telling me exactly how I’d check the jack?

 

[kgbeast]

Perhaps the jack is faulty. You need a multimeter to troubleshoot. If you do not know how this works, basically, this is stereo jack tip-ring-sleeve. Regular mono plug of the cable, shorts the ring and sleeve and acts like a switch to connect battery black to the guitar ground. If something is wrong with that, then the battery power would not go in. Shorting the two black wires completes the circuit as well and can be used to test. You can use tweezers to do this as a test.

 

[kgbeast]

If volume is changes with the battery in and out, the jack is likely works as it should. In that case the problem is the preamp or the pickup itself. You should measure resistance between the wires coming from the pickup. Even if still connected to the preamp, it should measure some kilo-ohms... Maybe in 10k to 20k range. I can not say for sure.

 

[kgbeast]

Also make sure the battery is good l... this might be simpler than we are talking about here .

 

[McSalterson]

Also make sure the battery is good l... this might be simpler than we are talking about here .

First thing I tried was switching out the generic 9v with an Amazon 9v. I’ll see if I can find a Duracell, though.

 

[kgbeast]

First thing I tried was switching out the generic 9v with an Amazon 9v. I’ll see if I can find a Duracell, though.

Amazon is fine if it is not dead. Any fresh battery will work at least for a day. If you are sure one of your batteries is good, then it is good. You can touch battery with your tongue to check... If it is not something you could hang on to for more than a second, the battery is good

 

[bigdaddybass12]

Please let us know what you find out.

 

[kgbeast]

You can try to check opamp with a multimeter. Set it to DC volts, anything more than 9v range. Put the black lead on ground (pot body or jack black wire). The red poke at each of the chip legs. You should see probably about 4v on most legs, on one you see 0v and on the first it might read 9v. Obviously the bass needs to be with the good battery and connected to a cable. The measurements might be drastically different, from that, but post what you get, it might be indicative. The first leg has dot next to it, then it is down the line, counterclockwise. Do not short the legs with the lead, it can damage the opamp as well.

 

[Five or Six]

It's new, send it back.

 

[InhumanResource]

I just bought a new Ray4 online that arrived yesterday. When I plugged it in, the volume was extremely low. For a decent bedroom volume, I had to crank my amp up quite a bit. I plugged in another bass, and it was shaking the walls at that volume. I replaced the battery, but that didn’t make a difference. The E string is 4mm above the pickup.

I’ve looked it up and saw that some others have had an issue with the 9v wire. Nothing is obvious when I opened it up. It looks like the black wire from the battery connector was soldered together with a bare wire coming from the pickup. I was thinking of snipping the battery wire and soldering it directly on the pot, but I’m worried that might be wrong.

Another thing I saw was that it could be a terminal on the input jack that needs to be bent, but nothing was obvious by looking at it.

Any ideas before I bring it to a tech?

View attachment 5114722 View attachment 5114723 View attachment 5114724 View attachment 5114725

What is the other bass you compared it to? Is it active?

 

[Deleted member 271037]

It's new, send it back.

This.

Stopp messing around with it, you'll just end up voiding the warranty. Send it back. It's probably a faulty preamp (unless the battery you tried was dead).

Bring it to a tech? Why should YOU pay for repairing a faulty product under warranty??? Send it back.

If you plan on replacing the preamp you might ask for a partial refund instead of course. The stock preamp in these basses is junk anyway so you'll probably end up replacing it sooner rahter than later but I would still not accept paying full price for a faulty instrument.

 

[mrperkolator]

Thank you. So I removed the battery and tried it. At first I couldn’t hear anything. After almost maxing out my amp’s volume, I could hear sound very faintly. So it sounds like the preamp could be bad?

I wanted to eventually switch out the pickup and preamp, but was planning on putting that off a bit. Maybe a good time to do that.

I don't see anything glaringly wrong in the pictures. So you now have a choice... risk voiding a warranty by prodding around, or return. That preamp isn't the best even when it works. I sold one I thought had issues once because the E string distorted with steel strings. Turns out that's just the preamp.

hold on... How close is the pickup? Double check your setup. I'd be a shame to miss something simple. I cant remember what factory spec is for MM pickups. try raising it. It's also entirely possible that the pickup could be shorted somewhere and not nearly as hot as it should be.

Ray 4's aren't hard to come by, so I'd use the warranty and get a different one. That way you dont have to jump on the modding train too quickly.

 

[Isaac_James]

Yeah, if this is a new bass, no reason to go to the trouble and cost of fixing it yourself unless you really want a project.

You should be able to return or exchange this at no cost if it's defective as a brand new instrument.

 

[McSalterson]

How close is the pickup? Double check your setup. I'd be a shame to miss something simple.

The pickup is 4mm from the bottom of the E string to the top of the pole piece. I just Googled the suggested height, and it says:

"The factory specifications for the pickup height is 6/32" or 4.76mm from the top of the plastic between the pickup covers to the bottom of the G string.

I can measure that later, but it doesn't seem terribly off.

Ray 4's aren't hard to come by, so I'd use the warranty and get a different one.

I made a few bonehead mistakes (in retrospect) to save a little bit of money that make returning difficult or impossible. Instead of buying in-store and actually testing it out, I bought "B-Stock" (it was actually brand new and unopened) online to save $50. I also got rid of the box before I ever tested it out, and the seller charges a significant restocking fee if all packing materials aren't included.

I think I'm going to go the route of upgrading the pickup and OBP sooner than I had planned.

Thank you

 

[mrperkolator]

The pickup is 4mm from the bottom of the E string to the top of the pole piece. I just Googled the suggested height, and it says:

"The factory specifications for the pickup height is 6/32" or 4.76mm from the top of the plastic between the pickup covers to the bottom of the G string.

I can measure that later, but it doesn't seem terribly off.



I made a few bonehead mistakes (in retrospect) to save a little bit of money that make returning difficult or impossible. Instead of buying in-store and actually testing it out, I bought "B-Stock" (it was actually brand new and unopened) online to save $50. I also got rid of the box before I ever tested it out, and the seller charges a significant restocking fee if all packing materials aren't included.

I think I'm going to go the route of upgrading the pickup and OBP sooner than I had planned.

Thank you

That makes sense. Before you get too far, I'd cut the pickup loose about 1-2 cm away from the preamp and strip the ends (so you can reconnect if need be). Then check the resistance across the pickup to see if it's in spec. You may need to get both a new preamp and a new pickup. The pickup reading much lower oms would explain a lower output.

From back when I read about it too much... I believe John East pre will give you that classic ray sound. Not sure if that's your goal. Tons of options out there.

 

[Isaac_James]

The pickup is 4mm from the bottom of the E string to the top of the pole piece. I just Googled the suggested height, and it says:

"The factory specifications for the pickup height is 6/32" or 4.76mm from the top of the plastic between the pickup covers to the bottom of the G string.

I can measure that later, but it doesn't seem terribly off.



I made a few bonehead mistakes (in retrospect) to save a little bit of money that make returning difficult or impossible. Instead of buying in-store and actually testing it out, I bought "B-Stock" (it was actually brand new and unopened) online to save $50. I also got rid of the box before I ever tested it out, and the seller charges a significant restocking fee if all packing materials aren't included.

I think I'm going to go the route of upgrading the pickup and OBP sooner than I had planned.

Thank you

Makes sense, I'm sorry the initial cost savings is getting eaten up and then some. So it goes. If you feel inclined to do the electrical work yourself, it's neither too hard nor too risky. If you have the tools already this can save you some money.