New bass won't get loud

[Robroy]

Might be a good excuse to hot-rod the electronics.

 

[oldcatfish]

Is it a jazz bass, precision bass, or something else? I have 2 sx basses and 2 of my kids also have one each. 3 are p basses, one is a jazz-- all of the p pickups are very hot, but on the Jazz they are a little on the quiet side. But even the Jazz pickups get loud enough to use in a band.

Personally, if I were you, I'd just get new pickups for your bass, unless it's a cheap fix. The sx pickups aren't bad sounding, but there are better ones available.

 

[hdracer]

If you can solder and have a iron try switching the wires from one of the pick ups.
Just swap the ground and the one on the pot post. That will let you know if they are out of phase.

 

[Xthumpx]

I heard back from rondo music. They said the bass is out of stock for the year, so and exchange is not possible. They offered to have a new jack shipped, or send it back for repair or reimbursement. I've decided I'm going to keep the bass, and not ship it for repair. It's a jazz bass for those who are wondering. I'm going to take it to a guitar repair shop tomorrow and have all new jazz bass electronics put it. Nothing special just new pots, wiring, capacitor, and jack. If that doesn't fix everything then it's definitely the pickups. Yes, the warranty will be voided, but I will have hopefully a better bass altogether when repairs are all done. Thank you for all the help everyone!
I will be sure to post an update when I get the bass back!

 

[JustForSport]

If you can solder and have a iron try switching the wires from one of the pick ups.
Just swap the ground and the one on the pot post. That will let you know if they are out of phase.

That's what I'd do first- pickups have been factory installed out-of-phase plenty times. And costs no $$ in extra parts that may not even be needed.

 

[SirMjac28]

I agree about sending it back if it was a rare bass that you couldn't easily find I probably would keep it and have it repaired you got a lemon it happens with basses costing ten times as much. I also think your dad would want you to have a working instrument that he paid good money for?

 

[hdracer]

That's what I'd do first- pickups have been factory installed out-of-phase plenty times. And costs no $$ in extra parts that may not even be needed.

Heck, I have installed them out of phase myself

 

[BlueTalon]

Not sure if this is the right place for this post. I just got a new SX swamp ash 6 string bass. It looks great and sounds pretty nice but no matter what amp I plug into I can't get the bass loud enough to play in a band setting. I'm not sure what the problem is, hence my post here. I don't want to return it because it was a gift from my dad. Any ideas on what I can do to correct the problem. All the amps are good and play loudly with other basses so that is ruled out. Other than that I'm in the dark.

I got a used SX precision a couple years ago. It also was abnormally quiet -- and with the single precision pickup, there was no real possibility of phase issues, it was just a gutless pickup. The fix was just to replace the electronics. If you have gutless pickups, you just gotta replace them. And while you're doing that, you may as well put in a new good jack and some good pots in it.

As a quick temporary fix, you could use a pedal or preamp to boost the signal to the amp, but it's never going to sound as good as you need it to that way if you don't have a strong enough signal coming from your pickups to begin with.

Normally, I wouldn't recommend spending a lot of money on upgrading an SX, but the fact that it's from your dad gives it an intrinsic and sentimental value it wouldn't otherwise have.