No truss rod?

[Play Less Cool]

I recently bought a cheap Probe bass (cheap brand so most wouldnt have heard i of it) second hand.
There is a little fret buzz on all frets but it gets really bad at the 10 - 13th frets. I raised the saddles till they were abnormally high and there was still some major fret buzz!?!?
There is no access to the truss rod from the headstock. do some basses not have a truss rod at all or do i just need to unscrew the neck from the body to reach it?
And would altering the truss rod help the situation? Thanks

 

[No Coast Rider]

If there is a pick guard then pull that off first, sometimes the truss rod is accessed under there. If not, remove the neck. Though if the bass is really cheap it may just not have one. You can still adjust the neck bow, but you'll have to do it with string tension, like by buying strings with lower or higher tension. By the time you figure that out you'll have spent enough on strings to have bought a Squier with an adjustable truss rod.

 

[Iridescentone]

Clever username.

 

[lundborg]

Probably the truss rod is adjusted at the heel, as has been said above, remove the PG and check.

I think there has to be be a sticky about set up, check it out.

Anyway, if you have fret buzz on higher frets, your saddle is still adjusted too low.
A too tight truss rod will produce fret buzz on the lower frets.

If saddle height adjustment becomes 'abnormal', you should consider shimming under the neck heel to change the neck angle (piece of cardboard or credit card).

 

[msb]

The original Dano design had two solid bars in the neck . It was steel reinforced but not adjustable . Nate Daniel felt the adjustable neck was the weak point in guitar design and made one that did not need adjusting .