Double Bass Rev Solo pickup buzz/vibration

[dbass87]

Got my new Rev Solo II installed, tried it out for the first time today, it sounds pretty good except for a vibration or rattle on the A string low B note. That's the most noticeable buzzing I'm getting, there's some very quiet sorta buzz on some of the low notes of the E string, around the G area. I tried moving the pickup around some but it didn't seem to help. Anyway, there was a black rubber piece that came with the pickup I guess for damping purposes, would putting this on eliminate the problem, and how do I go about putting it on? Or is there an even simpler solution?

 

[chuck3]

Got my new Rev Solo II installed, tried it out for the first time today, it sounds pretty good except for a vibration or rattle on the A string low B note. That's the most noticeable buzzing I'm getting, there's some very quiet sorta buzz on some of the low notes of the E string, around the G area. I tried moving the pickup around some but it didn't seem to help. Anyway, there was a black rubber piece that came with the pickup I guess for damping purposes, would putting this on eliminate the problem, and how do I go about putting it on? Or is there an even simpler solution?

The black rubber piece is an anti-feedback item and has nothing to do with your issue, IMO.

I have two uprights with the Rev Solo II, and I've had to deal with some buzz issues on both, especially one of them. I have found it boils down to either or both of two things:

- the quarter-inch jack can rattle against the tailpiece or whatever you call that piece of the bass. Insert a folded piece of cardboard between the jack and the tailpiece to shut it up. Not pretty, but no cost and it may do the trick.

- the portion of your end pin that's *inside* your bass can start to vibrate like a tuning fork. If you are only getting buzz on certain notes, this may be the problem. Analyze how much end pin is *inside* your bass and, if it's a lot, get a hack saw and cut some of it off.

 

[dbass87]

Ok thanks, I will try the cardboard thing first and see if that fixes it... also, when I played today I didn't have the endpin out as far as I usually do when standing up, maybe extending that more will help as well.

 

[shadygrove]

You can put the tubing over your A and D strings and under the E and G in the afterlengths, but it's purpose is to reduce feedback from the afterlengths vibrating and that doesn't sound like your problem.

How is your instrument cable supported where it is plugged into the pickup jack? When I first put on my RS II the jack on the instrument cable was bumping against the tailpiece and making a rattle when I played the E and A strings. Now the cable and pickup connection is inside a foam tube with everything zip tied to the tailpiece so it can't flop around.

 

[chuck3]

the black rubber piece gets threaded through the non-sounding part of the strings below the bridge, like this (photo courtesy of Upton Bass):

 

[dbass87]

You can put the tubing over your A and D strings and under the E and G in the afterlengths, but it's purpose is to reduce feedback from the afterlengths vibrating and that doesn't sound like your problem.

How is your instrument cable supported where it is plugged into the pickup jack? When I first put on my RS II the jack on the instrument cable was bumping against the tailpiece and making a rattle when I played the E and A strings. Now the cable and pickup connection is inside a foam tube with everything zip tied to the tailpiece so it can't flop around.

The thing is, maybe the cable was bumping the tailpiece, but it was in the jack very tightly so I'm not sure that was the problem, possibly though. Also, I left the tubing piece at the luthier's accidently when I got the pickup installed, but I tried damping the A string afterlength with my finger while plucking with my thumb (very tricky) just to see and it seemed that it did eliminate the buzz.. I guess that could have been vibrating and causing the problem?

 

[shadygrove]

Well sure, there's probably lots of things that could be vibrating and causing the problem. Just trying to give you some ideas of where to start.

BTW, there's nothing special about the tubing that comes with the pickup. You could use any plastic tubing or roll up some paper to stick through the afterlengths and damp the vibrations until you get the tubing back from your luthier.

 

[dbass87]

Well sure, there's probably lots of things that could be vibrating and causing the problem. Just trying to give you some ideas of where to start.

BTW, there's nothing special about the tubing that comes with the pickup. You could use any plastic tubing or roll up some paper to stick through the afterlengths and damp the vibrations until you get the tubing back from your luthier.

Thanks for the ideas, i appreciate it. Also I could probably even slide an eraser in between a couple of the strings to dampen

 

[drurb]

+1 on the jack housing rattling against the tailpiece. That happens on mine occasionally but turning it a bit gets rid of the problem. A bit of adhesive foam weather stripping should work wonders.

 

[dbass87]

Ok so I got my new MB115 today and tried it with the Rev Solo, I really like the sound overall. Also, there seems to be minimal buzzing sounds, I think a lot of it from earlier was actually coming from the amp i was using before which has given me trouble in the past. However, I did get a slight buzz/ vib. on the open A as well as the A an octave up on the D string. So I did the cardboard trick with the jack, as well as used an eraser (temporary fix) as a damper between the G-D-A strings, and it seemed to eliminate the buzzing for the most part.
In other news, I'm curious, for anyone who's used this amp or other GK, what EQ settings do you typically use for best results? Also I currently don't have a preamp but haven't ruled it out entirely, although the sound overall seems quite good without...