Sick StingRay - Help!

[jmattbassplaya]

Ahh!

Long story short, I plugged my StingRay in yesterday and when I turned the amp on I got a loud pop, followed by my amp beginning to produce a loud noise/hum that very quickly got louder and louder until I turned the amp off - this scared me like no other. I then tried turning it on again and\ it was okay until I pressed the kill switch on my planet waves cable which caused a loud pop, but besides that no noise besides the bass.

This obviously caused me concern so I unplugged the Ray and tried 3 different basses to try and find what the problem could be. I used the same rig, cables, etc... and no other bass had this problem. I then tried the Ray again today to see if it was a fluke, but low and behold it did the exact same thing I described in my first paragraph. I also tried a monster cable and it too did the hum thing.

Anyways, I need some ideas on what is wrong with my sick Ray. I`m thinking it might be a grounding issue, but I`m really not sure and I don`t know what could of caused this seeing as the bass has been sitting in a case for about 3 months. Please let me know what you think and what I can do to fix this problem.

Thanks.

 

[king_biscuit]

Have you tried a new battery?

 

[jmattbassplaya]

Yup. It`s still making that horrible noise.

 

[king_biscuit]

It doesn't sound like a grounding problem to me. Call EB customer support at 866-823-2255

 

[jmattbassplaya]

I tried the Ray out again through my Ashdown 2x10. It was working well at first, but when I stood up and moved around the room the amp let out a really loud squeal. Perhaps an input jack problem?

 

[mikeswals]

This isn't exactly surgery, but unscrew the jack (4screws) and see if any wires look broken.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

I checked out the pre, pup, and jack and everything looks great. Any more suggestions?

 

[A-Step-Towards]

if all joints of soder are fine, your battery is good and that jacks fine i cant see whats wrong.Maybe some wires are touching? bad cable?dust in the jack or grime can cause problems take a q tip and clean it

 

[Bassmingo]

is it a 3q ray with the body mounted jack? if so i think i know what it is, as i have the same problem.

from what i can see, the jack socket allows the plug to move a little bit (we're talking millimetres) breaking the contact and disconnecting the bass making the sound you describe. try this, remove the battery while the bass is plugged into an amp....is that the same pop and squeal? bingo!

it can happen if you leave the bass down whilst plugged in and the jack plug gets pressure put on it, moving the barrell or the socket.

the only fix is a socket replacement. but get this, i've live with it for 10 years, as long as i loop my lead through my strap its fine. in fact its never ever happened at a gig, only at home/practice.