That constant cutting in and out

[Caseygpg]

Hey guys. This is my first post so please bare with me haha. I play thirty five to fifty shows a year and I constantly play my beautiful fender active jazz bass. Now as of a few months ago, I began to hear a "farting" noise come out of my cab, so i tried another cab but with the same results. So I can't tell if my pickups are messed up or if it's my input. I've changed batteries in the guitar, changed cables of all kinds and I still don't know really what's up. I've been playing for six years non stop and I consider myself pretty decent but I find myself frustrated that I don't know enough about how my instrument works. Appreciate your time and hope to learn from you all. Thanks dudes.

 

[wmheilma]

Did you try a different amp? Can you hear anything of from the bass when it's not plugged in? Are you using any pedals? It could be lots of things...

 

[Dirk Rockbottom]

Hey guys. This is my first post so please bare with me haha. I play thirty five to fifty shows a year and I constantly play my beautiful fender active jazz bass. Now as of a few months ago, I began to hear a "farting" noise come out of my cab, so i tried another cab but with the same results. So I can't tell if my pickups are messed up or if it's my input. I've changed batteries in the guitar, changed cables of all kinds and I still don't know really what's up. I've been playing for six years non stop and I consider myself pretty decent but I find myself frustrated that I don't know enough about how my instrument works. Appreciate your time and hope to learn from you all. Thanks dudes.

Might be dirty pots on the amp. Have you tried cleaning them?

 

[Bassamatic]

You have to try swapping out the bass, amp and speaker separately to determine the cause of the problem. It could be your bass preamp, amp circuit or speaker that can cause this.

 

[eukatheude]

Yes. Try a different amp and a different bass to pinpoint the source of the problem, then work from there.

 

[Caseygpg]

Thanks for the input guys. I've switched plenty of heads and cabs while still using the same bass and I still get the sound so its definitely my guitar. I noticed it while I was on tour using another bands bass rig (amped 8x10, svt classic head). How do I go about cleaning pots? I would look it up but I'm stuck here at work. Thanks again guys. You rule

 

[Crater]

Sounds to me like it's a dirty output jack. If it's the pots, you'll get noise and/or signal cutouts when turning the offending controls. If it's the jack, you'll get noise and/or cutouts when you wiggle the cord.

 

[Caseygpg]

I'm off tomorrow so I'm going to work on the guitar and I'll post the results. I'll let you guys know what's up and thanks again.

 

[lossfizzle]

The sound of dirty pots / bad jacks is not usually what I would describe as "farting." Since you're active (and have changed batts), I'm guessing something is up with your preamp board. Can you post recordings of any kind? A direct-to-board / -interface recording would be ideal (and would help you definitely localize the problem to the bass), but whatever.

 

[Dirk Rockbottom]

Have you tried a different cable? Here's a good video on cleaning pots.

http://youtu.be/vcLpzfoX-eo

 

[kohntarkosz]

It could be that the preamp stage of OP's amp is getting hit a little hard by the active bass. My Ashdown Mag head will fart a bit, even with a passive bass, if the gain is set too high on the input. It isn't a musical, 'tubey' distortion either.

 

[KeddyLee]

Agreed. You said you have switched amps but are you using a preamp? An MXR M80 or Sansamp or something? That farting usually will happen when something is overloaded, like running your preamp into another preamp (did that once, oops).

 

[Mennolineum]

Have you Tried putting in a New battery? Since it is an active bass.. but i am guessing you have already