• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

U.S. Peavey Club

#5,821
THand said:
When you grounded the bridge, did you use any copper tape?

Sometimes the wires gets squished down into the finish and doesn't contact the bridge well enough. When I run into that, I use a piece of conductive copper shielding tape on both the bottom of the bridge, and directly on the finish where the wire was. That usually provides enough contact for a really good ground.

If it still acts up, try star-grounding.

Also, did you run a ground wire from the shielding?
Click to expand...


Thanks for the reply. No, I did not try the copper tape sandwich under the bridge, but I'm going to try it today - thanks for the advice. I'm pretty new to all this, but learning more every day.

I will look up "star grounding" and see what that entails if the copper sandwich doesn't fix the issue.

I also don't know what you mean by "run a ground wire from the shielding"...if you could elaborate, I will be able to answer.

In short, here's the way I have it configured & wired currently (bypassing V & T pots):
-Pickup and control cavities - shielded bottom and sides with copper tape
- Hot leads from neck & bridge pickups (wire-nutted) to the Tip (hot) of the Output Jack.
- Ground leads from neck & bridge pickups, as well as the Bridge Ground Wire (wire-nutted) to the Shield (ground) of the Output Jack.

The wire nut workaround was used because I had already soldered in 3 different sets of pickups, 2 full sets of pots, 2 Caps and two different output jacks trying to chase bad output. I figured that if I direct wired everything and got full output and no noise, then I would then start to solder everything back in place. Until I chase down the buzz, I can't really move forward. I even tried isolating the two pickups by wiring only the P (still buzzing) and then the J (still buzzing).

Again, thanks a million for your reply. I will try the copper bridge sandwich this afternoon.

Ack
 
#5,822
ack said:
Thanks for the reply. No, I did not try the copper tape sandwich under the bridge, but I'm going to try it today - thanks for the advice. I'm pretty new to all this, but learning more every day.


I also don't know what you mean by "run a ground wire from the shielding"...if you could elaborate, I will be able to answer.



Ack
Click to expand...

Here is a generic photo of a control cavity with the copper shielding inside . I bought a roll on Ebay and put it into my Cirrus when I used an Alembic preamp. It's very easy to install.

See the wire soldered to the inside ? That is "running a ground wire to the shielding". That is the wire that goes under the bridge to ground a passive bass. It does not have to soldered into the corner like that, either. Anywhere in the cavity is fine as long as it is attached to the copper and you are able to screw the cover back on easily.

DSC03770_zps86509d3d.gif
 
#5,823
mb94952 said:
Here is a generic photo of a control cavity with the copper shielding inside . I bought a roll on Ebay and put it into my Cirrus when I used an Alembic preamp. It's very easy to install.

See the wire soldered to the inside ? That is "running a ground wire to the shielding". That is the wire that goes under the bridge to ground a passive bass. It does not have to soldered into the corner like that, either. Anywhere in the cavity is fine as long as it is attached to the copper and you are able to screw the cover back on easily.
Click to expand...

Awesome - thanks for that. That bridge ground wire should be easy to solder since the cavity is already taped.
 
#5,824
ack said:
I have a '94 P/J that I bought real, real used for $129 off the Interweb - might be my favorite neck of any bass, but electronically it is the single most frustrating device I have ever owned.
I want to love it - it's light, comfortable and the satin neck is unbelievable, but it was wrought with pickup issues when it arrived. They were noisy and lifeless - maybe half the volume output of any passive bass I own...and I had a grounding issue somewhere.
Turns out that someone had swapped out the original Peavey P/J set for a set from a Squier and only one-half of the P worked and the J was lifeless.

I swapped in an old EMG P/J set and it still was noisy/buzzy (which goes away when I touch the bridge - a pretty clear indicator that the bridge grounding wire is faulty). I shielded all the cavities with copper tape, put in new Fender 250k Pots and Cap, new Switchcraft output jack and all new wiring (including a new bridge ground). Still noisy and the grounding issue is still driving me nuts.

I bought a custom hand-wound P/J set from a guy in Philly and they exhibit the exact same issues. Low volume output and pretty thin sounding.

As an experiment, I direct wired both pickups and the bridge ground to the output jack - basically eliminating the V & T pots. They sound good - full on V & T (not my cup of tea) - but I still have the grounding issue. I think I've replaced and repositioned that grounding wire and bridge 6 times now and have resoldered everything a few times and I still cant get rid of the grounding issue. Once I do, I will love this bass - and by the time I'm done, it may have only cost me $1k - I kid, I kid...

Sorry for writing a book - needless to say it's a work-in-progress.

Here it is next to my '90 Fury:
DSCF5081.jpg
Click to expand...

It's a shame the original pickups had been swapped out. The original bridge pickup on those pj forums was a stacked humbucker and very quiet.

I always run the ground from the bridge to the body of the tone pot, run a ground wire from each pot to the next one, then run the ground to the jack. I seldom have ground buzz. I don't like to count on shielding foil to make the ground contact. Also, if the copper shielding is hitting any of the terminals on the pots your grounding issues could be coming from that.
 
#5,825
ack said:
Awesome - thanks for that. That bridge ground wire should be easy to solder since the cavity is already taped.
Click to expand...

I usually just cut another piece if wire, solder it to the copper tape on one end, and then solder the other end to the ground on the jack of my bass.

Please don't misunderstand this and just run a ground from the bridge to the shielding and stop there. The shield itself needs to be grounded, and that wire from the shielding needs to find it's way back to your jack...there are several ways to do this...You can also get a multimeter and set it to buzz when you have continuity...that way if something is wrong, you'll know it then, and not have to keep putting the pickguard on, and then back off...
 
#5,827
THand said:
That's a very good point....if I ever have an issue after shielding, that is usually the cause.
Click to expand...

Sorry for taking over this thread - if it bothers anyone, I can re-post this in the Electronics Forum.

I ran into something really weird (it's weird until someone can explain it to me) trying to combat this grounding issue on my '94 Forum.

Before I soldered the Bridge Ground wire to the copper foil, I used my Ohmmeter to check continuity of the ground wire with the bridge on. The meter was jumping all over the place. I used the audible signal on the meter and it proved that continuity was sporadic. OK, I figure it's a bad Ground wire or bad contact under the bridge.

I took the bridge off and checked the wire end-to-end - All good - constant continuity.

This is where it gets weird - figuring I had (as suggested in this thread) bad contact between the bridge and the ground wire, I applied a small piece of copper tape to the top of the bass , placed the wire on it and checked continuity. I touched one lead of the meter to the foil, while the other lead went to the ground wire in the cavity. Good continuity.

I then put another piece of foil under the bridge where it would sandwich the wire, screwed the bridge back on and...sporadic continuity!

Huh?! I took the bridge back off and re-checked the ground wire - All Good! I put the Bridge back on absolutely made sure that the wire was in a place on the bridge where it makes full and constant contact (it's a solid bent-type bridge). It was.

I screwed the bridge back on and it failed the continuity test.

On a whim, I tried another old bent bridge that I had lying around - same mounting screw pattern and all. I put a piece of copper foil under it, screwed it on and lo and behold, Good continuity. Again, Huh?

With the Peavey bridge off the bass, I then touched the leads of my Ohmmeter to opposite sides of the Peavey bridge and...sporadic continuity.
If I move the leads around the bridge, I get mixed results.
Somehow, parts of this metal bridge (sorry, I don't know the correct electronics jargon) are not continuous.

Anyone ever seen this before? This has driven me nuts, and the last thing I expected was to have the bridge itself causing this issue.
 
#5,830
ack said:
It does not appear to be. The scratches from the saddle adjusters go right to metal and I don't see anything peeling there.
Click to expand...

I'd suggest getting some very fine sandpaper, or a green scrubby, or some steel wool, and use it to scuff up the bottom of that bridge.

If there is some kinda coating on it, it shouldn't be hard to remove.
 
#5,831
Thanks for the tips on the coating on the bridge. It is the cause, but I had some interesting results.

If I touch both leads of the meter to the bottom face of the bridge (before sanding), I get sporadic results - and those results vary from spot to spot on the bridge.

I sanded (I used a 3M Sanding Sponge) the bottom and up to the string loading holes and re-tested (in my hand). All Good readings on the meter, and they are now consistent from spot to spot!

After putting the bridge back on (with copper tape on the bass as well as the now sanded underside of the bridge), I re-tested with good results - when I touch the lead to the sanded parts of the bridge (by the string loading holes). I still get sporadic results if I touch the Ohmmeter lead to the top-side (unsanded) of the bridge.

I re-installed the bridge and strung it up - still buzzes like a swarm of bees and it goes away when I touch the bridge or tuners.

I'm thoroughly frustrated (but wiser thanks to you guys here), but I may have a lead on an older Peavey bass bridge (I don't want to use that SX bridge I found in my box 'o junk that passed all the continuity tests).

Thanks again.
 
#5,834
THand said:
Did you put the shielding tape on your pickguard too?

edit: annnd does the shileding in the cavity overlap enough that it can touch the shielding on the pickguard?
Click to expand...

No Pickguard, no pots.
Right now, I have the pickups direct wired to the Output Jack.
I did this trying to isolate where all the noise was coming from.
I can easily include or eliminate a pickup while I was testing all the excess noise.

The control cavity is wide open.
The pickup hot leads and the Output Jack (tip) lead are wire-nutted together.
The pickup ground leads, the Bridge ground wire and the Output Jack (sleeve) lead are wire nutted together.
 
#5,836
You need shielding tape underneath the pickguard too. put the pickguard back on and make sure you have a little bit of the shielding from the control cavity running from the cavity to the top of the bass, so it can contact the pickguard. I usually place a small tab-like piece where a screw hole is so the screw can ensure they stay in contact.
You've gotten the conectivity, if I'm reading you right , so put the guard back on and the humming should go away. What you are trying to do is for a "box" or cage around the cavity.

edit: if you have the shielding tape underneath the pickguard it should go away, to be clearer.
 
#5,838
I just saved a Mahogany Patriot from whatever fate it was facing at the Guitar Center in Syracuse, NY. $99.00! Good thing, too.....no case! Does anyone know which cases fit the Patriot? Is it a one-model case, or will almost any of the bass-length molded clamshell Peavey cases work?

Further, does anyone here have one for sale?

Sorry about no pic. They've already taken the page down. I'll shoot fresh pics when it gets here.

Mike in Texas
Where vintage USA Peaveys are becoming a DISEASE!

'82 T-20
'78 T-40
(??) Patriot
Looking for Peavey clamshell case for Patriot
Looking for T-45
Looking for VK100
Looking for VB-2
 
#5,839
eldoryder said:
I just saved a Mahogany Patriot from whatever fate it was facing at the Guitar Center in Syracuse, NY. $99.00! Good thing, too.....no case! Does anyone know which cases fit the Patriot? Is it a one-model case, or will almost any of the bass-length molded clamshell Peavey cases work?

Further, does anyone here have one for sale?

Sorry about no pic. They've already taken the page down. I'll shoot fresh pics when it gets here.

Mike in Texas
Where vintage USA Peaveys are becoming a DISEASE!

'82 T-20
'78 T-40
(??) Patriot
Looking for Peavey clamshell case for Patriot
Looking for T-45
Looking for VK100
Looking for VB-2
Click to expand...

Sent you a PM regarding a case.
 
#5,840
eldoryder said:
I just saved a Mahogany Patriot from whatever fate it was facing at the Guitar Center in Syracuse, NY. $99.00! Good thing, too.....no case! Does anyone know which cases fit the Patriot? Is it a one-model case, or will almost any of the bass-length molded clamshell Peavey cases work?

Further, does anyone here have one for sale?

Sorry about no pic. They've already taken the page down. I'll shoot fresh pics when it gets here.

Mike in Texas
Where vintage USA Peaveys are becoming a DISEASE!

'82 T-20
'78 T-40
(??) Patriot
Looking for Peavey clamshell case for Patriot
Looking for T-45
Looking for VK100
Looking for VB-2
Click to expand...

Nice job! I saw that this morning, but I already have a Pat, albeit not a mahogany, but it is still a great bass. Those Super Ferrite pickups are pretty cool.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back