Why is the Epiphone Toby Deluxe so noisy?

So I have an Epiphone Toby Deluxe 4 string. I like the sound very much, I like the playability, it is very lightweight which is great for the back (3,4kg/7p8oz) and it looks stunning, much like a boutique instrument. Especially in stage light when the "walnut" finish seems to fluoresce. But the bass is noisy! Our music school offers band coaching (which by the way is a great thing to do). Our band coach, a multiinstrumentalist who has quite some experience with different bands, says that he has never experienced any bass that was as noisy as the Toby. He likes the bass as well, and has even recommended it so his girlfriend, who is a beginner bassist like me (2 years), and it is just the same with her instrument. So I know I did not just get a lemon.

Now there are some obvious answers, but none of them seem to apply as far as I can tell

1. "Single coils always hum!"​

It is no single coil! Epiphone lists them on their website als "Tobias TBT™ Dual Rail Humbucker pickups" so I think they must look like this(link) noiseless pickup from another tb thread: Two long thin blades, each wrapped with a coil in opposite direction so that they produce a humbucker that just so fits the jazz format. Also, if they were single coils, the noise should go away when both pickups are full on, but it does not. I cannot be sure about the pickup design though, because it is not possible to remove the cover, which brings us to typical reason number

2. "There is a loose wire in your pickup, you have to mold it to make sure nothing can move!"
​

Well, the pickups sure look molded to me, which I would never have expected from such a cheap bass:




Which brings us to the last of the usual suspects:

3. "You gotta shield the electronics!"​

Well I did:


I checked that all copper parts are interconnected and to the ground (outer ring 1/4'' jack) using a multimeter. I also disconnected the bridge wire after shiedling as recommended. No effect whatsoever. So the factory shielding using conductive paint may or may not have worked, but it is not the culprit.

I refrained from exchanging the pickup wires with the shielded ones I had ordered after I saw that a) the factory wires look exactly like the shielded ones I ordered and b) the wire was molded into the pickup and I might just cause another shielding problem if I cut it off and resoldered it.


So, from all I can tell, Epiphone did everything just like it is supposed to be done to get the instrument quiet, and still they ended up with one heck of a noisy instrument.

So what on earth went wrong?!?

 

Hey guys,

thanks for the answers. It is basically what I thought. I just don't get why Epiphone spent a bunch of knowledge and money (for such a cheap bass) on getting the pickups quiet, and then undermining all their efforts with a crappy electronics that you cannot even get quiet with shielding. Does not make any sense to me. I still think that maybe someone capable made a great design, and then they gave it to some dork for production who made a mistake that might be fixed if you find out what it is.

eloann, what electronics did you use?

Hotblack, which Bartolinis system did you build into the Toby?

I was also thinking about some EMGs because I heard that they are dead quiet and that they seem to have a modern sound which would maybe keep the character of the Toby. But it is basically investing 200+ in a bass that cost 200... And not knowing if I will like the outcome.

 

I did not even know it is that easy? Don't you have to include a new capacitor or anything?

Does anyone know if the non-deluxe Toby has the same noise issue? Because it also has a bass boost knob (or treble cut, which is probably the same thing after adjusting the volume). That would be the most stupid thing ever: "Get a deluxe, with extra added noise, a battery that might run empty and that's it!"

 

That is exactly what I read & why I did it. Happened in Woodstock. It was raining so hard that some performers got electrical shocks through their instruments because the water connected power and ground. Not that I plan on playing in Woodstock anytime soon...

It is a hiss. Definitely not 50/60Hz. Soundfiles below.

I tried reconnecting the bridge wire and was underwhelmed with the result. I made soundfiles through my Zoom B3 and uploded them on Soundcloud for you to listen. Tone knob is rolled fully on, you can get rid of the hiss by rolling it down of course, cutting out the frequencies. First file is with ground wire to the bridge, second is without. If anything, the bridge ground wire adds another high pitched hiss to the signal. Maybe the pretty long bass strings act as an antenna for some static or something. But listen for yourselves.



Edit:
Embed seems to not work for me. Here's the link:
https://soundcloud.com/user-180726558/sets/bass-hiss-comparison-epiphone-toby-deluxe

Edit 2:
OK, dont ask me what's wrong with soundcloud. Just Copy/Paste the link Address if it does not work for you.