stupid bass questions

Hey congrats - nice bass man!

Anyhow, from the Rondo description page "active pickups (with active/passive pull tap) and bass, treble, balance and volume controls." Let's go with that.

I have an Essex 5-string with passives in it, but just as a guess, using this picture:

I would think the upper left knob was the main volume. That's probably also the push/pull, no?

The lower left might be the balance control which just basically fades from one pickup to the other. Some instruments have this if they don't have a toggle switch for pickup selection.

The upper and lower right are most likely tone controls -- the upper right for the neck pup and the lower right for the bridge pup.

One way to test what does what is to plug the thing in and either pluck the strings with your left hand while turning the knobs, or use something metallic like a small screw driver and gently touch the pickups to see which one 'clicks' and has a signal and which doesn't, and which combinations there are.

As for the noise level in that one pot; it might need replacing, it might just have a loose wire, or...how old is the battery? Sometimes when a battery's going south you'll get increased noise levels until it completely dies. You might just pop a new one in there unless you already have.

Another test would be to play a note and then sorta slap the back of the instrument with your other hand - see if anything starts buzzing or stops buzzing -- you know, loose wiring inside.

I'm thinking it may be the battery, but who knows? You could call Kurt maybe and ask him about it, or shoot him an email.

Anyhow, hope this helps a little

Take care

Thanks for your response! You were correct on the functions of the knobs, so at least I've got that figured out.

I replaced the battery for the actives, but the buzz is still there. It seems to happen when the active is on and either pickup is tuned all the way to treble (it goes away as you turn the knob towards bass). Any other ideas on that? I'm using a cheap patch cord now (will be replacing it soon) but I doubt that is the cause of the trouble.

Thanks again for your help!

Hum? Dunno. Try moving your amp out to the porch and try playing there a bit. See if it still makes the noise.

Otherwise it may be a wiring problem (solder connections or something) or simply somthing youll have to live with. Dunno.

is it a volume knob, turned up to high and causing a distortion in the sound??

I'm not 100% here but it probably has something to do with the input of your amp. Some amps have inputs for active and passive instruments(usually has to do with the input gain). It sounds like a gain/EQ problem. There may be something you can do with the bass, but I would just roll off the tone knob on the guitar a bit (when using the active EQ on the instrument) and adjust the EQ with the Amps. It may not be the "best" answer, but the cheapest, if you can find a sound you like. Otherwise, maybe an EQ pedal or rackmount EQ, or a noise supressor. Surely someone will provide another opinion. I've played guitar for 20+ years, but bass only a few and they can have similar problems and then again, they can have vastly different problems. Good luck!

It sounds to me like the circuitry in your bass is badly shielded and/or grounded. Many instruments will pick up hum (stray radio waves) through their pickups, but a bass with humbucking pickups will cancel almost all of that out. You can still pick up hum through your electronics, though. Most likely turning the treble up amplifies the frequencies the hum is at and lets you hear it. Does the hum get worse near computer monitors (CRTs, not LCDs)?

Haven't tried playing with the bass near a monitor. Where I've got my setup now isn't really near anything electrical except for a lamp and my stereo (which usually is turned off when I'm playing the bass). I've tried playing with the stereo on and off and the buzz is the same.

I still need to check on the loose wires, but from the other posts, it does look like an EQ problem, or maybe the poorly grounded/shielded circuitry.

Thanks for all your help! I'll make another post when (and if) I get it all figured out!

I just got a new (used) combo amp yesterday that seemed to take away quite a bit of the buzz. It's a Fender BXR 100, any of you have any experience with that one? I got it at the pawn shop for $200, it's in pretty good shape. I really like the sound of it, and it seems like a pretty good deal. It's not very loud, but I'll mainly be using it for a practice amp, and maybe some garage jamming.

Anyhew, back to the buzz. I pulled off the plate covering the pots and didn't see any loose wiring. There was some shielding (looked like aluminum foil) on the back side of the plate, wondering if another layer would help even more?

Also, I noticed after putting it back together that I was able to generate the buzz pretty much at any volume level by having either one of the tone knobs all the way to treble. If the other tone knob is all the way to bass, there is no buzz, but as you start to turn it towards treble, the buzz gets consistently worse the further towards treble you go.

In addition, it seems that the closer to the amp the bass is, the worse the buzz. And I can also alter the severity of the buzz by changing the angle of the bass relative to the amp. Does any of this help to single out the problem? Or is it just muddying up things?

I do have one more question too: Any advice on setting the action on the bass? The tone on the A,D and G strings is great, but the E and low B strings generate quite a bit of buzz against the fingerboard. I've tried raising the adjuster on the bridge (sorry, don't know what it's called) to raise the B string off the fingerboard. This has helped some, but there is still some buzz. Should I continue to raise it, or is there some adjustment that could be made to the nut? Also, the B string (and to some degree the E string) sound a bit muddy compared to the rest of the strings. Could this be due to the bass being sold with cheap strings on it? It has flat wounds (which I like the sound of and would like to retain), should I buy a new set perhaps? Or just replace the E and B?

Thanks again for everyone's help here. I realize as I go along that I know less and less about this than I thought i did. This forum is a great resource for us dummies!!

Hey glad to see you haven't given up!

The buzz, does it instantly go away if you put your fingertip on say, one of the metal cases of any of the pots? What you're describing -- what with the noise coming and going when you angle the bass this way and that, and the fact that it gets louder when you get closer to the amp -- sounds like the bass isn't shielded. The aluminum foil on the control cavity cover: is it connected in any way to anything metal in the control cavity? You know, like a piece of wire connected to a pot or something else.

And, is the rest of the cavity shielded in aluminum or some other sort of metal or even metallic paint? This all could be as simple as getting some copper shielding tape (self adhesive 'slug-repellent' tape from the garden section of the hardware store), and doing a complete shielding job on the bass.

There's plans and whatnot at guitarnuts.com, as well as a board you can post to, to ask questions.