Bass isn't working

When I plug my bass into my amp I get this consistent low humming sound from the amp and nothing from the bass when I try to play it. The amp and cable are recent purchases from earlier this year but the bass is really old so I’m almost positive it’s something wrong with the bass. I’ll probably have to just take it in to get fixed, but I wonder if anyone has encountered this before or knows what’s going on? Thanks!

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I had this happen to me in 3 occasions with 2 different basses. Two of those were related with the jack input and the other one… was a patch cable not correctly connected in one of my pedals.

One of the basses I only had to tighten the loose input. On the other I had to re-solder the cable to the input.

It can be a lot of other things. But start by checking if the input is loose. Check if any cable won free will and went for a stroll. Btw, a loose input can lead to a broken solder due to constant stress

Is the bass active? Check the batteries

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Don’t overlook the obvious things: is/are the volume pot(s) on the bass turned all the way up? Cable seated properly, both on the bass and the amp side? No headphones plugged in to the amp? That last one always catches me when I want to play without headphones: why don’t I hear anything? Oh right, need to unplug my headphones.

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This gets most people the first time it happens.

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The only stupid mistake is the obvious one I overlook three or four times.

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there’s batteries?

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Not for your bass, mate.

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If your bass has active electronics then it also has a battery. If it’s passive then it doesn’t.

So, any updates dmp? Was it something simple or does it require surgery?

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I double checked the obvious things and even tested it with my headphone amp and had the same problem of hearing the humming noise but nothing when I played the bass. But your tip is very true and the same has happened to me where something wasn’t working but it was just an obvious simple fix! Unfortunately I don’t think that’s the case this time, but I need new strings and a setup anyway so I’m taking it into a local music store and they’re going to take a look at it when they do the setup and let me know what the issue is!

Thanks for the advice and feedback everyone!

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