Luthier venting

If you tap the pickups with something metal it will make a pop sound. This does not harm the pickups. Did the hum go away when you touched the pickups or the bridge?

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I didn’t touch it with metal, that was just my finger o.o. Yea it did, it goes away when I fret too. But certain ones still give the static/scratchy sound.

This really sound like a grounding problem. You’ll have to get someone who knows how to at least follow a wiring diagram confirm everything is soldered properly.

This is most probably the wiring diagram for your bass. Without seeing the actual bass its hard to be sure.

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Okay, sorry to keep posting this when it isn’t my thread…but I thought I’d give abit of a…’update’. Where I had the amp before…was ironically by my fridge, as I live in a small ish apartment. I worry if I leave them in my room, I’ll forget to practice…so…I tend to keep both in or around my living room. This time during practice, I plugged it in near my window and went through…everything was…fine?…I even had my tone up, which before made it hum (not sure if it’s suppose to do that either XD; ). I had abit of hum, but I turned it down abit and it went away…and there wasn’t static…far as I could hear. So I did my usual practice session and…it was fine. I should also say I took her up to the shop where I got here…and they didn’t look at the pickups…just plugged her into the amp and said that was the problem XD. Of course it wasn’t ‘them’ ;3 right?. I’m still debating on getting a Bass amp for her later…I really only want to practice…and this one is just fine for that…I’m not ready for a full ‘jam’ session but XD it’ll do!. Though…’can’ a fridge interfere? O.o or maybe I had a knob up too high…I do ‘not’ know how to use a amp yet…XD;

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@cobaltblue13 - this is everyone’s thread to vent. No worries.

Glad it was something simple and that your luthier did good by you.

PCs are notorious for noise as are many household items. So that makes sense.

You may want to consider a bass amp so you hear your full deep tone of your bass. You can’t get that from a guitar amp.

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I wanted to be sure, lol…I mostly wanted to get everyone’s advice, and since it kinda was on the topic, I went for it instead of creating another. That and I had no idea where to even ‘post’ this kinda thing. But yes!…the guy did plug my Bass into a different amp, it was a acoustic, he said…but it still worked well!. And you can tell the difference right away in comparison. I am glad it was something simple…I was ‘so’ afraid it ‘was’ a lose wire…that’s not something you want as a newbie XD;. But I asked him to find me a ‘small’ Bass amp…for now. Til then I guess I’ll use that one and off =3. Thanks guys!

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And when you get a Bass amp you will notice another improvement. Especially if it has at least a 10" speaker. :+1: :+1: :+1:

One thing I do not remember anyone mentioning was that if you use a guitar amp on a Bass just be careful you do not turn up the volume too far because you can damage the speaker.

Right right, ironically when I bought the Bass. The guy had her connected to a guitar amp, and even mentioned that he couldn’t turn it up. I want to be quiet anyway…I got ‘real’ close neighbors XD. I’m working on headphones after that lol

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Yup, something as powerful as a fridge will affect the quality of your power. Even with solid wiring, my kitchen lights flicker when the microwave is cycling :face_with_raised_eyebrow:. Something as simple as a power conditioner strip might solve your issue.

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That a really good point, @LeftyChad . . . :+1:

Here’s an article which might be of some interest to you guys:

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/power-conditioner-voltage-regulator-ups-differences-explained/

HTH,
Joe

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You can use strips with a amp?…I thought they had to be straight on a wall outlet?. Interesting…I didn’t think anything of it, to be honest…dang. But that’s not good about the microwave and the lights o.o yikes…when my microwave is on, I only worry about it burning my food XD

Power conditioner strip will help.
Cheap power strip that is simply 6 outlets…nope.

Furman makes the de facto power conditioners for music equipment and they have a power strip that conditions and protects. But it’s pretty pricey. Works well though. I’ve got one.

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The fridge thing makes a lot of sense. There was another thread where someone was having problems plugged in next to the computer and it was the computer causing the unwanted noises.

If you are concerned about being too loud why don’t you buy something like a Zoom pedal and a decent set of over the ear headphones? Another solution is to buy a digital audio interface to connect to your computer along with a decent set of over the ear headphones. Yes I am stressing over the ear headphones cause buds won’t cut it and in ear monitors are very pricey. Both solutions could cost less then an OK amp and with the interface you can even record yourself and play back for instant review.

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Right, I didn’t think anything of it, lol. Well I am in the market for earphones…but I’m not sure…I was gonna buy a adapter?..I got a set of Beats that I had…their over he ear. The brands they got in store I don’t recognize the name?..so I’m not sure…=/. Which do you think would be better?.

Yep, and probably should. I’m always skeptical of advice that begins with “buy more crap.” But in this case, a power conditioner or voltage regulator can compensate for builder-grade apartment wiring. EMI (electromagnetic interference) is always a problem.
Heck, even with my isolated power source, voltage regulator etc. I was having weird issues when playing along with songs from my phone plugged into my amp. Turns out I had inadvertently placed my phone too close to the cable (on top of it in one instance, because I’m occasionally an idiot). The intermittent clicking I heard was from the phone’s battery switching on and off. Live and learn :roll_eyes:

Edited to add: your headphones are fine. There are no specific “bass practice” headphones.

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@cobaltblue13 Lefty is right the Beats will do fine. As long as you are not using earbuds you should get a good representation of the lower frequencies due to the size of the driver.

Now you can probably use your guitar amp with the headphones. If I saw correctly it had a headphones input and an aux in jack. The speaker on the amp would not be great at reproducing the lows from your bass but I see no reason the preamp would not do a decent job along with your headphones. Set the gain to a level where you are not distorting the bass, set the bass and treble on the amp where you feel your bass has a good sound and don’t over do the volume for your own sake. To play along with the B2B course plug your phone, tablet or computer into the amp (you might have to buy a cable for this but it should be cheap) and adjust the volume on the device (not the amp) to where you can here the course material but are not drowning out your bass.

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Beats are tuned to deliver more low end. For me I can’t use mine. TOO much bass.

Very true but I was looking at being as cost effective as possible.

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0.0 there’s such a thing as ‘too’ much Bass? (Gasp) XD

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This hurts my brain

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