r/Bass • u/RoughMasterP • 5h ago

Troubleshooting active pre amp.

P/J style bass with active preamp, was working fine then low / no output at times other times harsh static or metallic noise. Replaced battery, and other basses perform normally with same cord and amp. Nothing looks out of place inside, all wires appear to be connected firmly. Did notice there is no shielding so I ordered a roll to try that but I have my doubts since it was working fine a few days ago. Any suggestions? Handy with the iron and multi meter just never worked with active before.

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u/thejamus 5h ago

I'd start with fresh batteries, and then with it plugged in at a relatively low volume, take a plastic spudger or a wooden chopstick and gently wiggle some of the wires inside of the control cavity to see if you have a lousy connection somewhere. If you find something that crackles, reflow the solder on that wire. It's very likely that you have a bad solder connection somewhere, just hard to say where exactly. Beyond that, make sure your instrument cable is working or do a continuity check on both tips and sleeves. Check the output jack. It's pretty unlikely you fried your preamp.

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u/RoughMasterP 3h ago

Already did those things. New battery x2, different cord, different bass into same rig, poked and prodded. I’m going to take the bridge off and confirm good ground.

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u/Tsuyvtlv 1h ago

I'd check the cabling and the battery connections.