Bass Hum for no Apparent Reason!

[apehead]

Hello,

I have recently acquired an Aria Pro II Elite bass. Plays great, tone is great, what a bass! There is a problem, though. The thing buzzes like a table saw, and it's RF because the hum modulates with moving the bass around. Tried shielding with copper tape, all grounding/shielding has continuity all the way to amp end of cable, volume & tone knobs work good, coil splitters for both P/Us change sound, tone, and volume when engaged, which rules out an open PU coil, IMO (could be wrong?) haven't de-soldered PU or pots to ohm out individual components yet. Other basses have no hum with the amp... what is the deal here?

Thanks,

Jack

[big_teee]

Not sure if your bass is passive or active?
Also Not sure if the pickups are humbuckers or single coils?
If it is active, you may have a bad preamp.
If passive, check all your wiring, and grounding.
Also, on the copper tape, it will only help if the tape is grounded.
T

[apehead]

Sorry! Passive, dual humbucker with two volumes, coil splitting switches for each, one tone knob. Bass goes through full functionality test, wiring seems OK, just buzzes like a bastard. Tried to find wiring diagram online, but this model (SB-ELT) isn't to be found.

Also checked all ground continuity for all the tape, which is all grounded.

Edit: sketched wiring diagram real quick, turns out the switches are coil series-parallel selectors, rather than single coil/humbucker selectors, which is decidedly less useful on a bass (especially without a pickup selector).

[big_teee]

Sorry! Passive, dual humbucker with two volumes, coil splitting switches for each, one tone knob. Bass goes through full functionality test, wiring seems OK, just buzzes like a bastard. Tried to find wiring diagram online, but this model (SB-ELT) isn't to be found.

Also checked all ground continuity for all the tape, which is all grounded.

Try wiring one pickup direct to the jack.
If it is quiet, then you are fighting wiring, and you may want to rip the wiring out and redo with all shielded cable.
I have done this many times.
A complete rewire with good shielding cable usually fixes these noise issues.
T

[apehead]

tried neck pickup direct wired to output w/ alligator from ring to shield... still super buzzy, maybe more so! Just shitty pickup design? Tried eliminating as many ground loop paths as possible... to no effect. This one has got me stumped! P/Us ohm out OK.

[big_teee]

tried neck pickup direct wired to output w/ alligator from ring to shield... still super buzzy, maybe more so! Just shitty pickup design? Tried eliminating as many ground loop paths as possible... to no effect. This one has got me stumped! P/Us ohm out OK.

It does sound like a pickup issue!
I make all kinds of bass pickups.
Soapbars, multi-coils, sidewinders and vintage bass pickups.
Let me know if I can help!
T

[apehead]

Thanks for the offer, but the pickups are epoxy potted! I am having similar issues in a Bartolini loaded J bass I just assembled, whereas the two J basses I have to A/B test against have "traditional" style J bass pickups wired in humbucking configuration, and are silent!

WTF? I can't switch the polarity of the Barts because of they are internally shielded & wired with a single conductor shielded cable (a nice touch if it ACTUALLY DID ANYTHING!!!), and the Aria P/Us are both humbuckers! A traditional Jazz bass should never in a million years have a superior noise floor to either of these setups!

Why is God punishing me?