[SOLVED] Bad Vol Pot..?

spantini

COO of me, inc.
I just finished installing the EMG Geezer P-J kit on my Yamaha bass. The neck Vol Pot does nothing. The bridge Vol Pot and the Tone Pot work great. Looks like I may have a defective Pot.. dunno yet. I'll mess with it tomorrow.

Now with just the bridge PU going this sounds much better than the stock Yamaha PUs. Way less sustain and overtones. Tighter, punchier sounds... and I'm not even using the foam block over the bridge as a dampener.

It's sounding a lot like my old 60's Jazz bass - I can work with that for awhile.

I managed to do this without removing the strings - just loosening them a bit. So for now I've left the original Yamaha roundwounds on. I planned on replacing them with flatwound but will see how these work out. I also had to leave out the foam pads that were under the Yamaha PUs, otherwise the EMGs sat too high. I'll either shave them down or cut some new ones off a foam block I've got.
 
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If the pot was working before the PU swap...there's no reason to assume it's now bad.

You should recheck your wiring and soldering on that pot...and make sure the wiring is good/solid at both ends.
Sometimes when you're in there moving/tugging the wires, you can break some semi-good connections.
And also there the ground wires to the pots. I've had to sometimes re-solder them due to poor contact.
 
If the pot was working before the PU swap...there's no reason to assume it's now bad.

You should recheck your wiring and soldering on that pot...and make sure the wiring is good/solid at both ends.
Sometimes when you're in there moving/tugging the wires, you can break some semi-good connections.
And also there the ground wires to the pots. I've had to sometimes re-solder them due to poor contact.

EMGs have their own pots. However checking all connections is a good idea.
I find it hard to believe the EMGs would ship with defective parts.
 
EMGs have their own pots.

Oh. :)
Frankly...I never paid close attention to EMG pup setups...or used a guitar/bass with them.
I've seen them plenty of times on guitars/basses...and to me, it looked like they were installed with the regular pots.
So...when you buy them, you get separate pots to install...and you remove your old pots?

Still...I would check the wiring and the installation.
 
Thanks, guys. Maybe I can see where I may have pinched or pulled something. I no longer have my continuity tester or soldering station.. if the POT is bad, I may be able to tinker the old POT back in. For all I know, one of the PU screws may have severed a wire when I reinstalled them.
 
LOL! I was gonna wait till tomorrow but I couldn't take it...

I pulled the PUs and everything was fine. I pulled the suspect POT and.. bingo! One wire pulled off (evidently) when I installed it. Probably as I was putting pressure on it's backside while tightening the nut - only thing I can figure. Anyway, it all works now.

I have to say, I'm very.. very pleased with these PUs. This Yamaha now sounds nearly identical to my old P-bass when it was new. And when I crank all the knobs it has a really nice growl - and that's just straight in via my interface.. no FX or SIMS.

Thanks for jumping in here. You motivated me to git-er-done :D

Here's what the kit looks like. The wires I've indicated may not be correct for this wiring application, but these were two which allowed for the easiest demonstration. I discovered one of the two-wire connectors attached to the POT had been pushed back (off) slightly, thus breaking the circuit. I just snugged it back up and that did it.

Thanks again, guys! :guitar:

USDvH8Y.jpg
 
Oh. :)
Frankly...I never paid close attention to EMG pup setups...or used a guitar/bass with them.
I've seen them plenty of times on guitars/basses...and to me, it looked like they were installed with the regular pots.
So...when you buy them, you get separate pots to install...and you remove your old pots?

Still...I would check the wiring and the installation.
EMGs (active) use 25k pots. They always come with their own wiring harness. They're metric too so US spec knobs don't fit right. Also, it's recommended to REMOVE your string ground wire. Never seen that leaving it on is harmful, but that's what they suggest.

But yeah, 99% of the time problems are installation error.
 
LOL! I was gonna wait till tomorrow but I couldn't take it...

I pulled the PUs and everything was fine. I pulled the suspect POT and.. bingo! One wire pulled off (evidently) when I installed it. Probably as I was putting pressure on it's backside while tightening the nut - only thing I can figure. Anyway, it all works now.

I have to say, I'm very.. very pleased with these PUs. This Yamaha now sounds nearly identical to my old P-bass when it was new. And when I crank all the knobs it has a really nice growl - and that's just straight in via my interface.. no FX or SIMS.

Thanks for jumping in here. You motivated me to git-er-done :D

Here's what the kit looks like. The wires I've indicated may not be correct for this wiring application, but these were two which allowed for the easiest demonstration. I discovered one of the two-wire connectors attached to the POT had been pushed back (off) slightly, thus breaking the circuit. I just snugged it back up and that did it.

Thanks again, guys! :guitar:

View attachment 102861

I put the geezer pups in my p-bass. They sound fantastic!
You made a great choice IMO.
 
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