Members mbengs1 Posted August 17, 2015 Members Share Posted August 17, 2015 my ibanez RG recently lost bass response. what could have caused this? is it the pots? selector switch? output jack? the guitar doesnt sound as it should. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted August 17, 2015 Members Share Posted August 17, 2015 An improper setup is more likely and issue then the electronics. The only thing that can really cause a loose of bass response is one of the HB coils shorting. Those are easy to check. Just select one pickup and touch the pickup poles of each coil with a screwdriver. If it clicks its working. Its highly unlikely anything else in the electronics is going to cause a loss of bass. You said you had another guitar. Taking into account it may have different pickups, does it sound overly bassy in comparison to the Ibanez? I know you're into recording so Here's some specific things that may apply to you. Maybe its the amp not the guitar. You can check that. You have recording gear. Its very possible you've gotten used to the full frequency bass of your recording interface. It doesn't emphasize mids like a guitar amp does and you may have gotten used to hearing the guitar with a flat frequency response. Going back to an amp can sound very thin in comparison. You can check the amp and guitar response together. Record a track and put Voxengo Span on the track and view the response curve then compare it to a track you recorded earlier when you thought it was working correctly. Record your other guitar and compare both. A normal guitar track should have everything roll off below 100hz. You can post it here if you want and I can compare it to similar guitars and see if its in the normal range. Also, have you been to any loud concerts, gigs or wore headphones where your ears may have been pounded with low frequency? These can damage or change your ears response. I'd often go to a concert and when I'd get back and pick up my guitar it would sound cheesy in comparison to what I just heard. Using headphones for more then an hour at a time does the same thing. You need to give the ears a rest for at least 24 hours for the sensitivity comes back. Even mixing with studio monitors, you want to use 85db as a reference level. I have the issue every time I go back into the studio. I open up a project I had been working on previously mixing and its always too loud and has too much bass response. Its because my ears were getting fatigued towards the end of that session and I gradually cranked the levels and the bass up to compensate for that fatigue. When I come back to the session with rested ears, everything too loud. Ears change on a daily basis. Even a head cold can change what you hear on dramatic levels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mbengs1 Posted August 17, 2015 Author Members Share Posted August 17, 2015 i'm sure its the guitar coz i noticed it the moment it happened. while jamming with my band the sound changed to what it is now. it didn't matter how it was setup. i tried other my other guitars through the same amp/effects and it sounded good. i havent attended a concert in years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted August 17, 2015 Members Share Posted August 17, 2015 You did mention anything about bass loss on a single pickup so I assume its both which are being affected. If so, the problem has to be between the guitar jack and where the pickups are divided by switch or pots. That means its either the jack or the wire up to that point. Especially check the guitar Plug connection. Sometimes the nut gets loose and the wire gets twisted up and can cause a partial shore, not enough to cut out but enough to reduce the signal strength. If the problem was after the division, then it would only affect one pickup or the other, or when both pickups are selected. If its only one pickup, Do the tap test and see if all your coils are working. If they are, measure the pickups with an ohm meter. You usually have to remove the hot wire so the pot doesn't load it down. You can then Google up what those pickups are supposed to read. If a coils shorted or open you should be able to read it on the meter. Other then that, checking that all your connections are good and that no wires are touching where they aren't supposed to. Same thing is the nut on a pot looses up. It may spin the pot contacts around where its touching something it shouldn't be. Pay careful attention to the leads coming from the pickups. Many pickups are 4 wire conductors now. They solder two of the wires together and put some insulation over the solder joint. This is where the two coils are tied together in series. If they used some crappy tape or heat shrink, it may have come off and is touching against ground. This acts like a coil tap and turns off one of the coils. Make sure the wires aren't touching anything but the switch or pot contacts (which is first depends on the wiring scheme) Also look for loose switch contacts. I believe that guitar uses a blade type switch. The connections may have come into contact with something it shouldn't. Ibanez may use conductive paint in the cavity for hum shielding (usually gray in color) If so, any electrical contact touching the sides of the cavity will short. Beyond that using a lubricating contact cleaner for pots and the switch may help a little. Dirty pots don't just remove bass, neither will the tone cap. If anything it would make the tone pot act like a volume pot if it shorted and wouldn't do anything if it opened. The only other thing I can think of is something happened to the pickup magnets. Ceramic magnets are often glued in place. if the glue lets go the magnet might dislodge. I doubt Ibanez pickups would have that problem. I know they had some older pickups with ceramic magnets, but even those are made well enough where you'd need a hammer to dislodge them. Partial coil shorting is very rare. I've seen it in vintage single coils before. The wire is wrapped over the magnet poles. if one of the poles take a shot, the poles can dislodge and short the coil windings. This wouldn't be possible with most Humbuckers because the bobbins are separate from the poles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badpenguin Posted August 17, 2015 Members Share Posted August 17, 2015 Ok sounds like 1 of 4 things.1) volume pot. But it would effect ALL the pickups.2) 5 way switch. It sounds like a coil is being shut off. In JEMs the 2 and 4 positions of the switch are the middle single, and one coil of the humbuckers. Switch the position to the 1 and 5 positions, the neck or bridge, and tap the coils of the humbuckers. if only one works, and the middle is still on, then it's the switch.3) Wires touching the contacts on the switch. Just like WRG suggested, some 4 conductor may lose the insulation.4) coil dead. VERY rare. In 30 years or being a tech, saw two go south. Then it's time for replacement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted August 18, 2015 Members Share Posted August 18, 2015 It seems to me the wiring on those guitars is complex enough that an open connection somewhere could reroute the signal in such a way that the guitar still has output but it is compromised. Have you opened it up to look inside? What happens to the output level of the guitar as you switch positions of the selector switch? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badpenguin Posted August 18, 2015 Members Share Posted August 18, 2015 I doubt we will ever know what the issue was. He tends to never return to his post, and let us know what's going on. So I doubt I will continue to offer advice to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mikesr1963 Posted August 19, 2015 Members Share Posted August 19, 2015 I'm afraid sir that you, have in fact, lost your mojo. Good luck with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mbengs1 Posted August 19, 2015 Author Members Share Posted August 19, 2015 It seems to me the wiring on those guitars is complex enough that an open connection somewhere could reroute the signal in such a way that the guitar still has output but it is compromised. Have you opened it up to look inside? What happens to the output level of the guitar as you switch positions of the selector switch? I looked inside once before. everthing seemed well soldered. the loss of bass is the same in all of the pickups of the guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badpenguin Posted August 19, 2015 Members Share Posted August 19, 2015 Then, more than likely, it's your volume pot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted August 19, 2015 Members Share Posted August 19, 2015 I looked inside once before. everthing seemed well soldered. the loss of bass is the same in all of the pickups of the guitar. If you change the position of the selector switch while you are playing, does it sound like you are getting the expected pickup changes for each switch position? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badpenguin Posted August 27, 2015 Members Share Posted August 27, 2015 So, What was the problem? Should have been fixed by now, and it would be nice to share the solution with others that may have the same issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mbengs1 Posted August 27, 2015 Author Members Share Posted August 27, 2015 I will have the guitar fixed again when i pickup my amp from the service place probably next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badpenguin Posted September 23, 2015 Members Share Posted September 23, 2015 Ok, it's been a few weeks, how about sharing, so others with the same issue can find a solution? What was wrong with it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bucksstudent Posted September 23, 2015 Members Share Posted September 23, 2015 Ok' date=' it's been a few weeks, how about sharing, so others with the same issue can find a solution? What was wrong with it?[/quote'] I think sticking a fork into a power outlet was the first problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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