Need help with IB5 Pickups

[Peter H]

Hi Guys,

I've just finished a IB5 but the volume isn't very good. I've followed the diagrams from this site and all works OK accept the low volume, has anyone else had this problem?

Thanks
Peter.

[wokkaboy]

Hi Peter, do both pickups have about the same low level output ?
It's a stereo jack so you may have the hot and earth wires connected to the wrong lugs is my 1st guess.
Please post a photo of the jack lug connections if you can without disturbing the wiring.
Have a quick look at the diagram attached.
also play with the tone knobs, the wiring digram I used the tone knobs seemed to vary the volume a bit

[WeirdBits]

It could be a number of things, post some pics of your wiring if possible and we may be able to spot something.

[wokkaboy]

ah glad the wiring god saw this thread !
Poida I'm sure Weirdy will point you in the right direction

[Gavin1393]

Indeed he will!

Just some quick steps:
How low is the low volume? If 10 was loud, how loud is it sounding?
If you have a meter, check the resistance of the Pickups at two points, at the pickups (case/earth and hot wires) of both pickups individually and again check at the point where the pickup wires touch the components (pots and or switches). The resistance should be the same otherwise you may have a faulty component or a short happening which you should now be able to trace.

[Tindrrel]

If you have a meter, plug a lead into the socket and check which pin matches which part of the plug, tip or sleeve. Sleeve should be your ground connection.

I found that the socket provided in my IB-5 kit didn't match the diagram from the site's guides. It was actually the opposite of wokka's diagram above too. Mine (http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=3688&page=17&p=81365&viewfull=1#post81365) had the tip connected to the middle size pin, and the sleeve was the small pin.

[pablopepper]

The length of the pins oh these cheap barrel jacks is pretty unreliable, like Tindrrel, my hot pin was the middle. I'm willing to bet that's what it is.

[Peter H]

Ok Guys,

Here are some images.
4734
4735

On a scale of 1 to 10 the volume would be a 4. I have 5 basses and they are all around 8 to 10.

[WeirdBits]

From what I can see the connections are all going to where they should be.

With the recessed pots and shielding my first thought is a partial short to the shielding on the underside of one of the pot lugs or from one of the cap legs. The volume outputs are linked so a short on one would affect both. I sometimes put a piece of electrical tape under the lug points on the pot to insulate them from the shielding, just in case. Also, check that the lug-side legs of the tone caps aren't brushing the shielding, particularly the right-most tone pot in the above image, as that would short part of volume direct to ground bypassing the cap.

Were you able to check the your output jack is wired correctly? If you don't have a multimeter you can do a touch test, preferably with a headphone amp. Plug a lead into your amp, put the headphones on and touch just the tip of the plug with your finger and your should hear a hum. Plug the lead into the jack and, without touching anything else on the bass, touch the yellow wire lug on the jack and then repeat with the black wire lug. If you get the hum on the yellow but not the black, it's wired correctly. If you get hum on the black but bot the yellow, it's reversed.

[Peter H]

Thanks WeirBits,

I've re-checked the wiring and all is OK, both pickups have the same resistances. So I'm thinking it's just the pick ups aren't very good when compared with humbuckers. I can live with it.

[WeirdBits]

What resistance values are your pickups (to compare another other IB5)? And, how is your pickup height, how close are they to the strings?

[Peter H]

Both pickups are 15 and the string height is around 5 to 6 mm on the bridge and neck.

[Tindrrel]

For comparison, the pickups with my IB-5 were closer to 16Kohm.

[Brendan]

Any chance it's a dud pot - are you able to check the resistance on the pots?

[Gavin1393]

Both pickups are 15 and the string height is around 5 to 6 mm on the bridge and neck.

If you are getting a reading of 15 from both pickups then the pickups are 'HOT'. Namely they will be LOUD. You might have overheated one of the pots while soldering and the pot has 'died' as Brendan is suggesting. It happens, especially when there is no heatsink in place.

[kimball492]

I have some EMG 40hz bass pickups the output is dire too. I use a sans amp bass Di box ,makes all the difference. I'm sure any good bass Di box will have same effect

Radial Bassbone
Radial JDI or JDV (Direct Box only)
Aquilar Tone Hammer
MXR M-80
Sadowsky Preamp/DI

http://www.tech21nyc.com/products/sansamp/bassdriverdi.html

[keloooe]

Yeah 15-16k is quite a loud pickup, I'd also suggest looking at the pots and getting readings from them.

[Peter H]

I'll check the pots and give an update.