Bad Buzz on Metro Jazz

[benpnixon]

Hey there,

I bought my Sadowsky Metro RS4 Jazz bass a couple years ago.  Over the last several months I've started using it a bunch in the studio, but I've been having major issues with it.  The electrical buzz on it is just brutal.  I can't honestly say if it's been like that since I bought it because I wasn't paying as much attention to those sort of details back then.

I know that single coil pickups have a tendency to buzz, but this just seems ridiculous.  The only time I don't get any buzz is when I'm fully dialed to the bridge pickup.  The noise gets progressively worse as I roll towards centre (even blend) and neck positions.  The noise is reduced when I'm touching all the strings, but at times it's been so bad that even with both hands fully covering the strings it's still totally unacceptable for recording.  There was one session where I had to strip an extra instrument cable, tape the exposed end to the bridge and put the other exposed end on the floor under my bare foot just to drop the noise floor low enough.

Is the pickup/preamp section on this thing just that sensitive?  I also have issues with the pickups transmitting the noise of my shifting straplocks, as well as hugely magnifying string clack (I'm about to get a professional setup that will hopefully reduce the issue with the latter).

And yes, I have tried rolling the treble boost all the way off.  All this does is reduce the high end portion of the buzz a bit, and not nearly enough to actually justify the alteration to my tone.  The noise is also not significantly affected by my location or the room I'm playing in.

Is my wiring screwed up perhaps?  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Ben

[Sadowsky]

There is definitely a problem with your bass.  Might be the wiring, might be the pickups.
If you get the same buzz (although at a lower volume) with the preamp bypassed, it is not the preamp.  Where are you located?  Do you have a good tech in your area?

Did you install single coils?  It sounds like you have my original humcancelling pickups and there is a problem with the neck pickup.

Contact me at the shop....

Roger

[benpnixon]

Wow, I'm really impressed that you answered my post directly Roger - and within ten minutes!  I'll check the preamp later today and then contact you through email.

Thanks a lot,
Ben