More wiring/diagnosis help!

[Buckeyedog]

OK, put 2 humbuckers in my Les Paul DC. Two conductor. Tone pot is out of the equation right now. On clean, there is some "fuzz" when I hit the notes, then it kind of goes out. Hit the strings harder, the worse it is and it's on both pickups. Got the leads going to switch, then the switch to volume pot. Sounds OK with distortion, but it's just covering it up. Still not nice full clean distortion. Any ideas?? Might I have messed up the volume pot with too much heat?? I only grounded one more lead to that. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Kevin

[HolyDirt]

Re: More wiring/diagnosis help!

Originally posted by Buckeyedog
OK, put 2 humbuckers in my Les Paul DC. Two conductor. Tone pot is out of the equation right now. On clean, there is some "fuzz" when I hit the notes, then it kind of goes out. Hit the strings harder, the worse it is and it's on both pickups. Got the leads going to switch, then the switch to volume pot. Sounds OK with distortion, but it's just covering it up. Still not nice full clean distortion. Any ideas?? Might I have messed up the volume pot with too much heat?? I only grounded one more lead to that. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Kevin

what kind of buzz, like a buzz that sound slike the strings hitting metal, a scratchy buzz. or a shaking like rattling buzz?

[Buckeyedog]

Buzz

Well, it's kind of like a muffly fuzz coming out of the speakers. Not really a "buzz". It's not the amp. Almost a tad muffled too. Like the pickup is not "open" so to speak.

[Buckeyedog]

Since it's with both pickups, I'm assuming it's either the wire from switch to volume pot, the volume pot itself, or the lead from volume pot to the output jack. Any ideas how to narrow it down without replacing it all??

[ArtieToo]

Hi Buckeye; it sounds like you have the exact same problem I have. The noise almost sounds like one of the speakers has a "rip" in it, or a loose cone.

Here's when it happens, and doesn't for me:

Does it when plugged into either a Johnson J-Station, or a Yamaha FX-500.
(Both, "digital" units.)
Does not do it when plugged into an actual amp. (Fender sidekick)
Didn't do it when I originally had 250k pots.
Does do it now with 500k pots.
And, can be eliminated by turning down the "gain" on the J-Station.
Did not do it with the original Predator p'ups. (EMG, I believe.)

I tend to believe it has something to do with these p'ups being "hotter" than what was in there before. And perhaps, are a bit too much for the digital inputs. What kind of amp are you using it with?

So far, I haven't found a solution, other than to turn my levels down a bit. (on the guitar.)
Oh yeah, and I know my wiring and soldering is ok.

[Buckeyedog]

Got a Budda and Marshall. They are fine with all other axes and this Les Paul was fine with the previous pickups. The new one's are actually lower in output, so that's why it almost has to be in my "new" wiring. Maybe I held the iron too long on the pot or one of the leads (by mistake). Guess I'll just have to replace a piece at a time to see if I can find it that way.

[Robert S.]

Buckeye, try soldering the pickups (one at a time) hot and ground leads directly to the output jack. If the problem disappears you have a compenent and not a pickups problem. Then run a pickup through each pot one at a time and then the switch by itself until you find the problem.

It's a hassle, but troubleshooting noise always is.

[Buckeyedog]

Thanks Robert! Yeah, it is a hassle, but I get your drift. Eliminate the pickups, then work backwards from jack then components. So, it won't hurt anything to hook them up direct like that I assume since it's basically a small signal........appreciate the advice.

Kevin

[Buckeyedog]

Re: More wiring/diagnosis help!

Crap man, good news/bad news. Well, no problem with the guitar or pickups....it was the frickin' brand new out of the box GT "Mullard" pre amp tube in V1! I had put one in a few days back just before putting the new pickups in. I went right from the pickups to the guitar cable and the "fuzz" was still there, so I was trying to track down vibration/rattle in the guitar/pickups. I just decided to plug in my EVH Music Man, and there it was......the same "fuzz" on the clean. Man, do I feel stupid! But, live and learn I guess. Thanks again for the advice guys.

[Robert S.]

Re: More wiring/diagnosis help!

You think you have it bad? I'm am both blessed and cursed with a fairly high tech rig. Blessed because it does everything I want it too and cursed because it is so complicated to troubleshoot. Lets see, 16 tubes, 3 effects processors, seperate preamp and power amp and a whole bunch of custom cut and soldered jumpers to tie the whole thing together. There are at least 20 individual leads back there that can cause problems.

Last night I fired up the amp an noticed a re-occuring problem with the output of one side of my rig, which is stereo. It's re-occuring only because I didn't notice it all the time, mostly because I play a loud amp in a smaller room.

So in a simular fashion to what I told you to do in my last post I start eliminating possibilities. I unplugged all the effects and ran the Triaxis directly into the 2:90 and the problem disappeared. So I started adding back components individually until I came to the conclusion that all the processors were all running properly. Next I grabbed an ohm meter and started checking the jumpers. I found the problem and it was in fact one of the jumpers THAT I ORIGINALLY SOLDERED 2 YEARS WHEN I BOUGHT THE AMP. Shame on me. The last processor was sending the mirror image of the left channel out the right but the original signal was lost due to a ground short which was caused by one strand of the sheilding that got wrapped and soldered with the conductor.

Troubleshooting is always a pain, and you can't assume anything. I'm glad it worked out for you.

[Buckeyedog]

Re: More wiring/diagnosis help!

Wow!! Guess when ya got that much stuff going on, it is "Fun" to troubleshoot!! Thanks again Robert.