Standby switch on series basses

[jazzyvee]

I thought this switch is supposed to completely mute the bass so that no sound comes out of the bass?
On my series basses the signal does not completely become silent when this switch is in the standby position.
Not noticeable if the bass is on a low volume setting on my amp at home but on a gig, when I have it on standby to use my clip-on tuner, there is bass still coming out of my speakers.
In contrast the standby switch I used to have on my signature bass was indeed silent when in the 'Off' position.

Is this normal or is there something I should check, or is my bass rig just too loud  [size=78%]?[/size]

[goran]

Same as my series 1, it's not completely muted... but what is coming out of speakers is really low volume, barely to hear.

[BeenDown139]

mine do the same thing - output is muted but not killed.  i use it as a handy sound check to make sure hte bass is live before i switch it to both pickups on.  but i've always wondered about that.  as in "when this thing is "off" shouldn't it be completely "off"?"

[gearhed289]

Interesting that this came up today. Last night I was fiddling around with my Distillate Exploiter. I wanted to make 100% sure which pickup was controlled by which trim pot, so I unplugged one pickup from the circuit board. I then noticed that the pickup that was still plugged in was full volume when the selector was on that pickup, it was slightly quieter with both pickups selected, and STILL audible (but quieter still) when the unplugged pickup was selected. I'm wondering if this is just some kind of electronic side effect of having one of the pickups unplugged?

BTW - Both my former and current Distillates go totally silent in the mute position.

[edwardofhuncote]

Something like this came up in one of my trouble threads on repairing an old Belden 5-pin cable that had signal bleed-through when the selector was in standby.


I'll look for it in a bit. I'm a total idiot on things like this, and Jimmy J. is a genius, but it seems like I remember something about the 5-pin was before the switching. The signal bleed is happening in the cable. At least with a Series instrument. Something like that...? Distillate is a mystery. Mine is completely silent at standby. (I spent some quality time with that bass this weekend...)


Hang on... lemee go look for that thread...

*Here, my post at #13, and Jimmy's reply at #17- https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=25200.0

This may have nothing to do with what you guys have happening, it just sounded familiar.

[JimmyJ]

I definitely am NOT a genius about these things!  And I can't remember what I might have said about this before but I'll try again...

Mine seem to be silent although there was a time when I realized the tuner was still seeing the bass even though I wasn't hearing it. So it can "leak" a bit but hopefully not enough to cause anybody problems. 

I believe what is supposed to happen here is that - although the preamps are still powered and engaged in "standby" mode, the output of the instrument is simply shorted to ground. Shorting the output (or technically shorting the input of whatever you are plugged into) is a silent way to mute the audio.  But it depends on several things to really be silent, including (I think) the cable, cable length, how solid the ground is to pin-1 on both ends, possibly the input impedance of the amp, even the "ground path" through the instrument's internal ribbon wire and the wires leading to the p/u selector switch.  If you were to short tip-to-sleeve at the input jack of your amp it would definitely mute the output from your speakers.  But since grounding that amp input is done through a rather long path, it's not always perfect.

There I go again pretending to know what I'm talking about.    I THINK that's the story but others may have a better explanation. I use rather short 5-pin cables so that may be why it's quiet for me.  I've also installed a true mute switches on my REDDI boxes so I can tune without passing any signal down the line.

Jimmy J

Edit:  OK, at least I didn't contradict myself in the older thread.  HA! 

[BeenDown139]

just got back from the doctor's, stitches are out (yay!), tried out the new bass room setup at working volume (yay ³!), played the ebony SII (a transendental experience in stereo at high volume, i'm here to tell ya, so yay¹⁰⁰!) set the PU selector to standby and dead silence.  so i think i confused this with another bass that has this PU selector scheme.

I was fiddling around with my Distillate Exploiter. I...

if it's the one i'm thinking of, then that's how i got confused.  i'm pretty sure i noticed that at one time but i had other fish to fry with that bass so it kinda went by the wayside.  mentally, that is.  dontcha know.

[edwin]

My Series II electronics in my Starfire are dead quiet in the standby position. I wonder what's happening with those that aren't.

[StephenR]

I checked my 2016 Series II last night and it is also dead quiet in standby mode. When I get a chance I will check my 1978 Series bass.

[mica]

Sounds like the shield is degraded on the 5-pin cord. If you have another you can test it, but you might want to get the cable you're using repaired. Usually the shield will break near one of the ends, so flexing it will reveal where the damage is. You can lop off the broken part and resolder the connector for a shorter but more reliable cable.

[jazzyvee]

Thanks Mica, i have spare cables so will try them and get any dodgy ones fixed.