bridge pickup no sound. lots of crackling sounds

[dslapster64]

Hi JimmyJ
You are exactly correct. I do believe that the pick up selector was working after it was prepositioned. But then very soon after that something changed. I've sent this information to my tech and he's gonna check it out, especially concerning the meter information. I'm gonna have him send me a picture of the control cavity so we can see where the mounting is. Thanks so much for responding. I definitely don't want to send the whole Bass in. That will be just too expensive. Sending the board to HQ may be an idea, but I'm going to exhaust as many other avenues as possible. Thanks again for your assistance, my friend. stay tuned

[dslapster64]

OK so I just spoke with my tech and he has done all of that that was suggested that's fine. He even sent me a video and showed me some examples of what has been attempted and what is going wrong.I think the video won't fit in the attachment area.
We both believe it appears to be a problem with the board itself. How do I go about either getting a new circuit board for my Series 1 or getting this one fixed? Do I just send the board to Alembic?

[rv_bass]

Sorry it hasn’t worked out yet with your tech.  I would suggest calling and speaking to Mica if you choose to go the new/repaired board route with Alembic.

[JimmyJ]

As I initially said, it is very rare for these boards to fail but the individual components mounted on them can and occasionally do. 

There's one last thing your tech can try - if he hasn't already thought of it.  As you can see, all the square black opamp chips are the same.  They are also in sockets which means they are interchangeable.  Your tech could try swapping them around to see if they can identify a failed chip.  If it turned out that you simply lost one of those opamps it would be a cheap fix!

Next best alternative is to send the board to Alembic HQ and let them diagnose it.  We're still confused about the grey "can" capacitors and how they came to be there so sending it in may be the most reliable way to go.

The biggest drag about all this is that you've been unable to enjoy the bass during this problem.  Sad!!  If you send the card in, just play the bass acoustically until you get it back.

Jimmy J

[dslapster64]

Thank you Jimmy, I will look into that. Man this is really been extremely frustrating. I tried calling HQ but got no response.
David

[hammer]

I know that you may have heard this before, but Alembic is a small, family run operation. The best way to connect is to call when they are in the office 10:00-4:00 PDST. With California being 3 hours behind Florida that would mean 1:00-6:30 or so for you on the East coast. You will probably need to call a number of times to reach them but when you do they will spend the necessary time with you to ensure that you get the help you need.  My experience is that a phone call with Alembic staff can last 30 minutes or more because they want to ensure you are getting what you need.  With limited numbers of staff, when they don't answer it almost always means that they are helping someone else.

[dslapster64]

@Hammer
I certainly understand that Alembic is small and I will just need to be patient. I was just notifying that  I have not yet been able to reach them as yet. That's really it.
I did call between the hours of 10 and 4 PDST. I'm just hoping that I will probably be able to either have them test and repair the old one, or simply just buy a brand new circuit board. I really would rather not ship the whole Bass over there, as it would probably be too costly. My tech has worked with many Alembics before, and this one seems to have him stumped. Just looking for alternatives that's all.
Thanks.

[rv_bass]

David, maybe there is someone near you with a Series bass that would be willing to let you use the board in their bass to test and see if it is actually the board in your bass that is causing the problem.

[dslapster64]

Hello rv_bass

I personally don’t know anyone with an Alembic let alone a Series 1 . Thanks for the suggestion though. That’s also a tall order . I will wait until I can reach someone at Alembic for alternatives. I do not want to get rid of the bass at all.