Author Topic: Epic bridge pickup quiet? (Read 196 times)

dumfuxx · « **on:** August 08, 2005, 05:11:51 AM »

my bridge pickup is much quieter than my neck pickup on the epic. If I pan to it alone, I can barely hear it at all, and it is very close to the strings. Has anyone heard of this before? Suggestions?

jagerphan84 · « **Reply #1 on:** August 08, 2005, 07:40:20 AM »

Hey Gary,

Check inside the control cavity. There ought to be a couple little blue boxes which control the gain for each pickup. They are pretty sensitive; it shouldn't take a whole lot of adjustment to bring the levels together.

Hope this helps!
Adam

adriaan · « **Reply #2 on:** August 08, 2005, 08:24:02 AM »

The Epic package has just one gain pot inside the control cavity, so that's already one thing eliminated.

Definitely sounds like there's something wrong - could be a bad contact, could be inside the pick-up itself.

xlrogue6 · « **Reply #3 on:** August 08, 2005, 09:12:18 AM »

For diagnostic purposes you might try swapping the PU connectors on the board to see if the problem is the PU or the electronics.

David Houck · « **Reply #4 on:** August 08, 2005, 09:27:42 AM »

Definitely try Kent's suggestion of switching the leads. Also, check to see if anything might be shorting out; i.e. that nothing has become loose and moved inside the cavity to where it's touching something else.

dumfuxx · « **Reply #5 on:** August 08, 2005, 04:02:14 PM »

I'm on an offshore oil rig right now, but I should be back thursday. I have already looked-wiggled inside the control cavity and everything looks ok, but I'll definitely swap the leads to see if the problem moves or not. I'll update to let everyone know.

dumfuxx · « **Reply #6 on:** August 12, 2005, 09:05:11 AM »

ok, found the problem. I swapped the connectors in the control cavity and the problem moved, so I pulled out my multimeter. the neck pickup reads about 7 ohms, and the bridge pickup reads open!

I removed the pickup to check if the wiring is intact and found the pickup is cracked in half. Has a broken connection inside the epoxy.

New pickup is $160, on its way overnight shipping.

Come to find out, the pickup has never worked since I bought it from GCrep on ebay. The 'quiet' output of the pickup was just bleedover of the neck pickup. I can hear it with the bridge P/U removed.

lbpesq · « **Reply #7 on:** August 12, 2005, 09:58:06 AM »

O.K., now I'm confused. If the problem moved, doesn't that prove it's the electronics and not the pickup? If the problem is a bad pickup, shouldn't it stay the same (same pickup doesn't work) even when you switch the connections? Am I wrong, or did I just go to too many Dead shows?

Bill, tgo

dadabass2001 · « **Reply #8 on:** August 12, 2005, 10:30:41 AM »

Too many Dead shows.... You wouldn't change the leads at the pickup, but rather at the electronics end. That would move the problem to the other position. Breathe inside a paper bag 5 times deeply.

Mike

lbpesq · « **Reply #9 on:** August 12, 2005, 10:54:45 AM »

I still don't understand. There are two pickups, lets call them neck and bridge. The problem is that the bridge pickup isn't working. It could be a bad pickup or bad electronics. You switch the leads and the problem switches to the neck pickup. Doesn't this prove that the problem is the electronics? If the problem is a bad bridge pickup, won't the problem stay with the bridge pickup no matter how it is wired? Or does changing the wires cause the pickup to spontaneously heal itself? I don't get it.

Bill, tgo

dumfuxx · « **Reply #10 on:** August 12, 2005, 11:16:42 AM »

The problem moves to the neck pickup connection on the elctronics. So when I pan to the neck pickup, its dead. I pan to the bridge pickup (which is the physical neck pickup 'cause I switched leads) it works.

lbpesq · « **Reply #11 on:** August 12, 2005, 12:58:59 PM »

So, in other words, the problem STAYED with the bridge pickup and DID NOT switch to the neck pickup when you swapped the connections, right? I guess my misunderstanding is a matter of semantics. When I say neck pickup, I mean the rectangular thing that is nearer the neck. When you say neck pickup you mean the setting on the pan switch, right?

Bill, tgo

dumfuxx · « **Reply #12 on:** August 12, 2005, 03:07:15 PM »

stayed with bridge pickup, correct.

David Houck · « **Reply #13 on:** August 12, 2005, 06:33:19 PM »

Could be that the spontaneous healing capacitor was burned out .

dadabass2001 · « **Reply #14 on:** August 13, 2005, 06:53:33 AM »

quote from Senior's zippy healing capacitor repair...
frayed franims... ya gotta replace the set.

Can ya leave it overnight?

Mike Sr.