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Author Topic: Cold Sweat volume problem HELP!  (Read 2134 times)

Olivier

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Cold Sweat volume problem HELP!
« on: May 23, 2011, 03:41:54 PM »
Hello.

I did just get my BKP Aftermath bridge and Cold Sweat neck. I did leave the guitar wich is an LTD H-1001 to my local music shop.

Today I did get the guitar back from the music shop with the new pups in it, but the guy there had some bad news for me.

Apparently they couldn't fix the neck, it was very low volume on it. When I got home i tryed it for myself, and yeah... Very very very low volume. What is the problem?! Please I need help

BigB

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Re: Cold Sweat volume problem HELP!
« Reply #1 on: May 23, 2011, 05:54:18 PM »
Hello.

I did just get my BKP Aftermath bridge and Cold Sweat neck. I did leave the guitar wich is an LTD H-1001 to my local music shop.

Today I did get the guitar back from the music shop with the new pups in it, but the guy there had some bad news for me.

Apparently they couldn't fix the neck, it was very low volume on it. When I got home i tryed it for myself, and yeah... Very very very low volume. What is the problem?! Please I need help

Impossible to tell without more details. The first things to do would be to check the DC resistance of the pup (requires unsoldering the pup), then if it's ok checking the DC resistance of the volume and tone pots (requires unsoldering the pots).

FWIW and from experience, quite a few guitar shop "techs" are totally incompetent (a very few are actually competent enough to know when they're not and not pretend otherwise) so learning about soldering and guitar electronics is usually a good idea (and it's nothing difficult at least for the most common cases).
Have: Crawlers, BGF 50/52s, Mules, ABomb, RiffRaff
Had : Slowhands (n&m), Trilogy (b)

Olivier

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Re: Cold Sweat volume problem HELP!
« Reply #2 on: May 23, 2011, 06:33:46 PM »
Well, I think that they checked if the pickup were okey with oHm or something.

The volume just drops when switching to the neck pickup.

Transcend

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Re: Cold Sweat volume problem HELP!
« Reply #3 on: May 23, 2011, 06:39:54 PM »
You dont have to unsolder the pickups to check the resistance.

you can plug a lead in and measure witha  multimeter across the tip and sleeve whilst the pickup selector is on the neck pickup.

Check that then report back

Olivier

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Re: Cold Sweat volume problem HELP!
« Reply #4 on: May 23, 2011, 06:42:47 PM »
I think that they checked that, remembering they said something about it.
What can be the problem after checking that?

Transcend

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Re: Cold Sweat volume problem HELP!
« Reply #5 on: May 23, 2011, 06:45:46 PM »
If that is fine then its obviously something with the wiring.

you should call Tim and see what he has to say on the matter

ericsabbath

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Re: Cold Sweat volume problem HELP!
« Reply #6 on: May 23, 2011, 07:54:04 PM »
the bridge aftermath is much much louder than the neck cold sweat
Riff Raff, Mules, Black Dog, VHII's, Cold Sweat

Olivier

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Re: Cold Sweat volume problem HELP!
« Reply #7 on: May 23, 2011, 08:02:48 PM »
But it seems ridiculously low. Can I adjust the hight of the pup? So it will gain more of the strings?

ericsabbath

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Re: Cold Sweat volume problem HELP!
« Reply #8 on: May 23, 2011, 08:14:41 PM »
yeah, pickups heights must be adjusted together to get nearly even volumes

if you have a multimeter, check the dc resistance
Riff Raff, Mules, Black Dog, VHII's, Cold Sweat

Olivier

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Re: Cold Sweat volume problem HELP!
« Reply #9 on: May 23, 2011, 08:56:12 PM »
Did just adjust the pickup heights. But still no no no, there is something wrong. But I can't think of it, becuase BKP always try the pickups in a guitar before confirming that its okey, did read it here.

It just sounds "farty".... All the gain disappears, there like nothing. An emptiness

Transcend

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Re: Cold Sweat volume problem HELP!
« Reply #10 on: May 23, 2011, 09:15:00 PM »
Are they both connected to the same volume control or are they seperate?

The first thing that comes to mind with your description is a pot of too low a value

Olivier

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Re: Cold Sweat volume problem HELP!
« Reply #11 on: May 23, 2011, 09:28:29 PM »
Both are connected to the same pot, its brand new 500k pots.


ericsabbath

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Re: Cold Sweat volume problem HELP!
« Reply #12 on: May 24, 2011, 06:39:27 AM »
well, the cold sweat neck is low output and very clean
it shouldn't sound saturated anyway

the aftermath IS a lot louder, a lot middier and a lot gainier
Riff Raff, Mules, Black Dog, VHII's, Cold Sweat

darkbluemurder

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Re: Cold Sweat volume problem HELP!
« Reply #13 on: May 25, 2011, 03:11:14 PM »
When I had a MM and a CS in the same guitar, the MM also appeared to be significantly louder but the CS neck was not so low in volume to suspect anything wrong.

To the OP: again - there is just no way around taking a multimeter and measuring DC resistance in the first place. Everything else is just guesswork, and I would not assume anything in that regard.

Does it hum more when you select the neck pickup compared to the bridge pickup? If so it may be wired as single coil in the neck position - even inadvertently - this can happen if for some reason the isolation on the green/white wires came off and the wires touch some metal inside the guitar.

It could also be worth trying to change the sides of the pickup selector to exclude a fault there.

Can you post a picture of the wiring? That could also help.

Good luck,
Stephan

Greatoliver

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Re: Cold Sweat volume problem HELP!
« Reply #14 on: May 25, 2011, 11:15:53 PM »
One thing to check is that both coils are working.

Get some kind of metallic magnetic object, like an allen key or something, and plug your guitar in. Then gently tap the slugs on each coil on the neck - it should make a loud clicking noise (so don't turn your amp up too loud  :lol:) If both are working, each coil should make a noise. If one does not make the noise, then the wiring must be bad.

I don't know other than that, but I hope it helps :)