Anyone had this problem with their LR Baggs M80?

[jacf]

This is from a thread in the acoustic amplification thread but I've narrowed the problem down to an issue with my LR Baggs M80 pickup and I wondered if other users had experience of this issue.

The pickup works fine in passive mode but in active mode, there's a low static-type rumble that seems to be there almost constantly, that isn't there when I plug in other pickups or even switch off the active element on the M80 so I'm pretty certain it's coming from the active circuit from the M80. To add to that, the volume control sometimes seems erratic, dropping out occasionally, and on occasions not working at all. I thought it might be related to the battery but after changing several different makes of battery, this doesn't seem to be the case.

Now all of this would be fixed by returning it to LR Baggs who, in my experience, have an excellent customer relations person dealing with these things. However, I'm in Edinburgh in Scotland and sending back a pickup to the US is an expensive and time consuming process. This is especially concerning where it's an intermittent problem. It's the way with these things that I'll send it several thousand miles back to LR Baggs and it will then work fine there, until they send it back to me. Such is life! In the first instance, I thought I'd see if anyone had any similar issues with the M80 and might offer clues to how I might be able to get it fixed over here.

Anyone else had this issue? Any pointers for a local investigation and repair before I trust the pickup to a courier and try and navigate it the the US/UK customs departments? If I can get a good steer on this, I have an excellent local tech who might be willing to give it a go.

[varmonter]

My first thoughts would be check
gain staging. you may
be overdriving something downstream
from your pickup in active mode
Just my cheap fix idea..

[jacf]

Good suggestion but I’m pretty sure it’s not. I’ve tested it into my Acus 8 direct and also into the Acus 8 via an Orchid preamp. My Anthem or M1A into these works fine, it’s just the M80.

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by jacf

... To add to that, the volume control sometimes seems erratic, dropping out occasionally, and on occasions not working at all...

The intermittent volume pot has me wondering if it's not two issues at all, but maybe just one. The construction of the pickup and the positioning of the volume "wheel" kinda make it a pretty ideal way to transfer gunk from one's finger into the guts of the pickup.

You should take the pickup out of the guitar to do this.

Get some DeOxit and spray a little into the opening where the volume wheel is and exercise the wheel vigorously. Turn it up and down a bunch. The DeOxit, despite being wet, won't hurt anything, this is what it's for.

It's a no-lose proposition, because you really should have DeOxit around anyway if you have electric instruments, amps, or studio gear.

[jacf]

Deoxit is pretty expensive and harder to source in the UK but I'm pretty sure my tech has some. I'll ask him to give it a try. I might be all that it needs but I have a feeling there's a bigger issue lurking in there.

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by jacf

Deoxit is pretty expensive and harder to source in the UK but I'm pretty sure my tech has some. I'll ask him to give it a try. I might be all that it needs but I have a feeling there's a bigger issue lurking in there.

There's gotta be some UK equivalent. And it only makes sense to give cheap and simple a chance before you dive into expensive and complicated.

Late add: a Brit friend says y'all have something called Servisol. Works fine, lots cheaper.