Clipping problem

[Vendele197]

So about a month ago, I purchased a new Markbass Little Mark III head. I love it to death, but there seems to be one problem...

I play a 90s MIM Fender J through it, and if the pickups and tone knob are turned up past about 5, the clip LED on my amp starts going off anytime I play anything on the E string, and on certain other notes as well.

First question: why might this be happening?

Second question: how do I fix it?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions and/or information.

[David1234]

1. What setting do you have the LMIII's Gain knob at?

2. Can you hear distortion or just see the clip light on.

You should be able to use the gain knob to match the bass to the amp, so that you can have the bass on full volume and full tone and play loudly and only see the Clip LED come up on the very loudest notes. Most amp's clip warning lights come on before the signal actually starts to clip; it's there to help you stay in the safe zone.

If my guess is right, your problem will go away when you back the Gain off slightly and turn up the Master Volume by a similar amount.

[seamonkey]

Third question - do you hear harsh clipping that offends your ears?

If so, turn down your bass and turn up the amps master volume to get the same DB output.

If not - ignore it. It's just and input indicator that you're driving the input hard.

[Vendele197]

During band practice, I have the gain and master both turned up half way. I don't usually hear distortion, but from time to time I can hear a difference in tone.

[Vendele197]

In response to seamonkey, harsh clipping, no, but I do hear a difference in tone. I would like to be able to crank my pickups a bit more though, instead of rocking at no more than 3 or 4.

[Bass_Pounder]

Simple solution.........turn down the gain, and turn up the master

[Vendele197]

Fair enough. I know plenty about music, but little about electronics.

[Bass_Pounder]

Originally Posted by Vendele197

Fair enough. I know plenty about music, but little about electronics.

The gain is there to allow you to balance out/maximize your input signal based upon a variety of different basses (passive/active).

The correct way to set up your "gain stage" is to raise the gain until the clip light just flickers on your heaviest of notes. Then use your master for your output volume.