Distressed Tone

[charlie123]

I play a year old Vic Bailey 5, through an Epifani UL502 into a Epi UL 3-10 Cab. I've got a BBE 362 Sonic Maximizer and a DBX 266xl Comp in the chain- series, I use them very little. I played a gig in a large room last week with a 10 pc horn band and when playing pizz. started getting a pretty dirty tone. Didn't seem like we were that loud. I had new batteries, the PU's were set to specs in terms of height. The power amp was on 12 and had lots of room on the pre, no clipping. I was using alot of low mids. Cloud I be breaking up my speaks?

[Steveaux]

Amp repair and configuration issues go in Amps, not Setup

[Joe_K]

I'd first try reproducing the distortion and then removing everything from the chain, even if it is disabled most of the time. Get down to just your bass, your amp and one good cable. That will at least rule out or confirm that it is your amp/speakers.

Also, during the gig, were you monitoring your amp mostly? Is there any possibility the distortion you heard was part of the house amplification/monitors?

[charlie123]

Thanks for the reply. I was 5' in front of my rig which was elevated about 2' and tipped @ me. pretty direct path to my aural nerves! and it was getting on my nerves. I'll try simplifing the signal path and see what happens.

[BigOldHarry]

Originally Posted by Joe_K

I'd first try reproducing the distortion and then removing everything from the chain, even if it is disabled most of the time. Get down to just your bass, your amp and one good cable. That will at least rule out or confirm that it is your amp/speakers.

Also, during the gig, were you monitoring your amp mostly? Is there any possibility the distortion you heard was part of the house amplification/monitors?

Yup - exactly what I'd do. Remove EVERYTHING but the bass, a known good cord and the amp rig... then add one element at a time until you get the failure...