Is my bass too hot for my practice amp?

[oniman7]

Despite the name of this thread, it's more amp related than bass. I went to my local guitar shop (Johnny's if there's anyone local) to trade in an old electric guitar and amp. I didn't bring my bass, not expecting to walk away with anything. However, he told me he couldn't give me what he wanted in cash but would give me a partial trade. Sure enough, there was a single bass practice amp in the store, and I'd needed one since my friend took back the one I was borrowing. It's a Dean Markley 20 watt. Plugged in an Ibanez 5 string he had in the back and played away for a bit. It had a great range of tones, nice little treble boost option (probably only to be used when playing Cliff Burton) and a Line Out, which was a very specific thing I wanted in the amp. Left with the amp, a mic, and my cash, and was on my way.

However, at home it's a bit of a different story. I still love its tones and the way it plays. However, even if I just leave my bass plugged in, it crackles and makes a fair amount of static. It occasionally cracks on the higher notes and buzzes with notes below the low E (exacerbated by a lot of fret buzz on that string). It's not a real issue. I've got a 200W and just needed something more portable/convenient, and the only time I can see myself using it live is as a monitor. Regardless, I'm curious.

The bass is a Jay Turser 600 A with two active soapbar pickups.

[JimmyM]

if it crackles when you're not playing, you can't be overdriving the pre so that probably isn't the problem. maybe a cord or bass problem. or it could be a dirty pot or the input jack needs tightening or a short somewhere. really hard to say without being there. but use your other amp and do process of elimination with everything else before you spend a lot of time on the amp.

[oniman7]

I won't be spending much time on the amp. It's negligible as long as I keep the volume on the bass at around 3/4 (I have a tendency to leave it plugged in at full volume). However, it crackles on any amp for a split second if I mess with the bass boost knob too much. I figured it was fairly normal for active basses.

[elgecko]

If you're playing it at full volume, you clearly need more than a practice amp. Sounds like the bass boost pot could use a cleaning and no, it's not fairly normal for active basses.

[oniman7]

Well, after Christmas I'm getting my bass taken in for a setup and I'll have that looked at. Thanks for the heads up.

By the way, I'm not playing the amp at full volume. I keep the volume knob on the bass all the way up quite often.