Quiet Bass?

[Dkerwood]

Ok, so my bassist runs a LTD passive bass through a Behringer BX3000H head and a Steelsound 2x12 cab. It's hitting at about its top capacity to keep up in the band situation (the limiter light comes on pretty regularly).

For whatever reason, though, other basses sound louder through the rig without distorting. We first noticed this last week when her strap pin stripped out and she had to grab the house bass, a Fender P. It was shaking the place, both out of the amp and the subs. She managed to roll of the volume before we got in too much trouble, but it was significantly louder.

Then last night, we had another bassist sit in at church using my bassist's rig. He was playing an Electra? I think... Even that was punching through way louder at lower settings than my normal bassist uses.

I suspect that the second situation has a lot to do with the fact that this temp guy is like me - a lot more aggressive with his bass playing. My regular bassist prefers to turn the bass up louder and have all the headroom she needs while playing a little softer.

But I have no idea why the Fender would have been so much louder than the LTD... especially without clipping the amp and sounding like garbage! Any thoughts on why this happens, and also on how we could push her axe to be louder?

[Son of Magni]

It could just be the way the tone controls on the basses are set. If her bass is set to have a lot of bottom you won't be able to get it very loud. Try her bass again and cut the bass a bit and add some mids...