Audere 3ZB with much lower output than my MIM passive jazz bass?

joeyjams · #1 08-22-2009, 03:42 PM

I just recently had a Audere 3ZB preamp and a set of Nordstrand Fat Stacks put in my MTD Kingston Z5 and it sounds great but for some reason it's half as loud as my passive Jazz bass. I'd be very surprised if this is a normal thing. I had always thought that active basses were supposed to be at least a little bit louder than passive basses. Plus my new preamp is 18v as well.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

PBFACTOR · #2 08-22-2009, 03:59 PM

i had a classic 3 band in a warwick corvette. the output level was very low. they don't offer adjustable gain.

mikezimmerman · #3 08-22-2009, 05:49 PM

Active basses are not necessarily any louder than passive basses. It depends entirely on the pickups in each bass, and whether or not the particular preamp is designed to add any gain when the controls are set flat.

The Audere does not add any gain to the signal--it's pretty much the same level as the pickups are in passive mode. The only exception to this is that there are gain controls to set the output level when the preamp is in Low-Z mode, because different pickups respond differently to this.

Are you hearing the same low output with all three (Low, Medium, High) preamp modes on the Audere? How loud was the MTD compared to your Jazz before you swapped out the pickups and preamp?

Mike

joeyjams · #4 08-22-2009, 06:04 PM

The low Z mode is the loudest but not by much. High Z and Mid Z are pretty much the same. my MTD was just as quiet before I made any changes to it which was part of the reason why I upgraded it. My soundman pretty much has to dime my gain on the board to get a good signal through the PA. It's not just my Direct Out on my amp either, as just playing through my amp it's still half as loud. I don't even have my active db cut on. I really love the sound of this bass but wish I could get a lot higher output from it.

greenboy · #5 08-22-2009, 06:40 PM

As I recall, the Audere is "unity gain" - using it in mid-Z mode it will be about as loud as the pickups were passively - if you wired correctly.

mikezimmerman · #6 08-22-2009, 06:42 PM

Since the MTD had about the same output with the old preamp and pickups, maybe it's just your passive Jazz that's got particularly hot output?

Mike

greenboy · #7 08-22-2009, 06:45 PM

I did talk to Dave Meadows awhile back though. If you specify wanting say 3 dB of additional gain or whatever built into an Audere preamp when ordering he'll be glad to accomodate you. He said at some point he plans to add that as an option on the website process but last time I checked he still hadn't gotten around to it.