distortion at louder volumes

[Orco87]

Edit: simplifying question:

I've got an OLP MM3 which I've recenlty a series/parallel mod to. When I turn the volumes up really high, the sound becomes highly distorted, and/or muddy, which that happened even before I did the mod. Should I look into changing the pickup?

The two pickups I've come across are the Nordstrand 5.2 and 5.3 and the completely new one to me, the "Wilkinson MM". http://cgi.ebay.com/Wilkinson-Pickup...QQcmdZViewItem


Anyone have any experience w/ the wilkinson pu's?


Any help is highly appreciated! Thanks!

[Orco87]

bump... simplified first post... simplified question... help?

[luknfur]

FWIW:

in my recall anything within the bass that created distortion did it at all levels - which flows logically since it's the start of the signal chain. Cranked distortion variation has come from elsewhere in the signal chain, mostly amps/speakers. Also where you crank everything EVERYTHING vibrates and can be hard to tell whether it's the nieghbors garage door, speaker cabinet or what.

Also series is about 3-4 times the output so no suprise to get distortion in switching from parallel to series when settings have been dialed in for parallel.

[Orco87]

Originally Posted by luknfur

FWIW:

in my recall anything within the bass that created distortion did it at all levels - which flows logically since it's the start of the signal chain. Cranked distortion variation has come from elsewhere in the signal chain, mostly amps/speakers. Also where you crank everything EVERYTHING vibrates and can be hard to tell whether it's the nieghbors garage door, speaker cabinet or what.

Also series is about 3-4 times the output so no suprise to get distortion in switching from parallel to series when settings have been dialed in for parallel.

I can understand about the series amplifying everything further. When I plug my other bass in, I don't get the distortion that I get w/ this bass, so I don't think it's an amp issue... Since I had this problem before changing all pots, I'm narrowing it to the pickup, and am just wondering if this is a possible cause to the problem?

The pickup sending a muddy/distorted signal which is what the pots are adjusting, but if turned up, overall the signal is just muddy and distorted. <-- that's my theory... anywhere in ball park?

[luknfur]

FWIW:

don't know if it has a preamp but if so no that uncommon for them to distort when boost is cranked, especially bass.

Muddy distortion occurs when pups are too close to strings - but it should occur at any volume or, if borderline, just when you really dig in.

If you recently rewired it, and it didn't do it bofore, that alone tells you it's not the pups.

Volume(s)? More than one pup. Which volume. If it just occurs when you crank the bass, then back off the bass and increase volume elsewhere in the signal chain. If you don't get enough volume that way then you probably need more amp, more efficient cabs, whatever.

A lot of amps just don't do well when they're maxed. That's the headroom thing.

[Orco87]

Originally Posted by luknfur

FWIW:

don't know if it has a preamp but if so no that uncommon for them to distort when boost is cranked, especially bass.

Muddy distortion occurs when pups are too close to strings - but it should occur at any volume or, if borderline, just when you really dig in.

If you recently rewired it, and it didn't do it bofore, that alone tells you it's not the pups.

Volume(s)? More than one pup. Which volume. If it just occurs when you crank the bass, then back off the bass and increase volume elsewhere in the signal chain. If you don't get enough volume that way then you probably need more amp, more efficient cabs, whatever.

A lot of amps just don't do well when they're maxed. That's the headroom thing.

Thanks for helping me figure this out, here's some specs for better understanding:

It's an olp mm3 (which will already have sub-par electronics) It's a passive setup, with vol, vol, tone on your regular MM humbucking pickup.

This whole muddy, distortion thing was happening previously before I did the series/parallel mod and changed all the pots. It can still sound fairly muddy/distorted unless I do some serious tweaking w/ the controls on the bass itself.

I'm still under the assumption that my problem is coming from my pickup, but I didn't think about where it is placed. I'll try to lower it and see how that goes.

The other thing I was wondering is if anyone knew anything about wilkinson PU's? I know you might not, but I might go into the "basses" forum cuz I think a lot more people frequent there, someone might now.

Thanks for the help, I'll report back if anything changes!

[luknfur]

Originally Posted by Orco87

Thanks for helping me figure this out, here's some specs for better understanding:

It's an olp mm3 (which will already have sub-par electronics) It's a passive setup, with vol, vol, tone on your regular MM humbucking pickup.

This whole muddy, distortion thing was happening previously before I did the series/parallel mod and changed all the pots. It can still sound fairly muddy/distorted unless I do some serious tweaking w/ the controls on the bass itself.

I'm still under the assumption that my problem is coming from my pickup, but I didn't think about where it is placed. I'll try to lower it and see how that goes.

The other thing I was wondering is if anyone knew anything about wilkinson PU's? I know you might not, but I might go into the "basses" forum cuz I think a lot more people frequent there, someone might now.

Thanks for the help, I'll report back if anything changes!

Wilkinsin pickups are English I think, on ebay not really used over here. So you won't find much on them probably. So you might want to write a pup review at some point to let other dudes know.

[Orco87]

Originally Posted by luknfur

Wilkinsin pickups are English I think, on ebay not really used over here. So you won't find much on them probably. So you might want to write a pup review at some point to let other dudes know.

cool, I'll buy one since it isn't too much money... if it sounds like crap I'll save it for another project bass.

Thanks for the help.