Odd sound glitches with Fishman BP100/GLM200/Blender

[lermgalieu]

I have a Blender with the FIshman modified GLM200 and a BP100 running through a stereo cable (upright bass). I just hooked it up recently (used to use only the transducer). I swear the new hookup was fine at first (but could be wrong) but noticed the second time I used it in this config that if I hit my open "G" string pretty hard, I get a clipping/peaking/glitchy type of noise - most of the other notes sound allright. However, if I bypass the blender (same cable - so its only the transducer when I do this), I doesn't happen. Here's the thing - if I turn down the transducer channel on the Blender, it stops. So its not the mic, yet it can't be the pickup since the pickup works fine without the Blender. I think I got rid of any/all mechanical noises on the bass's pickup mountings. Stumped....my only thought is that

a) My cable is too long (20') - although I don't see how this could be the case if the cable works fine w/out the blender.
b) Do the mic and transducer cables need to run through separate isolation plugs? I have them going through the same one.
c) If there is some sort of mechanical noise on the bass that I missed - however I don't see why the noise would stop when I bypass the Blender then.

Any help would be great- still waiting to hear back from Fishman on it too..

[Don Higdon]

The most disappointing investment I ever made was the purchase of a Fishman Blender. I have a superb Barbera pickup, and I bought an Audio-technica mic. No amount of adjustment had any effect. Useless.

[lermgalieu]

Well, it sounded great till I got this glitch. I really like it, and am just trying to fix this problem. Too bad you had a problem with it though.

[Francois Blais]

Maybe an electrical phase problem?
The mic and pickup are blended right after the bass, ie before the long cable run, or after the long cable run?
I'd advise to blend as near to the instrument as possible.
The long cable shouldn't be a problem once the signals are blended and buffered.

Hope this helps.

[lermgalieu]

Yep it was the long stereo cable that was causing it - I seem to remember I had this problem once a long time ago before I had the Blender too. I plugged in a short cheapo stereo cable last night and it worked fine - which is good, as I was about to implement a bizarre grounding scheme my guitar repairman and I had concocted. Thanks, François - your reply would have been useful if I hadn't already fixed it. It sounds great now!