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actives overloading pedals?

#21
I have to say "turning down" is a simplestic approach to a complicated problem, particualry as I get distortion even with my volume backed way down, and I have a great chorus pedal, DLS, with an adjustable input gain, still to no avail. I'm starting to suspect that actual voltage coming from the preamp, even when attueanted is still considerably higher than what effects pedals are designed to handle. A gross exageration would be the difference between a passive pickup output and a speaker output. That would be a mucher higher voltage. I suspect my aguilar preamp is putting out volts rather than millivolts. Any thoughts?
 
#22
niftydog said:
Is there an emoticon for "banging head on desk"?
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Don't be like that mate- we're trying to help. I've had this problem and this is my solution.


I'm suggesting that you may be able to find a good tone by using your eq to cut the frequencies you don't want as oppose to boosting the ones you do like. Alternatively why not just use the eq on your sansamp?


Yes, I appreciate the fact that it effectively makes your active bass passive, but if it sounds good (and I can assure you mine does) who cares?

I suggest putting the eq on your sansamp to good use and have a the signal going flattish to any pedals between the BDDI and your bass?

PS If you READ THE MANUAL to the BDDI it does state quite clearly that it doesn't sound very good with a boosted eq because the signal will be too hot. If you don't like the presence control turn it down- it works wonders.

Try it it works.
 
#23
Personally have had this problem with my active basses.
What I do is use a compressor at the front of the signal
chain. It's maybe not ideal in the respect that you do lose
dynamics but, by setting the output of the comp to an appropriate level it seems to alleviate the distortion issue in
the other pedals. My two cents.
 
#24
ok, look, bad day yesterday, sorry everyone, but please, stop telling me to "just turn down." :crying: I tried that approach approximately 3 seconds after I first realised I had a problem, ok! :)

Trying to steer this in the right direction here;

Has anyone got opinions on the usefullness of the BassBone or the MicroBass II for solving this type of problem?




What exactly is the difference between asking for solutions and asking for input from people who have a solution?
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I was hoping for tried, tested and verified methods from people in the same situation as me as opposed to just suggestions.

Sorry if you're offended when people point that out.
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I'm not offended, I'm bugged that nobody seems to have read the full thread. If they had they'd understand that this has been repeatedly suggested, and that in my opinion it is a far from ideal solution. 18 pedals work fine, 2 are distorting - I'm not gonna turn down to 30% of full volume just to fix a problem with 10% of my pedals whilst potentially adversely affecting the other 90% and the rest of my system.

I understand what you're saying, steveksux, but my amp IS the Titanic and the preamp gain knob adjusts the size of the gash in it's bow! :D

I'm an "allthewayup" kind of guy
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Ah ha! So you understand where I'm coming from!

If you don't like the presence control turn it down- it works wonders.
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It's not just that I don't like it, it's that it's introducing a strange distorted noise that is audible AFTER I have muted the strings.
 
#25
niftydog said:
(or I suppose it could be impedance mismatch as well.)
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I'd venture to guess that this is in fact what the main problem is - the active systems of many modern basses can simply supply far more current than that supplied by passive basses. Have you tried running your bass into a (passive) volume pedal first, and then into the problematic pedals?
 
#27
I'm hoping some of the real electronics guys will chime in. It's a real issue. Effects pedals are generally design for voltages no more than 1.5 volts, and usually .75 volts, and we have active basses putting out peaks as great as 7 volts. Yet we like how this loads a preamp in our rigs-I'm quite fond of it actually. Perhaps one could suggest a type of transformer?
 
#28
unbeliever said:
I'd venture to guess that this is in fact what the main problem is - the active systems of many modern basses can simply supply far more current than that supplied by passive basses. Have you tried running your bass into a (passive) volume pedal first, and then into the problematic pedals?
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Nope, they're CAPABLE of putting out more current, since they're low impedance. But the voltage is the thing. The current is determined by the preamp output voltage, and the INPUT impedance of the pedal. If passive and active basses have the same output voltage, they will provide the identical current into the same impedance input.

Equalize the output voltage, and the current takes care of itself.

Randy
 
#29
brooklynbassguy said:
I'm hoping some of the real electronics guys will chime in. It's a real issue. Effects pedals are generally design for voltages no more than 1.5 volts, and usually .75 volts, and we have active basses putting out peaks as great as 7 volts. Yet we like how this loads a preamp in our rigs-I'm quite fond of it actually. Perhaps one could suggest a type of transformer?
Click to expand...
Years of electronics hobbying stuff while growing up.
3 1/2 years of electrical engineering at University of Michigan. Designed and built electronic strobe tuner. From scratch. Designed and built electronic light dimmer with low level dc control voltage multiplexed to cram 8 channels of light dimming onto a standard mike cable. All high voltage/current in the box up by the lights, opto isolated so controls are low voltage dc only. Also from scratch. I consider my self "a real electronics guy".

So I'm really not trying to be a smartass when I say "turn it down". Why buy a pedal or build some contraption to replicate a capability you already have on the guitar?

I did suggest building a little resistance network in a box to put between pedals earlier, although I think that's overkill, and only useful between the bass and the first pedal.

If some of the pedals are mismatched gain wise, they'd cause problems with passive bass too.

If the only problem really is the active bass is too hot, that only really affects the first pedal, if you control that, get its otuput down to the same as the passive bass, from then on the rest of the signal chain is identical whether the bass driving the first pedal is active or passive. Fix the first pedal being overloaded, the rest take care of themselves.

The other thing you could try is lower the pickups, so they feed the internal preamp a smaller signal. The farther they are away from the strings, the lower the pickup output ought to be. That should reduce the output as well. Also replace the battery in the bass, just in case the distortion is actually the internal preamp , not the input of the pedals. My SR5 (older 9v version) sometimes distorts if I crank it up, crank up some of the EQ.

Randy
 

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