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Changed Battery - hiss nearly gone

yellowmiata

yellowmiata

Apr 29, 2012
91
123
Texas
#1
I was practicing and was frustrated b/c the hiss through my amp was frustrating. This isn't the hiss that normally comes with the GM MB210 horn (I keep that turned off), but it was somewhere else in the line. Being relatively new to active pickups, I took a guess and changed the battery. Voila! Hiss gone, and signal much stronger!
Are there any other simple things I'm missing (relative newbie) that would clean up my signal? The sound is cleaner now, but I've had my eyes opened and want to know more!
Thanks for any responses.
Kevin
 
#2
All of my basses are active. The first thing to check when things start sounding "unusual" is the battery or batteries in the bass. To comment on other things to look out for it would help if you describe your full signal chain. Is it just bass -> cable -> amp? Excessive or extreme EQ settings (especially boosting) on an active bass or at the amp pre would be the main thing to avoid when possible. This can cause issues with gain and possible unwanted distortion.
 
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#3
Extreme EQ settings aside, hiss is caused by the Quality of the design of the electronic circuitry and the electronic components in any powered audio device. So for instance, cheap amps 'generally' have lower quality components than higher end gear and 'generally' have more hiss.

Horns do not create hiss, they reproduce what is sent to them.
 
#4
ddnidd1 said:
Extreme EQ settings aside, hiss is caused by the Quality of the design of the electronic circuitry and the electronic components in any powered audio device. So for instance, cheap amps 'generally' have lower quality components than higher end gear and 'generally' have more hiss.

Horns do not create hiss, they reproduce what is sent to them.
Click to expand...
And try turning the tweeter off and see what it changes. If all it is contributing to your sound is click and hiss, then you don't need it.
 
#5
tkonbass said:
Excessive or extreme EQ settings (especially boosting) on an active bass or at the amp pre would be the main thing to avoid when possible. This can cause issues with gain and possible unwanted distortion.
Click to expand...

My first active, was after 14 years of playing passives. I had no clue, just figured I was supposed to have everything wide open.

For a while I couldn't figure out why I always had just a bit of unwanted fuzz..

Until I got some advise from a much more experienced player.
 

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