Decisions, decisions. New Amp Blues

If you’re sending an active signal to the amp, you’ll usually have to do the -15db pad regardless of the power amp wattage or brand. Passive basses put out a pretty weak signal, so pre-amps start with that and then provide a pad for active/higher gain signals.

Usually folks turn up the pre-amp gain until it clips on your hardest hitting notes, and then turn it down a bit to avoid clipping. If you’re purposely driving the pre-amp gain to clip/distort as part of your tone and the sound techs don’t like it, you might want to use a pedal for overdrive instead. Or some amps, like the PF-800, have a pad for the DI output so you can drive the pre amp gain way up but not send a super hot signal to the DI.

Also, congrats on the new baby!

 

Gallien Krueger.

Doesn’t matter which one.

They all blow everything else away.

 

Ok, so in that case just hit the pad and crank down the gain just below when it clips on hard playing. Your EQ can affect the pre amp too, like if you crank the lows way up.

I’m terms of head selection, a more powerful one won’t give you more pre amp headroom. You just have a hot signal from the bass. Usually head selection is more about tone and cabinet pairing. If you like the PF-300, then a Tone Hammer or PF-500/PF-800 might work for you - more ‘vintage’ tone kind of thing.

What kind of cabs are you looking to pair with?

 

I would choose the Tone Hammer 500 over the Mark Bass LMT because of my experience in rock/blues bands with both heads. The LMT sounds fantastic soloed, no doubt, but would get bowled over live if the guitarist was using a lot of effects IME. The Tone Hammer is much more resilient and impervious to effects from guitarists. The LMT sounded great in the right circumstances, but I considered it a delicate flower that can’t get trampled on too much, or it would get covered over. The Tone Hammer and other choices from Aguilar seem to punch through very well. My current choice is the Aguilar 751, I can’t imagine anything better than that. I would tell you if you like the Tone Hammer pedal, go with the TH500 without needing to try it in a store. You live in NY, maybe you can stop by their Brooklyn headquarters and try it out at some point if you head that way?

 

Online retailers like Sweetwater have great return policies - maybe order a TH 500 and try it, send it back if you don’t like it.

Or buy a used TH 500 off Reverb and resell if you don’t like it.

IMHO, Id pick the Aguilar - they rock

 

That MB head is not gonna give you the grainy high gain sound you like...go with GK, an MB500, you can get all the grit, grind and gain you like.
Rock on.

 

Can you leave the bass output up all the way and get a reasonable setting just using the gain on the amp (with the -15 pad)?

 

Are you talking about your input gain, or you D.I. output gain? Set your input gain any way you want. If you D.I. output is too high high, have your FOH pad it. It won't effect either sound. If the preamps he's using don't pad enough, he probably has a -20db xlr connector in his tool box. (or buy one for $20)

 

I think you need to start from scratch with how you're using your current setup, and then you can figure out what you might need to change.

Like, first you say you "run a gainy sound", but then you complain about clipping. That doesn't make any sense. The PF has a solid state pre anyway, so they're not typically used for OD/distortion, etc... like a head with a tube pre would be. So the gain is just about getting the appropriate strong signal level from the bass to the pre without clipping to get the most out of the power amp.

You say the pad "takes the wind out of the sails", but do you then raise the master volume to compensate? Or bring the gain up a bit if it takes it too far down. If your bass is 5db too hot, and you engage a 15db pad, simple math says you need to add back about 8-10 db on the gain knob to be just right. Also, check this all out with the volume on the bass maxed and the tone controls flat/centered (don't be like the total idiot I saw on youtube demoing an active bass with the both EQ knobs all the way down (ie cutting probably 12-15db each of bass and treble). You should have a pretty wide range on the knob that should work without clipping, possibly without using the pad if you were running the gain at noon. The gain on an amp like that is really not designed to change the sound as you add or remove gain.

So between the gain knob, pad, and master volume you should be able to get the signal level and volume you need. Obviously to keep resulting volume the same, if you raise or lower one thing, you will need to compensate with something else. But to do this you should work from input to output. In other words, get the gain set first. If you're at the bottom of the gain knob and still clipping, then you need the pad. If you have to engage the pad, you might then need to bring the gain up a bit to get to just before the point of clipping. Once you set this with your bass, you should never really have to change, unless you use different basses, or are bringing effects in and out. So after the gain and pad are set (with the bass controls as mentioned earlier), then you just bring up the master to the volume level you need. If you find that the master knob is really touchy and you can barely crack it open, you may need to dial back the gain some more to give you more play on the master.

Sort those things out, and then come back to us in a bit with your findings, and a clear idea of what you're looking for to improve out of new gear.

Also, if you're in western NY, don't go to lame GC, you should be going to House of Guitars. You might not want to go there to buy strings and other small stuff, but for a major purchase like an amp or cab, driving an hour or 2 is not a big deal. And unless things have really changed there recently, they should have a much better selection than GC anyway, and probably cooler more knowledgeable people working there.

 

You should be able to compensate for the -15 pad by turning up the gain.

With the -15 pad engaged and EQ set all flat, can you get the red 'peak' light to blink by increasing the gain on the amp?

 

Also, check this out from Dino on Ampeg gain settings: