Eden navigator/mackie 1400i volume problem

what about the master volume on the navigator? gain?
assuming your bass is cool... and all connections betwixt the preamp and poweramp, and poweramp and speaker, are solid... i've found the best thing to do is to crank your preamp, and then use the mackie's knobs for volume.. this works best for me. It also reduces unwanted noise and hiss ... but i have an ampeg svp so YMMV

give it a shot.. see if it works... and yea if the signal lights on the mackie never go above -9, when its full on there definately should be a way to get some more volume on signal going in to it.

also make sure in the back of the mackie... the low cut isn't turned up so you're cutting everything..

hope i could help..

 

Does your bass have active electronics? Check the battery.

 

hey LowfreqB, how do you like the Eden Navigator? The features? Are they good quality? I was thinking of getting one and pairing it with a Carvin DCM2000 poweramp and a Eden D-410XST.

 

oh, ok. sounds like a good preamp. do you like the compressor or the enhance features? the semi-para EQ? the tube overdrive? also, maybe you should look into a new cabinet thats more efficient than that Carvin 4x10, maybe an Eden 4x10. They are great cabs, and it would match your Navigator. just a suggestion.

 

I had a similar problem when I first started using my Navigator/QSC PLX-2402 combo. I believe it was one of the members here who steered me in the right direction. Put the preamp input volume (the left control knob on the Navigator) to zero, the Mackie and preamp gain (the right control knob on the Navigator) both FULL. Adjust the preamp input knob to the desired volume. It's worked great for me ever since.

 

I have an Eden Navigator run through the Carvin DCM2000, and its phenominal. I sometimes go full range through a 4x10, and sometimes bi-amped through a 4x10 and a 2x15 cab.

I never had a loss of headroom, and I've played LOUD at times at some outdoor gigs, with plenty of low end. I run the power amp on 10, the master gain on the pre on 10, and use the pregain as the volume. I found I get the best punch that way, as well as the most headroom (YMMV).

I swapped out the original 12ax7 tube in the Eden pre with a Sylvania 5751 I got on Ebay for around $10. Best investment I ever made. It transformed the tube gain knob from a grating distortion device into a warm punch control that I usually keep around 12:00 setting full time.

The Carvin 2000 amp is a bit heavier and is one rack space larger than the QSC's, but the price can't be beat for the performance.

 

Good advice for solid state gear. Won't allow you to overdrive the pre-amp, of course, but you probably don't want to do that anyway. You may want to experiment with the right knob on 3 o'clock instead of full, also.

 

I have the same setup as Neptune with the Nav/PLX 2402 and it is screaming loud with oodles of headroom. I'm just running one side into an Aguilar GS410. HOLY SMOKES this setup thumps! I couldn't imagine running bridged mode or even making any low freq tone adjustment other than flat on the Nav or the Sadowsky 5.

Have you tried the Mackie on bridged mono? I don't know what the specs are for the Mackie but your Carvin cab should be fairly efficient. Just out of curiosity is there an input impedence switch on the Mackie? It might be labeled (from memory) -2.47dB or -26...geez something like that?

Please let us know what you find out.

 

I was wrong. The switch would be labeled "sensitivity" . My Crown CE1000 has this switch but I don't think that my QSC does.

I wasn't able to log on to the Mackie website to look at their manual. I don't know what the amp is rated for an 8 ohm load but with 1400 watts bridged in 4 ohms. I'd estimate maybe 850-1100 watts into your cab. Are you sure you've set the Mackie up for bridged mono? The rest of the hookup sounds right. That rig should be painfully loud.

I will go through all my settings to see if I can figure what's going on. I don't think that there is any problem with the Nav.

 

I'm another Navigator/QSC PLX 2402 user. LowfreqB, when you say your preamp was clipping are you refering to the stereo output meters in the upper left corner or the input gain overload diode next to the input gain knob? Turning the amps gain down and the preamps gain and master up will run the preamps output meters into the red.

Are you hearing any clipping (crackling, cuffing, dropouts, etc.)?

 

Tech types, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think LowFreqB also needs to look into the Mackie's input voltage. You want to try to match the preamp output voltage to the power amp input voltage, correct? The Eden manual mentions the "Output Limiter Switch", an internal switch that selects the output voltage between 1.4 and 2.8 volts RMS. I think this could be affecting the volume also.

 

hah, he might be right. check it out.

 

LowfreqB, when you are talking about the LEDs are you referring to the ones on the Nav or on the Mackie?

If you are not getting anything lighting on the Nav (these should be the ones in the upper right hand corner) then you are not getting enough signal into the preamp.

If it is LEDs on the Mackie then those are indicating the output of the Mackie.

If you had a bass with a onboard preamp then you should be able to plug directly into the Mackie and get sound.

Just out of curiosity...how do you have your semi-parametric tone knobs set? The 12 o'clock position is where there is no affect on the tone i.e. no cut or boost.

Also, how do you have your "mode" switch set? Stereo or Bi-amp?