anyone having issues getting a strong, clean tone with this bass at band levels? It seems like no matter what I do I keep getting a bit of a distorted sound especially when using the OMG mode, which is by far my favorite. Any suggestions?
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G&L fallout bass pickup too HOT?
- Thread starter Dv8shredder
- Start date
This is going to come across as snarky. But it's not meant to be. G&L pickups are notoriously hot. You just need to turn the volume down on the bass. It's not the same and turning down the gain on your amp.
Most people dime the volume on their basses so they can just forget about it. I do that on most basses. But my G&L L2000 requires that I back down a little on the volume on the bass itself.
Most people dime the volume on their basses so they can just forget about it. I do that on most basses. But my G&L L2000 requires that I back down a little on the volume on the bass itself.
This is what I've been doing, I can't help but think the volume knob diminishes the overall tone a bit.
G&L pickups are known to be very hot
It’s no crime to lower the volume knob on the bass until you get the sound you are looking for
It’s no crime to lower the volume knob on the bass until you get the sound you are looking for
Yes, G&L pickups are too hot. On my L2500 Tribute I don't dim volume, but use bass & treble to get the right tone. On other basses I usually don't use tone controls, leave it open.
Chef
In Memoriam
You could also lower the pickup. Nothing wrong with lowering it all the way, and bringing it back up in increments if you feel you've lost too much...
I think I've got it at it's lowest setting. 2 of the 3 screws lowered it a little and 1 of them just spins freely.
Chef
In Memoriam
+1 lower the pick up. I had to lower the pick ups on my M25k almost all the way before I was happy with the out put. The MFDs are just super hot.
Yes - the G&L MFD pickups have a lot of output - enough to overload the front end of some amps. Obviously some amps can handle this better than others. I think that turning down the output on the bass is workable if you’ve got this problem
I don’t know if exchanging the existing volume pot for a higher or lower valued pot would help, nor do I know that swapping out the capacitor would be of any use, but I’m throwing those ideas out there as part of a brainstorm.
Maybe you need a volume pot with greater resistance.
Maybe you need a volume pot with greater resistance.
JeezyMcNuggles
Inactive
- Feb 23, 2018
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It's because it's got an MFD pickup in it. Those pickups are stupid hot. That's why I don't have a kiloton anymore. There is nothing you can do about it. The only thing that works, is lowering your volume knob on your bass. But, that also kills your high end. And makes things really hard to keep consistent.
Well...some like it hot! Ahem. It could be your amp settings. If you're hitting the input too hard, yeah - that's what you'll hear. Does your input have an Active/Passive option? How about your volume? Do you have a separate gain? Lower that. It could also be an eq thing - sometimes a hard upper mid bite will make your speaker freak out. I play these instruments a lot, and yeah - they're loud! It requires some adjustments on your front end.
JeezyMcNuggles
Inactive
- Feb 23, 2018
- 14,723
- 20,970
- Disclosures
- I suck, but nobody really notices
JeezyMcNuggles
Inactive
- Feb 23, 2018
- 14,723
- 20,970
- Disclosures
- I suck, but nobody really notices
There is no way to lower those pickups enough to stop it, go ahead and try it.
Does your amp have a -10db pad? Try that. I realized tonight that I have to do that with my Sereks.
I have not tried this, but:
If your amp has e.g. an input impedance of 1 MOhms, you could wire another 1 MOhms resistor in series to half the volume, or 2 MOhms for a third, or 4 MOhms for a fifth.
To try it out, you can take an old instrument cable that you are not particularly fond of, open one plug (no matter which), cut one of the two connections (no matter which) and solder the resistor in between the two cut ends. It will loose its shieding(=> noise), but you only do this to find the correct resistor value for your desired loudness.
Different amps may have different input impedances, so you should try the cable on all amps you use until you have a value you like. If you are in between two values, you can add by putting resistors in series. E.g. you only have 1, 2 and 4 MOhm resistors but want 3 MOhms, you can wire connection > 2 MOhm > 1 MOhm > other connection, because 2+1=3.
Once you have a value you like, you can open your bass and wire the resistor into one of the connections of your output jack.
I think this would work, but would be curious to hear if it really does.
If your amp has e.g. an input impedance of 1 MOhms, you could wire another 1 MOhms resistor in series to half the volume, or 2 MOhms for a third, or 4 MOhms for a fifth.
To try it out, you can take an old instrument cable that you are not particularly fond of, open one plug (no matter which), cut one of the two connections (no matter which) and solder the resistor in between the two cut ends. It will loose its shieding(=> noise), but you only do this to find the correct resistor value for your desired loudness.
Different amps may have different input impedances, so you should try the cable on all amps you use until you have a value you like. If you are in between two values, you can add by putting resistors in series. E.g. you only have 1, 2 and 4 MOhm resistors but want 3 MOhms, you can wire connection > 2 MOhm > 1 MOhm > other connection, because 2+1=3.
Once you have a value you like, you can open your bass and wire the resistor into one of the connections of your output jack.
I think this would work, but would be curious to hear if it really does.
I spent many years with an L2K as my main bass. It took me forever to realize just how hot the pickups were. I ran into issues where I would get the wrong impression of compressor pedals, fuzzes and other effects because they were all getting slammed at the input. G&L makes fabulous instruments but the MFDs take a little extra effort to dial in. Gain staging is definitely not the same as a passive bass. I never liked having to back off the volume knob so I needed a different solution. My #1 tip for “solving” the MFD output issue: get a preamp pedal with 18v rails that can handle the MFDs without clipping. Then you can set the volume of that preamp to feed your pedals or amps a little less volume. I wound up with a Tone Hammer DI pedal as the best solution but since then the Mesa preamp, Darkglass pedals and the newer EBS preamp pedals have come out and I’m sure they can also handle MFDs. As long as it doesn’t clip up front you can use anything and as a bonus it will typically have EQ and possibly some selectable overdrive. One of the better compressors like the Smoothie or Hyperluminal could also do the same trick of sending less volume down the line but you need to be super careful about headroom or you’ll just move the problem to different input and the compressor will squash your sound too much. I’d start with a preamp pedal and then if you want to put a compressor after that it will be getting that lower signal. Good look. The Fallout is a cool bass!
