High or Low Output?

[darkhit]

I just bought a Dean Razor Bass.
I have two questions about this insturment.

It has a battery compartment in the back, why is this there and what does is do?

Also, how do you determine if the output of your insturment is high or low?

TIA.

 

[dmaki]

The battery compartment is for the active electronics. Your bass may have active pickups, an active eq, or both. It needs that 9v (or 9v's) to run.

As for output, if you overload your preamp with low gain, then you have high output I'd say. If you have to boost the gain a lot, you have low.

Some amps have the option for a padded input, either by a separate input or with a switch. On my amp I can run the input at 0db or -12db. If you have a high output bass thats clipping with low gain, try using the padded input.

 

[Munjibunga]

The battery is to power the internal active electronics. The bass has its own preamp inside. Typically active basses have a "high output."

Active electronics allow greater control over the tone because you can cut or boost your EQ. Some people think passive EQ sounds better, but I don't believe any benefit in sound outweighs the added versatility of the active electronics. All but one of my basses are active.

 

[darkhit]

Thanks for the replies and help, dmaki and Munjibunga.
This is really interesting.
The bass sounds great to me.

Your everywhere, Munjibunga. Thanks again for all your help.

 

[Munjibunga]

No charge. I've learned a lot in here, and learn something new just about every day. Like who's getting their tonsils swabbed.