Ibanez MK2 Preamp troubles

[Splinched]

Hello everyone

Lately I've been noticing that my Ibanez BTB has been distorting, especially on the low notes when I pluck them with a bit of force. The headroom should be much higher, especially on a newer bass like this. I've tried everything from lowering the pickups to as low as they get, to changing the batteries, and even changing amps. I'm recognizing this as most likely an input gain problem into the active preamp..

I'm wondering if there's anyone else out there who's experiencing this same sort of trouble, or if anything has any advice or general input on the matter.

 

[Jay2U]

I had this problem with a relatively cheap Ibanez GSR200EX. Just to find out whether it was the pre-amp, I bypassed it. The problem was gone instantly. The instrument simply sounded better and all distortion was gone. I took my headphones and listened very critically to the sound produced with and without pre-amp. I bypassed it permanently. My bass doesn't use batteries anymore. The only possible disadvantage could be that a (very) long cable from the bass to the amp may have more effect on tone and hum.