• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Input overload light

basscooker

basscooker

Inactive
Commercial User
Apr 11, 2010
5,727
10,063
Northern KY
Disclosures
Cab fan, hobbyist
#1
i'm playing a genz benz shuttle 3.0 and noticed the other day that the input o/l light is coming on enough th concern me a little bit. this isn't the comp/clip light for the output that i know shouldn't bother me too much with an occasional flash, but for some reason i'm thinking this light is alerting me to a situation i should fix. i'm playing a late 80's or early 90's (cant remember for sure) ibanez soundgear 800 with actives, and have always been told by sound guys that it's a little hot. is this where my problem is? should i just do less tone shape with my bass and more with my amp? or is this whole thing not a big deal as long as these lights are just a little flashy and not constant?
 
#2
The Shuttle 3 is a solid state preamp, and you typically would not want to have the input clip light come on. It won't hurt anything, and if it sounds good to you, I wouldn't worry about it.

If you want to get rid of the bit of 'solid state distortion' that is probably resulting from your hot input, just turn down the gain a touch and compensate by turning up the master /and or secondary volume (can't remember if the 3 has the gain/volume input section like the 6 and 9)
 
#3
okay, thanks. one thing tho is that i keep the gain at about the 9:00 position because i'm not a distortion type tone guy, so that's where my concern was, i thought i had it low enough. i'll give that a try, b/c i do keep my master at about 11:00 to 1:00 depending on the guitards particular level--his @^^$*&% tubes are more finicky than my toddler:p
 
#4
If you have a very hot output bass, this would be pretty much as expected. YOu might turn the volume on the bass down a bit. If it has an onboard trim control (on the preamp PCB inside the bass), yu can adjust the maximum output level of your bass down here.

There is no problem overdriving the input, there's some tube emulation going on here (not to the extent of the lager Shuttles of course) and you may prefer this sound over totally clean.
 
#5
one of the things i like so much about tb is exactly what just happened. i hear it from a gb engineer i'm not going to harm my amp. i dig my tone right where it is, so no harm, no foul, i don't need to change a thing. thanks to everyone for offering help, i really didn't want to start tweaking knobs-i spent hours searching for the settings i have and it hasn't changed for almost a month (except the master).
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back