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My bass is too powerful! Will a compressor help

C

CarbonTom

Aug 23, 2013
44
2
#1
Hey Guys, long time lurker, first time poster.

I have a homemade bass seymor duncan SPB-3 and SMB-4D s with an aguillar OBP 3 TK preamp. I had it wired for me with a 2x 9V power supply. The guy ended up going with 2 vol, teb, mid, and bass pots, with a mid booster switch. The result is a bass that is too powerful, and maxes out with little to no gain and low volume so I cant really get into the tone capacity of this bass, without getting distorted.

I am thinking that getting a compressor pedal might be a good fix for my issues. What would anyone recommend for a compressor/reducer? I was thinking about the MXR M87. Any others worth looking into? Maybe I should just have it rewired. Unfortunately, I am not too savy with wiring, so I don't know if my setup would allow me to get rid of one of the batteries. So a compresser pedal might be the only way. Thoughts?

TL,DR: My bass is too powerful and Distorts with no gain. Would a compressor pedal fix it? How about the MXR M87
 
#5
Yea I'm no expert by any means.. But it does sound like it should be rewired quickly by a decent luthier. It could be a few different thing but too much power doesn't really fit the symptoms. Hope it works out for you. I'm curious to see a pic of this monster as well
 
#7
My hunch is that you have a practice amp (or other amp) that doesn't have an input gain control, or input pad switch. So, the amp is being overdriven by your high output bass.

The quick'n'easy remedy is not to turn the master volume (or volume knobs) on your bass all the way up. (I don't like doing that either.)

You don't need a compressor, you just need some kind of volume control that will reduce the output of your bass. Sorry, I don't have any recommendations. Note: if you actually want to use compression then it should do the trick. Just saying that you don't necessarily need one.
 
#8
With the info you gave it does sound like more of a bass issue and not an amp issue. A compressor will NOT help that.

The wiring/setup of your bass sounds like the culprit. If I were you I would taker yer bass to a Guitar Center or other shop and try out some amp/cabinet combos and see if it distorts just as easily.
 
#11
A compressor may help, but if your bass is putting out too much gain, it'll likely still sound distorted, or at best, very "squashed" through a compressor. Try to get the electronics fixed. I'm no good with electronics, but one of my friends looked at a schematic for one of my active basses which has an active passive switch, and there was actually a component in the preamp that attenuated the active signal so that its volume was balanced with the passive sound. Can't remember the name of the part (I'm sure many other TBers can tell you), but it was just a resistor or a capacitor or something very inexpensive like that.
 
#13
Hey Guys, thanks so much for the quick responses!

I will try and get a picture up shortly.

I basically built it Frankenstein syle: accumulating the parts and putting them all together, with some minor adjustments (this was several years ago when I had very little wood working experience, I now build downhill skateboards haha). The majority of what I did was tummy and arm cuts and then the stain and lacquer.

I did attempt to wire it myself with a diagram from the aguillar site, but when I took it to a luthier this winter (after it had sat in unfinished pieces since 2011) to get it fully functional for good, he said he had to rewire the whole thing.

The issue has been on my swr practice amp, as well as when I am recording DI. Basically if I want my tone knobs anything but flat, I cannot have volume max. The second I try and add more low end, I have to crank volume back significantly, otherwise I'm maxing out and getting distortion. Also, when I have one pickup volume up all the way, and I start turning the other up, halfway through the volume will drop out and then come back as blended. So I have been having to pretty much just play bridge or neck or 100% both (which with the flat tone doesn't sound too good).

The tone is pretty much why I built this bass the way I did, and I cant really harness it.

I have had active basses in the past, but had never had one that had more than 9v, so I wasn't sure if that was the culprit. I am laying some tracks down for a friend, and really want to use this bass, but cant. Which is why I was thinking compressor for the quick fix until I can get it rewired (by a different luthier).
 
#14
Here she is:
20130720_1055151.jpg
 
#15
2 volumes vs. vol-pan would give a difference in impedance to the preamp. Also the impedance of the pots themselves.

It actually could very well be wired up correctly. Even if it IS distorting an amplifier input.

My lakland LH-3 and some other preamps have an internal trimmer that if cranked all the way can easily distort the input of many amps.
 
#17
line6man said:
What's the logic behind thinking that depleted batteries would equate to higher output? That's backwards.
Click to expand...
clipping from a starved preamp could be mistaken for clipping downstream from too high a level.

+1 to not cranking the EQ knobs up; also, try dropping the pickups themselves down a little.
 
#18
CarbonTom said:
I am laying some tracks down for a friend, and really want to use this bass, but cant. Which is why I was thinking compressor for the quick fix until I can get it rewired (by a different luthier).
Click to expand...
All you need to do is turn down the volume knob on the bass. Your signal is not being expanded dynamically, so you don't need it reduced dynamically. If you can't stand the thought of turning down the volume knob on the bass, then use a volume pedal, or an EQ set to cut the volume, or just hit the pad button on your amp and your recording setup.
 
#19
I own a traben with the same preamp. It will distort any practice amp easily. With my 350watt playing out rig it can handle the power. But I find using my Boss ME-20b with compressor helps taim it down. You cannot run it wide open.
 

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