NPD Cali76 Compact Bass. Suggestions on how to deal with easy clipping?

Sounds like me with my old seymour duncan studio bass. I now have a cali cb and cant get dirt out of it if i try........

 

"Doctor, it hurts when I do this..."
Doctor: "well don't do that then"


Turn the input way down. Just because the manual shows that, don't do what it shows. Use the indicator light on the unit to set the input. The unit has a sweep on the input control so that you can bring it way down or up. Although I have a high output bass (Dingwall NG3 run series with DG preamp) and I'm still in the 10-2 range on the input, so I'm trying to figure what you're feeding it that's so hot. For me I get very very occasional hits of yellow but ride in the orange 99% of the time.

 

I got a tiny bit of clipping digging in on the open E when I first got mine. I run it with the input just beyond triggering the light for some lighter compression, and I typically have the HPF close to maxed in order to let more natural low end through. The solution was running at 18V. On 9V I can easily get it to clip, and at 18V it's clean no matter what.

 

Surprisingly the manual explains the finction of the controls.

 

Use it to control how hard you hit the compression circuit. So you crank the input to get the light going yellow/orange, and you should hear the circuit compressing more and sustaining a bit more. Fine tune with the ratio, attack/release, and HPF.

 

I use mine at 18v , no signal clipping with input and output knobs set at noon.

I am using the MXR M87 previously, the Cali76 sounds more musical on the whole. the M87 works better as a limiter but not more pleasing to my ears.

 

Using it at 18v usually resolves that. Also use the input gain to regulate that.
I usually set also the output a little bit above unity so that it pushes a bit the amp to get more presence.
I also found that the settings in the manual boost too much of the bass signal and that some of the clipping comes from it pushing the preamp sectiona of the amp.