OD help

Could your strings be hitting the pole pieces on your pickups by any chance?

 

If it only happens when you really dig in, I'd recommend having a pro check out the setup of your bass. If it always happens, you may have a defective VT bass, signal cord or amp.

 

Is it the new version with speaker sim button or the old one?
Maybe you're hearing the clanky high end if your speaker sim is on?
Try backing down on treble to about 9:00.

 

The speaker sim reduces the high end.

That sounds like a faulty unit. Are you running it at unity gain? Does it happen with the drive right down?

 

Maybe your amp is the problem. Try a different amp or running it into a recording thingo.

 

same problem here. I have not figured out yet why this happens...
Its not the amp, its just the vt.

Would a limiter at the beginning of the chain help?

 

Is it a one-off pop at the peak of the signal?

 

Sounds like you're just overloading the input. As stated above, put a limiter in front of it. A compressor with a level control would work fine. Just make sure you get a compressor that you're not overloading or you'll be in the same boat you're in now.

Or, you could turn your bass volume down. In fact, do that first to see if that fixes the problem.

 

Theres definitely a point in the VT that you can juice the attack of a note too much and get this result.

I keep the Drive around 10-11 o'clock, but Character at 2 or 3 o'clock. Treble is just a tad below noon to cut off the top of the attack. Bringing the Level volume close to unity gain is a big step in the right direction. What really solved the issue for me was lowering my pickups just a tad, it still had the girth and hard attack from playing hard but rounded off the attack and preventing the "click" you speak of. You may not realize your strings are bashing against the pickup cover / pole piece when you strike the note.

 

That is indeed an official Tech 21 response, but "clankiness" seems to be reduced when the speaker sim if off according to many people's experience, especially when combined with amp's preamp (stacking 2 preamps basically). I keep the treble at 9:00 on my old version VT because it gets a bit too clanky for my taste when higher (and yup, I'm running it straight into amp as opposed to into poweramp).