Odd Happenings with the old Parametric EQ

I won't speculate on your sanity, but that sure is kinda strange. Except--- your forum name doesn't give away your real name, so I can't look at records to determine your K&K, assuming you got it from me.

I am guessing it's the Bass Max -- if so, that pickup has a very high signal output and can easily overload a preamp not equipped to handle it- that's one of the reasons K&K Sound makes their preamps with internal gain controls, to accommodate a wide range of pickup output levels. So there is that possibility - if the Fishman offers a lower gain input or has other facilities, it may be wise to look into them. Or try using it without it or with another preamp, to see if the "thunderous but kind of muddy" sound goes away - I'll bet it will.

As a humorous aside (at least to me), I have seen plain old carbon batteries being sold as "vintage" for [email protected] to guitarists, to convince them that in order to get the vintage sound out of their stomp box, the old type of battery should be used instead of the more modern and thrifty alkalines. PT Barnum would have been proud.

 

I have that same setup (K&K Bass Max into Fishman Dual Para). I use an AC adapter (the Boss that Fishman recommends) though to save on batteries.

I think what you are hearing is the distortion caused by the battery dying and you happen to like that sound. It's not unusual, many guitar players like dying batteries in their foot pedals for the same reason. A little bit of compression and slight clipping will make your instrument sound warmer.

You might try using rehargeable ni-cads in the unit. These have a nominal voltage of only 7.5V rather than 9V so they will die faster but of course you just recharge 'em. You should be able to get through a gig with a freshly charge done. Bring a spare along just in case.

 

Glad it worked out.

But if you still would like to use the Fishman in the chain, you can try turning down the internal gain trimmers in the K&K box; the Bass Max side can be at the minimum (counterclockwise) position, and then adjust the Double Big Twin side to get an equal volume from each. That may help... but if the Bass Max side is already at its minimum then you may be best off without it.

I pretty much leave my EQ alone, inside the boxes, and just make changes at my amp to compensate for room acoustic differences.

 

I did, for a couple years, driven by an Eden WT300C. Switching between instruments with different characters can be problematic, but I think your approach of switching the graphic EQ in and out could solve the problem.

I almost always have two basses on gigs, whether electric, EUB, or URB, and if the instrument itself doesn't have enough EQ onboard to satisfy the need, I'll use either a K&K Pure Preamp, SansAmp Bass DI, or a little Bass EQ pedal on one of the instruments.

I guess I'd probably EQ the electric using the bass onboard (if applicable) and standard amp tone controls and graphic EQ out of the loop, and then kick the EQ in and adjust for the best db tone -- or the other way around, whichever works best.