Peavey T40 distortion/overdrive

[iri5hpunk21]

I have a Peavey T40 and I currently run it through a GK Backline 210 and an Acoustic B115. It sounds ultra punchy and tinny most of the time or overly distorted. The bass E string is waaayyy louder than the others (more so than on other basses). It also sounds really distorted when I play at higher volumes.

Shop owners say that the bass' pickups are too hot for this setup.

So what does that mean, do I need a Head with more wattage?

Any help on these problems would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to give up on this bass, as I know its got the potential, I just dont want to keep hitting dead ends.

 

[EagleMoon]

Do you have two inputs? The regular one and active bass one? Try plugging it in the active input. Or if you have an active/passive switch, put it on active.

 

[kjpollo]

For starters, I'd suggest setting a benchmark and play the bass with all the tone controls flat on the amp so you know what the "basic" tone is.
Then start playing around with the switches and the tone controls on both the amp and the bass.
Also, make sure the phase switch is set so your pickups are in phase.

By any chance, is this a later model T-40 with the blade magnets? Those are supposedly "hotter" than the earlier model. Using the "Active" input could also be helpful-just like Eaglemoon already said!
As far as the excessive output on the E string-by any chance are your pickups higher (closer to the string) on that side?

 

[roxtar]

a few turns of the silver screws to the E-string side of the pickup should lower that end away. Even the toaster pickups are super-hot for passive PUs so I always use the active input with mine (otherwise you should be able to pick up something for cheap to pad the input). Play it through headphones on a correctly gained mixer and see if the signal out of the bass is distorted or if it's getting distorted in the electonics. If you don't like the tone, play with the phase switch so that it's in-phase. Also, idk how much you know about the T40, but the tone knob switches the PU from humbucker to single-coil at 7 (0-7 humbucker, 7+ single coil). I had one issue with a bad switch on mine that made my tone go a little distorted from time to time, so maybe check the wiring on the PU selection switch; I ended up just soldering mine into an all-on configuration.