Pickups Too Loud

[Old Garage-Bander]

I noticed when I roll the volume back on the guitar to around 3 ( to match the EUB) it sounds lifeless and dull. At 10 has more energy (if that makes sense).

I would like the tone in the PA to be close the tone from the amp.

When I get a chance I will measure the difference in volume with a DB meter and post the results.

Tedward

Volume is only one consideration. A db meter is only one tool for a specific purpose and perhaps not the best way to evaluate the quality of how you sound. It is, in my opinion, an over-simplified approach that in the hands if someone who doesn’t understand the dynamics of stage volume vs PA may actually do more harm than good.

You should also consider, if you havn’t already, that your amp might sound very different out front than it does when you are close in. If you are only relying on the amp for stage monitoring, then you don’t want it mixing out front with the PA. This can really lead to a messy sounding bass especially if both the PA and stage sound, (not just volume) are close to being the same.

Set your amp up for what works for you, but I think you should trust your sound person to do his job and make you sound your best out front along with the rest if the band. This should free you up to be a performer rather than a technician. Focus on your music rather than how much the sound person is “twiddling knobs.”

I’m wondering if you need to have a band meeting that includes the sound person, and discuss the sound goals and what can and can’t be achieved realistically. If you feel like you need to be watching what the sound person is doing, there may be some trust issues, or perhaps it’s just a simple case of misunderstanding/miscommunication. Either way, getting together to talk it all out can do wonders to getting things on track.

 

[Roger Blackman]

2 channel amp?

 

[Pep]

I have a set of Alumitone 3.5's in one of my basses and they are very loud. I really like the way they sound tone wise and don't want to change them out for a quieter set. I alternate between two basses when we play and I'm frustrated with having to change the volume every time I switch basses. Is there a way I can pad down the pickups in the control cavity with a trim pot? Thought about using a pedal but I don't want more things on the floor. I also thought about putting a preamp in the bass that has a gain control but I'm not ready to start drilling more holes
in the top. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Tedward

Install a detented volume control in your loud bass. That way you can recall the proper volume every time. This is probably your least expensive option and it will work.

 

[devnulljp]

Lower pickups
Get a 2 channel preamp like the Bassbone and set volumes accordingly

 

[Two-Spirit]

I have a set of Alumitone 3.5's in one of my basses and they are very loud. I really like the way they sound tone wise and don't want to change them out for a quieter set. I alternate between two basses when we play and I'm frustrated with having to change the volume every time I switch basses. Is there a way I can pad down the pickups in the control cavity with a trim pot? Thought about using a pedal but I don't want more things on the floor. I also thought about putting a preamp in the bass that has a gain control but I'm not ready to start drilling more holes
in the top. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Tedward

EQ pedal? You can use the level fader and then you have 7 bands of eq to play with if you want.

 

[JGbassman]

I’d suggest a volume pedal. You can adjust the volume between the two with a push of a button.

 

[Andy Daventry]

OP does NOT want to use a pedal. He says he has too much stuff on the floor. But you can't lower the pups anymore, and OP has noticed that cutting volume passively affects tone. Well, for the life of me I can't see any option - any realistic and sensible option, that is - other than getting a pedal with a volume control on it. The pups are what they are. A Boss GEB7. It's the easy way out and the Boss always has another use if you ditch the bass. It's a battery eater, though, so daisy chain it in. Or get a Sadowsky pedal, which is not a battery eater and will also make your bass sound better.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Has anyone suggest lowering the pickups yet?

 

[Vinnie Boombatz]

Lat time I checked, and please if I am wrong on this one feel free to correct me, but most basses are equipped with this ting called...wait for it...a volume knob. That little thing-a-ma-jigger not only makes the volume louder, check this...it makes it less loud, too! Imagine that.

 

[faulknersj]

An outside the box solution:

I have a Genz Benz Shuttlemax. It has 2 Channels; FET or Tube and each channel has a passive instrument ‘boost’ button.

I often dial one channel for one of my Basses, and the 2nd channel for the other. This allows me to equalize the volume. This amp also has a ‘pre’ or ‘post’ EQ switch. Move that to ‘post’ and the house soundman gets what you are giving him from your amp.

These amps also have a footswitch that makes switching even easier if you wish.

Good luck!

 

[tekhedd]

Yeah the Alumitones do have crazy hot output.

Aside from lowering the pickup and maybe putting a passive trim control (wait no!) inside the cavity, if you're using a humbucker style you might also try wiring the "coil tap" into a pull pot. I do know it thins out the tone and reduces the gain quite a bit, and I find both positions useful.

The bass I'm running bass bars in has an active preamp, and I now treat about 75% as full volume, with available boost and additional "fat boost" by untapping the coil. This works with active preamps but of course always changes the tone with a passive.

Maybe your best bet is just to get a preamp buffer box that lets you cut gain: say an LS-2 with nothing in the loop at all, just a little gain cut. Or, you know, something cool with tons of tonal options. (I now consider the perfect modeling setup to be a tube head with a speaker DI, thanks for ruining me TB.)

 

[James Collins]

I noticed when I roll the volume back on the guitar to around 3 ( to match the EUB) it sounds lifeless and dull. At 10 has more energy (if that makes sense).

I would like the tone in the PA to be close the tone from the amp.

When I get a chance I will measure the difference in volume with a DB meter and post the results.

Tedward

As you turn down the volume more high frequencies are lost relative to low frequencies. Like if you compared a 250k pot to a 500k pot turned down 250k...a very miniscule turn btw...they should sound similar. Same sort of thing should happen as you turn down further.

 

[Tedward]

somebrains is right the bass bars will slam the input of most preamps. Between the Jazz bass and bass bars there is a 10db difference. I looked up the LS-2 an like what it says it does. Oh wait, maybe I could lower the pickups.

Tedward

 

[lowfreqgeek]

somebrains is right the bass bars will slam the input of most preamps. Between the Jazz bass and bass bars there is a 10db difference. I looked up the LS-2 an like what it says it does. Oh wait, maybe I could lower the pickups.

Tedward

I suggest you raise the strings. Don't mess with pickup height. That'll change your tone.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Lat time I checked, and please if I am wrong on this one feel free to correct me, but most basses are equipped with this ting called...wait for it...a volume knob. That little thing-a-ma-jigger not only makes the volume louder, check this...it makes it less loud, too! Imagine that.

Pretty much got it right.
Except a volume control can’t make things louder.
It can only make things less loud.
Only an amplifier can make things louder.
But we know what you meant.

And FYI... I think it was established earlier that the OP doesn’t want to use his volume control.
If I recall correctly, I think he may have said he likes running his volume pot at 10.
If that were me, I’d take the pot out altogether and run at 10+.
That would leave room to put in a Times-Ten Centibel controller. drool

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Wow, almost 5 pages already

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Wow, almost 5 pages already

Sorry. You want in to this club? The cost of membership is to suggest something obvious that someone already
suggested. If the OP replies to say he doesn’t want to do that, you get a life membership.

 

[Vinnie Boombatz]

Pretty much got it right.
Except a volume control can’t make things louder.
It can only make things less loud.
Only an amplifier can make things louder.
But we know what you meant.

And FYI... I think it was established earlier that the OP doesn’t want to use his volume control.
If I recall correctly, I think he may have said he likes running his volume pot at 10.
If that were me, I’d take the pot out altogether and run at 10+.
That would leave room to put in a Times-Ten Centibel controller. drool

You are incorrect sir. The volume knob makes it louder AND less loud. Try this out and get back to me. Plus your bass into your amp. Set the volume knob at a volume you like and now don't touch it. Go to your bass and turn the bass's volume knob all the way in one direction and play. Now turn the volume knob all the way in the other direction, and python play. Amazing, isn't it! THE KNOB DOES BOTH!

If the OP doesn't want to use his volume control, then he's basically looking for some convoluted way, or trying to reinvent the wheel do fix an issue that really isn't an issue.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

You are incorrect sir. The volume knob makes it louder AND less loud. Try this out and get back to me. Plus your bass into your amp. Set the volume knob at a volume you like and now don't touch it. Go to your bass and turn the bass's volume knob all the way in one direction and play. Now turn the volume knob all the way in the other direction, and python play. Amazing, isn't it! THE KNOB DOES BOTH!

If the OP doesn't want to use his volume control, then he's basically looking for some convoluted way, or trying to reinvent the wheel do fix an issue that really isn't an issue.

You got that right about the convolution solution that is being sought.

So maybe I don’t understand what you are telling me, which may very well be the case.
But a pot does not increase volume. It can only decrease the available signal applied to it.

If my pot is set somewhere midrange it is already passing some of the signal to ground and sending some to the amp. If I turn the volune up a bit, it is not amplifying the signal coming from the bass, it is just sending more of the available signal to the amp and less to ground. If I turned it up all the way, it is allowing all of the signal to go to the amp. It is not increasing the signal beyond what the instrument has already produced. It’s not amplifying, it’s just attenuating less. Does that jive at all with what you are discussing or am I on another planet, perhaps one with not enough oxygen for my brain to work right?

 

[JoeWPgh]

There are 2 volume controls. The one on the bass, and the other on the amp/pa. If the pickup is too loud compared the other bass, one of those volumes needs to go down for the Alumitones, or up for the other. There's just no escaping it.