Sterling SUB sb4 preamp at 18v?

[grendle]

I picked up a sub sb4 recently. For the money, this bass is built better and sounds more like a ebmm than it should. Cool little bass. The pre is pretty hot, which is good imo. However it distorts way too early about 1/2 volume. I'm thinking running it at 18v would clean it up quite a bit. Anyone tried this yet?

 

[mmbongo]

I'm thinking it definitely shouldn't do that. Sounds like something is wrong with it. Running it at 18v would probably just fry it further.

 

[JDLowEnd]

If you poke around here, one of the sterling reps gives a wiring diagram that is supposed to make it "less hot". I don't have a soldering iron, and I don't feel like paying for the fix, so I just turn down a little

 

[grendle]

The signal level is fine. It's hot but not as hot as my spectors. At full Vol if you play softly its fine, but I don't lol. Dropping the pickup down helps some but you loose some of the attack ( which is what clips). Def sounds like the pre running out of juice. I'm probably gonna try it at 18v and see what she does. Most 9v pre's will handle it. Ill look for the diagram and see what they did as well.

 

[grendle]

Looks like they changed the vol pot value to a 25k which is typical of active (emg) pups. I actually want to keep the level where it is ( I still have to turn up quite a bit ). Ill play a bit n see what happens.