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Ways to increase output

G

Groovecenter

Apr 10, 2003
735
1
41
Brooklyn/Buffalo (home/school)
#1
I have a warmoth jazz with Dimarzio ultra jazz (5 string pups) and an aguilar OBP-3. The output is on the low side (meaning my passive stock American Jazz is a decent amount louder than this bass). Will pot value play a large role in output? I have 250 ks wired up as I had them sitting around, but plan on rewiring with 500 when I refinish the bass and add series/parrallel switching and possible a passive tone.

Also, does anyone know if the aguilar has an adjustable gain anywhere or way?
 
#2
The Aguilar doesn't have an adjustable gain.

Pot value will play a part in the frequency range that's 'let through', but not in the volume.

As to the pickups, those are only two wire so you have no series/parallel choices. I don't know if they're hardwired in series or parallel - parallel giving you less output than series.
 
#5
Raise the pickup height.
I had his issue on a used bass(low output) and raised the pickups to increase output(and I mean pickup almost touching the strings when playing hard on the last fret).

The boost idea above works well too.
 
#7
Strange, OPB-3 is a high output preamp.

But if you want more output out of you bass you should get a J-Retro Preamp. This nice device is a great piece of engineering and sounds fantastic.
You can adjust the volume of each pickup independently and it has HUGE (+12db) amounts of gain. I mean, it can blow anything you plug your bass in!!
 
#8
Raising pickup height can help a little. Useing booster pedal wether eq or comp etc can also help. Me if I got a preamp whose output was less then most of the passives Ive played, Id get rid of the preamp and replace it with a different one by another brand. No reason for a preamp to have weak output compared to passive basses imo. But Im weird like that. Lol.
 
#11
I'm having a similar issue with a recent bass purchase. I bought a Lakland Skyline Daryl Jones 4 with Aguilar 60's J pickups installed. I also have the original Aero JB-4 type 1 included in the sale but I haven't heard them. I've compared this bass with 5 other jazz basses and all sound like they're on 11 while my Lakland goes to 6, maybe 7 at best. So, I feel your pain and I'm hoping to get some feedback as well. Any experience with Aero vs. Aguilar?
 
#14
Drummerdan said:
It's just my OCD and maybe slight concern that there's a bigger underlying issue.
Click to expand...
Nah, it's just that the Lakland probably has higher o/p PUs and the onboard pre has more gain. Not all preamps have the same gain, so the Lakland is louder. Nothing at all to be concerned about unless it causes inconvenience adjusting the amp levels switching between basses during a set.
 
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#17
There are so many pedals out there that can boost a signal. Unless you're a die-hard BASS --> CABLE --> AMP player, just use a pedal. Preamp pedal, compressor pedal, eq pedal, drive pedal (with the Level up and the Drive down), the list goes on. Personally I think an 7-or-more-band EQ pedal should be in everyone's signal chain because they're so dang useful and can be used on any amplified instrument, but that's just me.
 

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