Volume of my bass

[parker_muse]

PEOPLE OF BASSCHAT,

I play a squier vintage modified jazz into an orange crush 35b. To say the least its lovely, just a tad quiet. Imagine my shock when i pick up a cheap peavey millenium and play it through it and its about twice as loud!

How can i make my bass louder?

Is it a pot or pickup problem?

Thanks,

Parker

[joegarcia]

My guess is that your Squier is passive and the Peavey is active. It's nothing to worry about. An active bass is one which has a small preamp on board with a battery for extra eq and tone shaping. Active basses usually have a higher output than passive basses and most amps will have different inputs for active basses and passive basses to account for this difference in output. If you really want to make your Squier louder you can think about fitting some active pickup's or a preamp but if you are happy with the sound as it is I shouldn't bother.

[EdwardHimself]

nothing wrong with the squier, just the peavey is LOUD!!!! The active version has active pickups and an active EQ so it is one hell of a loud bass. I usually just turn the volume and bass controls on the peavey down so it matches the level of my jazz bass.

[The Burpster]

Both the above are correct you could convert the Squier to active.... You could put 'hotter' passive pups in as well..... (like SD 1/4pounders but there is loads of other options) that wil make a definate improvement.....

These options will cost you of course .....

[The Funk]

Do you need it louder for home practice?

[parker_muse]

Louder for band practice.


And, it was the passive millenium!

[Buzz]

I have a 35b, which input are you plugging into?

Passives need to go into the high input, and both my jazzes have roughly the same volume level I've found, so like mentioned, the peavey just could be much louder.


Also, I doubt it'll be loud enough for band practice really, yes, it can get quite loud on its own, but it's only 35watts.

[Soulfinger]

Could be a simple setup issue. What´s the distance between strings and pickups?

[parker_muse]

Distance between strings and pick up is....



about half a centimetre

[Soulfinger]

Hm... sounds about right...

Ok, forget about my idea then...

[parker_muse]

The high output gives tonnes of hiss and the low is silent... are you sure?


Parker

[EdwardHimself]

turn down the treble then if there's too much hiss. As someone else said, if your in a band it really is a good idea to get a bigger amp 'cos 35w just won't really cut it in a band situation.

[parker_muse]

I'd love to.


My pocket says no.

[The Funk]

Do you have a PA where you rehearse? If so, you'd have to go into the PA. That's a practice amp plain and simple. If you guys don't have a PA where you rehearse (what do the vocals go through?) then you're buggered. Start saving now!

When I was starting out I had a practice amp too - similar wattage. I turned everything up as high as it would go 'cos that was the only way I could hear myself (and even then I couldn't really). It gave out a cool 'this is about to blow up' tone. And it wasn't long before it did.

[parker_muse]

^ ahahaha


Yeah, well we practice in the drummer house in cheltenham, which is HUGE.

We can't be bothered to pay for a large P.A practice area so we do it in his music room (yes, he has a music room)

[parker_muse]

[url="http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/sfx-pick-up-booster/9126"]http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/sfx-pick-up-booster/9126[/url]

Would this sort of thing make it louder?

[EdwardHimself]

yes it would, of course a louder amp would also make it louder.

Edited July 29, 2007 by EdwardHimself

[bassboy115]

i have the same problem with my jazz and when i plug in my peavey or harley benton it is way louder...I dont know why it is but i also find that the peavey has a hell of a lot more low end... To deapen the sound try turning the bridge pickup only 3 quarters of the way up i find this makes it louder and gives it more low end.


Its really annoying when im playing my jazz at a gig then change it. I end up forgetting and blastin the hell outta the rest of the band!

[BigRedX]

Actives being louder than passives isn't always true. My Gus G3 which is passive sounds much louder than all my other basses active and passive except for the Traben Phoenix and then only if I'm boosting more than one of the 3 frequencies.

It's down to a combination of pickup outputs and electronics. Also louder isn't always a better tone.

[parker_muse]

I know, but im in dier need of a boost. I know my amp can go LOUD. But my current bass wont let it and i need to know what i need to get it loud.

[bass_ferret]

Not familiar with the amp but most have an input gain and an output volume control. So if you are using basses with different outputs you should adjust the input gain to suit. Might be worth getting a cheap mixer to put between the basses and the amp. I use an EBS Microbass II preamp to balance the volume of my basses but that is not a cheap option.

[Muppet]

Your amp ain't gonna do loud like a 35w guitar amp is going to do loud. I had a 35B and it just doesn't do it - it's a practice amp after all. It'll only go as loud as it's going to go - then you need a bigger powered amp, either a bass amp or PA. There's no real way around it as all you will end up doing is overdriving the input stage of your amp and getting a real nasty sound. Then it'll go bang.

[The Funk]

Yeah, got to agree with Muppet. All you'll end up doing by increasing the level going into the amp is overloading the preamp stage - that'll just give you a nasty distorted sound. It won't actually increase the output volume.

35W is just not enough. If you've got £75 for a pickup booster, you could look into selling your practice amp and buying a giggable, more powerful one.

[alexclaber]

It is very rare for an amp to have insufficient gain to reach full volume even with a very quiet bass. The only way you'll get a 35W bass amp to be heard over a drummer is by sticking the amp in the corner of the room for maximum bass reinforcement, cut back your lows, add midrange, and give the drummer hotrods or very light sticks.

Gain and volume (or more accurately Sound Pressure Level) are two very different things. It works like this:

Movement of strings due to plucking generate peak voltage of 1V in the pickups. This goes to preamp part of amp which adds, say, 5x gain, with the knobs at 12 o'clock. Thus the voltage is now 5V. This goes to the power amp section which adds gain of say, another 5x, with the knobs at 12 o'clock. The voltage is now 25V. This power amp is driving an 8 ohm load. 25V into 8 ohms equals (25x25)/8=78W.

Now, say this amp has a maximum output of 100W. This means its maximum voltage output is 28V. Let's say that if you turn the preamp gain to max you get 10x gain. Let's say that if you turn the power amp gain to max you get 10x gain. This means that the amplifier has a maximum gain of 100x. So if you put your 1V signal in the amp will try to put 100V out - BUT IT CAN'T because the maximum voltage output is only 28V.

If you put a preamp or booster in front of the amp you might be able to put 10V into the preamp but you still won't be able to get more than 28V out of the power amp.

If an amp is not loud enough, no amount of louder effects pedals, outboard preamps, pickups, will make it louder.

There is one thing that will make it louder and that is more sensitive speakers, or simply MORE speakers! The more sensitive the speakers the more dB SPL out you will get for the voltage in. So if you were to plug the power amp output of your little 35W combo into a very large efficient speaker cab or two (like a BFM DR280 on top of a Titan 48) then you would actually get enough volume to easily keep up with a drummer. But you wouldn't want to have to move that...

Alex