A question on my basses sound

[Jason Wilson]

Hey guys and girls, I've just been playing around on my new Black Tiger and been trying different settings out.
I have a question regarding an overdriven sound I've been getting.

If I have the pickup selector in the middle, I have that cool Smith sound no matter what I do with the either the bass, treble, parallel switch, mids etc.
But I've found if I put the pickup selector full to either the bridge or neck pickup, have the bass up full and have the switch in series I get quite an overdriven sound. Definitely a bit of distortion. Is this normal?

It won't be the battery as I've only just received the bass.
Does anyone else get this overdriven/distorted sound with these settings?

Keen to hear from you all

[Ronen Tat]

It seems to me you're pushing the pre-amp to its limit. I've never felt a need to do that in a playing situation, or at all.
There's a mini control inside the cavity (I think it's on the mid board, the small one) which is used to preset the preamp gain. Maybe turning it down a little will solve this for you. The pickups in series mode have more output.
If I recall right the instruments leave the shop set up with the passive mode equals in volume to active with everything flat, with pickups in parallel mode (standard Smith sound).

-- Edit --
On the current pre-amp the mini control is a tiny white box on the middle board, located right above the bass pot in the cavity. On the older 9V pre-amp it's on the Mid board.

[Jason Wilson]

It seems to me you're pushing the pre-amp to its limit. I've never felt a need to do that in a playing situation, or at all.
There's a mini control inside the cavity (I think it's on the mid board, the small one) which is used to preset the preamp gain. Maybe turning it down a little will solve this for you. The pickups in series mode have more output.
If I recall right the instruments leave the shop set up with the passive mode equals in volume to active with everything flat, with pickups in parallel mode (standard Smith sound).

-- Edit --
On the current pre-amp the mini control is a tiny white box on the middle board, located right above the bass pot in the cavity. On the older 9V pre-amp it's on the Mid board.


Yeah, that's probably it. I'm not saying I will ever play with this setting, but I've also not had a bass that does this. I can normally have the controls anyway I want and still have a clean sound.
Just thought it is quite odd and haven't encountered it before.

[Scott Pope]

When was the last time you changed the battery?

[Jason Wilson]

Right, thanks for all your suggestions and help etc.
I've just spoken to Ken and he helped sort it out, it was all user error. :rolleyes:

Thanks heaps for your help Ken, was great talking to you.
One very happy customer :D