Members Archon_113 Posted July 28, 2005 Members Posted July 28, 2005 I have recently acquired an Akai Unibass pedal and I'm having difficulties using it with my Maverick. For those of you who don't know, the Unibass doubles the bass signal an octave higher, then gives you the option to add a harmony to that octave part (either a 5th above or a 4th below), and it also has built in distortion for the effected signal. The problem I'm having is this: because of the high output of my active bass, even when I turn the output volume for the octave part up to full, it is still considerably quieter than the clean bass signal. There is a control on the pedal for input level, but this doesn't affect the volume of the bass signal. I don't have two channels on my amp, so running the octave part into a seperate channel at a higher level isn't an option. I also don't want to have to turn the volume down on the bass, as this makes the active EQ have much less of an effect. Does anyone have any ideas?
Members Deville Posted July 28, 2005 Members Posted July 28, 2005 When you play a note on your bass, do the LED's by the input control respond? If not, turn it up. If you turn it up and there is still no signal activity, then you have a problem. In order to get adequate signal to the effect, the input must be up enough to peak at the yellow LED. Also, have a look at the noise gate threshold control. Turn it CCW until it stops choking the effect.
Members Archon_113 Posted July 28, 2005 Author Members Posted July 28, 2005 I have adjusted the input level control and the noise gate threshold prior to my original post, and I'm convinced that it's because of the active bass, not a problem with the pedal. I've tried it out with a passive Jazz bass copy and it was much easier to set the balance. Turning the the output level up to full actually made it much louder than the bass signal.
Members Deville Posted July 28, 2005 Members Posted July 28, 2005 I'd like to know what the resolution is for this problem. I'm kinda baffled by it.
Members Archon_113 Posted July 28, 2005 Author Members Posted July 28, 2005 It does seem kinda weird. The Unibass is also pretty bad at tracking with my Maverick, but great with the passive bass I tried
Members Deville Posted July 28, 2005 Members Posted July 28, 2005 Interesting. It isn't the best at tracking my active Carvin either. Wonder if attenuating the signal would help things at all. If you turn the bass down about half way, do things improve?
Members Jazz Ad Posted July 28, 2005 Members Posted July 28, 2005 I'm dead sure my JAF has more output than a Maverick and I never encountered this problem.
Members Archon_113 Posted July 28, 2005 Author Members Posted July 28, 2005 That helps a little with the volume issue, but not at all with the tracking.
Members Archon_113 Posted July 28, 2005 Author Members Posted July 28, 2005 Originally posted by Jazz Ad I'm dead sure my JAF has more output than a Maverick and I never encountered this problem. It may be a problem with the bass itself then. I'll try changing the battery and see if the situation improves.
Members Archon_113 Posted July 28, 2005 Author Members Posted July 28, 2005 I replaced the battery with a brand new one and there is no change. Jazz Ad, do you have any suggestions?
Members Deville Posted July 28, 2005 Members Posted July 28, 2005 It will track better with newer strings. Are your strings dead?
Members Archon_113 Posted July 28, 2005 Author Members Posted July 28, 2005 The strings are about 2 months old, and they still sound fairly bright.
Members Jazz Ad Posted July 28, 2005 Members Posted July 28, 2005 Originally posted by Archon_113 I replaced the battery with a brand new one and there is no change. Jazz Ad, do you have any suggestions? Only use one pickup. It may help focus. Does the Maverick come with soapbar humbuckers ?
Members fureybass Posted July 28, 2005 Members Posted July 28, 2005 Both Archon and Jazz AD: Where is the unibass in your signal chain? If you are running your active bass straight into the unibass, I can see there might be a problem, due to the different input impedance and higher gain of active basses. Try putting a pedal that you know behaves with your active bass before the unibass. A simple boss one would do, because it will buffer your signal.
Members Archon_113 Posted July 28, 2005 Author Members Posted July 28, 2005 I can't believe I didn't think of trying this earlier. I just put the Unibass in the effects loop and it works perfectly! Thanks to everyone who tried to help though
Members fureybass Posted July 28, 2005 Members Posted July 28, 2005 Even if your pedal is bypassed, it would still work, though. As long as it isn't true hard wired bypass. I forgot to mention that. It could be a compressor or a simple buffer.
Members The Unknown Posted July 29, 2005 Members Posted July 29, 2005 Originally posted by Archon_113 It does seem kinda weird. The Unibass is also pretty bad at tracking with my Maverick, but great with the passive bass I tried Stupid questions: Have you tried lowering the volume of your bass and boosting the pedal's input to see if it works better ? Have you tried lowering the pickups of the Maverick a little ? I had a hard time have my Big Muff sound good with my G&L and after lowering the pickups by one turn or 2 of the screws, it ended up being just fine !
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