Double Bass Eminence AU with Boost Pedal Tone Problem

[MikeSchuster]

I have a Euphonics Audio iAmp Doubler that produces almost an envelope filter sound when I play my Eminence acoustic electric with a TC Electronic Spark Mini Boost pedal. I can't use the boost in the input because it causes clipping. When I put the boost pedal through the effects loop on th amplifier the strange shift in tone starts. The amp is connected to a Euphonics Audio NL-112 speaker cabinet. Anyone use this kind of equipment and/or had this tone problem when using a pedal?

I'm able to use the Eminence fine with the Spark boost pedal going through my Ampeg SVT-3 Pro amp into an SWR 4x10 cabinet without any problems. I can produce a good sound either going directly from the pedal to the Ampeg input or by using the effects loop on that amplifier. I think this demonstrates that the pedal and bass are fine.

Thanks for any insight into this.
Mike

 

[bherman]

I have a Euphonics Audio iAmp Doubler that produces almost an envelope filter sound when I play my Eminence acoustic electric with a TC Electronic Spark Mini Boost pedal. I can't use the boost in the input because it causes clipping. When I put the boost pedal through the effects loop on th amplifier the strange shift in tone starts. The amp is connected to a Euphonics Audio NL-112 speaker cabinet. Anyone use this kind of equipment and/or had this tone problem when using a pedal?

I'm able to use the Eminence fine with the Spark boost pedal going through my Ampeg SVT-3 Pro amp into an SWR 4x10 cabinet without any problems. I can produce a good sound either going directly from the pedal to the Ampeg input or by using the effects loop on that amplifier. I think this demonstrates that the pedal and bass are fine.

Thanks for any insight into this.
Mike

I've used the same boost pedal with my Eminence through multiple amps, never had that happen. I haven't used it in the effects loop, just in front of the amp, as part of a small pedalboard. I've not had issues with clipping - I do wonder of you have your gain set too high on the amp, which could be causing the clipping when the boost is engaged. Also, are you using a preamp in front of the amp? If so, again I wonder if your signal going into the amp is just too hot. Try backing off on your gain level going into the amp.

 

[MikeSchuster]

I've used the same boost pedal with my Eminence through multiple amps, never had that happen. I haven't used it in the effects loop, just in front of the amp, as part of a small pedalboard. I've not had issues with clipping - I do wonder of you have your gain set too high on the amp, which could be causing the clipping when the boost is engaged. Also, are you using a preamp in front of the amp? If so, again I wonder if your signal going into the amp is just too hot. Try backing off on your gain level going into the amp.

Thanks for your reply. The gain is extremely low on the amplifier. Gary Gibilisco at Euphonics Audio said the pedal can't be used with the amplifier input and must be used in the effects loop. He blamed the pedal for the clipping when going directly into the input. He's questioning the pedal worth altogether and said it's designed for overdrive/distortion which is news to me.

 

[bherman]

Thanks for your reply. The gain is extremely low on the amplifier. Gary Gibilisco at Euphonics Audio said the pedal can't be used with the amplifier input and must be used in the effects loop. He blamed the pedal for the clipping when going directly into the input. He's questioning the pedal worth altogether and said it's designed for overdrive/distortion which is news to me.

I call bs on that, I've used it for a long time in front of the amp input and its a clean boost (as long as you don't turn it up too much - then it does go into drive territory. Only other suggestion I can make is to turn up the gain on the amp (and the master down), and keep the boost at a modest level. I only used mine for a slight volume bump for solos. Are you using a preamp?

 

[DoubleMIDI]

The gain control is often after the first amp stage (JFET or JFET-OpAmp), so if the signal is too hot, turning down the gain does not help if the first stage clips.
The reason for that is, that the gain control would need to have a very high resistance if it should come first and this has negative effects like a higher noise floor.
It depends on the amp when that clipping takes place, but the pedal in front should not output too much (at least should have an output volume control to avoid that).