Hey guys,
A happy new to y'all.

I wanted to find out from y'all the normal dbFS levels you see on your level meter of your daw when you finger pick an active jazz bass with the bass guitar volume cranked to max and pickup selector more towards the bridge. No fx inserted or in parallel. With new batteries of course.

I get a -8 dB average dBFS. Is that a good level for an active bass? The interface I use is Behringer UM2 and the volume knob on it is cranked the all he way up MAX. Is -8 dBFS a healthy level for an active bass, with the bass guitar volume knob cranked up to max as well?

Do let me know guys. Thanks in advance.

 

That sounds strange. With the pre-amp gain set to max on your interface you should be clipping like hell. Does the bass sound fine when you play through an amp, or do you have to crank the gain on amps to get a good level? If it sounds fine through amps and pedals it could be your interface that's faulty.

Do you have any other basses you can compare with? If a cheap passive bass has more output than your active one, you probably have an issue with your electronics. The first thing to do would be to change to fresh batteries, but I guess you have already tried that?

 

I don't have an amp to try it out with. I only have amp sims which i think will not be of help here. And yes, I've tried it with fresh batteries as well. Same case. And the preamp is in the guitar not the interface. The guitar volume is turned up. The pickup selector is towards bridge side.


Do basses with pickup selector have a relatively low output level? The tone is fine though. No issues there. Please let me know. Thank you.

 

I agree with Arabian Jesus.
An active bass, or even a passive one, should explode your levels if the audio interface input level is at Max. no matter which pickup is selected. Usually it's the opposite, most basses have a bit more of output when you select only one pickup than when both at selected (due to phase effect between both pickups).
Have you tried to select only the neck pick up? Is the output also low?

First of all, check your jack. Try with another one.
Check if you have a -20db pad engaged
And all that Arabian Jesus said.

 

additional guess: How about using a TRS cable instead of an instrument cable (TS) ? This will cause phase cancellation with a bass instrument and very low input signal. Pull the cable out one click and it will go up magically if it is the wrong cable.

 

There is a pre-amp in your interface as well, otherwise you wouldn't be able to connect a guitar or microphone to it. These small-form factor interfaces are hybrid pre-amp/converter/audio interfaces. The mic/line gain 1 and inst gain 2 are both gain controls for the pre-amp in your interface. If you have these set to max and running an active bass through it, you should be clipping even though it's crappy interface.

The pickup selector shouldn't matter, unless it's broken.

I'm guessing you are connecting the bass to channel 2 (the one that says "inst gain 2") on your interface? Try connecting it to channel 1 instead and see if it makes any difference. You can connect a regular 1/4" TS cables into the middle of the XLR connector on channel 1.

 

Last edited: Jan 1, 2023

I would always get clipping with slap bass at max gain, always have to go lower,
are you sure you're using instrument (correct impedance) input instead of casual line level input?

 

I'm sorry z but how do I make out which is a line level input or an instrument level junior input? I just plug in the cable to the input of my interface with no preamp. Input 2 in my case.

 

How do I know if my bass has a -20 db pad? How do I disengage one of at all it is engaged? Do let me know. Thank you.

 

He's talking of the interface, but the UM2 doesn't have one.

Just try both inputs, if the battery, the bass's output and the interfaces's gain is at max and it doesn't toast the input, there must be a hardware failure.

 

Okay, so my guitar is 2 years old and the interface is 4 years old. I've been taking proper care of my guitar since the day 1. Also, forgot to mention, I haven't changed the strings since the day it arrived. Does that make any difference?

And about hardware failure, you mean the interface or the guitar itself?

 

Only for the sound, not for the level (ok, minor due to lack of high end, but that's not the problem here).

Exactly this would be the question. Any chance to test the bass with a different interface or use a different instrument? If it doesn't work, that is.

 

I also came across few articles which mentioned adjusting the trim pot on the on board preamp. Should I try adjusting that? And check?

And no, this is the only instrument and interface, as of now.

 

If it's not adjusted properly, this could be an issue, yes.

 

yea input 2 labeled as instrument should be ok,
but you can try input 1 (jack) if level is same

 

Right. I will try that out. Thank you.

 

Not to that point.

BTW, what bass is this?

As No Avenger sais, the -20db par should be on your interface. But it seems that this one don't have it, so forget that part of my comment.
But check your jack cable.

 

Last edited: Jan 1, 2023

My bass is cort Elrick NJS 5. I think I'll have to check input 1 of my interface.

 

I might be wrong, but doesn't that bass have a bypass-able preamp? If so it makes sense to me that the "active mode" would be quiter than normal actives to somehow match the level between active and passive modes.

-8dB FS average is still kind of low for a fully cranked preamp, but considering other things like pickup height, playing style...it's not too crazy a level for j-bass inspired passives or actives ment to match passives.

I've never played that bass or used that interface btw, this is pure speculation.

 

Last edited: Jan 1, 2023

Yes, it is a bypass able pre amp. I finger pick my strings quite hard and I've kept em only so high that they don't touch the pickup with my force. Do you think I need to adjust the trim pot on the preamp? Or just mix it in the project by increasing the gain with plugins? What would you do if you were in my place? Do let me know. Thank you.