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Weak signal boosting.


Scoop
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I have an old Status Electro Mk1 (no magnetic pickups, just a piezo bridge) that I've owned for in excess of 12 years and while I love playing it I've never been in a position to gig it because, even with amps maxed out, it sends too quiet a signal to compete with a classic rock band. It's just very low output.

Is there anything out there on the market which will boost the output signal without (and that's important) colouring the tone. I don't want any tonal distortion - I just want *more* of its regular output.

Edited by Scoop
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[quote name='Scoop' timestamp='1489579464' post='3258062']
I have an old Status Electro Mk1 (no magnetic pickups, just a piezo bridge)...
[/quote]

Many (most..?) piezo pickups need a specific pre-amp to adapt their output and impedance to a standard amp. Perhaps you could try out such a pre-amp; they're often used by acoustic bass players.

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[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1489580389' post='3258076']
Google clean boost pedal.
[/quote]

I'm not much of a pedal head (I own a couple, bought 15 plus years ago, hardly ever used) so I had no idea such things existed. An Electro Harmonix LPB-1, a simple linear power boost, seems ideal. And cheap.

Thanks EBS_Freak. Much appreciated.

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[quote name='markstuk' timestamp='1489582161' post='3258114']
Worth trawling Talkbass as well - the general informed opinion is that you need a preamp capable of handling the very high impedence of a Piezo pickup otherwise your tone will be shot to pieces..
[/quote]

Yes indeed. Radial do a range of pedal preamps with a 10M ohm input for just this need :)

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I wasn't aware of those Electroharmonics pedals either. Always nice to know such things exist....

I know the OP didn't really want to "colour" the tonal output of his bass, but another alternative could be to use a D.I. Pedal, and set the tonal controls to "flat". I mention this because these pedals are quite cheap. One here on ebay is around £25. Luckily, I got mine for a tenner, second-hand locally (Though a local Facebook "guitar gear for sale forum"). Though it's quite noisy when you boost the higher frequencies - there's a really quite good degree of tonal control with it... I'm sure you could get very close to original tone

Indeed, I'm glad I bought mine. Now I have a supposedly better quality option - I use this for rehearsals and for gigs in "certain venues"

[url="http://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Behringer-BDI21-V-Tone-Bass-Preamp/6LV?origin=product-ads&utm_campaign=PLA+Shop+-+Behringer&utm_medium=vertical_search&network=google&adgroup=1+-+Product+Level+-+Behringer&merchant_id=1279443&product_id=8563d1&product_country=GB&product_partition_id=111959022559&gclid=CKegqvLi2NICFYYcGwod7C4JTA"]http://www.gear4musi...CFYYcGwod7C4JTA[/url]

Edited by Marc S
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