(NOOB ALERT) - Bass too hot problem?

[theGleep]

Hi, all...Thanks in advance for all of the advice I'm hoping to get

I just got my US-1800 this last week. After quite a bit of messing around, I got CUBase to show that it was recording something, but I could never get it to play. I even exported to .wav file and played that, but still nothing. (I'd love a tip there, but that's not my question...)

So I went to the trouble of compiling Audacity for ASIO (I'm a computer programmer...I can do that sort of thing). I also found a pre-compiled version of Audacity 1.3 and downloaded that.

Using the Audacity 1.3, I was able to record and play back. But (here's the issue I really need help with) - everything was overloaded. I think the term is "clipping".

For just-messing-around, I had my phone plugged in and playing songs; I turned it down all the way, and it still had distortion unless the song was at a VERY quiet moment. Hmmm...must be what I get for not using an instrument.

So...I plug in my bass (#9 jack set to "guitar") and get the same thing...

When I turned the #9 pot *all* the way down, and played my bass VERY QUIETLY, it didn't distort. Much.

So I have a couple of questions:
1 - has anyone had something like this happen to them?
2 - shouldn't turning the pot all the way down (counter-clockwise) mean I have NO input from my bass?

Again - thanks for your advice!

 

[mixsit]

It always depends on how much level you are feeding, and which type of input. And no unlike a guitar amp for example many (most perhaps) don't turn all the way down and off'.
On top of that some pre amps (xlr/mic inputs for example) do +10 or more of gain at their min. setting.

So...I plug in my bass (#9 jack set to "guitar") and get the same thing..."

Though unless this bass is very high output that part does seem odd.
Product: US-1800 | TASCAM

 

[Zeekle]

Try turning everything down to start with. Then add a little gain to each stage of your signal chain from the guitar to the PC.

Do not have one gain stage turned all the way up and try to compensate by turning everything else down. Hopefully that will get you a clean signal.

Zeek

 

[theGleep]

I played with it some more last night - in Reaper as well as Audacity.

Same general issue. I'm sure it's "Clipping", because when I zoomed in on the graph, it was flattened at it's highest volume level.

And the highest volume level is a VERY small amount...less than 20 pixels (I couldn't figure out how to get it zoomed in far enough to check what the db was...)

I have tried the "turn everything down, then one thing at a time back up" approach - except with the bass. It's a non-active bass, and the pickups aren't that hot (inexpensive factory pickups). With the Behringer UCA-222 (a 2in/2out audio interface), and a cheap ebay guitar usb connector, the signal is just fine; so I'm willing to rule out "too much signal from the guitar" as a culprit.

I'll try to post some screenshots tonight.

Thanks for the help so far!