Fishman Pro EQ Platinum Bass User Manual

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Owner’s Manual

Owner’s Manual

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Thank you for purchasing the Pro EQ Platinum Bass. Whether you play electric
or upright, on stage or in the studio, you can now produce the bass tone you've
always heard in your head, but have never been able to coax out of the speakers.
With this product we set out to make an easy to use, road-worthy "Swiss Army
Knife" preamp/DI that is especially dialed in for bass instruments. We want you to
be completely satisfied with your Platinum Bass preamp. If you have any
questions or comments, please contact us at
99666655

.

If you want to get up and running right away, install a 9V battery and check out
the Quick Start printed on the underside of the preamp (or see below). To take
full advantage of all the Platinum Bass' features, please take a few minutes to
glance over this guide, especially the setup for the Depth control and the
Compressor.

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DESCRIPTION

The Pro EQ Platinum Bass is suitable for electric or acoustic bass. A versatile
control layout features five bands of bass-EQ, a photo-optic compressor and an
innovative "depth" control for dialing in big bottom without boom. The unit's
advanced circuitry is recessed into a road-rugged 12-gauge steel platform,
surrounded by tough injection-molded bumpers. For a smooth, musical response
and tube-like warmth we use sweet sounding J-FET technology throughout. Plus,
an exclusive "Voltage Doubler" gives you the extra front-end headroom needed for
today's high-output active basses.

Pro-audio features include an accurate and smooth sounding XLR DI with a
pre/post EQ switch, plus 48-Volt phantom power operation. The XLR's special
hum-killing ground lift switch does not interrupt phantom power, unlike some
other bass DI's.

QUICK START

1.

Place XLR pre/post switch to "post" position.

2.

Adjust the input gain so that the clip/low battery light barely flickers with
strong playing.

3.

For acoustic bass only:

and suppresses feedback.

4.

Set compression and depth to 10:00.

5.

Set EQ and re-adjust input gain if necessary (clip light should barely
flicker with strong playing).

Set phase switch to position that sounds best

POWER OPTIONS

1. 9-Volt Battery

Squeeze the tabs on top of the preamp together and the battery drawer will
pop out. Snap in a fresh 9-Volt alkaline. To conserve the battery, unplug
the input of the Platinum Bass when you are not using the preamp.

2. 48 Volt Phantom Power

Use an XLR cable to connect the Platinum Bass to a mixing board with 48V
phantom power. When you turn on the 48V phantom at the mixer, the
green 48V phantom LED lights up, the 9V battery shuts off and the
Platinum Bass draws power through the XLR cable.

The green 48V phantom led may not light up once you switch on phantom
power. This means the phantom power from the mixer is not delivering
enough voltage. For insurance, keep a fresh 9V battery in the preamp.
The battery will take up the slack if the phantom power is too low.

3. AC Adapter Input (center = negative)

Use only a well filtered and regulated adapter with a 9 Volt DC output. We
recommend the Fishman 910-R or Boss PSA series. Use a non­recommended adapter and not only will you void the warranty, you may
damage the circuit.

INPUT - PLUG YOUR BASS IN HERE

When you plug into the input jack, the 9-Volt battery switches on.
Remember to unplug the input jack when you are not using the preamp to
save the battery. Turn down your amp or mute your mixer input before you
plug into the Platinum Bass input to protect your speakers (and your ears)
from loud pops.

This very high impedance 10 MΩinput is perfectly matched for magnetic/
piezo pickup signals from passive or active instruments. The "Voltage
Doubler" circuit that we build into the preamp offers plenty of headroom
and dynamics for today's hot active basses.

In most cases you'll have the best results if you go directly from your bass
into the preamp. If you use any external effects, put them in line after the
Platinum Bass. One exception is if you use the Fishman Pocket Blender.
In these cases take the ¼" mix output from the Pocket Blender into the
Platinum Bass preamp.

Tone Tip -

instrument cable will be directly reflected into your tone. The Platinum bass
preamp's low noise audiophile circuit is very transparent and will reproduce
the tone differences between various instrument cables. If your bass has
passive pickups (no battery onboard), use a good quality low capacitance
cable between the instrument and the input of the Platinum Bass preamp.
Auditioning the Platinum Bass with a number of cables in a music store will
give you a good sense of the differences between one brand and the next.
As a general rule, the lower the capacitance, the better the sound. A low
capacitance cable will add snap and sizzle to a passive magnetic pickup
and more clarity to a passive piezo pickup. Choose the shortest length that
is practical for you, because the longer the cable, the higher the
capacitance. The "pico Farad" is the unit of measure for capacitance. A
cable with a capacitance of 200 pico-Farads or less is ideal. If you are not
sure of the cable's capacitance, check with the manufacturer.

If your bass has passive pickups, the quality of your

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INPUT GAIN

Like the trim control on a pro-audio mixer, the input gain accommodates a
wide variety of incoming signal levels. For the cleanest possible signal,
adjust the input gain so that the clip/low battery LED barely flickers with
strong playing. If the LED lights up brightly as you play, your bass signal
is overdriving the circuit and you will hear distortion. Keep an eye on the
clip LED (and reset the input gain if necessary) when you make
adjustments to the depth, tone or compression settings.

CLIP / LOW BATTERY LIGHT INDICATOR

This light has three distinct functions:

1. Power Up Indicator

The LED flashes briefly when you plug into the input - it is telling you that
the unit is powering up.

2. Clip Indicator

Flashes brightly when your bass signal overloads the preamp. Adjust the
input gain so that the clip LED barely flashes with strong playing.

3. Low Battery Warning

When the red LED lights with no signal present it is time to change the
battery. If the low battery light comes on while you're playing don't worry,
you'll have enough power to get through a gig (at least 4 hours).

VOLUME

To gently smooth out your instrument's all-around response, set the
compression between 8:00 and 11:00.

For more punch set the compression between 12:00 and 2:00. This is
especially effective for tumbao and walking bass styles.

Solid rock bass tone: Boost the low mids with the compressor set around
12:00.

For heavy compression with lots of sustain set the compression knob
between 3:00 and 5:00 (for best results set the input gain as high as
possible, lighting the red clip light occasionally). You will find that this
works well for bass-synth effects, especially with an octave pedal placed
after the Platinum Bass preamp.

DEPTH

Tighten up your sound, or dial out deep-bass feedback with the depth
control. The depth control works hand in hand with the Bass control to
bring out tight and articulate lows.:

1.

Start with the depth turned up full (5:00) with the EQ set flat on your
bass, bass amp and/or PA.

2.

Set the bass slider to full boost.

3.

Play the bass and back off the Depth (counter-clockwise) until you hear
the sound tighten up, usually between 9:00 and 12:00.

4.

Re-set the bass slider to taste.

For the cleanest sound, set the volume as high as you can without
distorting your amp or mixer.

In addition to cleaning up your low end, the depth control will let your power
amp work more efficiently and provide protection for your speakers. When
set below 1:00, the depth control gets rid of the power-gobbling sub-sonic
stuff that taxes both your amp and speakers (not to mention your ears).

COMPRESSION

This allows you to alter the attack, sustain and dynamics of your bass. Set
the input gain before you turn on the compressor (compression is off at
7:00).

For you players who have given up on compression for bass, we feel your
pain. We spent months developing and refining a one knob photo-optic
compressor just for bass. With it you can dial up more punch, attack, and
sustain without any of the "pumping" or "squashing" that plagues other so
called "bass" compressors.

Compression is a useful tool for bass, especially for recording. But if
you've ever used it onstage you probably know that a poorly designed or
improperly set up compressor can completely screw up your live bass
sound. Recognizing the common shortcomings of "bass" compressors, we
designed our soft-knee photo-optic compressor to set up quickly and
sound good right out of the gate.

For slap and other aggressive playing styles, the Platinum Bass'
compressor does not strangle your highs. We deliberately placed it in the
signal chain before the bass and treble controls so you can boost without
squashing these important frequencies. Plus we carefully fine tuned the
compressor to complement the attack and sustain characteristics of bass
instruments.

Note:

As you raise the compression level, the apparent volume will
drop, due to the gain reduction of the compressor. Compensate for
this by raising the volume knob on the Platinum Bass
proportionately as you raise the compression level.

Depth control Tone tips:

A good place to start with the depth control is usually at about 10:00 In this
position you can max the bass control without losing articulation and mid­bass attack.

For electric bass in rooms that absorb a lot your low end (e.g. a "dead"
room with curtains, upholstered furniture or carpeted floors), set the depth
to the higher positions; between 2:00 and 5:00.

To get rid of low frequency feedback with acoustic bass, sweep the depth
knob counter-clockwise until the feedback goes away (usually between 8:00
and 10:00).

For extremely difficult acoustic environments such as gymnasiums or high
ceiling rooms with reflective surfaces, set the depth to 9:00 or lower.

PHASE SWITCH

Use the Phase switch in combination with the Depth control to suppress
feedback for upright bass and acoustic bass guitar.

Electric bassists (solid body) can ignore this section -just leave the phase
switch in either position and go!

Unlike electric bass, acoustic bass tends to feedback when you amplify it
at high volumes. Feedback generally occurs in two different ranges: deep­bass feedback (open D and below) and mid-bass feedback (above open
G).