live bass volume

[wattsd]

i have an older groove tube bass pre amp that i'm running through one side of a peavey 1500 watt power amp. plugged into the power amp or not, the gt pre amp is clipping at less than half gain. i don't have active pick ups. could it be a tube problem. i'm playin zep covers and competing with 2 marshalls on stage and a drummer that sounds like a 4 year old got a new drum for christmas. please help

[Viper]

Try running the preamp at full gain as this will increase headroom. Adjust your volume using the amp. More headroom = less clipping.

[DAS]

The preamp is clipping? Is the power amp ever clipping? I'm not familiar with that preamp, but you should be able to turn the input down so the bass doesn't clip it, and then turn the output up enough to drive the power amp. This is basic gain staging. If you can't make that work you probably should try a different preamp to see if it helps.