Boss Lmb-3 Bass Limiter Enhancer as an EQ

[Richard Soriano]

Hi all,

I am running the Boss LMB-3 into front of my Quilter Tone Block 202. In order to "bypass" the preamp section, I set the voicing to FRFR to flatten the EQ. I get a cool DI sound but it tends to distort if I pluck harder.

Using Georg Sortun's settings from a previous post, I currently set the LMB-3 settings as Level-13:30 (o'clock), Enhance- 13:00, Ratio 11:00, and Threshold 13:00.

Is there any advice to prevent distortion when I pluck? Any suggestions, alternatives or experiences are welcomed.

Thanks,
Ricky

[Mike Auman]

Your LMB-3 was designed for an input level of -20 dBu, which is about 77 millivolts. Your steel pickup can easily put out twice that (over 150 millivolts) with a firm string pluck. So you're overdriving the input of the LMB-3 when you hit the strings hard. A solution would be to reduce the output level of your steel before the LMB-3, like putting a volume pedal in between.

[Georg Sørtun]

What Mike wrote, and peak-output from steel PU's vary a bit.

Apart from the short attack "click"/"bop" sound, which is to be expected with a simple compressor/sustainer, I've never observed a distortion problem with my LMB-3 regardless of input level. Try adjusting those settings a little to find the ones that suits your playing and taste.