diff --git a/src/tests/test_experiments.py b/src/tests/test_experiments.py
index 4ff37a550..feceab941 100644
--- a/src/tests/test_experiments.py
+++ b/src/tests/test_experiments.py
@@ -490,8 +490,8 @@ def test_serializable_engine_check_triage_noconvert():
     with testing.postgresql.Postgresql() as postgresql:
         db_engine = create_engine(postgresql.url())
         with TemporaryDirectory() as temp_dir:
-            with mock.patch('triage.experiments.base.create_engine', wraps=create_engine) as engine_create_mock:
-                experiment = SingleThreadedExperiment(
+            with mock.patch('triage.experiments.multicore.create_engine', wraps=create_engine) as engine_create_mock:
+                experiment = MultiCoreExperiment(
                     config=sample_config(),
                     db_engine=db_engine,
                     project_path=os.path.join(temp_dir, "inspections"),
@@ -506,8 +506,8 @@ def test_serializable_engine_check_sqlalchemy_convert():
     with testing.postgresql.Postgresql() as postgresql:
         db_engine = sqlalchemy.create_engine(postgresql.url())
         with TemporaryDirectory() as temp_dir:
-            with mock.patch('triage.experiments.base.create_engine', wraps=create_engine) as engine_create_mock:
-                experiment = SingleThreadedExperiment(
+            with mock.patch('triage.experiments.multicore.create_engine', wraps=create_engine) as engine_create_mock:
+                experiment = MultiCoreExperiment(
                     config=sample_config(),
                     db_engine=db_engine,
                     project_path=os.path.join(temp_dir, "inspections"),
diff --git a/src/triage/experiments/base.py b/src/triage/experiments/base.py
index e4049cb3d..839c3affc 100644
--- a/src/triage/experiments/base.py
+++ b/src/triage/experiments/base.py
@@ -46,8 +46,6 @@
 
 from triage.database_reflection import table_has_data
 from triage.util.conf import dt_from_str
-from triage.util.db import create_engine
-from triage.util.pickling import can_pickle
 
 
 class ExperimentBase(ABC):
@@ -84,15 +82,6 @@ def __init__(
         self._check_config_version(config)
         self.config = config
 
-        if not can_pickle(db_engine):
-            logging.warning(
-                "Raw, unserializable SQLAlchemy engine passed. "
-                "URL will be used, other options may be lost in multi-process environments"
-            )
-            self.db_engine = create_engine(db_engine.url)
-        else:
-            self.db_engine = db_engine
-
         self.project_storage = ProjectStorage(project_path)
         self.model_storage_engine = ModelStorageEngine(self.project_storage)
         self.matrix_storage_engine = MatrixStorageEngine(
@@ -100,6 +89,7 @@ def __init__(
         )
         self.project_path = project_path
         self.replace = replace
+        self.db_engine = db_engine
         upgrade_db(db_engine=self.db_engine)
 
         self.features_schema_name = "features"
diff --git a/src/triage/experiments/multicore.py b/src/triage/experiments/multicore.py
index 142304e86..f686a6aae 100644
--- a/src/triage/experiments/multicore.py
+++ b/src/triage/experiments/multicore.py
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 import traceback
 from functools import partial
 from pebble import ProcessPool
+from triage.util.pickling import can_pickle
+from triage.util.db import create_engine
 
 from triage.component.catwalk.utils import Batch
 
@@ -9,8 +11,15 @@
 
 
 class MultiCoreExperiment(ExperimentBase):
-    def __init__(self, n_processes=1, n_db_processes=1, *args, **kwargs):
-        super(MultiCoreExperiment, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+    def __init__(self, db_engine, n_processes=1, n_db_processes=1, *args, **kwargs):
+        if not can_pickle(db_engine):
+            logging.warning(
+                "Raw, unserializable SQLAlchemy engine passed. "
+                "URL will be used, other options may be lost in multi-process environments"
+            )
+            db_engine = create_engine(db_engine.url)
+
+        super(MultiCoreExperiment, self).__init__(db_engine=db_engine, *args, **kwargs)
         if n_processes < 1:
             raise ValueError("n_processes must be 1 or greater")
         if n_db_processes < 1:
@@ -24,6 +33,7 @@ def __init__(self, n_processes=1, n_db_processes=1, *args, **kwargs):
         self.n_processes = n_processes
         self.n_db_processes = n_db_processes
 
+
     def generated_chunked_parallelized_results(
         self, partially_bound_function, tasks, n_processes, chunksize=1
     ):