String Volume

[tramp]

I have a new L2000 in the Honeyburst finish. It is a beautiful bass and plays great. When I am on stage, the E string is louder than the rest. The A D & G strings seem to get lost in the mix. When I am at home just playing, they seem be at about the same sound level. Probably because I am playing by myself. What is the best way to correct this?

[Nedmundo]

Assuming it's not a string or EQ issue, you can adjust two things: pickup height at each end, and polepiece height. You might want to raise the pickups on the treble side, possibly lower them on the bass side, and then raise the polepieces under the A string to compensate for lowering that side of the pickup. If you experiment with these parameters, you'll probably find some improvement. MFD humbuckers are so hot that pickup adjustment is important to get good balance. At least that's been my experience with my L-1500.

[mainsail]

+1

Nedmundo has good advice.

I spent some valuable time at the shop where I get the work done on my instruments yesterday and went through the process of doing the adjustments mentioned to my new L2.5K.

I've had it since the end of September and the A and D strings did not have the proper fullness to my ear. The poles were rather low on those strings and we raise them on the E a bit also, on both neck and bridge.

Had to set intonation a bit also as we've had some extremely dry and warm weather here the past month and the wood in the new neck is probably still settling. Since the string change to the DR's, and the initial setup, the strings had gone flat about the same amount across the board.

The bass is happy again and so am I as it really kicks out some sound now.

Larry

Originally Posted by tramp

I have a new L2000 in the Honeyburst finish. It is a beautiful bass and plays great. When I am on stage, the E string is louder than the rest. The A D & G strings seem to get lost in the mix. When I am at home just playing, they seem be at about the same sound level. Probably because I am playing by myself. What is the best way to correct this?

[tramp]

Thanks for the info. I will adjust the poles this weekend and see what I can do to eliminate my problem. What kind of DR's did you get? - Rounds, halfrounds, flats - light guage, medium, heavy?

[mainsail]

The strings on my L-2500 are Nickel Lo-Riders, I did a special order as I wanted a 120 for the B. The room I play in at church, can be boomy sometimes, so I went with a 45, 65, 80, 100, 120 set.
The number, which I got from DR is, MLH-45+H-120.
They are round-wounds and even for for nickels, are still very bright on this bass.
I'm using the similar set on my L2K without the B of course.

Larry

Originally Posted by tramp

Thanks for the info. I will adjust the poles this weekend and see what I can do to eliminate my problem. What kind of DR's did you get? - Rounds, halfrounds, flats - light guage, medium, heavy?

[tramp]

So your L2k has that same string size (45 - 100)? How is the tension on these. I put some ghs pressure wound on my SB1 and found I got a lot of string buzz so I switched back to medium lights. My SB1 plays like a dream. I use to use medium light flat wounds and someone talked me into using round wound. All strings on my SB1 are pretty close to the same volume. I hope I can get my L2k like that. Thanks

[mainsail]

Yes. I'm using 45, 65, 80 and 100 on my L2K.

I have used both the LO-Riders and the Sunbeams. The Nickel Lo-Riders are supposed to be a bit less bright and softer to the touch. Frankly, I can't say that they are less bright but they feel good and perform well.

The G&L's with the MFD have plenty of lows and highs for the medium-lights. I still roll back my bass and treble and the volume, to let the pickups breathe. I'm playing through a Genz Benz with 2 tens and have plenty of kick.
The only nuance I've noticed on the L2.5K is that at the 12th and above frets, I get a little wa-wa sound like a very slight chorus effect, (without the chorus) on the G and D strings. It's very slight and really not noticeable unles I'm playing by myself. And it is only heard with sustained notes.
Larry

Originally Posted by tramp

So your L2k has that same string size (45 - 100)? How is the tension on these. I put some ghs pressure wound on my SB1 and found I got a lot of string buzz so I switched back to medium lights. My SB1 plays like a dream. I use to use medium light flat wounds and someone talked me into using round wound. All strings on my SB1 are pretty close to the same volume. I hope I can get my L2k like that. Thanks

[DavePlaysBass]

Are you playing in series by chance. And if you are is it the series with the bass boost capacitors. That can do exactly what you described. I started with series and then moved to parallel.

IME with a G&L L-2500 in a church band, a set of DA XLs that was 45-100 was a lot more balanced than a 45-105 set. The 85 on A and 105 on E were noticably more boomy.

Dave

[Nedmundo]

Originally Posted by DavePlaysBass

IME with a G&L L-2500 in a church band, a set of DA XLs that was 45-100 was a lot more balanced than a 45-105 set. The 85 on A and 105 on E were noticably more boomy.

Yeah, some string sets are just way out of balance, at least on certain basses. I tried Dean Markley Nickel Plated Steels on my P-bass. The E and A sounded phenomenal, but the D & G were thin and weak, so much so that I quickly dumped the set. In that case, it wasn't the pickup or anything else.

[mainsail]

Thanks for the input. Well, after massaging the "Official Tone guide" thread, and a lot of experimentation, I've settled on both pups, parallel, active and bass and treble rolled off to suit my taste, with minor EQ on the amp.

In series, I find the lows can be quite unwieldy. Because of this, I believe the L2K or 2.5K is not a plug and play bass for a beginner.

Once you have things dialed in however, you have a killer machine. Not played any of the boutique basses but what I can get out of my G&Ls, is extremely satisfying.

Fortunately, the chorus sound is low-level enough not to be disturbing in the mix. It's just there and I hear it and I'm somewhat of a semi-purest and that can be a real pain to myself!

Larry

Originally Posted by DavePlaysBass

Are you playing in series by chance. And if you are is it the series with the bass boost capacitors. That can do exactly what you described. I started with series and then moved to parallel.

IME with a G&L L-2500 in a church band, a set of DA XLs that was 45-100 was a lot more balanced than a 45-105 set. The 85 on A and 105 on E were noticably more boomy.

Dave

[sunbeast]

The chorus sound could be caused by the pickups being set too high- the magnets pulling the string out of tune. This would also make it impossible to correctly set intonation. I found that I need to set the pickups lower than G&Ls suggested setup measurements or I get the same chorus effect...lowering the pickups also helps to cut some of the boominess of series + even out the frequency response a little in all settings (In my experience).

Karl

[mainsail]

Karl, does adjusting the neck pu poles have more effect on dealing with the chorus sound or should both pu's be adjusted equally?
And, if so, did you have to adjust a noticeable amount below the factory specs?

I really appreciate all the feedback.
Larry

Originally Posted by sunbeast

The chorus sound could be caused by the pickups being set too high- the magnets pulling the string out of tune. This would also make it impossible to correctly set intonation. I found that I need to set the pickups lower than G&Ls suggested setup measurements or I get the same chorus effect...lowering the pickups also helps to cut some of the boominess of series + even out the frequency response a little in all settings (In my experience).

Karl

[sunbeast]

Originally Posted by mainsail

Karl, does adjusting the neck pu poles have more effect on dealing with the chorus sound or should both pu's be adjusted equally?
And, if so, did you have to adjust a noticeable amount below the factory specs?

I really appreciate all the feedback.
Larry

Probably to some degree- since the strings have a larger area of movement over the neck pickup, the magnetism will have more of an obvious effect. The bridge pickup will do the same thing, but won't pull the string out of tune as far. I think about it more in terms of the effect of both pickups together, a magnetic field will affect the strings no matter where on the string it is located- more/stronger magnetic field+ more effect on the vibration of the string. I think the factory specs call for the neck pickup to be 1/16" on the G string when fretted at the last fret, and 1/8" on the E string. My L2000 had a noticeable chorus effect on the higher frets when set up to these specs. It is currently set up approximately 1/16" below the factory measurements (so about 1/8" on the G string). Different strings will react differently as well- since every different string is more or less ferrous.

Karl

[mainsail]

Thanks so much for the input. Yesterday I took some time and played with both pickups on the G string only and my ear tells me the chorus effect is now quite minimal. I don't have any way to do measurements here my self but sound wise I think I'm in the ballpark.

The effect is only slightly noticeable on the D and A so may tinker a bit but this morning things sounded really pretty good.

I'm also thinking since the DR's are a fairly flexible string that may be part of the equation.

Larry

Originally Posted by sunbeast

Probably to some degree- since the strings have a larger area of movement over the neck pickup, the magnetism will have more of an obvious effect. The bridge pickup will do the same thing, but won't pull the string out of tune as far. I think about it more in terms of the effect of both pickups together, a magnetic field will affect the strings no matter where on the string it is located- more/stronger magnetic field+ more effect on the vibration of the string. I think the factory specs call for the neck pickup to be 1/16" on the G string when fretted at the last fret, and 1/8" on the E string. My L2000 had a noticeable chorus effect on the higher frets when set up to these specs. It is currently set up approximately 1/16" below the factory measurements (so about 1/8" on the G string). Different strings will react differently as well- since every different string is more or less ferrous.

Karl

[tramp]

I adjusted the pickups a little higher on the G string side of the bass and it helped. Did a gig Saturday night but it was a very low volume gig in a small place. This Sunday will be the test though. I will probably need tgo adjust the poles. Any suggestions on pole height? Thanks

[mainsail]

Musicians Friend has a downloadable PDF manual for the L2K. On pages 2 and 3, you can find a lot of the setup info. I think the PU adjustments are on page 3.
Bear in mind, the factory settings may not be sufficient for your ear or the strings you use. Check out what Sunbeast said about those adjustments.

Larry

Originally Posted by tramp

I adjusted the pickups a little higher on the G string side of the bass and it helped. Did a gig Saturday night but it was a very low volume gig in a small place. This Sunday will be the test though. I will probably need tgo adjust the poles. Any suggestions on pole height? Thanks

[1954bassman]

I've been following this thread...

Amp EQ setting will cause e string unbalance, yes?

Old and priceless.

Mark