Something I noticed that I can hear.

[Youngspanion]

Is it normal to hear the smallest sounds of the note? Like the slight harmonics at the end of the note. Some what of an overtone.
Would this be the amp, speakers, strings or the bass pickups themselves producing this sound?

[AwkwardLoudness]

It's almost certainly the strings. Do you hear this at all volumes? Clean or overdriven or both? On fretted notes only? Open strings too? Are you trying to eliminate the overtone?

Sometimes the string will vibrate audibly between the fretted note and the nut and cause overtone when an amp is loud enough. Overdrive compression can cause harmonics to ring out in my experience.

[Youngspanion]

Its something that I hear all of the time. I have to do some more experimenting with it but I started to think it was the amp head or the speakers. Its very annoying and I am trying to lose it. I turn the tweeter off. I turn the tone control down. All volumes but the louder, the more annoying.

I bought two sets of strings recently. One set for each of my basses. I haven't been happy with either one so far. I do believe that I do not have enough wraps around each post on both basses. I do not know if this has any thing to do with it. I was also thinking of trying out another amp head to see if its just the tone of the head.

[Youngspanion]

Later, when I have a little more time, I'm gonna set everything flat and listen to what It is that I hear and then I will see if I explained everything right.

[greenboy]

Many of your answers lie here: Bass frequency/waterfall plots: what they mean to rigs

First, the plots show different overtones coming and going during the note's duration, represented on the z axis.

Post in that thread introducing the overtone series:

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showth...32#post6891532

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Do You have a signal generator of any sort?

A PC based is perfectly fine, and if You run that signal through your rig, you can most likely eliminate the rig from the equation. I say most likely as some amplifiers do oscillate or start to do so over time.

With that same 1/4" / 1/8" mono lead that You used for testing the rig, you can also record something into your computer and perhaps post the problematic sound here.

Regards
Sam

[AwkwardLoudness]

I suggest using other instruments through the amp or using a jack converter to plug in a CD or mp3 player and listen for whether or not the sound persists. 'Overtone' would typically involve the strings, but there are other possibilities.

What cab are you using? There could be whistling sounds moving through an opening like an unused jack, or the cab could be generating harmonics from virations and poor damping or something.

There could be a loose connection inside your amp, but that would likely cause a scratchy, thunderous, or fizzy sound rather than an 'overtone'.

[Youngspanion]

I'm gonna go with new strings for now and see if that helps.

I'll keep you posted.

[Arranger]

Be certain that it's not your ears. That might be the first sign that something else more important is at stake.