franken bass doesnt sound as good as i thought..

[cloren]

I modded a MIM Jazz bass with the following: warmoth neck (bubinga, pau ferro); nordstrand nj4 pups; badass II bridge, HAS passive electronics, shielded cavities, and light gauge d'addario nickel round wounds.

Playing acoustically (ie not amp'd) I LOVE the sound/feel of the instrument. plugged in I can't seem to get a quality sound without adding my bass xciter, compressor and a fair amount of eq adjusting.

It sounds like the notes lack definition and warmth
where did i go wrong?

I can only suspect that the pickups height isn't ideal (a little uneven and further away from the strings compared to a stock fender bass)- what else could be contributing to my less-than-favorable tone?

[GeoffByrne]

Are you sure they are In-Phase?

[cloren]

in phase?

how can i tell?

[remo]

wire one pickup around the other way.. ie. swap white with black.. then test the bass.. If the note are solid and there is a good fundamental there.. then yes, they were wired in out of phase... out of phase sounds hollow and gutless.. if they are out of phase you will hear a huge difference once they are in phase.. there is no mistaking it.

[JustOpenYourMind]

Are you playin through a good amp? are your other basses sounding the way you want through your setup?

[cloren]

yeah the amps are solid and sound great. I've noticed it's pretty much just my bridge pickup that sounds like crap- the neck pickup sounds fantastic. could it be that only one of the pickups aren't in phase?