Trouble with B string

[frances7]

Hi guys I'm quite the noob when it comes to hardware but I'm having this weird problem I don't know if anyone can help me out.

I've played an Ibanez GSR205 for about 10 years now through a series of amps and I've always been pleased with it. It sounded smooth and clear through and through.

About a year ago I bought a Marshall MB450h amp head and the accompanying MBC115 cab to go along with it and it always delivered massive sound at every possible volume using my passive Ibanez bass.

I recently decided to step up my gear and bought a new, active, Ibanez SRX695. It had a bit of rattle but I managed to fix that with a proper neck and saddle adjustment and now my E,A,D and G strings are sounding amazing.

However whenever I play my B string things get really messy. It distorts horribly at any volume on my amp and I can't get it to stop. I tried lifting it up but no matter what I do it always distorts. I can limit how much "clicking" it does on the pick up but it never comes out clean the way my GSR205's does. I tried lowering the volume on the bass too and playing with pickup balancing but nothing does it. I thought maybe my amp was wrong so I plugged it into my computer and it does the same thing.

Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong with it?

[Rockin Mike]

Sounds like the signal may be too hot. You could try lowering the neck pickup.

[JLS]

Originally Posted by frances7

Hi guys I'm quite the noob when it comes to hardware but I'm having this weird problem I don't know if anyone can help me out.

I've played an Ibanez GSR205 for about 10 years now through a series of amps and I've always been pleased with it. It sounded smooth and clear through and through.

About a year ago I bought a Marshall MB450h amp head and the accompanying MBC115 cab to go along with it and it always delivered massive sound at every possible volume using my passive Ibanez bass.

I recently decided to step up my gear and bought a new, active, Ibanez SRX695. It had a bit of rattle but I managed to fix that with a proper neck and saddle adjustment and now my E,A,D and G strings are sounding amazing.

However whenever I play my B string things get really messy. It distorts horribly at any volume on my amp and I can't get it to stop. I tried lifting it up but no matter what I do it always distorts. I can limit how much "clicking" it does on the pick up but it never comes out clean the way my GSR205's does. I tried lowering the volume on the bass too and playing with pickup balancing but nothing does it. I thought maybe my amp was wrong so I plugged it into my computer and it does the same thing.

Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong with it?

Check the battery.

You may have to change the amp eq, to deal w/the low end information that B string is sending to your amp.

[96tbird]

If it's clicking on the p'up and you can just, as you say "limit" it, the p'up is too close. lower the bass side of the p'up AND raise the B. Adjust until you get a good balance across the strings E to G open and the B at 12th fret . However the open B is such a low frequency that it may not sound as loud, but believe me you'll feel it rumble the world! Worked for me!

[frances7]

Wow that was easy!

Thanks a bunch guys I played around with the p-up's and lowered them quite a bit on the lower side of the bass and lifted slightly the higher end using 96tbird's technique and it worked miracles.

I was even able to lower my B string back to an acceptable height where it's not a nuisance anymore when playing fast on the E string.

Thanks again everyone your input was very helpful!