Cutting down on pick noise - suggestions?

[Jeff K]

I rarely use a pick, but when I do, I use the large, triangular Fender picks. I use either heavy or medium gauge. But when I pick, I always turn the tone knob down dramatically. All my basses are either Fender P's or Jazzes, plus one Sadowsky (Metro UV70). But cranking down that tone knob always keeps the pick sound from being too bright and clanky. Turn it down a little at a time until you get it where you want it. YMMV, but that works for me.

[Bassgrinder77]

Don't use a tweeter. Not good for pick style, IMO.
Cut some of the highs in your eq. Anything above 3.5KHz isn't really necessary - even if you want a bright tone.
Many players go for too wide a frequency band in their bass tone and it just ends up sounding weird or bad.
If you want a bright tone, try boosting the upper mids - around 1kHz.
Try some distortion/overdrive. Sansamps are good for that. Or experiment with a tube head. Don't be afraid to experiment and remember that recording can be totally different than playing live. A LOT of great bass recordings have been done through guitar amps.
Non-flat picking isn't your problem. Lots of great sounding pick players scrape and use the side of their pick for good effect. For example, Justin Chancellor of Tool and Mike Dirnt of Green Day.
Recommending not picking, a felt pick and or flatwounds seems far too radical to me - I assume you use roundwounds and a heavy pick for a reason - right?
The key is focusing your tone, avoiding excessive highs and getting the mids dialed in right.

[xgator4u]

Originally Posted by Jim Carr

Lot's of good ideas there.

I'd dump the pedal and amp and run the bass DI to the desk. Then, audition the bass tracks (flat EQ) with the engineer. Experiment with onboard settings carefully, but in effect you need less high end off the bass. Once that noise is in the signal, it will be hard to EQ out without taking a hit on frequencies you want in the signal.

1. Be sure the pick is not contacting anything on the bass except the strings.
2. Move picking spot progressively toward the neck and audition the result.
3. If those don't cure it, start rolling off the highs, either running active or passive.
4. Work with the engineer to get acceptable tone.

+1 and raise 1
try turning the pick around and hitting the strings with the wide end of the pick instead of the point.

[cowsgomoo]

Originally Posted by snoopz

A friend swears a Fender Jazz would not have this problem. Really?

your friend is talking completely out of his ass... you'll get as much pick noise with a Fender Jazz as with Fender Jaguar

a. don't listen to your friend in the future... EVER

b. follow these guys' suggestions and notch some of the high-mid down... if you have a decent EQ in your rig you should be able to isolate the offending frequencies fairly well without affecting the rest of your sound beyond recognition