The effect of string height on effects

father of fires · #1 07-31-2011, 10:17 PM

There has been some discussion about flats not being suited to effects. As a flats player, I had never really thought of this as being an issue. Anyways, I decided to experiment by taking the flats off of my main bass (G&L SB-1) and putting on an old set of rounds I had lying around. I'm not here to debate the merits of either opinion but my effects sounded way better with rounds. My fuzz (Red Llama Clone) & distortion (ODB-3) sounded fuller and less fizzy. I put the flats on my backup (Squier P) because the set was practically new and I didn't want them to go to waste.

My Squier has always sounded fine (when it had rounds) but now with these flats I can't get my effects to work at all. Everything I plug into becomes a clean boost!!! The only thing I can think of is the fact that the pups are all the way down into the body. I tried to adjust them up some but they're stuck. Either way I always just figured that pickup height effected volume. Apparently it also effects dynamics, harmonics, overtones, etc.

Anyone else have any similar experiences?

Happynoj · #2 08-01-2011, 01:05 AM

If the Squier stopped playing nicely with effects after you changed to flats but was fine before, why would you assume that it was string height that is the issue?

father of fires · #3 08-01-2011, 05:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happynoj

If the Squier stopped playing nicely with effects after you changed to flats but was fine before, why would you assume that it was string height that is the issue?

Because the flats worked on my other bass.

NortyFiner · #4 08-01-2011, 07:55 AM

My Squier P has flats on it. Never had any problem with my effects working, and I have a whole arsenal of pedals (my profile just shows what is currently on my board).

The only way I can see strings or pickups possibly affecting effects is via the signal strength from your bass. Rounds produce a stronger signal than flats, strings closer to the pickups produce stronger signals, and active basses obviously produce stronger signals than passive basses. The answer to your problem probably lies somewhere in there...