MIM '99 Fender 5 questions/issues

[Kenjuku0530]

I was wondering if anybody could help me locate a problem I've had for a long time with my MIM 5-STRING fender. That being that the gain on it (or at least I think that's what it is) has is annoying me to no end since its not clean gain. So let's say I plug in my Music Man with (these are approximates) 9 for bass, 4 on mids, 8 on treble,and master vol. at 8. it gives me the tone I expect and I'm happy with it. Then I plug in my 5 with the same settings and it sounds like crap. I understand my Music Man is a higher quality bass, but my MIM isn't exactly that cheep either.

So would the problem be the electronics? or is that just how it is made?

Thanks in advance

[Rano Bass]

Is your Fender active or passive?
Those are extreme settings on the Musicman, start with both basses flat (or everything on full if the Fender is passive) and then compare.

[bassbenj]

Originally Posted by Kenjuku0530

I was wondering if anybody could help me locate a problem I've had for a long time with my MIM 5-STRING fender. That being that the gain on it (or at least I think that's what it is) has is annoying me to no end since its not clean gain. So let's say I plug in my Music Man with (these are approximates) 9 for bass, 4 on mids, 8 on treble,and master vol. at 8. it gives me the tone I expect and I'm happy with it. Then I plug in my 5 with the same settings and it sounds like crap. I understand my Music Man is a higher quality bass, but my MIM isn't exactly that cheep either.

So would the problem be the electronics? or is that just how it is made?

Thanks in advance

Hey a music man and a Fender jazz (I own both) are VERY different instruments! They have quite different tone and it's very unreasonable to expect them to sound alike.

As suggested start with all your settings "flat" (no boost or cut) and that is what each instrument sounds like in it's basic form.

From there you can play the EQ any way you like to get tones that you think are nice. But there is NO reason to suppose that the settings you find for the Music Man will somehow be the same for the Fender.

Personally I've had to play with the EQ on my Fender 5 quite a bit to get a tone I like. Same goes for the MM. Neither sound like each other nor have settings like each other. Why would you expect otherwise?

[Kenjuku0530]

Sorry for my poor wording. I understand that they are both diffrent animals but still, what I meant was giving them both the same amount of volume while still keeping it clean. Because I notice a certain amount of noise/distortion once I go past mid point towards maximum on my fender. and it just keeps bothering me that I can't get the same clean volume from both. It wouldn't be a problem but I need it to work because I have to switch basses quickly without having time to adjust my amp. Hope that makes more sense.

[Kenjuku0530]

bump^