too much "clunk", strings or pickup or...?

[lowend219]

I've have my chinese made Palatino upright for about 2 years now. I don't play amplified very often but when I do I get a ton of percussive "clunk" out of my amp. I've done all I can to EQ it out but its always there. I'm using an underwood pickup and I've never changed the strings on the bass. Any thoughts as to where this "clunk" may be occuring? Strings? Pickup?...poor technique?

You won't hurt my feelings if its the latter, I'm still saving up cash for a teacher.

[Francois Blais]

Two things come to my mind.
Maybe you need a preamp to buffer the Underwood with a very high input impedance.
Fdeck's HPFpre is a good investment.
The Fishman B-II is also nice.
Both can be bought for around $50.

Second thing is the strings.
If you still have the same strings you got with the instrument, they're probably very cheap and also possibly dying.

[Tommy el Gato]

I get something similar with the school bass I'm playing. It's a Roth from the late 60's with an ancient K&K pickup on it. Even with a fresh set of strings, there's this "phump" on the attack of the note, like finger noise, that's amplified more than anything else. Killing the lower mids tends to help, but I really don't care for the boomy-mid scooped sound (like a subwoofer from some rap-fan's cadillac). So, I guess in the mean time, we're SOL until a better bass can be bought.

[SplitNick]

Spiro Weichs might yield good results in both cases. You should hear a lot more overtones on them.

[Gearhead43]

A hi-pass filter (rolls off infrasonic and sub bass) would be helpfull in your case, IMO.

The Fishman Pro Platinum Bass preamp and the HPF-Pre both have hi-pass filters that work well.

[Bob Gollihur]

You may also want to experiment with input and/or preamp settings (as in reduce them) and be sure you have enough wattage to produce the volume you're seeking. The kind of audible reaction we can get varies when that big rush of signal hits the preamp or power amplifier, potentially overloading it.