Hello all! So I am about at my wits end on this problem ive been having for a little while now. No matter what I do it seems to me that my bass tone isn't what it should be. I have a Squier P Bass with Quarter Pounds (split and jazz in the bridge), a Fender Jazz bass with active preamp and a Spector Dimension 5. My amps are a Fender Rumble 500 combo, an Acoustic B100C and and Ampeg SVT with 2 Fender Rumble 4x10 cabs. To save time I do have some pedals but the problem exists whether I use them or not. The best way I could describe the issue is that someone threw a blanket over the tone and there seems to be some kind of almost distortion when I hit high notes. Any active EQ could be flat or the bass can be completely passive and its still there. This has persisted through both combos I have and some in the big rig I use. Idk what to do and the worst part is that it came out of literally nowhere
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Bass tone not sounding right
- Thread starter Musicislife816
- Start date
Yes with all 3. Its almost as it the full frequency of the bass itself isn't coming through or is being hindered by something. No matter how I adjust EQ or gain or volume or whatever it still persists. When it first started I thought it might have been a blown speaker or something in my Fender combo but buying a new amp and having the issue persist debunks that
Only thing I see that everything shares is the instrument cable.
Is this only happening in one location? Like a possible line voltage/outlet issue? Really grasping straws here. I mean, 3 different instruments, 3 different amplifiers?
Is this only happening in one location? Like a possible line voltage/outlet issue? Really grasping straws here. I mean, 3 different instruments, 3 different amplifiers?
Do you always stand in relatively the same place related to your amp?
What you may hear in one location can be completely different elsewhere.
I'm not talking inches or feet, but tens of feet.
Are you using more than one cab at the same time? How are they stacked or set in place relative to each other?
What you may hear in one location can be completely different elsewhere.
I'm not talking inches or feet, but tens of feet.
Are you using more than one cab at the same time? How are they stacked or set in place relative to each other?
I've replaced the cables i was using when it started and its still there. I also moved my two combos to another room in my house and it was still there.
I dont remember hearing the issue after I got my SVT but I was using a Fender Rumble 800 head with my two cabs. The cabs are side by side angled away from each other with the head on top of one. I usually stand pretty close b/c there isn't a lot of space where I keep those. Like I said everything sounded fine and then one day it just didn't and thats whats been driving me crazy
Do you have tinnitus? At this time of year dehydration might cause it, and the brain can sometimes tune it out, but the relative effect can be to cause aberrations in the way we perceive a frequency range.
If you have actual hearing damage, that too can be very frequency-specific, and if it hits some strong harmonic range you like, the result might sound unpleasant to you. It may be worth getting hearing checked out, because the one thing in common there may be your hearing. Changes to it don't always onset slowly, they may onset faster after an accumulation of stresses previously considered normal, just as allergies can.
EDIT: Also, any chance you might recently have started getting painless migraines? Flickering auras in vision, or milky appearance to everything at rare moments? Migraines can be WEIRD, they can cause very odd perceptions in hearing as well as vision, and sometimes that's the first experience a person may ever get of a migraine.
More edit, just trying to cover any medical base I can think of... Toothache can cause aberrations too because the nerves may be very close to the auditory nerve.
If you have actual hearing damage, that too can be very frequency-specific, and if it hits some strong harmonic range you like, the result might sound unpleasant to you. It may be worth getting hearing checked out, because the one thing in common there may be your hearing. Changes to it don't always onset slowly, they may onset faster after an accumulation of stresses previously considered normal, just as allergies can.
EDIT: Also, any chance you might recently have started getting painless migraines? Flickering auras in vision, or milky appearance to everything at rare moments? Migraines can be WEIRD, they can cause very odd perceptions in hearing as well as vision, and sometimes that's the first experience a person may ever get of a migraine.
More edit, just trying to cover any medical base I can think of... Toothache can cause aberrations too because the nerves may be very close to the auditory nerve.
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Angled away from each other could be a problem. Once you've involved more than one speaker, one point source of sound, problems due to phasing creep in. That may not affect your tone issue but can have more of an affect on your sound at different locations than if both cabs were facing the same direction. If where you stand is a "trouble spot" (too much phase cancellation) your tone might be affected. With phase cancellations, things can sound tinny, this happens more at bass frequencies than it does in the rest of the audio spectrum. Cab placement and orientation, relative location, the space you're in, can all impact what you hear.
See what happens if you change amps but use the same speakers without changing anything about them. Sometimes we change a number of things at once, and then don't don' know which of those changes caused the difference.
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I like that point, but I suspect too many changes combined with such constancy of symptoms may make that unlikely, so I went with medical...
Say whaaat?
Most likely Possibilities:
1. You have hearing loss in the highs
2. All of your tweeters are blown, so the cabs are not producing their highest range. Many players prefer this.
3. Everything is fine but the frequency range you are missing is not reaching your ears.
I will discuss item 3. further.
The dispersion of a bass cab changes with frequency. Lows are omnidirectional and shoot out in all directions. As the frequency increases, a cab will begin to exert pattern control and force more of the sound out front. As the frequency moves into the high-mids, the dispersion pattern can become fairly narrow. So if the cab is not aimed at your head, it's likely you will not hear the high-mids and treble.
My solution is to elevate my cab and aim it at my head. Some like this approach and some hate it.
Another factor is multiple driver cabs tends to produce some degree of lobing that varies with driver spacing and frequency.
Wavelength is represented by the Greek letter Lambda
Also wavelength is inversely proportional to frequency. In other words, as the frequency increases, the wavelength decreases (and vice versa).
Here is the approximate dispersion pattern you get when driver spacing = 1 Lambda. This image assumes vertical alignment of the drivers.
Notice the ear is in the null between the lobes. So this guy will not hear this frequency very well. For a 410 I believe this pattern occurs at approximately 1,130hz.
This is a higher frequency where driver spacing = 2 Lambda (2,260hz)
Notice one of the secondary lobes that is shooting up at an angel is pointing straight at the ear. So he will hear this frequency.
But if he moves here, his ear is in the null again.
Notice the primary lobe always shoots straight out (on axis). So of you make sure your ears are on axis to the primary lobe, you should hear the intended full range response of the cab. You can do this by moving further from the cab, tilting the cab back to aim at your head, or elevating the cab to a suitable height.
D
Just to get one thing ruled out: Do you still hear everything else like normal? For example, is the high frequency content normal when listening to music? No problems hearing cymbals and such? No distortion in the higher frequencies when listening to loud music?
- Feb 12, 2006
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- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
What happens when you use just a single cabinet?
Everything still sounds the same when I listen to music.
This issue is occurring mostly in the combo amps I have at my home. The big rig is in a different location altogether and I didnt hear it last time I played through it which is when I got my SVT. Again, this issue started out of nowhere at the same house I live in now and everything used to sound great whether it was at ear level or not
Maybe get a hearing test. 3 different amps doing the same thing doesn't sound like an equipment issue.
I would also like to add that when I was buying a new amp at Guitar Center yesterday and playing through it, I didnt hear what I'm hearing at home. I wasn't using my basses though
Two suggestions.
1 they have apps for hearing tests. Might be worth doing. If it looks off or low in places definitely get checked professionally.
2. take these combos to an entirely different house etc and see if the problem replicates.
1 they have apps for hearing tests. Might be worth doing. If it looks off or low in places definitely get checked professionally.
2. take these combos to an entirely different house etc and see if the problem replicates.
