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D and G strings not cutting through

B

banks

Jul 18, 2006
150
5
#1
I play a Fender P bass ( 62 reissue). I noticed the notes on the D and G strings get lost. My band plays American Girl and the intro gets lost.
I was going to see if a new set of strings would do the trick. I go through a GT10-B. Just wondering if anyone else has encountered this problem.
 
#2
I've experienced this in the past as well. What solved this issue for me was I raised my pickups so they were closer to the D and G strings. Generally speaking, the closer the strings are to your pickups the greater the output. Going about raising the pickups is different depending on the bass but is easy to do regardless. New strings might help somewhat. The brighter sound you get from some fresh strings may help you cut through the mix. There's people far wiser than myself on TB that could help you also, this is just from my personal experience.
 
#3
banks said:
I play a Fender P bass ( 62 reissue). I noticed the notes on the D and G strings get lost. My band plays American Girl and the intro gets lost.
I was going to see if a new set of strings would do the trick. I go through a GT10-B. Just wondering if anyone else has encountered this problem.
Click to expand...

GT10-B: I am wondering if you have a preset going on that is killing the tone of your bass? It would be best to try the bass through the rig by itself then try the pedal with the rig. See if you can hear the difference.

When I play American Girl, I drop the intro down an octave and it sticks out in the mix so much more. Keep in mind that there are at least 2 bass lines overlapped in the intro (I think it might be 3 bass lines) which makes those high notes stick out so much more. I used to play the higher notes, but the lower notes seem to hang in the mix with my band so much better.

What kind of strings are you using now?
 
#4
Unplug the GT10-B (or bypass) and plug your P bass straight into your amp and after EQing, if you still have the problem, adjust the pickup height (new strings is a good idea too).


banks said:
I play a Fender P bass ( 62 reissue). I noticed the notes on the D and G strings get lost. My band plays American Girl and the intro gets lost.
I was going to see if a new set of strings would do the trick. I go through a GT10-B. Just wondering if anyone else has encountered this problem.
Click to expand...
 
#6
Gearhead17 said:
GT10-B: I am wondering if you have a preset going on that is killing the tone of your bass? It would be best to try the bass through the rig by itself then try the pedal with the rig. See if you can hear the difference.

When I play American Girl, I drop the intro down an octave and it sticks out in the mix so much more. Keep in mind that there are at least 2 bass lines overlapped in the intro (I think it might be 3 bass lines) which makes those high notes stick out so much more. I used to play the higher notes, but the lower notes seem to hang in the mix with my band so much better.

What kind of strings are you using now?
Click to expand...

+1
 
#7
The height for a vintage style p-bass pick-up height is
Bass side 8/64” (3.175 mm) treble side 6/64” (2.381 mm) (pick-up to string)
a nickel is 1.95 mm so just .0431 more than a nickel. To far away loss of volume to close distortion and false intonation readings
 
#8
Had same issue with my P-Bass & ASAT and raised the D-G pickups.
Got even volume but the closeness to the strings caused clacking from the strings hitting the pickup.
Reversed the concept and lowered the E-A pickup and slightly lowered the D-G then turned up the guitar volume to compensate.
Got even sound volume across all strings.
Now If I can just learn to live with the D-G dead zone from fret 5 to 7, I'd be a happy man.
Many P-Basses are born with that congenital defect but I still love'm
 
#9
Gearhead17 said:
GT10-B: I am wondering if you have a preset going on that is killing the tone of your bass? It would be best to try the bass through the rig by itself then try the pedal with the rig. See if you can hear the difference.

When I play American Girl, I drop the intro down an octave and it sticks out in the mix so much more. Keep in mind that there are at least 2 bass lines overlapped in the intro (I think it might be 3 bass lines) which makes those high notes stick out so much more. I used to play the higher notes, but the lower notes seem to hang in the mix with my band so much better.

What kind of strings are you using now?
Click to expand...

I had the same problem same pedal. I was using a Ny studio preset at first. Sounded great solo but turned to mud in the mix at shows. Make a preset that is a bypass then add to it from there.
 
#10
I had the same problem with my '62 re-issue P. I tried all kinds of fixes (changing pickup height, new strings, different EQ) but nothing worked - so I sold the bass. I've noticed this same issue with a few other Ps I've tried and it's annoying.
 
#11
I have this issue on my LTD Vintage 204 P/j bass. I just use EQ; I cut a tiny bit of low end. Most of the stages in NYC nightclubs and bars are acoustically dreadful and benefit from less overall stage boom anyway (I prefer to let the PA subs do the work).
 
#17
banks said:
I play a Fender P bass ( 62 reissue). I noticed the notes on the D and G strings get lost. My band plays American Girl and the intro gets lost.
I was going to see if a new set of strings would do the trick. I go through a GT10-B. Just wondering if anyone else has encountered this problem.
Click to expand...
Is it the strings or the notes? Those would be two different problems. If you play a D on the A string does it sound louder than an open D?
 
#19
Thanks for the suggestions. I will bring the bass to have the pup's raised. The setting on the GT-10B I normally use the70's finger style setting. I thought the guitars were too loud. We all know how 'they' can be! Lol I'll look into the EQ setting as well. I should mention I play in a country band so the bass isn't up front in the mix anyway.
 

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