E String On Chromes Is Louder Than The Rest

[bassandkeys42]

Hey all!

I currently have a set of ECB81 Chromes on my Squier VM Jazz Bass that I put on a couple of months ago and I absolutely love them!

I have begun to notice, however, that the E string in particular seems to be a bit louder than the rest. I didn't notice this at first when I began using them. It seems to be a somewhat recent occurrence. The action is set to factory specs and I even adjusted the pickup height on the bass side after testing both pups individually to compensate but for some reason, it still seems a bit of a dominating force over the other strings.

Has anyone else experienced this with their Chromes or flats in general? If so, is it an inherent issue with the strings or am I just hearing things?

Thanks!

 

[Matt O]

I currently have chromes on 4 of my basses and all are well balanced. I have noticed that right about 6 weeks - 2 months is when they lose that new string zing and darken in tone considerably, maybe the E is still bright and the others have darkened?

 

[Yahboy]

My opinion with ECB81 in 2 1/2 years is the E string dead and get muddy faster than other string, and the G string still Zingy !!

 

[michael_t]

Has anyone else experienced this with their Chromes or flats in general? If so, is it an inherent issue with the strings or am I just hearing things?

I haven't experienced this particular problem of the E string being louder than the rest; however, I did find the Chromes ECB84 (40-60-80-100) to be tonally unbalanced on my Fender Jazz with an annoyingly bright G and a thuddy E. Funny thing because I had another set on a MIM P and they sounded great.

Fender 9050L (45-60-80-100) would be the closest kin to the Chromes, except they tend to be better-balanced in terms of both tone and tension.

 

[bassandkeys42]

Thanks everyone for the responses so far!

Fender 9050L (45-60-80-100) would be the closest kin to the Chromes, except they tend to be better-balanced in terms of both tone and tension.

Thanks for the suggestion, Michael! I have read nothing but positive things about Fender flats. I think I'll give the 9050Ls a shot!

 

[FunkHead]

Pretty sure there's a known problem with them. I believe there have been people that have gotten warranty replacements.....

 

[iiipopes]

Lower the E side of the neck pickup about a half turn. Raise the bridge saddle of the E string about a quarter turn. Double check the setup all the way around.

 

[ZenG]

One thing you might want to check is where the E-string sits in the nut slot.

If it is not sitting right dead at the bottom of the slot and there is any clearance there, it will affect the string sound.

Sometimes the nut is cut for a certain gauge string and a bigger gauge string does not sit in it right.
Ditto for the other strings as well.

 

[Sparkdog]

I've noticed this, but have come to the conclusion that it has more to do with the actual bass and it's inherent resonance than the strings themselves. I have a bunch of Jazz basses, and a couple of them are definitely louder on the E string than the other 3 stings, and it happens with flats, rounds, whatever. Chromes DO seem to have a very boomy E compared to the other strings, so the effect is more pronounced on the basses that are loud in that frequency to begin with.

 

[bassandkeys42]

Lower the E side of the neck pickup about a half turn. Raise the bridge saddle of the E string about a quarter turn. Double check the setup all the way around.

Thanks for the suggestion! I tried lowering the pickup but still get that boom. I took some measurements as well and discovered that everything has pretty much remained the same since I last set it up with the Chromes.

One thing you might want to check is where the E-string sits in the nut slot.

If it is not sitting right dead at the bottom of the slot and there is any clearance there, it will affect the string sound.

Sometimes the nut is cut for a certain gauge string and a bigger gauge string does not sit in it right.
Ditto for the other strings as well.

Thanks, Zen! I checked out the nut and every string sits perfectly on the bottom of the slots!

I have a new set of Fender 9050L's on the way per @michael_t's suggestion (they should be arriving on Friday). Once I get them on and set up the bass again, I'll report back on the findings.

Thanks again everyone for the responses!!

 

[Fishyfishfish]

Mine were the opposite, dead E the rest were nice n thuddy after six months

 

[bassandkeys42]

Well, I finally got the 9050Ls installed and the bass set up and all I can say is that, dynamically, these are much more balanced than the Chromes were without sacrificing any of the tonal characteristics of the D'adds. Thanks again, everyone for the help!!