Even sound across strings? Or is it the bass itself?

[vindibona1]

To cut to the chase, one of the things that has been bothering me on some basses (mostly 5 string) is that strings EAD have similar timbres when played. G, for the most part tends to thinner and brighter. B... Well it's a B. Pretty even and I usually play it for ending tunes that are mostly low D or even C. My BTB 675 has a tapered low B to keep the timbre brighter.

But my Sandberg seems to have the greatest issue with a bright G with stainless strings (40-128), less brightness with NYXL's that are currently on it and similar brightness with Slinky both 45-130. Al.so the higher strings often tend to have less volume but I've corrected that mostly by putting the pickups a bit closer to the strings and lower by the lower strings.

What I noticed when practicing this morning is my Fender Jazz 5, which has Aguilar Noiseless pups, the timbre is even across the board. It has DR Sunbeams. The Sunbeams, at least on that bass have very different and pleasing harmonics which provide it's unique sound (I think... or is it the bass itself?). I've pretty much only used Sunbeams on my two Jazz basses.

Any thoughts?

 

[michael_t]

First, I love your new avatar!

To answer your question, my experiences tell me it's a combination of the bass and the strings. Some basses are naturally more balanced than others, and some string sets are better balanced tonally than others.

 

[Killing Floor]

Was going to ask which TI strings because I’ve never heard of that issue. But they’re not TI so let’s address the root cause first.