Fat sounding D and G strings on a P

[smo]

My deal is that yesterday, using a bass and amp with which I've never had this happen, when I went to play the d and g they sounded like the bass had been drastically lowered for just those 2 strings. Very strange, yes .

Bass is Sandberg VT 4, amp is GK MB800 through subway 212.

And then today I went to rehearsal in a different place with same bass but different amp, and no issues.

All I can figure is that the rooms aren't cooperating. But low end on just the d and g? Just weird.

Were you putting the speakers in a corner? That'll make the low end bloom, resonant frequencies etc. Might explain why it's different from one room to another

 

[Pyrrho Epoche]

Try a fat or fatter pick, like a 3 or 4mm. I get totally different, fatter sounds with modrez pickboys, etc.

 

[wolffire99]

I struggled with this for years. Changed strings, pickup height etc…then I learned to play with a soft touch and problem solved.

 

[Minimalist]

My deal is that yesterday, using a bass and amp with which I've never had this happen, when I went to play the d and g they sounded like the bass had been drastically lowered for just those 2 strings. Very strange, yes .

Bass is Sandberg VT 4, amp is GK MB800 through subway 212.

And then today I went to rehearsal in a different place with same bass but different amp, and no issues.

All I can figure is that the rooms aren't cooperating. But low end on just the d and g? Just weird.

Troubleshooting 101 would tell me that it's not the bass.

 

[bdplaid]

Were you putting the speakers in a corner? That'll make the low end bloom, resonant frequencies etc. Might explain why it's different from one room to another

No, in the middle of a large room; a warehouse, actually.

 

[bdplaid]

The E and A string sounded killer - deep and tight. the D and g had no low end.

 

[Derek Kay]

The bass already has a reverse P so the obvious solution is not the PU orientation, unless they're at the wrong heights. What difference does the bridge J PU make on or off?

I have a similar problem with G string on my reverse P, using 45-60-80-105. It sounds OK from the 5th fret upwards. It's probably asking too much for all 4 strings of different tunings to sound similar over the same scale length, and more difficult still for 5/6 strings. Fanned frets tries to address that.

I have found that lighter strings can have bigger oscillations, probably because the string tension is lower. It's counter intuitive.

Since the D & G strings are both affected, swopping the two coils with each other might also make a difference.

 

[Derek Kay]

Further thought

Is the bridge J PU a humbucker, or single coil?

If the latter I would suspect phase cancellation with the D & G coil of the P.

 

[Grooveline]

Not a string suggestion but i've found that compression fattens up the D and G strings very nicely.

 

[maturanesa]

Go heavier and play more near the neck, roll off the tone knob a bit