Getting a richer sound from my bass

[selberg]

Hi,

I have a carvin 4 string fretless bass. I'm in love the feel of this bass but I'm not wild about the tone on the D and G strings. They sound 'electronicky' to my ears - more like a bass synthesizer rather than a bass. The sound I would love is a dark round sound with a lot of punch in the articulation of the note. I've only learned finger style at the moment.

I know there are a million things to try and I've only been playing bass for a year so I'm not sure what directions are more likely to produce fruit, so I thought I would ask for some advice on which things are more likely to get me to my goal.

Here's the full setup on the bass:

Carvin Fretless 4-string (ebony fingerboard)
GHS stainless steel flatwound strings
Carvin J99 single coil neck pickup
Carvin HP Alcino-5 switchable Humbucking/Single pickup
Piezo pickup in the bridge
I can go passive, or active with knobs for treble/mid/bass

Any suggestions?

 

[spiritbass]

Your pickup(s) may be too close the the strings on that side.

 

[grendle]

action might be too low on those strings as well.

 

[mikeswals]

I had a Carvin LB70 fretless, loved playing it. But I never liked using flats on any fretless I owned.

 

[selberg]

Thanks for the advice!