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How Can I Upgrade My Ibanez?
- Thread starter MycooLeeyun
- Start date
Let me get right on that!Upgrade the entirely bass to a Fodera or Alembic
Dingwalls are ugly to me
SR 1346b, great bass. I had the opportunity to upgrade to a high end, hand made bass.
JeezyMcNuggles
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- Feb 23, 2018
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I have no clue what that bass sounds like, but I'm gonna make a guess and say it's honky and twangy, right? You want smooth?
JeezyMcNuggles
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- Feb 23, 2018
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You can't mess it up. You just play with the heights until you're happy. But, the lower the pickups are, the less output but more sustain to the notes and a warmer tone. Up close gets you higher output, less sustain, and a brighter sound.
Your video sounds pretty good. Do the tone controls not respond at all? If they do, try lowering the bass a tad. I think lowering the P pickup will be beneficial. EMG will be a good upgrade. Try to get the Alnico plus X pre-amp
Invalid Link Removed and possibly this EQ Invalid Link Removed - That will drop right in to what you have.
Invalid Link Removed and possibly this EQ Invalid Link Removed - That will drop right in to what you have.
That's partly just the nature of split-coil P-bass pickups. The D/G coil, being closer to the bridge, is going to sound a little thinner than the E/A coil. Not a lot, but noticeably. So if you do get around to replacing pickups rather than (or in addition to) the other good suggestions in this thread, you might want to look into a P pickup that is somewhat overwound and has more heft in the mids and less airy highs, like a Dimarzio Model P or Fender PV 63. Which may or may not help depending on your exact concerns, but is worth considering.
Other than the strings, The preamp was always the weakest link in medium priced Ibanez basses. So I would swap those. I swapped mine on a SR 1200 VNF to an Aguilar, but nearly every quality preamp from Bartolini, Nordstrand, Aguilar and Darkglass works. See what flavor you like best from several videos and get the one that you find most appealing
Unless it was updated after those first two comments, the OP says:
"However, while the lows sound pretty good, the mids and highs don't sound great to me.".
If 2/3rds of the sound ain't right and the strings aren't past it, then the finger is pointing at the pre-amp.
However, other considerations are:
- Depending on the amp rig, there could be some latitude for tweaking the controls there.
- How it sits with the rest of the band; it might be worth taking a wander out-front and seeing what the end product is like.
- How is the speaker positioned? If it's a 2x12 sat on the floor then what reaches your ears may not be what's really there.
- Are you playing through effects pedals - some of those can impact the sound even when "off".
D
Personally I have always felt that the preamps are usually the weak link in Ibanez basses. With this specific bass I also think the tone might benefit from a pickup upgrade.
With a PJ configuration like this I would probably just get a nice set of PJ pickups and wire them passive (volume, volume, tone). This knobs would be in usual positions for a PJ and there will be one hole that needs to be plugged somehow but I think I could live with that to get a better tone. But if you want active there are lots of options for this as well of course.
Just make sure the stock pickups are exactly the same dimensions as standard P and J(bridge) pickups. I've seen some Ibanez basses that used P/J pickups with SLIGHTLY different dimensions and needed routing (or VERY careful chiselling) of the pickup cavities to install standard P/J pickups.
With a PJ configuration like this I would probably just get a nice set of PJ pickups and wire them passive (volume, volume, tone). This knobs would be in usual positions for a PJ and there will be one hole that needs to be plugged somehow but I think I could live with that to get a better tone. But if you want active there are lots of options for this as well of course.
Just make sure the stock pickups are exactly the same dimensions as standard P and J(bridge) pickups. I've seen some Ibanez basses that used P/J pickups with SLIGHTLY different dimensions and needed routing (or VERY careful chiselling) of the pickup cavities to install standard P/J pickups.
I actually had your bass in mind when selecting the platform and features. Normally, I don't like stacked knobs but you already have 2 pair so what-the-hey? The dual-channel stereo mixer (...one for each pick-up) and low & high mids should put you over the top. It appears you currently have stacked mids & treble / bass and I'm somewhat dismayed you can't dial-in the desired character. Then again, the stock preamps are strange agents.
Riis
For a bass where we are solving for missing mids? I think this is a step backwards given the goal.
Cool song! It doesn’t sound bad at all but reminds me of other 2 pickup basses with both pickups balanced/wide open, like a jazz. Before doing surgery have you tried favoring one pickup or the other in terms of volume? Balancing them sounds pretty but often costs you some mids.
Smooth_bass88
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really can't argue with this. would probably work perfectly in that bass
You're on TB. Obviously the answer is a vintage Fender P Bass with tort. Iunno though in all seriousness maybe a different set of pickups that deliver on the lows but have clearer stronger highs
Well, I’ll say this- I constantly advocate for Ibanez when people are asking about a great cheap bass, specifically because I think their PJ pickup position and the pickups themselves on the cheap GSR line are absolutely fantastic and sound as good as any other bass I have.
looking into it, it seems these AFR are ceramic magnets.. now a lot of types of pick ups can sound a lot of different ways, but I haven’t run into too many ceramic pickups I liked the sound of.
so long story short I think you could easily get a fantastic sounding bass with even a modest pickup upgrade. As much as people love SD stuff, that’s a good start, or if you’re trying to blow a little more cash you could throw some nordstrands in it, which to me are about the best sounding PJ you were going to get without stepping into that super expensive tier above that.
edit- I will add a couple things …. First off, it is great advice to slap on some new strings, and adjust your set up if you haven’t… I find that my action is a huge influence on my tone, and a little less so is the pickup height itself..
play with those things and see the kind of range of tones you can get out of your electronics.
I will also add that Nordstrand is great for a modern vintage kinda sound.. which essentially means fat old school tone but with a little aggression and better clarity up top.
if you want more of that muted rounded dark chewy tone, Bartolini is the ticket, but I DO find they are best implemented with a Bart preamp as well. Not that the pickups sound bad by themselves or anything, it’s just sort of a well developed tonal ecosystem with them paired together.
as others said, there are a huge swath of options at various price points that will all sound great if you find that your current electronics are indeed not doing it for you.. it may simply be that you don’t care for the way the upper end sounds with ceramics
extra edit: I think most, if not all Bartolini’s are ceramic, but his engineering and taste are such that the high-end has this nice rounded dark-but-not-muddy sound, which is pretty starkly different from the Generalized “harsh“ top end, you will often see attributed to ceramic pickups.
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