If round wounds don't get you there (they probably will), you (or someone qualified to do this) can rewire the current pickup to a parallel configuration - it's a bit tricky for a newbie, but someone familiar with working on basses can do it. If that (with round wounds) doesn't do it, you're deaf.
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How to get more treble from the Pbass..
- Thread starter FishDub
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- how precision bass treble
Yeah. It never occurred to me that lighter gauge flats actually had more punch and volume due to their greater excursion when you play them. And thanks to whoever it was here that put that in a post once. Because that’s what got me to try it.
And finding a good sounding but relatively inexpensive flat like GHS makes was a real plus. Much as I like TIs (which I also use) I could still do without their hefty price tag. I’m big on GHS Precision Flats these days.
Wow lots of good stuff thanks guys! I am wondering if the recommended outboard pre option may do it, and possibly keeping the Labella flats on it and see what happens..Heard good things about the Aguilar as well..
Agree with the Pressurewounds recommendation - I'm a flats guy but when I needed more high-end punch that helped. Took them a while to settle in though. Other thing that I did on one of my P Basses is to install a Tonestyler Invalid Link Removed. Gave it a much broader tonal range of options to choose from, Was able to go back to flats (I used Pyramids).
Several suggestions for higher value pots. Something that doesn't seem to be discussed when this is suggested: Higher value pots do make the instrument brighter, but only when the volume control is at full. If you turn the volume control down (I do this a lot), higher value pots make the bass duller in that condition - they increase the drop in highs you get from turning down the volume control.
Pbassmanca
In the pocket n' thumpy. So woody, so greasy...
That's a nice Bass. I'm not sure if it has the same pickup as some of the other Squier models, but I have found them to have a very smooth if not muted treble response. For example the Matt Freeman Squier and it's non signature counterpart uses a .068uf capacitor which will definitely roll off more highs and the pickup used in that bass seems to be wound to have a very relaxed amount of treble. I would try checking out which kind of capacitor is in the wiring harness and put one with a lower value like a .022uf and see how that works. Ultimately you could just change the pickup to a Fender "Original Precision pickup" or a Seymour Duncan SPB-1 which in my experience have ample treble frequencies in their sound. Good luck!
He played roundwounds into guitar amps there.
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Cheap and easy- Roundwounds
Expensive- a GK bi-amped rig. 50 watts of top end kills small rodents.
Expensive- a GK bi-amped rig. 50 watts of top end kills small rodents.
You got many options to coax more treble from your P Bass. Go to 500 K pots or even 1 meg pots. Buy the lowest ohm pickup that you can find. Something around 8 to 9 K ohm. Gotoh makes a lower ohm P pickup. A bit hard to find here in the States but I got one if you are interested to buy.
You can get the Fender SP-1 pot and have an added parallel pickup option that will give you about a 5 K ohm output and a very thin bright sound.
On eBay you buy a CTS 250 K no load pot for your tone. It allows you to bypass the tone pot and it gives about a 3% to 5% increase in brightness.
TI flats are not bright!
Try D'Addario Chromes or ground round strings. Research this on Google and youtube.
You can get the Fender SP-1 pot and have an added parallel pickup option that will give you about a 5 K ohm output and a very thin bright sound.
On eBay you buy a CTS 250 K no load pot for your tone. It allows you to bypass the tone pot and it gives about a 3% to 5% increase in brightness.
TI flats are not bright!
Try D'Addario Chromes or ground round strings. Research this on Google and youtube.
Pbassmanca
In the pocket n' thumpy. So woody, so greasy...
Reading this I’m not sure if it’s about treble or (high) mids or whatever. So different advice might work, or not. It’s worth experimenting with all - if it doesn’t fix the problem, you at least learn something new...
It’s probably all been said before, but here’s what I’d do (from least to most expensive):
It’s probably all been said before, but here’s what I’d do (from least to most expensive):
- Adjust your technique - play above pickup or closer to the bridge, use different parts of your fingers, or a pick. Play lighter or harder (may need to adjust volume and/or setup to compensate).
- Mess with EQ - see if you can dial in more of what you want, or (even better) dial out more what you don’t want... while I see EQ more as a bandaid, it’s useful to learn what frequencies you’re after...
- Bass setup - I find it that action and pickup height have a tremendous influence on tone. Action influences how I play (which is point #1), and pickup height directly influences the tone. Either raising or lowering the pickup may help you, depending on what exactly you’re after. In my case, lowering worked better, despite what I read here...
- Electronics - if you’re handy with a soldering iron, this can be cheap. The simplest is to bypass controls, should give you the brightest sound. If that fixes your problem, get high value pots (or no load pots), or bypass switch. You can also try series/parallel, but you may need a loading cap to shift the resonant peak down. Which brings me to my last point, try a few different loading caps - very low values (maybe 500-2000 pF) help tune the resonant peak to where we like it most. It’s basically what the first couple positions on a tonestyler do. Example. Some basses like G&L L series (where I learned he trick) have a hardwired cap (1000pf).
- Strings - go for a brighter design... I found a happy medium between flats and rounds in Pressurewounds (compressed nickel wraps). This can get expensive (if you try several sets), but often gives best results.
- Pickups - this is about as expensive as it gets, and offers no guarantees of success. In your case, I’d try Wilde/Bill Lawrence P46 - a well regarded and clear sounding pickup that’s very reasonably priced.
Can I keep two knobs with this option, Or does this require an additional knob?
I have same bass as OP but swap stock pup with Fender PV 63pup and vintage bent bridge.
The stock pup sound brighter than 63pup, the labella LTF tame those HI mid and Hi.
If you looking for seriuos treble , stainless steel round could help a lot.
If you looking for balance hi, mid and low, stock 7250 is more than you need.
I use GHS PW L7200 currently, before that Ti JF344.
I choice PW , just because I still prefer stock 7250 tone but want smoother string surface.
The Tijf344 won't give you treble. She is mid heavy bright, but not that treble bright.
Hope help.
The stock pup sound brighter than 63pup, the labella LTF tame those HI mid and Hi.
If you looking for seriuos treble , stainless steel round could help a lot.
If you looking for balance hi, mid and low, stock 7250 is more than you need.
I use GHS PW L7200 currently, before that Ti JF344.
I choice PW , just because I still prefer stock 7250 tone but want smoother string surface.
The Tijf344 won't give you treble. She is mid heavy bright, but not that treble bright.
Hope help.
Yes you can keep two knobs. It's a factory Fender part too, so it simply replaces your existing tone circuit. There are some good threads about these out there...
Clapton, McKagen, and a few other famous guys swear by them, and I'm a huge believer. The great thing it, it won't alter your stock tone at all! It'll just give you more treble when you want it... which is a bit of a play on words for a passive instrument, so please just Google it! It's explained in detail by the experts.
Bottom line... Once installed, there now a center detent that is the factory "wide open treble" sound, when you turn past that point, the second pot in the stack and a few resistors come in and I believe they cut the bass a bit, which mimics adding treble.
You can even swap resistors and caps to get a wider array of tones... but I use the stock Clapton spec guitar ones that come with it and I love them!!!
$12 bucks and 30 min with a soldering iron.
G&L sb-2 pickups?
Pretty bright even with la Bella flats
Pretty bright even with la Bella flats
Interesting. I was going to advise him to move his right hand back and play over where the J pickup would be if there were one, and use a heavier touch. My thought was that would pull out a midrange character to add a little punch, and maybe the OP's ears would sense that as more high end.
