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Ibanez basses naturally mellower? HELP

T

Travis_Bass

Jul 8, 2010
90
0
#1
Hey. Ive run into a problem with my rig; I don't like how mellow my tone is. I suspect after a lot of fiddling around, trying different guitars, that my Ibanez SR bass is very mellow and bassy, not tight and high as I'd like.

Comparing my Ibby to say a Jazz or a Stingray, or even a Wal, they stand out more in a mix than an Ibanez, In my experience. I thought this whole time my Ampeg amp was the problem, but I looked up demos of ibanez bases (and EMG HZ pickups) and they all sound very mellow. This isnt a bad thing, just not the flavour I want.

Question is... Am I just hearing things?

Because I have my amp on for sale, and I kind of think my bass is the weakest link in the chain of my dream cutting tone.
 
#3
Which Ibanez SR bass? If its one of the older ones with PJ pups, then pup replacemnt would help a lot imo. Have you tried adjusting the pups if its one of the ones with soapbar pups? Tried adjusting the active preamp? Got new strings on it? Something besides flats? m(mellow and flats is well, to be expected imo). Are they emg select pups, rather then the newer generations of their hz's? If so then again pup replacement to include concidering the newer emg hz's not selects, is worth a shot. Personally I like the stock pups on the Ibanez sr300 series better then then ones on most of their other basses. More aggressive tone capable, better crunch.
 
#5
Its the newer SRA500. I think it might be the pickups, but all in all, Ive never been 100% satisfied with this bass. Just not what Im looking for. I mean, I can get a nice growl tone, but I have to fiddle with the amp, the preamp on my bass and even then, it doesn't sound natural, it sounds cheap and thin. I want a killer Jazz / EBMM / Wal / Sadowsky type of tone. I use EB strings, and the tone sounds AMAZING for the first 2 weeks. But after that, mud city.

Edit: I was originally interested in EMG DualCoil 35 size soaps for a replacement; REAL Active EMG pickups to see if that would help, but havent found a reason to upgrade a bass I don't absolutely love.
 
#9
Travis_Bass said:
I use the brighest strings known to man kind :P And I usually run with mids cranked, but it never has enough high mids to sound crisp.
Click to expand...

what amp are you running through?

EDIT just saw you mentioned EMG HZ, most people say they sound muddy in general, real EMGs will solve your problem.

I have also found that EB strings are not bright at all, out of the box they sound broken in. Especially compared to d'addario pro steels, or nickels, and they lose their brightness very fast.
 
#11
Sounds like you really want a Jazz bass. I find my old SR with variable mid to be naturally happiest/flexible across the lows to upper mid spectrum, but only jazz-bright with new rounds. So I got a jazz too.
 
#12
I have a 2010 Ibanez SR 500 as well as a 94' and a 95' Ibanez SR 500. The 2010 has much louder pickups than the 94' and 95' but the 2010 is pretty comparable to my Sterling 4 H and Stingray Classic Music Man basses. My Music Man Bongo basses on the other hand are completely other monsters that can push some serious volume. If your bass is still under warranty, get it checked out.
 
#13
IMO the problem = EMG-HZ pickups. All my previous basses that had those pickups sounded like crap: thin, low output, and lacked a good articulated bottom end (the tone was mostly high mids).

You should have bought a SR500 instead - that is a beast of a bass, with thick meaty lows and a growly tone! ;)
 

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