IEMs & strings

[Tim Skaggs]

Last night (5/17/25) I played a gig with my PBass which has an EMG Geezer Butler pickup and for the first time since I started using IEMs (about 3 years ago) I had TI Jazz Flat strings on the bass. I put the TIJFs on the bass this past week, but only played it through an amp in my shop during setup tweaking.

I have used EB Cobalt flats on the bass most recently, but I’ve had TI Jazz flats & sometimes D’Adderio Chromes on the bass for long periods of time in the past, however, that was before I started using IEMs.

The difference I discovered from just the previous week when I played a gig using EB Cobalt flats on the bass is that I do not like the tone of the bass through my IEMs with the TIJF strings. The strings sounded “twangy” like a rubber band stretched through open air

I found a little info on the topic of “changes” made after beginning use of IEMs but it wasn’t very specific to strings.

Anyone else run into the issue of strings sounding good with the bass run through an amp and sounding like rubber bands when heard through IEMs??

Thread 'Wireless IEMs and tone - Did going to wireless IEMs have you change anything else?'

Apr 30, 2019

Recently I converted to a Mipro 909 IEM wireless system primarily for practice. FWIW know that my wireless experience is limited to the Mipro.

In using the Mipro for the past few weeks (IMHO great solution BTW), I've noticed that I'm more clearly able to hear my tone/sound than I can even through my FRFR (flat response full range) amp/cab. I'm finding that some basses sound defined, clear and crisp, others have more mud and are less distinct on the note attack and sound envelope. Differences in strings (nickel or stainless) are very easy to hear - even differences in brands of flats...

• jharms80439
• bass basses frfr mipro mud strings tone wireless wireless iem
• Replies: 6
• Forum: Amps and Cabs [BG]

 

[ardgedee]

Not IEMs, but I usually practice through a DAW and high-quality stereo headphones and I've noticed that pretty nearly all strings sound more pingy and twangy through that than through a bass amp, the only exceptions being some extremely dead strings on one bass. I think it's partly because of the higher resolution, partly because the phones are aimed directly at my ears rather than my ankles or torso, and partly because my DAW isn't usually tweaked to sound like a bass amp, the signal stays pretty clean aside from some manual EQ and hi-pass.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

pretty nearly all strings sound more pingy and twangy through that than through a bass amp

I don’t disagree with the above in general, but in my IEMs, EB Cobalt Flats & Chromes sound like a thick upright bass on my PBass in comparison to the Thomastik Infeld Jazz Flats on the same bass. The TIJFs on the bass sound more like a bass sitar in my IEMs than a bass guitar.

I did notice that the lighter I played / plucked the strings, the better & less sitar-like it sounded. Playing with a pick was totally out of the question…

 

[Geri O]

For the last 15 or so years, all the work I’ve done on tone adjustments on my basses has been with my IEMs. To my ears, they give me the tone I want to hear live and on records. Then when I’m settled with that, I try to reproduce that tone on the amp. And I believe I can get reasonably close.

I don’t mind things being a bit twangy on my bass because I know that once the mix kicks in, the twang will be somewhat masked, but still enough to “cut through the mix” or "sit in the mix", as it were.

 

[ardgedee]

The TIJFs on the bass sound more like a bass sitar in my IEMs than a bass guitar.

Funny you mention that because I recently put TIJF on a fretless and, well, plenty of mwah. They replaced Chromes which had almost as much mwah but also an irritating ping when plucked with bare fingers. I play with a fairly light touch so between the two sets of strings I haven't really had to change how I play.

The Chromes might've sounded more upright-bass-ish on this bass (especially since the instrument seems to have a built-in dip in the midrange for that purpose) but that wasn't a tone I was going for. I've seen other people comment that Jazz Flats have pretty strong mids.

 

[GIBrat51]

Last night (5/17/25) I played a gig with my PBass which has an EMG Geezer Butler pickup and for the first time since I started using IEMs (about 3 years ago) I had TI Jazz Flat strings on the bass. I put the TIJFs on the bass this past week, but only played it through an amp in my shop during setup tweaking.

I have used EB Cobalt flats on the bass most recently, but I’ve had TI Jazz flats & sometimes D’Adderio Chromes on the bass for long periods of time in the past, however, that was before I started using IEMs.

The difference I discovered from just the previous week when I played a gig using EB Cobalt flats on the bass is that I do not like the tone of the bass through my IEMs with the TIJF strings. The strings sounded “twangy” like a rubber band stretched through open air

I found a little info on the topic of “changes” made after beginning use of IEMs but it wasn’t very specific to strings.

Anyone else run into the issue of strings sounding good with the bass run through an amp and sounding like rubber bands when heard through IEMs??

Thread 'Wireless IEMs and tone - Did going to wireless IEMs have you change anything else?'

Apr 30, 2019

Recently I converted to a Mipro 909 IEM wireless system primarily for practice. FWIW know that my wireless experience is limited to the Mipro.

In using the Mipro for the past few weeks (IMHO great solution BTW), I've noticed that I'm more clearly able to hear my tone/sound than I can even through my FRFR (flat response full range) amp/cab. I'm finding that some basses sound defined, clear and crisp, others have more mud and are less distinct on the note attack and sound envelope. Differences in strings (nickel or stainless) are very easy to hear - even differences in brands of flats...

• jharms80439
• bass basses frfr mipro mud strings tone wireless wireless iem
• Replies: 6
• Forum: Amps and Cabs [BG]

Well...
I don't know squat about IEMs, but... I do know that TI Jazz Flats are going to sound pretty skanky until they're broken in. And, I also know that it's going to take a Hell of a lot longer than a day or two to break them in, and sound like they should. Depending on how much you play them per day? It can take a couple of months to break them in... It did for the set on my Alembic Epic - a bass I don't play every day. I Think I'd make sure they were broken in, before I passed judgement on them...

 

[Tim Skaggs]

Well...
I don't know squat about IEMs, but... I do know that TI Jazz Flats are going to sound pretty skanky until they're broken in. And, I also know that it's going to take a Hell of a lot longer than a day or two to break them in, and sound like they should. Depending on how much you play them per day? It can take a couple of months to break them in... It did for the set on my Alembic Epic - a bass I don't play every day. I Think I'd make sure they were broken in, before I passed judgement on them...

They are about 4 years old, just moved them back to the Pbass before the gig this week. They sound great through a couple different amp / cabinets, but not through IEMs.

 

[GIBrat51]

They are about 4 years old, just moved them back to the Pbass before the gig this week. They sound great through a couple different amp / cabinets, but not through IEMs.

Well, then I guess they really don't work...

 

[-Asdfgh-]

Not IEMs, but I usually practice through a DAW and high-quality stereo headphones and I've noticed that pretty nearly all strings sound more pingy and twangy through that than through a bass amp, the only exceptions being some extremely dead strings on one bass. I think it's partly because of the higher resolution, partly because the phones are aimed directly at my ears rather than my ankles or torso, and partly because my DAW isn't usually tweaked to sound like a bass amp, the signal stays pretty clean aside from some manual EQ and hi-pass.

Ditto. I can be underwhelmed by time I am getting, plug into my amp and cab and realise it's all fine. I wish I could get plug ins to sound better. I have Guitar Rig and find iteration 4 to be my go to fir guitar with Vox or Orange amps but the included bass amp model is so-so. I find results that sound better for bass with IK Multimedia products. But my amp and cabs still do a better job.

As to the OP: at what point in the chain is the signal going to the IEM? If it's a pre-EQ signal to the board then to IEM, maybe that's the issue? Is there any scope for getting the IEM signal sent through an amp sim pedal, even if not to FOH?

 

[Artman]

What you are hearing in your IEMs is the pure, unfiltered sound of the bass with those strings on it.
Depending upon your foh system and sound tech, that might be closer to what hits the audience in a live mix.

Your amp/cab colors the sound in a way that masks those overtones.

 

[sunbeast]

I don’t disagree with the above in general, but in my IEMs, EB Cobalt Flats & Chromes sound like a thick upright bass on my PBass in comparison to the Thomastik Infeld Jazz Flats on the same bass. The TIJFs on the bass sound more like a bass sitar in my IEMs than a bass guitar.

I did notice that the lighter I played / plucked the strings, the better & less sitar-like it sounded. Playing with a pick was totally out of the question…

I had a similar realization when I started recording a record several years ago with my band at the time. We were self-recording, so I was able to go into our rehearsal space and record my parts at my leisure. I had a set of TIs on that bass that were a few years old and sounded great through my rig (Mesa Prodigy tube head through Berg NV610), but if I monitored any of the direct signal through phones it sounded terrible unless I played very lightly (which made it quite difficult to get into "the zone" for good takes). I ended up swapping the strings out for some Sadowsky Black Label flats (I had been bouncing back and forth between them and the TIs anyway) and never looked back as those strings sounded great to me both through the amp and through phones.

TI flats seem to me to really be designed for higher action than a lot of us are used to on electric basses- since that recording I have experimented with them on several basses and found that due to their low tension I can raise the action up quite a bit and they are still quite easy to play and still remain quite expressive but take on a different tonal character that is much thicker/warmer. I actually like the more aggressive character using them with lower action, but it requires a lot more work to not overdo it and fret them out (though on a fretless they can work great with ow action!). Might be worth a try for you to experiment with raising the action.

 

[chiphaleonbass]

What you are hearing in your IEMs is the pure, unfiltered sound of the bass with those strings on it.
Depending upon your foh system and sound tech, that might be closer to what hits the audience in a live mix.

Your amp/cab colors the sound in a way that masks those overtones.

This^ I’ve been struggling with this in my band for a while where I was running an ampless rig but missed the filtering and saturation of an amp in my ears. Finally decided to run a clean DI and amp sound for ears and FOH so I was able to blend them to taste and now I’m very happy with how my IEMs are sounding; and our FOH engineer is stoked to have options

 

[el murdoque]

1. When using IEM, I use either an analog cab sim (Sansamp/Origin Bassrig) or I roll my own with a HPF/LPF. This will take care of the high frequency content that I do not wish to be represented through my IEMs.
2. A fresh pair of TI strings sound like that, at least to my ear. I needed about four weeks of daily playing to get them to settle down a little, where they started bringing out the midrange in a positive way.

 

[Element Zero]

In my experience, it’s an EQ issue. Not a string issue.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

Ditto. I can be underwhelmed by time I am getting, plug into my amp and cab and realise it's all fine. I wish I could get plug ins to sound better. I have Guitar Rig and find iteration 4 to be my go to fir guitar with Vox or Orange amps but the included bass amp model is so-so. I find results that sound better for bass with IK Multimedia products. But my amp and cabs still do a better job.

As to the OP: at what point in the chain is the signal going to the IEM? If it's a pre-EQ signal to the board then to IEM, maybe that's the issue? Is there any scope for getting the IEM signal sent through an amp sim pedal, even if not to FOH?

The signal chain is pre EQ out of the DI of my amp (Markbass Little Mark 250 or GK MB500) into the channel of the mixer, and then a send from that channel (and other channels) to the aux out of the mixer that feeds the transmitter to my belt clip receiver / earbud amp. The EQ of the mixer channel does not affect the send to the aux out to my IEMs.

I can send a post EQ signal from my amp DI to the mixer channel that improves the tone of the bass in the IEMs to some degree, but it does not eliminate the sitar-like sound of the TIs in my IEMs. The only thing I’ve found that eliminates that is to pluck the strings very, very lightly or put on different strings.

I’m investigating if there is an EQ of the signal coming out of the aux send of the mixer to my IEMs. If there is and it doesn’t affect FOH, I might be able to hyper EQ the signal enough to make it acceptable. Mixer is a Behringer XR-18.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

The signal chain is pre EQ out of the DI of my amp (Markbass Little Mark 250 or GK MB500) into the channel of the mixer, and then a send from that channel (and other channels) to the aux out of the mixer that feeds the transmitter to my belt clip receiver / earbud amp. The EQ of the mixer channel does not affect the send to the aux out to my IEMs.

I can send a post EQ signal from my amp DI to the mixer channel that improves the tone of the bass in the IEMs to some degree, but it does not eliminate the sitar-like sound of the TIs in my IEMs. The only thing I’ve found that eliminates that is to pluck the strings very, very lightly or put on different strings.

I’m investigating if there is an EQ of the signal coming out of the aux send of the mixer to my IEMs. If there is and it doesn’t affect FOH, I might be able to hyper EQ the signal enough to make it acceptable. Mixer is a Behringer XR-18.

I don't use IEMs, but I'm definitely not a fan of the sound of any of my basses without them going through an amp or some sort of simulation. Can you use an IR pedal on stage and send a second feed that doesn't go to FOH but is your IEM feed? You might need a DI box too.

 

[NotColinGrigson]

It all depends on where you’re taking the feed for your iems from.
Straight from the bass will sound as you describe, but post eq on the amp will duplicate the sound you’re getting from that.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

I don't use IEMs, but I'm definitely not a fan of the sound of any of my basses without them going through an amp or some sort of simulation. Can you use an IR pedal on stage and send a second feed that doesn't go to FOH but is your IEM feed? You might need a DI box too.

A second feed would have to go to a second channel. There are no inputs on the mixer other than channels. All other connections on the mixer are the six aux outputs & the L/R main outputs.

Your suggestion has me thinking outside the box. I have a Fishman platinum EQ with an XLR out, 1/4 out that is varied with the onboard EQ, and a tuner out that is pre EQ. I could set it near my amp and send the tuner out to my amp input and send the regular EQ affected output to a second channel in the mixer. The second channel will be the source of my bass to my aux out channel. I think it will work.

 

[sunbeast]

A second feed would have to go to a second channel. There are no inputs on the mixer other than channels. All other connections on the mixer are the six aux outputs & the L/R main outputs.

Your suggestion has me thinking outside the box. I have a Fishman platinum EQ with an XLR out, 1/4 out that is varied with the onboard EQ, and a tuner out that is pre EQ. I could set it near my amp and send the tuner out to my amp input and send the regular EQ affected output to a second channel in the mixer. The second channel will be the source of my bass to my aux out channel. I think it will work.

What do you prefer about the TIs vs the Cobalts or Chromes? My thought is that if they don't sound great to you in your IEMs, then there is a chance that sound is also making it to the FOH. It makes sense to me to find a good fundamental tone that you can send FOH to work with rather than hoping they fix the potential bass-sitar sound (if it sounds good in your IEMS then they should be able to make that same signal sound good through a PA, if not then they may be struggling with it the same way you are).

I've personally been spending a lot more time monitoring/recording my DI'd sound over the last few years rather than just my amp sound (I never use IEMs, so my stage amp/cab has always colored my perception of what I sound like to the crowd even though my stage amp/cab- and most MI amp/cabs- are anything but neutral-sounding) so I can tweak my setup, playing, and/or rig settings to get the best sounding signal to the FOH that I can. For me tends to make my stage amp sound darker than I would normally set it, but I've been getting great feedback about the FOH tone so its worth it (it also makes it much easier to get a great sound in the studio when I am recording through phones).

 

[Tim Skaggs]

What do you prefer about the TIs vs the Cobalts or Chromes? My thought is that if they don't sound great to you in your IEMs, then there is a chance that sound is also making it to the FOH. It makes sense to me to find a good fundamental tone that you can send FOH to work with rather than hoping they fix the potential bass-sitar sound (if it sounds good in your IEMS then they should be able to make that same signal sound good through a PA, if not then they may be struggling with it the same way you are).

I've personally been spending a lot more time monitoring/recording my DI'd sound over the last few years rather than just my amp sound (I never use IEMs, so my stage amp/cab has always colored my perception of what I sound like to the crowd even though my stage amp/cab- and most MI amp/cabs- are anything but neutral-sounding) so I can tweak my setup, playing, and/or rig settings to get the best sounding signal to the FOH that I can. For me tends to make my stage amp sound darker than I would normally set it, but I've been getting great feedback about the FOH tone so its worth it (it also makes it much easier to get a great sound in the studio when I am recording through phones).

The TIs have a playability better than Chromes or EBCFs, at least on my PBass. They also have a unique midrange that cuts well through an amp and front of house without requiring obnoxious volume. That unique midrange is probably what creates their strange twang in my IEMs.

Before I started using IEMs, the TIs were one of my favorite strings on my PBass, but not so much on any other bass I own, although they sound pretty good on a Peavey Foundation S that has a split coil pickup. I think that’s all about the PBass split single coil pickup tonal characteristics.

I currently have Ernie Ball Cobalt flats back on my PBass for the solution, but I’ll experiment with the TIs again during the next longer gap between gigs.