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Keep or ditch? Ibanez SoundGear Content

@war

@war

Feb 29, 2008
112
4
42
Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Disclosures
Endorsing Artist: Cort basses and Hartke Amps
#1
Hi guys
I just got an Ibanez SR705 without having the chance to try it out - got it at a steal. I love the way it feels, but am really unhappy with the tone. It has the Bartolini MK1 pickups and original preamp but sounds seriously harsh and brittle. I can't seem to make it sound good. I have played many other basses with these pickups and have enjoyed the tone from some of them.

So my question is, is it worth trying to change the preamp to make it sound better, or do I just ditch the bass completely? If it is worth it, what preamp would be a good option baring cost in mind?

Many thanks
 
#2
Yes. Ditch the preamp first, find something better and go with that. If you still don't like it go with different pickups.

There are lots of choices that will really breathe life into that bass, just look around on some searches and there is a lot of info there.

The stock preamp is the weak link on the sr basses, I have a 505 I love, but the stock sound was lifeless and dull. I loved the bass until I plugged it in. I could get a reasonable P bass sound if I tweaked with the controls enough, but it was still one dimensional and lacked character.

New electronics will fix that. Trust me.
 
#7
David A. Davis said:
Just curious, how much of a gap is there between the pickups and the strings?
Click to expand...
Not a big gap. Those things are all taken care of... I have a fair amount of experience in this department... Mostly asking for help on this particular bass as I'm surprised at how poor it sounds for the supposed quality
 
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#8
@war said:
Not a big gap. Those things are all taken care of... I have a fair amount of experience in this department... Mostly asking for help on this particular bass as I'm surprised at how poor it sounds for the supposed quality
Click to expand...

I am surprised too. I know there are people who hate Barts (I love them) but I can't imagine a "seriously harsh and brittle" complaint. If you had said they sounded "sterile and lifeless" I'd say, yeah sometimes people say that about Barts. But in your case I'd really look at the preamp. Maybe do a quick test wiring a pickup directly to the jack to see what it sounds like with no active electronics. I'm guessing your getting it for a song is somehow related to the problems it has. Given the overall quality of the bass ditching it probably isn't cost-effective unless you really freak out at the idea of preamp/pickup changes and mods.
 
#9
I can understand the brittle and harsh complaint if you run a sound with an edge to it, especially if you run a horn.

The treble setting just seems to be out of the "warm" freqs, and seems to give it a scooped sound anytime I turn it up. I would run my eq pretty flat with just a bump in the midrange for clarity, and I could just never come to terms with the treble control. That was my main complaint with the preamp as well. The mids and bass were based around eq points I could work with, but the treble was what I had issues with.
 
#11
I'm having a similar dilemma with my SR805. Did lots of research, found that lots of people got good results from keeping the pickups and changing the pre.

I was leaning this way heavily until i bumped into a local guy who's SR605 sounded great, no harshness. When i asked him about it, he told me all he did was add a simple LPF - a simple RC circuit soldered directly to the jack. He wouldn't tell me what frequency though .......

I'm going to try this before changing the pre. I may have to experiment until i get the frequency right but for a few bucks in parts, what have i got to lose?
 

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