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My bass sounds dead, all the time.

Dave Kulik

Dave Kulik

Aug 16, 2020
11
75
#1
Quick question, I have a 90's P bass. No matter what strings, pickups and pots I put in this thing it just sounds "dull". For pickups I have put in Duncan SPB 3 (current), spb4, dimarzio model p, emg p, emg px, geezer p. And they all sound like poop. I put all those pickups in other basses and sound amazing. I have also used 250k and 500k pots in any combination. 25k for the active. I have also tried nickel, SS, coated, cobalt and kryptonite lol. It has a maple jazz neck, hipshot tuners and a gotoh bridge. Can a bass body just create a constant dead, no treble bass tone?
 
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#4
I had bass like that before and have worked on basses like that as a tech. It is unusual, but it does happen. For some reason the neck and the body just don't get along. You can actually look at the string carefully along the middle of its length while the string is vibrating and it will have an odd wobble to it. These basses are usually difficult to achieve anything close to low action as well without buzzing. The advice above is probably a good idea. Put some very traditional flat wound's on it and let it be what it is; a muted tone. Still very useful when played in the right context.
 
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#7
Dave Kulik said:
Quick question, I have a 90's P bass. No matter what strings, pickups and pots I put in this thing it just sounds "dull". For pickups I have put in Duncan SPB 3 (current), spb4, dimarzio model p, emg p, emg px, geezer p. And they all sound like poop. I put all those pickups in other basses and sound amazing. I have also used 250k and 500k pots in any combination. 25k for the active. I have also tried nickel, SS, coated, cobalt and kryptonite lol. It has a maple jazz neck, hipshot tuners and a gotoh bridge. Can a bass body just create a constant dead, no treble bass tone?
Click to expand...

How does it sound acoustically / unplugged? Before I'd go throwing good money after bad, I'd pass it off to a decent tech for a looksey. Could be we're overlooking something.

Riis
 
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#8
Zooberwerx said:
How does it sound acoustically / unplugged? Before I'd go throwing good money after bad, I'd pass it off to a decent tech for a looksey. Could be we're overlooking something.

Riis
Click to expand...
Unplugged it's loud and very resonant. I might just do that or just buy an unfinished ash body. I don't know. These quarter pounders should be bright and punchy. Yet everything I throw in it sounds like a jamerson bass with flats and foam under the bridge.
 
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#13
Dave Kulik said:
Unplugged it's loud and very resonant. I might just do that or just buy an unfinished ash body. I don't know. These quarter pounders should be bright and punchy. Yet everything I throw in it sounds like a jamerson bass with flats and foam under the bridge.
Click to expand...
What amp/cab are you using and how do you EQ it?
Is it dull by itself, or in the mix (with other instruments)?
Only pair of Qpounders P+J that I ever tried where mud city. They sounded so bad that I called the guy who selled them and begged him to take them back. He was cool and gave me my money back.
 
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#15
It could be either your pickup is too far away from the strings, generating a relatively weak signal, or it's far too close - causing magnetic pull on the strings and dampening its response.

It could also be that the bass is wired out of phase. In the 90s I remember a lot of Fender P-Basses set up very poorly. I also remember a lot of loose screws on the bridges or even loose bolts on the neck.

Tighten all that up and see what happens.
 
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#18
Maybe you play politely ?
My Ray34 sounds so much better when I dig in a little more.
Some basses / pups respond better to the dig and a little more aggressive playing.
The Ray 34 sounds better and comes alive in the bottom and top when I groove hard.
My SX PJ is the same but my other basses are good with a less aggressive approach.
 
#19
frankie5string said:
It could also be that the bass is wired out of phase.
Click to expand...

It's not possible to wire a single pickup instrument out of phase. Well, unless you wire the two coils of a dual-coil out of phase with one another. But a single P pickup only uses one coil per string, and therefore there's nothing else to be out of phase with.

If you did wire the two halves of a P pickup out of phase, the strings would still sound normal, but the hum-cancelling would be negated.
 
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