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My bass sounds dead, all the time.

#61
Stop throwing good money after bad and just get a different bass. Or, if you wanna give it another shot, have a pro tech look at it. Could be some weird capacitance in the wiring and/or soldering that's bleeding out treble frequencies, maybe?
 
#70
I wouldn't totally rule out mummy curse. The 90s were a weird time period.
B9E87928-3332-496E-A319-8E3FA7FB9208.jpeg
 
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#71
I didn't read all the replies...but, sometimes what you describe "just happens". I still don't know what causes it, but it can even happen when you order a custom built bass. Quality components, woods, strings...sometimes when "certain" attributes come together they clash, rather than provide nirvana.
Your post indicates that you have tried work arounds galore...time to move on. I did.
 
#72
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...

If it's loud, bright and resonant unplugged, there's something wrong with the wiring.
 
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#73
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...

Bright and punchy quarter pounders are not. They are dark and scooped. You might try sourcing a plain old split coil from another fender or something they manufacture as an upgrade.

The other thing I am thinking is that something is up with your string setup, like how the strings are seated on the bridge and/or nut.
 
#75
Does it have shielding paint? Is jack touching this shielding? You will get greatly reduced highs. Take it to a tech looking for this diagnosis. Something else could be causing this grounding which will draw of the highs.

This is not a theory. I had this experience. With that now not touching, the bass opened up and became amazing.
 
#77
Comment that some trees just don't want to be guitars is not original.
I worked in an enormous music store with two full time luthiers who each had 20+ years in guitar repair. These guys were the gurus of tone, master of wood and steel. There truly was not much they could not do, and when one failed, he would pass it on to the other, for collective opinion/wisdom.
They both swore that there were guitars built- Very expensive ones, that could not be made to sound good. Their owners would spend thousands on pickup and hardware swaps, fret work, anything to get them to sound good.
I'm not talking the subjective good- chasing a tone.
I'm talking- Could not be made to sound like a quality electric guitar. Period.
Sometimes it took a year of experimentation before they would concede-
Sometimes a tree just doesn't want to be a guitar.
 
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