My Fender Sting Bass is Distorted

[bassplayermike1]

First, let me admit that I have 12 different basses, so I don't get to play them all on a regular basis. I played my Fender Sting bass the other day and don't remember that it sounded so distorted. I took it to my local repair guy and he just said that it was normal. I don't remember it sounding that way. So I bought a Seymour Duncan Antiquity replacement pickup. That sounded better, but still distorted. This is one of the simplest electrical arrangements on a bass. Can anybody suggest a solution, or is this just something I have to learn to live with?

 

[dwizum]

How's the pickup height? Too high will make a pickup sound distorted.

Also, I would check all of the solder joints. A kinda-bad solder joint can cause a signal to break up and sound distored.

 

[johnh89]

The volume knob works both ways .