Need some advice getting a good sound.

[liquid sunshine]

to fix fret clank you could raise your strings, it won't take much.
to fix finger squeaking it often can be from the pickups being close to the string.
without hearing or seeing the bass it's hard to tell. if you have the option toss a video on youtube. you might get all sorts of advice. and you can always remove it if people hate on it.

 

[Noose]

two reasons...

1. behringer sucks.

2. a 410 is twice as loud and will usually go as low or lower than a 115. having said that, there are 115 cabs that are awesome, just not that one. but mixing cabs, especially cabs of different brands, is very unpredictable in how well it works because of phasing issues (google it or do a search on here...tons of info written about it) and volume imbalances.

First off, thanks for all the advice. I sincerely appreciate it. Not just from you but from everybody who has posted. Please don't take my continuous questions to mean I am not listening to you because I am. I just want to make sure I'm understanding your advice.

Back to the cabinet, would I be better off trading up for a better 15 or should I just get the 15 out of the equation?

 

[Noose]

to fix fret clank you could raise your strings, it won't take much.
to fix finger squeaking it often can be from the pickups being close to the string.
without hearing or seeing the bass it's hard to tell. if you have the option toss a video on youtube. you might get all sorts of advice. and you can always remove it if people hate on it.

I might try putting something up if I can get a decent reproduction of what my rig sounds like.

I had the bass set up at a local shop. Plays great. I'm sure some of the noise could be technique but I've seen plenty of guys worse than me technique wise not having the same issues as me. I'll try dropping the pickups a little further from the strings and see if it helps.

 

[JimmyM]

if that means you're keeping the hartke, i'd get the 15 out of the equation altogether.

 

[will33]

It never hurts to go back over your wiring job with an eye for mistakes but if it is hooked up just like the standard jazzbass wiring diagram says, that rules that out.

As for the cabs, using different size speakers all playing the whole sound is technically "not a good idea" but some compliment each other a lot better than others, it's a crap shoot. Sometimes they fight each other instead of helping. Search and read some technical stuff here, it's too much to explain in a paragraph. The point behind getting rid of the 15 is that the 410 will just plain be louder than the single 15, loud enough to get you to gig volume. They're saying sell the 15 to fund other improvements and end up with a better overall rig.

The other reason is because it's a behringer and they suck. Hartke makes some good stuff but the transporter line is their cheapest model. Kinda like choosing between a cheap, get you from A to B/get the job done beater car and a buspass.

 

[tharv]

Glad you asked about the pick ups. I installed them myself but it was a fairly straightforward procedure. I wired them exactly the way the diagram that came with them said to and I put good solid solder joints on em. I wired them to function the same way the stock pickups were wired to function. I get mixed up with terms like parallel and series. Should I try residing the pups to where they act as humbuckers? Is that possible?

If you followed the directions correctly, then that part should be ok. As long as the connections are good. Not being condescending, but do you know what a good solder joint looks like? No idea what your experience is? Maybe pop the control panel off for a quick look/double check. If that's all good, time to look elsewhere....

I'd think the head & the Hartke should be workable. May not sound great, but it should at least be palatable.....

Ever played your jazz through another amp? Or another bass through your set up? That'd be a quick way to tell where the problem is rooted. If your jazz sounds good through another amp, time to boot the rig.

Maybe take the jazz to GC & try out some other amps? Hit a Markbass combo & set everything flat. It should sound good if there's no problems with the bass.

 

[JimmyM]

good analogy, will. that's exactly what it's like. again, you don't have to get the very best cabs ever made, but aim a little higher than the lowest priced cabs on the market.

 

[nysbob]

Assuming the bass is OK...

If you're young and strong, you can usually find old 2x15 boxes pretty cheap. Same goes for old Peavey heads. If I was dirt poor and wanted something I could gig with, that's what I'd go for.

 

[will33]

good analogy, will. that's exactly what it's like. again, you don't have to get the very best cabs ever made, but aim a little higher than the lowest priced cabs on the market.

As with many things in life, even if money's tight at least still get a step up from the cheapest....you do still get what you pay for to some degree.

 

[JimmyM]

Assuming the bass is OK...

If you're young and strong, you can usually find old 2x15 boxes pretty cheap. Same goes for old Peavey heads. If I was dirt poor and wanted something I could gig with, that's what I'd go for.

+1. you can also find good 410's used for cheap as well if they're more your thing. but old 215 cabs do rock, no doubt about it.

 

[John D]

"

to fix fret clank you could raise your strings, it won't take much.

^^^^^All the above is good advice, but do this first. I was just having the same clanking problem with my Squier P. After raising the strings, the clanking is gone. No cost, other than your time.

 

[sgtpepper]

Just a single thing comes to my head: Get rid of the Behringer 115, sell it at the best price you can, save some coins and change your Behringer amp for a Hartke HA2500 asap. There are some very good prices on the used market.

 

[Chinchila]

What about a Fame amp? I have a b-125 and can rehearse with that. You could just save some and buy a bvh-300. I bet it sounds good. And I READ, only READ, that it has nice construction

 

[passive pickup]

I haven't tried a Behringer but I used to run a very cheap Ashton head through a Transporter 2x10. It took a lot of playing around with the eq and compressor to get a useable tone out of it. I did get there though. Strangely, it took a massive boost of the mid frequencies to get a decent tone.

 

[bigdaddyforge]

when i was broke and just started back into playing again i picked up a behringer rig, it burnt square out on me and blew 3 cabinets. i ended up getting rid of it and got an ampeg b2r with two svt classic 15's (which now reside in a 2x15 cabinet under my 70's b-25b) and it was a killer rig! the cabs are about 400 each new 200 used, and the head's about 200 used so you can get a dynamite setup for cheap.

if you need a nice full range cabinet id look at a 410/410hlf or a 2x15 cab and a decent head like an ampeg b2re or svt pro series, hartke, or gk (sorry, i have a hardon for ampeg lol)

reading the OP i think i had almost the same rig lol i had the behringer 4500 head, on two behringer 15 cabs, and a highway one jazz i wired up with an rs kit and rotosound swingbass strings. the head is the main thing that's killing you, they sound like a shoebox even on a decent cab. a multieffects pedal is also generally a bad idea, they tend to suck the life right out of your tone.

 

[Balog]

I'll reiterate the "take your rig to GC and try your bass through different cabs, and different cabs with your head" etc. The issue could be anywhere in the signal chain, so until you isolate the issue all these recommendations are shots in the dark.

What gear have you used that you have been happy with the sound of?

 

[bigdaddyforge]

I'll reiterate the "take your rig to GC and try your bass through different cabs, and different cabs with your head" etc. The issue could be anywhere in the signal chain, so until you isolate the issue all these recommendations are shots in the dark.

What gear have you used that you have been happy with the sound of?

i've done this to make sure i wanted my ric, and that the 810av cabs sounded like my vintage or a modern 810 cab on my magnavox svt.

however, having had the same behringer head and cabinet he has i can guarantee you those are killing him. they don't sound awful if it's all you're playing but once you get anything else it's like night and day. the behringer gear is AWFUL and will absolutely murder your tone so it's more than a shot in the dark, i had the exact same issues with mine haus though i highly agree on taking the bass into the store and seeing how it sounds. might need to be rewired or simply need a proper setup by a luthier. even if the behringer stuff's in mint shape i'd get rid of it before it starts falling apart.

 

[Noose]

The Bass does not need a set up. The pickups are wired correctly.

BUT, for now I think I have found the answer. Flatwounds!!!!! They are allowing me to eq enough mids to lose the mud but not have all the string noise. They sound great even with the behringer rig.

 

[Noose]

when i was broke and just started back into playing again i picked up a behringer rig, it burnt square out on me and blew 3 cabinets. i ended up getting rid of it and got an ampeg b2r with two svt classic 15's (which now reside in a 2x15 cabinet under my 70's b-25b) and it was a killer rig! the cabs are about 400 each new 200 used, and the head's about 200 used so you can get a dynamite setup for cheap.

if you need a nice full range cabinet id look at a 410/410hlf or a 2x15 cab and a decent head like an ampeg b2re or svt pro series, hartke, or gk (sorry, i have a hardon for ampeg lol)

reading the OP i think i had almost the same rig lol i had the behringer 4500 head, on two behringer 15 cabs, and a highway one jazz i wired up with an rs kit and rotosound swingbass strings. the head is the main thing that's killing you, they sound like a shoebox even on a decent cab. a multieffects pedal is also generally a bad idea, they tend to suck the life right out of your tone.

I found a used ampeg B2r for 170 in a local shop. Looks like it has been through hell but it sounded great in the shop. Do you think that head with the hartke 4 X10 would have enough umph for gigs with an obnoxiously loud guitar player and a heavy handed drummer? I don't need scare people with my volume but I want to have adequate headroom. Also, are those old ampeg b2s reliable? This one looks like it has seen plenty of gigs.

 

[lazyone2]

You have 2 cabs that are enty level and will not produce much low end. Your amp will sound ok if you put some decent speaker under it.