The bass is a passive 1957 Fender American Vintage RI-
split pick-up. Before you buy a new pick-up, try this neat trick:
In a live band situation, I was having trouble hearing the
'D' and 'G' strings, compared to the wonderful 'thunder' my
low 'E' string was producing. Then something occurred to me-
and I tried it- and it worked !
Take a nice professionally recorded music CD you know to
be hi-fidelity and full range. Play this CD thru the input jack
of your amp, going thru your EQ controls- ie BASS / Lo-Mids /
Hi-Mids / Treble, etc. ( And your graphic EQ, if present.)
Set each control so that each frequency band is making
the music sound the most pleasing- and realistic- to you.
I think you will find that you can make the CD sound better to you than just setting all controls to what the 'Scribe lines'
by each knob show you is 'flat'. Pure flat can sound somewhat 'lifeless'.
You will be making music!
When you have it sounding great, NOW play your bass thru
it. ( By yourself in the living room is not a good test- try it with your band. )
My strings now all sounded much more even in perceived output / volume. Quick runs up the neck cut thru!
For an even better sound, put a regular SANS AMP between
your bass, and the amp's input. Level- a little higher than unity. Bass / treble- to suit. May seem subtle, until you
switch the SANS AMP off. It is there and working.
Why I think this works:
For myself, I used to get the amp rig in the room we are playing, and thump on the 'E' and 'A' - tweaking the
lows and mids until they sound good. ( Often- this would unknowingly be scooped mids. . . .
. . and you would hear this right away when you play the CD thru your amp, with the settings you started with. )
Pick-ups I have tried- the stock 'Raised 'A' poles, a Bill Lawrence P-46 due to forum hype. ( Not bad at all- but NOT
a Fender Vintage Tone pick-up- modern highs )
The wonderful new SD Steve Harris pick-up. Really Nice. And
a SD Quarter Pounder- which is in there now.
But after trying this 'E-Q the AMP trick- I may go back to the Steve Harris SPB-4- very authentic sounding.
I play in a cranked-up blues-rock trio. Markbass F1 head or
Genz-Benz 900, in to an Eden 210XLT twin front ports (1997)
and an Eden 118.
Try this trick- it is FREE!
Best wishes for great tone.
split pick-up. Before you buy a new pick-up, try this neat trick:
In a live band situation, I was having trouble hearing the
'D' and 'G' strings, compared to the wonderful 'thunder' my
low 'E' string was producing. Then something occurred to me-
and I tried it- and it worked !
Take a nice professionally recorded music CD you know to
be hi-fidelity and full range. Play this CD thru the input jack
of your amp, going thru your EQ controls- ie BASS / Lo-Mids /
Hi-Mids / Treble, etc. ( And your graphic EQ, if present.)
Set each control so that each frequency band is making
the music sound the most pleasing- and realistic- to you.
I think you will find that you can make the CD sound better to you than just setting all controls to what the 'Scribe lines'
by each knob show you is 'flat'. Pure flat can sound somewhat 'lifeless'.
You will be making music!
When you have it sounding great, NOW play your bass thru
it. ( By yourself in the living room is not a good test- try it with your band. )
My strings now all sounded much more even in perceived output / volume. Quick runs up the neck cut thru!
For an even better sound, put a regular SANS AMP between
your bass, and the amp's input. Level- a little higher than unity. Bass / treble- to suit. May seem subtle, until you
switch the SANS AMP off. It is there and working.
Why I think this works:
For myself, I used to get the amp rig in the room we are playing, and thump on the 'E' and 'A' - tweaking the
lows and mids until they sound good. ( Often- this would unknowingly be scooped mids. . . .
. . and you would hear this right away when you play the CD thru your amp, with the settings you started with. )
Pick-ups I have tried- the stock 'Raised 'A' poles, a Bill Lawrence P-46 due to forum hype. ( Not bad at all- but NOT
a Fender Vintage Tone pick-up- modern highs )
The wonderful new SD Steve Harris pick-up. Really Nice. And
a SD Quarter Pounder- which is in there now.
But after trying this 'E-Q the AMP trick- I may go back to the Steve Harris SPB-4- very authentic sounding.
I play in a cranked-up blues-rock trio. Markbass F1 head or
Genz-Benz 900, in to an Eden 210XLT twin front ports (1997)
and an Eden 118.
Try this trick- it is FREE!
Best wishes for great tone.
