Pick vs Fingerstyle volume difference

[Tim Skaggs]

Sincere apologies for digging out this 8 year old thread.... but I noticed the same thing today in practice. I sit in the mix better with my fingers (Jazz Bass with DiMarzio DP123 pickups through a SansAmp BDDI V2, amp is the room’s Hartke 4x10/Ha2500... aka crap).
I feel like I have more presence, more low mids with fingers. When switching to a pick, I get less low-mids/lows and I don’t cut through as much.... slight drop in volume too.

Any workaround that?

I’m glad you resurrected this thread because I was about to start a new one and found this in a search. My issue is that I’ve been a near 100% finger style player for a really long time, and I’m trying to incorporate some pick style in my playing. My problem is that I get more string buzz / noise using a pick. I can change the setup on my basses to eliminate that, but it puts a little more stress on my left hand. My question is whether those of you that play both fingerstyle & pick, do you set up a bass (or several basses) for each style, or just learn how to play both styles on the same setup? I figure it’s on me to get better, but I thought I’d ask....

 

[Lobster11]

I’m glad you resurrected this thread because I was about to start a new one and found this in a search. My issue is that I’ve been a near 100% finger style player for a really long time, and I’m trying to incorporate some pick style in my playing. My problem is that I get more string buzz / noise using a pick. I can change the setup on my basses to eliminate that, but it puts a little more stress on my left hand. My question is whether those of you that play both fingerstyle & pick, do you set up a bass (or several basses) for each style, or just learn how to play both styles on the same setup? I figure it’s on me to get better, but I thought I’d ask....

Yeah, I think it's probably a matter of your picking technique. It sounds like you are plucking the string downward, towards the bass body, rather than parallel to the strings -- the same thing that happens if you "dig in" with your fingers -- which causes the string to vibrate up-and-down rather than side-to-side.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

Yeah, I think it's probably a matter of your picking technique. It sounds like you are plucking the string downward, towards the bass body, rather than parallel to the strings -- the same thing that happens if you "dig in" with your fingers -- which causes the string to vibrate up-and-down rather than side-to-side.

I think you are absolutely correct & my question was one more of curiosity from an experience I had last year. The guitarist in my band and I went to see another band and they had us sit in and play a few songs. The bassist in the band played a nice older Spector 5 string (I don’t know the model), and he played 100% with a pick. When I played his bass, his action was roughly double the height of how I set up my basses. It wasn’t terrible to play, but it definitely wasn’t how l would set it up. I wondered if it was because he played with a pick and required the extra string height to prevent string buzz. The bass definitely didn’t buzz....