Replace Nordstrand Big Singles with < ? > to reduce zing?

i think I know what you mean about the tone of these Ibanezes... a very hot, aggressive sound. I don't recall much buzz in passive (I didn't really bother with active), did you try another bass? Or it might be an easy fix, it just shouldn't buzz. Before anything else, I'd sort out the electronics and try different strings first... Some basses can be mellowed out with, say, nickels. Also, some pickups respond quite differently with height adjustment...

On the pickup side, BigSplits would be similar, but a tad mellower. Dual coils would be rather different, perhaps more to your liking?

 

Yep, Big Singles are single coils, so they will be clangy and they will hum.

As mentioned, Dual Coils will change that up. Bartolini dual coil soapbars would be fantastic as well.

 

Big splits and fat stacks are both designed to sound like big singles. And they do. There are slight differences. But, buying any of those would be buying into essentially the same sound.

If you want to stick with Nordstrand, they have their dual coils, which sound very different and give you all of the coil wiring options, if you want. And there is the Alnico III option, which seems to soften some of the grind frequencies, but then adds something expressive everywhere else.

Their dual blade neo is further different, and also has all the wiring options.

Aguilar's Super Double is pretty cool. Does not have wiring options. Aguilar is very specific about the tone they are selling, with these.

Delano has a pretty smooth hi-fi sound in some of their soapbars. But they are very expensive.

If you don't mind single coils, Kiesel's Radiused single coils have great character and are more even up top.

And there's always that dark and smooth tone with "deep" version barts.

 

Before

Try changing the strings, I just got a 1305, and thought the same thing, switched them out to a different set (Chrome's) and it made a huge difference. If you want to stay with rounds, maybe try something less HiFi like rotosounds or GHS boomers. I think these pickups are incredibly sensitive (almost to a fault). It might take some experimentation to find what your looking for.

 

The Fatstacks are amazing. Will mellow your sound a little, but provide magnificent complex mids. It can also be switched to great sounding single coils.

 

I use the east preamp with my big singles, one with a passive tone control. That takes care of the zinginess correctly IMO, and it's still got the aggresiveness it's meant to have.

But anything with a passive tone option should help with that.

 

I think they use 500k pots on their basses, right?
Swapping them for a proper 250K will mellow down the zing

 

Lace BassBar.

 

Have you ried less zingy strings? Something with more nickle, less iron/steel content? That will take some of the edge off without doing radical surgery - also a lot easier than finding something that will fit the holes for your big singles - which are not a particularly common size.