"ringy" pickups

[bassybass]

Hi,
I have two P-style basses--both Frankens. One has the stock pickups from a MIA Fender P. The other has some kind of Duncans that were put in it. They sound great, but are considerably hotter than the other one. They are "meatier" and seem to have a much broader frequency range. All cool, except, I notice that, when my left hand muting isn't real tidy, on this bass notes like the 5th fret D on the A string--notes where there's a strong natural harmonic---it's very easy to unintentionally let a harmonic ring a bit after I pluck a note, and release the note---again, perhaps it's my left hand muting that's REALLY the issue. But that said, on the other bass, I never notice it. It's almost like since I started playing the one with the Duncans, it revealed something lacking about my technique, OR, the pickups are too "hyped". Anybody have a similar experience? Maybe I should try lowering the pickups a bit, I dunno. The basses are set-up almost identically, except of course for the different pickups. I LIKE the meaty, loud tone, but maybe it's too much . ..

 

[opivy3056]

try lowering the pickup first. Sounds like that could be the most likely cause of the problem.

Let us know if it helps.

 

[bassybass]

Thanks--yeah, I guess I'll try that. just for context--I've been playing bass --and on some kind of P or another--for many many years, through all manner of amps, DI'd recording, etc., and I've never encountered this before. It's one of thsoe weird phenomenon that makes you question your technique! The only time I had anything similar was with an MFD-equipped G&L with the factory set-up(i.e. close to the strings . . )

 

[boolsak]

Pickups can "ring" if they are loaded too lightly, i.e. with too high impendance of the following stage (i.e. input of either a preamp, onboard electronics or amp) - or that the volume etc. pots in bass are of too high kOhm value (that's why "no controls" passive basses have "more tone").

F.e. swaping the 500kOhm pots for 250kOhm pots can dampen the hot PU's a bit and thus reduce ringing ("killing the tone" a bit).

That and pu-height (too close to strings) can produce ringing.

(GL pre's have 1MOhm impendance which is a bit on the high side imo, that could realistically explain what you were hearing - I experienced the same phenomenon after going from fully passive bass to "buffer-activated" wiring in late 80's).


-----------------------------------------------------
help-please look at my peavey-grind post here:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=430815

 

[bassybass]

Very interesting. I will experiment with pickup height today. It does seem to happen on this bass to some degree no matter what I'm plugged into(passive DI, active DI, outboard preamp, amp, etc). I dunno what the pots are--I'll have to figure that out--I'm an electronics dummy!
Hopefully the height will resolve it. BTW---I THINK (I'm not holding the bass right now--will try later today) it's not as pronounced with the volume knob rolled back. But, I prefer running a P wide open. But maybe that could be part of the equation too? Though, I'd hope it isn't--it's counter-intuitive to me to not run a passive bass full-on!