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Sounding like a helicopter

Grumpynuts

Grumpynuts

Dec 6, 2016
133
163
#1
So here's the issue. When playing 8ths often I sound like a helicopter. Whoop Whoop Whoop.

Setup. Orange crush 50. 1/2 bass, full mid, 3/4 treble. 2/5 freq 1/10 blend 1/2 gain.

Schecter elite 5 with jamersons and dunlop gator grip 2 mm. Stock EMGhz. Knobs set to full on both pickups and full bass, 1/4 treble. Standard B tuning.

Anything below a 16th is whoop whoop whoop like a helicopter. It is hitting the notes but not a boom or a waaaarm. Its a whoop. I am decent at palm muting the other strings, so I don't think its sound bouncing off of them. But it's just not the sound I want.

I am looking for more Steve Harris meets Bass ghoul from Ghost. Think the Trooper gallops meets Pinnacle to the Pit waaaarm.

Any ideas?
 
#3
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Kidding.....:laugh:

Seriously I think it's just the way your fingers hit the strings.

Maybe you need to adjust your attack.
 
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#4
Something wrong with the amp making it struggle? What sound do you get with a pick or if a friend plays your gear? From how you describe the dials you should have plenty of attach and a more "clanky" sound.

edit: Also, lol.
 
#6
The amp seems fine. Underpowered sure, but it's fine on quarter and half notes. And the strings are close enough to bounce off the pickups if I get too rough with open strings, I'm thinking I need to rough up the pick a bit to get a little more bite into the bridge cables I play with. My attack through the 8ths/16ths is closer to 60 degrees vs 45, and I notice I don't have the whoop when I am playing flat with pickup. I will let you all know if that helps.
 
#8
Pumpkin said:
From what you describe, my guess is that you're either causing clipping by playing too hard over the pickup, or by pushing the string too close to the pickup. I would try lowering the p'ups, or trying experimenting with different force in your playing hand. Best of luck!
Click to expand...

I don't know if I can, on my single coil pickups on my other bass they are quite adjustable, I can press with my hands and feel the springs give a bit. These pickups are really firmly in the body, there doesn't seem to be any room for adjustment, or perhaps its a method I am not familiar with.

Out of curiosity, how does moving the pickups further from the strings impact the sound?
 
#9
Depends on how far you move it and if the pickup is already to close. In my experience (and I'm far from an expert) if the pikcup is to close, it's a boomier sound and very easy to get distorted sounds from playing normal to hard. The further you go from the string the less bass presence you get, but it's nothing that can't be compensated for by adjusting settings on an amp. Output volume comes down a bit too, but again, you can fix that on the amp. The screws on either end of the pickup should be usable to adjust the pickup height, unless it's bottomed out.
 
#12
Grumpynuts said:
So here's the issue. When playing 8ths often I sound like a helicopter. Whoop Whoop Whoop.

Setup. Orange crush 50. 1/2 bass, full mid, 3/4 treble. 2/5 freq 1/10 blend 1/2 gain.

Schecter elite 5 with jamersons and dunlop gator grip 2 mm. Stock EMGhz. Knobs set to full on both pickups and full bass, 1/4 treble. Standard B tuning.

Anything below a 16th is whoop whoop whoop like a helicopter. It is hitting the notes but not a boom or a waaaarm. Its a whoop. I am decent at palm muting the other strings, so I don't think its sound bouncing off of them. But it's just not the sound I want.

I am looking for more Steve Harris meets Bass ghoul from Ghost. Think the Trooper gallops meets Pinnacle to the Pit waaaarm.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

there is a guitarist I remember who had his signal so over processed that even when he wasn't playing anything his rig made helicopter noises
 
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#13
Anyone else ever notice how so many of these "funny noise" threads start with active EMG's? :rollno:

OP: It sounds to me like you're running a hot signal from your bass through even hotter EQ settings into a tiny amp. Maxed bass from the active, maxed mids and trebled up and nothing cut on the amp...yeah. When you are playing those fast notes, you are probably hitting the amp with more than it can handle without "whooping" out on you as you describe. So before you go making mechanical adjustments to your bass, you might just need to turn down some on the knobs before you blow your speaker.

Hope that helps.
 
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#14
Ric5 said:
there is a guitarist I remember who had his signal so over processed that even when he wasn't playing anything his rig made helicopter noises
Click to expand...

My actual first thought was "Does he have some kind of mod or delay oscillating?" But he didn't mention anything about effects, so too-hot signal overloading his little amp is my second guess.
 
#17
You said you're playing 8ths - so you mean octaves, right? Could be they are slightly out of tune. This could especially be true if the octaves you're playing are higher up the neck and your bass isn't properly intonated.
 
#19
Bourbongangster said:
You said you're playing 8ths - so you mean octaves, right? Could be they are slightly out of tune. This could especially be true if the octaves you're playing are higher up the neck and your bass isn't properly intonated.
Click to expand...
Pretty sure he means 8th notes. It sounds like you're overworking a small amp. Pick playing also tends to have a hotter output. I would recommend trying to play with your fingers and lowering all EQ knobs involved. See if that fixes the problem.
 
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#20
All sensible ideas, ill admit. I don't know if I have a way to produce a clean enough clip for study.

The reason I am thinking technique is it only happens on faster playing. It's when my pick is angled. Flat attack is fine.

The sound I am getting isnt speaker overload. The volume is usually only 1/4. It's more of the sound if a golf swing, just faster. Almost like muting but with more artifact.

But when I get home ill turn everything down to ease the burden on the amp, and see if it helps. And I'll let you all know.
 

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