Tricks to get the E string on a mustang to cut though?

Discussion in 'Ask Justin Meldal-Johnsen' started by DeepSouth, Jun 22, 2020.

  1. DeepSouth

    DeepSouth

    Aug 6, 2008
    I recently entered the world of mustang basses and fell in love with blue JMJ model. That neck is sooo good. I play is all the time at home.

    I do have issues when I run it though my gigging bass rigs.
    Either a Super Bassman with a Fender 610 neo cab or My Ampeg V4B and 212 AV depending on the size of the bar.
    On the other hand, my pos practice amp with a tiny 5" speaker sounds great with it haha.

    The A,D and G sound amazing while Running Chromes on the bass.

    The E string wants to disappear in the mix however.

    So far I've found very thin .50 picks will make that E pop out but I'm not having lots of luck with fingers or thicker picks. My hand gets tired fast using the little paper thin .50s!


    I'm used to P basses with TI flats so its been a bit of an adjustment for me. Looking for the sweet spots with my eq, compression ect for this bass.
     
  2. jmjbassplayer

    jmjbassplayer Justin Meldal-Johnsen Gold Supporting Member

    Mar 25, 2005
    Huh...well that's weird. A few things come to mind:

    1) Change the strings, you could have a fault.
    2) Adjust the pickup heights to compensate.
    3) Aggressive parametric spot eq.

    I'm sure other folks might have some ideas for you too.
     
    GregC likes this.
  3. DeepSouth

    DeepSouth

    Aug 6, 2008
    I hadn't though of it possible being a dead string. I've had this set on and off several basses. Worth trying a new set. Even after rising the pickup the E is still acting odd.
     
  4. jmjbassplayer

    jmjbassplayer Justin Meldal-Johnsen Gold Supporting Member

    Mar 25, 2005
    It could be off-base but it does happen...but yeah, I have two JMJ mustangs and my E sounds great...of course in that particular short-scale way.
     
    Zach77, DeepSouth and pipaberg like this.