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unbalanced string volume?

K

kyussson

Jun 2, 2008
8
0
#1
Hi everyone.
I am pretty new to the talkbass forums, but I have found TONS of good advice about gear. Thanks to everyone here for helping me put my rig together!

I have been playing an Ibanez edb600 (four string, active pickups, luthite body) for years, now. It is the only bass I have ever owned. I am now in the market for another bass, and this is why. My Ibanez has always had an overpowering low E-string. Any note on this string - all the way up to the 18th fret - has a great deep booming resonant tone. But even playing the exact same note one any of the other three string sounds hollow, tinny, and as much as 25% softer. I have played this bass through many different amps and cabs, however most of the cabs have 15 inch speakers. I have used a variety of roundwound strings. I recently took it to a local "guru" who adjusted the neck, pickups, intonation, etc. I have fiddled endlessly with the onboard eq, preamp eq, head eq, etc.
Has anyone encountered anything like this before? Does anyone have any suggestions?
 
#2
You might try drastically lowering the bass side of your pickups, and possibly raising the treble side. Another thing you might try first, is cutting the bass a bit on your on-board eq, and compensating for it on the amp.
 
#4
Thanks for the tips. I messed around with the pickup depth before, and did more harm than good. I still think it might be the way to go. Adjusting the eq only seems to make all the strings equally brighter.

Any other thoughts?
 
#5
Do you crank the bass on your amp or on your bass?

it certainly sounds like you are doing that.

The way the eq knobs on amplifier works, they boost certain frequency ranges. For example let's say the bass knob on your amp is set at 50 Hz wich is a common value for bass eq. when you boost it, the volume of the 50 hz frequency is raised along with a certain band of frequency around it.

The open string low E is 40hz and the twelve fret E is 82 hz.

Do you see where I am going,

When you ridiculously boost the bass knob all the notes around it's frequency will be louder, wich in your case are the notes on the low E.

There is a lot more to it and I skipped a lot of things but bassicly it's how it is.

If you find that your bass is too bright unless you boost the hell out of your bass knob then maybe it's time for a change of pick-ups or even to find a bass that suits more your needs.
 
#6
Wouldn't the 12th fret of the low E string and the 7th fret of the A string be the same frequency? or does the size of the string change the frequency of the note. Pitch = frequency? yes, no. explain.
 
#7
Yess they are, but each not you play on a bass is not just one frequency, when i said the low E is 40 Hz it is only the fundamental of the note, there are multiple layers of harmonics pitched higher than that going on at the same time, that's why the same not on different strings don't sound the same.

The low E string having more mass produces a stronger fundamental and the harmonics it generates are lower, so when you overly boost the bass all those notes are emphasised more than the notes on the other strings.
 
#8
kyussson said:
Hi everyone.
I am pretty new to the talkbass forums, but I have found TONS of good advice about gear. Thanks to everyone here for helping me put my rig together!

I have been playing an Ibanez edb600 (four string, active pickups, luthite body) for years, now. It is the only bass I have ever owned. I am now in the market for another bass, and this is why. My Ibanez has always had an overpowering low E-string. Any note on this string - all the way up to the 18th fret - has a great deep booming resonant tone. But even playing the exact same note one any of the other three string sounds hollow, tinny, and as much as 25% softer. I have played this bass through many different amps and cabs, however most of the cabs have 15 inch speakers. I have used a variety of roundwound strings. I recently took it to a local "guru" who adjusted the neck, pickups, intonation, etc. I have fiddled endlessly with the onboard eq, preamp eq, head eq, etc.
Has anyone encountered anything like this before? Does anyone have any suggestions?
Click to expand...

I had a similar problem with my Modulus Flea bass - mainly when I used a pick. The E and A strings sounded awesome but the D and G strings sounded thin and weak when I used a pick. With fingers songs it was all pretty balanced. I compensated by using string sets with heavier D and G strings (70 and 50 I believe) - that helped a little. I tilted the PU - helped a little. I replaced the Bartolini PU with a Nordstrand - helped. Then I traded the bass for a Spector Euro LX - SOLVED!
The Flea bass works great for fingers and slap (just like Flea). I like Flea but I bought the bass viewing it as Modulus' version of the Music Man. Well, not quite. That graphite neck is very brittle sounding and I don't think it sounds good with a pick on the high strings. After you try all the suggestion I guess you have to ask yourself if you're happy or you might want to use another bass. Some instruments are plain different.
 
#9
Once again, thanks for all the input. I only discovered this site a couple of weeks ago and I've already learned 10 times more than I did in the last five years. I plan on trying the pickup fix, and the strings- next time I buy some- but, really, I think i'll get a new bass.

Thanks, too, "justopenyourmind" for the enhanced explanation of the eq solution. I didn't mean to sound like I was dismissing your suggestion offhandedly, but I have tried to eq-out the problem for a long time with very limited results.

The neck on my bass has kind of a twist in it so that even though the action is pretty high at the E string, the G string frets out at about the 3rd fret. I had it "fixed' a couple of weeks ago, but it has snapped back. I'm contemplating replacing the neck (and the pickups - to help with the volume balance,) but then again, I might just throw it away.

+1 to the talkbass forums!
 
#10
I have the same bass, and I can get the same effect you are talking about, but I have been able to adjust it out using the bass amp knobs, and some minor tweaks at the on-board EQ.

If my amp bass EQ is boosted heavily, the E string can be overpowering. Same for the bass EQ.

I tend to keep the amp EQ bass and treble flat, with only slight increasese in Mid-low and mid-high. For the on-board EQ, I keep things flat, or sometimes boost the bass slightly if I am doing a slow song that requires that deep sound. I mostly adjust the PUP blend to get the desired sound.
 
#11
a twist in the neck = bad news.

however, if the issue is just an overpowering string, could be a number of things...but the bottom line is that you are getting higher output on that string. best quick fixes is to distance the string from the pickup. raise the string, lower the pickup...or lower the other strings or raise the other side of the pickup. the most important thing when setting up a bass is your ears. when setting pickup heights you are supposed to listen for even output across the strings. many people who will 'fix' your instrument will work only with a ruler which is the wrong way to go about it. sure, rulers and measurements are great starting points and can help things feel more natural, but your ears are the ultimate guide. just keep in mind that changing string heights will also effect the intonation so you'll have to tweak that once you get the output desired. may sound like a lot...but the more you browse these forums and the more you experiment, the more basic this stuff all becomes.

if you do end up getting a new bass, hang onto this one and try and fix it yourself. you'll learn a LOT about your instrument and how to get the most out of it. welcome to the community!
 

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