Uneven String Volume

[psychomagnetic]

I have a 2014 USA Spector Forte 4 with active EMG split P/J pickups. The bass sounds great, except the A string is little louder than the rest of the strings. I have tried adjusting the pickups and have checked the string height, with no luck. The D string sounds a little weak and gets lost in the mix sometimes, even with the EQ on the bass and amp set flat.

Could this be an issue with the pickups? They are almost 7 years old. I did buy the bass used a couple of years ago so who knows what the pickups have been through. The wiring is fine and looks original from the factory.

 

[Groove Doctor]

If you solo the split P pickup, does this still happen? You should be able to adjust pickup height by lowering just the A string section and raising just the D string sections accordingly. They might look a little wonky but try it.

 

[Watchootognbout]

I don't have a "P" in the race,but any string volume problem for me was solved by upgrading the pickup.
I have a preference for soapbars,so adjusting individual pole pieces is not an option,

 

[WayneP]

Back in the ’80s I had a nice bass with EMG pickups, and it always irritated me that the G string was lower in volume than the other strings. Raising the pickup tilted towards it helped a little bit, but not completely. Eventually I tried turning the pickup 180-degrees, and then the E string was the weak one. I noticed with a small screw driver that the magnetic pull was much less at the edge, where the weak string was, compared to the rest of the pickup. Thus the conclusion that the pickup was defective.

Don’t know if this helps or not, but you might try the “screw-driver test” on the pickup and see what you get.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

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[JeezyMcNuggles]

I have a 2014 USA Spector Forte 4 with active EMG split P/J pickups. The bass sounds great, except the A string is little louder than the rest of the strings. I have tried adjusting the pickups and have checked the string height, with no luck. The D string sounds a little weak and gets lost in the mix sometimes, even with the EQ on the bass and amp set flat.

Could this be an issue with the pickups? They are almost 7 years old. I did buy the bass used a couple of years ago so who knows what the pickups have been through. The wiring is fine and looks original from the factory.

Raise your A string, lower your D string, raise the D side of the split, lower the A side of the split, put on new strings.

These fixes, are the only thing that will ever effect string volume.

 

[psychomagnetic]

Thanks for all of the advise. I tried adjusting the split P pickup every which way with no luck. I did test out the magnetic pull on the pickups and found the J pickup to be an even pull across all of the poles. When I isolated the J pickup it sounded fine. The P pickup had a very strong pull on the A pole and the D/G poles were very weak. I think it is time to get some new pickups.

 

[psychomagnetic]

Update, I replaced the stock EMGs in my Spector with some EMGCSX pickups and it fixed the string volume problem. My lower split P pickup was going bad I believe. Thanks again for the help.