On my 5-string the B string is WAY louder than the others...

[batmax]

I have noticed that on my 5-string, any note I play on the thick B string comes through way louder than notes on the other strings. I have two 5-strings, one active and one passive, and I have the same problem with both.

Anyone else experiencing this? Maybe I hit the B string harder, but I don't think so. I have both EQ's set bassy for a warm, soft tone.

I watched the levels on the PA mixing board while I played, and I think I solved the problem by lowering the pickups all the way down on the B string side, and raising them up pretty close to the string on the G string side. But I'm not sure this is the RIGHT way to solve this problem. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Tim

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[The Geoff]

I think raising one side & lowering the other is pretty much what most of us do to rectify this problem. There is, of course, much more metal in the 'B' than the 'G' for the pickups to .. pick.. up, if you see what I mean .

 

If this doesn't achieve what you want, you could try mild compression too.

 

G.

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

I agree with Geoff, adjusting the pickup height is the usual solution.

[jcadmus]

Me too -- Geoff's comments hit it -- adjusting the pickups and/or using some compression ought to do the trick.

[Johnny Crab]

A couple of other things to check also:

 

Amp settings:

Have you recently added a lot of EQ on the WAY low end and is it run via speakers that can produce 30Hz?

 

String changes:

Although my 5's don't have that problem, a recent set of strings had an E-string with an incredible amount of output compared to the other 3 strings. It was the combo of THAT bass(my avatar Orville by Gibson) with it's pickups and that set of strings. I changed back to a new set of like were on before and everything was fine. 1st time this happened to me.

 

What happened to ?

Put it on my favorite, always-at-every-job bass that has different pickups/bridge/etc. than the Orville. It had no problem with the E-string.....

[music-man]

If you have EQ on your instrument, try setting it flat. Then adjust your tone at your amp, or using an EQ box.

 

The active EQ on your instrument can do a lot to screw up your tone - on many instruments, a very little bit will go a long way.

 

Then again, if the B string is way louder than the others, play the B string ... and not the others.

[_Sweet Willie_]

Is your B-string black or does it have black silk windings at the end, while the other strings have no black whatsoever?

 

My black bass is the loudest of my three basses. I think the same theory of black=loud, blacker=louder applies to strings.

 

Check string height. It may be an issue of either raising the B string a little or adjusting pickup height.

 

Peace.

--s-uu

 

 

[yourlord]

I can't add much that hasn't already been said, but I'll reinforce 2 areas to look at, your EQ on the bass, effects processor(if any) and the head, or adjust your pickups so the B side of the pickup is lower than the G side. You could also adjust the action up a little on the B, but if you like the action the pickup is the place to go.

[dhomer]

I was fighting a bit of a tone dilemma myself. I'm very picky about my tone. It HAS to be clean, well defined, just enough lows to round it out, and just enough highs to locate the bass in the mix.. I absolutely will not accept boominess!! I too use a fiver, and it was for a while when I got the B,E, and A strings to my liking, the D and G strings were way too soft and thin-sounding. I approached this in several different ways. I discovered a 5db boost at about 900Hz was essential. I also put a 30Hz high pass filter into my BBE BMAX's effects loop. The real fix was to take the pickup height adjustments to another level. My bass has 2 pickups in a J/MM configuration, and I simply raised the treble side of the MM and the bass side of the J. This really helped even out the response, and I have some usable volume and tone out of the higher strings..