Stupid question Amnesty:

[Bass_god_offspring]

Hey guys,

 

short and simple, i have a few questions:

 

1.) I use a Big Muff distortion pedal. when i am playing alone and i turn it on (it's volume all the way up), the sound level increases slightly and works well. HOWEVER, when playing live or practicing with the rest of the band (two guitars, drums, and vocals), the volume seems to decrease? could it be something to do with the guitar frequencies and the mix of sounds?

 

2.) I just realized that my Bridge pickup on my fender Jazz is higher than the neck pickup. I've never noticed this before. is it possible that it has moved since i bought it? If i wanted the sound to be completely even, would it be smart to screw it back down lower?

 

 

3.) What is the standard culpret of mushy and unclear tone?

 

Thanks guys!

 

Hows everyone doing in the world of the low notes?

 

[dcr]

(1) My guess would be that the distortion is affecting those frequencies of your signal that usually let you cut through. I'd try to fix it with EQ, first.

 

(2) I would try soloing the neck picking, and comparing this with the soloed bridge pickup. If one is louder than the other, then adjust accordingly. Also, if a pickup is too high, or too low, it'll perform poorly (sort of a choked or flooded sound if too high, sort of a thin sound if too low). So you want them at a height where each performs well, and sound levels are about even no matter how they're panned. This does not necessarily mean their height will be the same, I'd suppose.

For that matter, it might not be a bad idea to spend $50 & have a good tech give it a good once over, set everything just right. I tell you, it feels like playing a brand new bass, if you get new strings & a good setup.

 

(3) Lots of things can make mush. Poor pickups, or poorly adjusted pickups; messy or poor technique; dead strings can be tone killers; bad drivers; etc. But the first culprit that comes to mind is bad EQ. Too much of the lowest low frequencies will make for plenty of mud; so too will killing mids & highs. Set everything flat, then boost those upper mids, around 1k; things should get pretty sparkly--probably too sparkly, but it'll give you the idea of which sorts of frequencies make for clarity. And of course all EQ changes should be subtle, as a rule; too much boosting across the band & you're back with mud again. (This goes for onboard & outboard EQ, as well as the combination of the two.)

[Dave Brown]

I agree with dcr so many times we must be separated at birth.

 

Add to this that pickups are spring loaded, and under certain conditions they can rise out of the body. Keep a screwdriver handy to keep them at the heighth you need.

 

Yep, get that $50 setup. Nice to have a good starting place.

 

Another tone killer? Proximity. Something that sounds great to you right in front of the amp sounds like mud in the house all too often. In general, you need to be brighter than you really feel comfortable about.

[mikef]

Hello BGO,

 

I found with my Sovtek Big Muff that I needed to keep the tone at between 10 and 11 o'clock to be heard in my loud three piece, as it added more bottom end, with a slight increase on the volume knob.

 

Just had my 73 Jazz bass back from an long overdue set-up and the bridge pick-up had been raised having previously only been slightly higher than the neck pick-up. The sound is more even now.

 

Mike.

 

Mike.

[Rocky McDougall]

For loudness a pickup should be as high as you can get it with out string rattle, However, tone is a different thing. Tone is best achieved by expermentation with the pickup at different heights. Everything always seams to be a compromise or tradeoff. Good luck.......Rocky

[zeronyne]

Originally posted by Rocky3840:

For loudness a pickup should be as high as you can get it with out string rattle, However, tone is a different thing.

Not to mention that it will completely kill your sustain.

[rumpelstiltskin.]

often what sounds good alone sounds assy in a band. you should know this by now. are you still setting your EQ in crazy ways and wondering why you can't cut through?

 

why not try adjusting the big muff while your band plays to make sure you're getting the right sound?

 

robb.

[jcadmus]

On question 3, I think it's boosting the bass freq's too much.

 

Your jazz bass is strikingly similiar to mine.

[Fred TBP]

Originally posted by Bass_god_offspring:

1.) I use a Big Muff distortion pedal. when i am playing alone and i turn it on (it's volume all the way up), the sound level increases slightly and works well. HOWEVER, when playing live or practicing with the rest of the band (two guitars, drums, and vocals), the volume seems to decrease? could it be something to do with the guitar frequencies and the mix of sounds?

I thought BMs were EQed for guitar, so it won't do much but filter out your low end.

Originally posted by Bass_god_offspring:

2.) I just realized that my Bridge pickup on my fender Jazz is higher than the neck pickup. I've never noticed this before. is it possible that it has moved since i bought it? If i wanted the sound to be completely even, would it be smart to screw it back down lower?

(a) down, not up, the foam may have compressed (b) no because there is less string vibration at that end to affect the magnetic field.

Originally posted by Bass_god_offspring:

3.) What is the standard culpret of mushy and unclear tone?

Anything from bad equipment to bad playing.

Originally posted by Bass_god_offspring:

Hows everyone doing in the world of the low notes?

We're cool. I don't want to strut my stuff until I've got something worth showing off.

 

PS: in truth, there are no stupid questions - only stupid answers.

[Bass_god_offspring]

haha, nope, my signal is pretty clean and straight forward with only the mids and lows boosted on the pre EQ and the Lows boosted just a bit more.

 

Thanks for the help.

 

[way2fat]

Why does everyone insist on boosting the lows? My rig sounds best when set flat.

[ArwinH]

Originally posted by way2fat:

Why does everyone insist on boosting the lows? My rig sounds best when set flat.

+1

[Luke73]

Originally posted by Bass_god_offspring:

2.) I just realized that my Bridge pickup on my fender Jazz is higher than the neck pickup. I've never noticed this before. is it possible that it has moved since i bought it? If i wanted the sound to be completely even, would it be smart to screw it back down lower?

 

 

It is normal for the bridge pickup to be higher than the neck pickup.

 

For the pickups to have the same output (that may or may not be your objective), it's necessary for the bridge pickup to be a little higher because the string excursion is less over the bridge pickup than the neck pickup.

 

On my basses the neck pickup is around 5/32", and the bridge pickup is around 4/32" from the bottom of the strings. I also have the distance from the E string a little greater than the distance to the G string.

 

[Gruuve]

Originally posted by way2fat:

Why does everyone insist on boosting the lows? My rig sounds best when set flat.

If I recall, you play an Accugroove cab right? I'd expect it to sound best with things mostly flat. BGO has a Carvin and Behringer cab IIRC...he's probably going to need at least a little boost somewhere in the lows or low-mids (depending on his tastes).

 

That's not a simple question in general though...it depends on what kind of bass you're playing, you preamp/amp, a LOT on the cab (and how many of them), your technique, the kind of music you're playing, your own preferences, realizing that what sounds good by yourself may not sound good with the group, realizing that what sounds good from your rig may not sound good in the PA...there's just so many variables that there's no really simple answer...IMHO.

 

Dave

[Bass_god_offspring]

Hey guys,

 

thanks again for the help.

 

here's a bit of an update:

 

I've taken the behringer 115 out of my rig. after experimenting with the tone and all i realized that it was doing nothing but sucking my tone.

 

My eq is now set to this:

 

Low boost on, Mid boost on, Low Freq. boost +1.

 

so everything is about flat or under 1 on everything else.

 

I love the tone and finally figured out what was screwing the sound up.

 

Plus, now my rig looks much better that i have an SKB 4 unit rack case to house my r1000, wireless, and powerconditioner.

 

I bought a 1/4" to Speakon 12 Gauge cable so that seems to be improving things as well.

 

the only problem i'm having now is that my carvin footswitch is not working.

 

when i plug it in and i press either button the LED light switches from either "EQ" or "EFFECTS" and i can never have them booth on at the same time.

 

i don't really need it, but i dunno why it's screwed up.

 

luckily the problem with my tone being mushy at the last show was due to the Behringer and a screwed up EQ.

 

 

Thanks!

 

 

p.s. last night we played with a tough guy hardcore three piece called "FIST FIGHT" hahaha. their songs were at max 45 seconds, lol.

 

we got paid 80 dollars for about 45 kids though.

 

...so we had a good night.