Help me get my p-bass in order

[che_guitarra]

Hi guys. Hoping you can help me get my b-pass in order. It's for studio work, but it needs a problem resolved to get the results i'm chasing.

Specifically, the lower register notes are all boomy, farty and clippy. But the action is perfect, pickups are of vintage wind (Fender '62s) and height is set much lower than recommended specs (5mm vs 3.6mm), strings are just regular gauge D'Addarrios... I don't know where the signal hotness is coming from. But I can't record with it successfully until I work out how to tame it.

Amp, POD or direct into an interface, dampened via an inline pad - the results are all the same - fart/clip city on the bass notes, worst on the bottom seven frets of the E string. I keep blaming downstream equipment, but i've checked it over too many times - there's no fault with my gain structuring, and more than enough headroom allocation. But still - note bloom, massive clipping, far too much signal.

Any idea how to correct this?

[ICTGoober]

Re: Help me get my p-bass in order

Are you playing with a pick, or your fingers? Might help to know...

[che_guitarra]

Re: Help me get my p-bass in order

Solved the problem. Seems pretty obvious now upon reflection.

I went to the local music stores to see if I could see/feel any visible differences between my bass setup and that of basses straight from the factories. I did - instantly. Most split-style pickups were sitting much, much lower than Fender's height recommendations. Fender suggests 3.6mm distance from pickup to string - I doubled that and dropped to about 7mm away - the clipping is now all but gone, and the tone hasn't been too adversely affected.

Now just a matter of fine tuning with quarter turns to find the the sweet spot - the fine line between optimum response and emergent signal clipping.


BTW - happy new years everyone

[Mincer]

Re: Help me get my p-bass in order

Pickup height- the easiest way to cure most pickup sound problems! Oh, and also a Studio Bass Compressor.

[che_guitarra]

Re: Help me get my p-bass in order

Pickup height- the easiest way to cure most pickup sound problems! Oh, and also a Studio Bass Compressor.

That looks pretty good, but I already have a few old school bass compressors up my sleeve

[ginormous]

Re: Help me get my p-bass in order

That looks pretty good, but I already have a few old school bass compressors up my sleeve

Sweet, but having an SBC for gigs is a lot less weight to carry. It sounds good and gets the job done.

[Mincer]

Re: Help me get my p-bass in order

Those are awesome! But I don't know if you'd want to load them in the car to take to a gig.

[marcboomer]

Re: Help me get my p-bass in order

After all else has failed, try a Quarter Pound SPB-3. It has solved many players issues over the years.