Too much bass

apache

New member
Okay,
No matter what I do, I cannot lower the bass on my Yamaha. Tried fiddling with the amps settings, but then it sounds like I am playing in a tin can. Could it be the pups? Pots? Or should I use this little axe to start a camp fire?
Apache
 
Re: Too much bass

def need some more info. what guitar are you using...is it stock pups etc. basically anything you can think of regardless of whether you think it is relavent or not.

cheers
 
Re: Too much bass

Judging by the gear in your profile, I'd say your amp should work great for a starter amp and probably isn't the culprit. Just make sure you don't crank your mids way down. And with a 2x12 you could be really bassy if your bass is cranked too. Maybe back off on that too.

New pups and electronics would almost certainly breathe new life into that HSS Strat copy you have. The good news is it's a guitar with a pickguard so whatever you do should be an easy enough fix and that pickguard hides lots of beginner mistakes. I'd bet that it's probably a fairly solid starter guitar and with some mods it could be a great player.
 
Re: Too much bass

Yep, it's a Yamaha ET112...cheap,cheap...but it has a good feel and action. It was "made in China to Japanese standards", according to the label on the back. It's being played through a Fender FM212R, "made in China to U.S. specifications". The 212R only has limited settings (treble, mid, base, drive, more drive, reverb) on a clean and drive channel. I try to keep all set at about mid level (5) or lower, as far as the bass is concerned I may go to 3 or 4. The tone pot may be part of the problem, there is really no discernible change from full treble to full bass.
 
Re: Too much bass

Do you have your amp sitting on the floor up against a wall? Or in a corner? Try putting your amp up off of the ground (like on a chair or something) . . . just doing that should cut down on boomy bass coming from the amp. If that doesn't solve the problem, I'd suspect the tone pot (there should be a noticeable difference between full treble and bass). If you can't hear a difference while playing with it check your wiring and try putting in a new pot (should be well under 5$ to get a new pot) . . .
 
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Re: Too much bass

That's weird -- the FM212 was nothing but treble when i messed with it. Hurt my ears sooo bad but got a decent punk rhythm tone.

Stock pickups on Asian guitars tend to have really bassy, muddy pickups for some reason -- kinda like how cheap stereos always have a ton of bass. If you like your amp's tone and the massive lowend isn't an issue with other guitars, new pickups are the obvious first step. I use the Custom Custom bridge humbucker in my HSS Strat and it doesn't have much lowend at all -- i actually crank the bass to 10 when i play that guitar. Might be worth lookin at.

If that doesn't work, I'd trade the 100 watt 2x12 solid state amp for a 5-watt 1x12 tube amp. Better tone, similar volume...more 'guitar amp like'.
 
Re: Too much bass

I've heard some folks complain about the treble squealing on the 212R, but that hasn't been a problem on mine. With the mostly enclosed back, I try to keep the amp out of corners and away from walls, in fact, it's now catty-corner to a corner, but about five feet out...so that's probably not the problem. It was suggested that I change out the pups (have no idea where in the far east these came from) for SD Custom 5 humbucker, and SSL 5s for the neck and middle. I'm due for a visit to my local guitar shop in the next month or so, may take it along and try out a few other brands of amps before re-doing the pups. Heck, they'll wind up costing twice what the guitar did!!!
 
Re: Too much bass

Yeah the C5 is known for a lot of low-end and treble. I recommended the CC 'cuz it's the same coil winding but with an Alnico 2 magnet, so it gives you less bass and more mids.

For single coils, the CC matches really well with my 60's Fender single coils. You could try the Antiquity Surfers to get close to that but I'd probably try the SSL's first...something vintage with alnico 2's.
 
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