Equal balance of natural EQ

[dumelow]

I have a problem with my setup (to my ears anyway). I play a four string active bass through an ampeg head with a 1x15" ashdown cab. My problem is that, if i boost the low frequency on my amp or active preamp, i hear that boost of low end most predominantly on the E string and hardly at all on the rest of the strings. Now, I understand that the thickest string on your bass has more natural low frequency than the rest, and that using a 15" speaker wont help the situation but is there any sort of fix, be it pickup upgrade, new pedal, different speaker etc.. that will make every string on my bass sound equal in volume, as bassy etc. Should I be using a limiter to achieve this?

[LawrenceH]

[quote name='dumelow' post='1264511' date='Jun 11 2011, 12:03 AM']Should I be using a limiter to achieve this?[/quote]

No. A typical limiter isn't frequency-conscious and will mess up your dynamics and the tone of the bass itself by changing the attack/decay envelope of the louder notes. In any case this problem shouldn't arise in the first place, better to prevent in happening rather than try and fix it after the event. Sounds like the EQ boost is either covering quite a narrow frequency range which happens to highlight that string, and/or there is an issue with the cab/room/instrument that causes a particular frequency to boom disproportionately.
Running the bass with flat EQ but loudly, is the problem at all evident even if less obvious? I'd try the bass through decent headphones, fiddle with the setup paying particular attention to pickup height and angle, and perhaps different strings as well. I'd also play the bass through a fully parametric EQ so I could identify the problem frequency range. Better electronics (pickups and/or pre) in the bass would be a possible solution but only once you've ruled out the cheap/free options to do with setup etc.

[dumelow]

thats the correct word to describe it with, a boomy sound on the E string particularly. Ill take what you said into consideration, wait until i play with the amp at a gig rather than in our practice room and see if i still have the same problem, before looking that the setup/pickup height/string gauge. I use a heavy string gauge if that means anything. Would i benefit from using a heavy gauge ADG strings with a medium or light gauge E string?

[Wil]

Try lowering your pickup(s) on the e string side a touch, it may even out the response a bit.

[Monckyman]

Yeah hitme baby
One more time.

[Vibrating G String]

You may be boosting below what you actually want to hear. In their quest to out market each other bass amp makers push their specs lower than most people want. A 40 hertz may sounds cool as the E's fundamental is there but we don't hear 40 hertz well and 80 hertz is more prominent. Boosting a low mid may make the eq noticeable on all the strings.

Also if you have a scoop of somekind in an eq a bass boost will be artificially limited to the boomy frequencies. If you're trying to get a dub tone rolling off the upper range may give you better results than trying to boost the bottom.

[deepbass5]

I'm With Mr G String

Edited June 11, 2011 by deepbass5

[Ross]

Boost low mids instead of lows.
Have an experiment with the low cut function and then boosting lows on the EQ as well, I don't know why but that seems to work sometimes.

[dumelow]

both my amp and preamp EQ only have controls for bass, mid and treble =(. Im going to try lowering the pickup below the E, and use it in a different room over the next week or so and if its the same ill look at buying a dedicated EQ pedal.

Thanks for the reply guys

[chris_b]

+1 for adjusting the pickup and moving the location, but do you really need a 15? You could get a more focused and even bass response out of modern 10's or even 12's. Also, do you need that much bass? Most players get their "old school" bass sound from pushing the mids and maybe low mids to the front.

[Beedster]

Al of trhe above is good advice, you just need to use trial and error to get the sound you want. Personally I always got the 'bass' tone I wanted (by saying 'bass' I mean low notes not the instrument), by pushing the low mids and never by pushing the lows, but it's going vary with player, instrument, amplification, and on and on