cytania Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 Well in an effort to tame my Ibanez SRX400, which has a big active MusicMan style pickup I restrung with flatwounds. All very good, allows a slidey jazzy touch an just right for old school rock sounds. However... I find I prefer the amp gain turned right up and the volume almost at the point of cutting out. Nice, fuzzy, sustaining sound for use on Oasis' 'Roll With It'. Trouble is the vol control only needs one kock to be silent or OTT deafening/speaker-blowing. A bit of tape over the control works, sort of... My thoughts are; 1) Get a passive vintage styled bass. 2) Treat the Ibanez as a project and fit a Precision split pickup with simple passive circuit. 3) Am I just hiding my imprecise technique behind a fuzzy sound? Now my wife was in the audience last night and says she didn't notice any difference when I switched basses. Is this a case of she'd have noticed if the sound was wrong for the song or am I just getting tone-itis and should just play everything on my bright 70s rock type bass and be done with it (swopping instruments between numbers is another on-stage complication)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdwardHimself Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 I personally wouldn't bother changing basses unless i was switching tuning or it stopped working. Then again it might depend on what sort of songs you are playing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbyrne Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 I suspect that having the gain full would make everything sound pretty much the same. I'd cut back a bit on the gain & use more Master. Or use a 2 channel/volume unit like an MXR-80+ G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balcro Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 [quote name='cytania' post='591375' date='Sep 6 2009, 01:26 PM']Well in an effort to tame my Ibanez SRX400, which has a big active MusicMan style pickup I restrung with flatwounds. All very good, allows a slidey jazzy touch an just right for old school rock sounds. However... I find I prefer the amp gain turned right up and the volume almost at the point of cutting out. Nice, fuzzy, sustaining sound for use on Oasis' 'Roll With It'. Trouble is the vol control only needs one kock to be silent or OTT deafening/speaker-blowing. A bit of tape over the control works, sort of... My thoughts are; 1) Get a passive vintage styled bass. 2) Treat the Ibanez as a project and fit a Precision split pickup with simple passive circuit. 3) Am I just hiding my imprecise technique behind a fuzzy sound? Now my wife was in the audience last night and says she didn't notice any difference when I switched basses. Is this a case of she'd have noticed if the sound was wrong for the song or am I just getting tone-itis and should just play everything on my bright 70s rock type bass and be done with it (swopping instruments between numbers is another on-stage complication)?[/quote] M'mmm, interesting idea, SRX400 with flats. I might be tempted myself, but after trying a plain 360, I think I prefer a "jazz". Anyway, comments: - I don't share your faith in electro-mechanical devices, so I'd never set the gain and and volume in such a way. No doubt someone will say it's perfectly OK, but I don't believe in imposing that sort of stress. Would Oasis have achieved their sound that way? Next, (re 1, 2, & 3, and the last para ) I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve. You've already got a 70's style rock type bass, so that's taken care of that. For the newer bass sound the Ibanez sounds fine. Why rip it apart and wreck it's re-sale value just to add Precision pick-ups. You'll end up with a differently sounding Precision. My throw away line would be treat the gain/volume more conventionally and make subtle use of an overdrive pedal. More feedback please. Balcro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cytania Posted September 7, 2009 Author Share Posted September 7, 2009 Thanks for the replies, I've not taken the soldering iron to the Ibanez so it's safe for now. Next rehearsal I'm going to try starting off with a low gain and seeing what the master can do. Feel like maybe I've gone up a blind alley soundwise. Time to experiment some more... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeftyJ Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 What kind of amp are you using? Any solid state bass amp I've played would have clipped beyond belief with the gain full and a powerful bass like that SRX plugged in. Or did you mean it's the volume on the bass itself you're keeping way low? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 get a pedal... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrcrow Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 [quote name='cytania' post='591375' date='Sep 6 2009, 01:26 PM']Well in an effort to tame my Ibanez SRX400, which has a big active MusicMan style pickup I restrung with flatwounds. All very good, allows a slidey jazzy touch an just right for old school rock sounds. However... I find I prefer the amp gain turned right up and the volume almost at the point of cutting out. Nice, fuzzy, sustaining sound for use on Oasis' 'Roll With It'. Trouble is the vol control only needs one kock to be silent or OTT deafening/speaker-blowing. A bit of tape over the control works, sort of... My thoughts are; 1) Get a passive vintage styled bass. 2) Treat the Ibanez as a project and fit a Precision split pickup with simple passive circuit. 3) Am I just hiding my imprecise technique behind a fuzzy sound? Now my wife was in the audience last night and says she didn't notice any difference when I switched basses. Is this a case of she'd have noticed if the sound was wrong for the song or am I just getting tone-itis and should just play everything on my bright 70s rock type bass and be done with it (swopping instruments between numbers is another on-stage complication)?[/quote] i think you are growing up...its what they hear what matters how much of your audience have bass hero's and the CD at home concentrate on musicality...you will generate your own tone.... flats arent the answer imho. i set my combo gain to clip...the do the vol slightly loud and cut it back on the bass...gives you headroom and smooths the highs without tugging them low notes take care of themselves by vibrating rather than bending ears Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gafbass02 Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 What about a valvey preamp type pedal thing like the EBS/hartke vxl/vt bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 turn the gain down and the master up. if your 70's style bass sounds too bright play further away from the bridge, or use the EQ on your amp, or the tone knob on the bass... you want a bit of compression and overdrive get pedals. Unless you're using a valve amp, in which case some kind of power soak in the effects look a la your guitarist may work? I'm worried for your amp and more worried for your ears! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cytania Posted September 8, 2009 Author Share Posted September 8, 2009 That's it Lefty it's the bass I was keeping way low. Amp is an SMC hybrid, one valve rest is solid state. Like the pedal suggestions, I've been shy of them up until now but maybe's the time to try a few... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrcrow Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 do you have a clip indicator on your preamp section Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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