M-Bass-M Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 Hi there, At home when practicing, I have my Jazz plugged into my Shuttle 6.0, and listen to the lot on headphones. Now when I pluck the strings, the sound that rings is an annoying "bow" sound, rather than a plain "berr" sound. (Hopefully you'll get the idea that I'm trying to describe the initial attack of the note and how it then rings out!) The sound is very noticeable on the E and A strings, less so on the D string, and even less so on the G string. Playing on an open string or a fret makes little difference either. Quite frankly, the sound annoys the hell out of me, and it seems that no matter how I blend the pickups or tone, I cannot get away from the underlying sound. My thoughts about its source are as follows: 1. The strings - although I recently changed from DR Sunbeams to EB Slinkies and it had no effect. 2. The nut - although the sound even happens when fretted 3. The pickups - even when I blend from one to the other, I get the same effect. The odds of both pickups being wrong must be low... 4. The bridge - something to do with the way the strings rest on the saddle seems logical to me 5. The amp - could it be to do with how the sound is processed by the Shuttle? Do other Shuttle users get a similarly bright tone? 6. The headphones - although I have tried others, and it seems the same. I should add at this point that when I run the amp through a cabinet, the sound is much less noticeable. You may ask why I'm bothered then, and the reason is because I'm recording in a few days time and I don't want my sound to be sh*t . Anybody have any idea what I am on about, and some ideas on what approach I should take (other than sell the damn thing!)? Cheers Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velvetkevorkian Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 It sounds like you might be getting the "full range" sound of your bass. A normal bass cabinet doesn't reproduce that much treble, and I see from your sig you're using a Compact which is going to have a limited top end, so when you listen through a system with a flatter response in the highs it's going to sound much more trebly. Only suggestions I can offer would be EQ at the bass or on the amp to roll off more treble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danlea Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 I'm taking for granted that by "bow sound" you do mean that it sounds like a bowed bass - perhaps somewhat fuzzy sounding. I don't know anything about your amp, but I have a couple of suggestions. One is simply to take your gain down. The low frequency content of the lower strings is more likely to overdrive your preamp (or clip at any stage in it), and certainly mess with your headphones. As velvetkevorkian mentioned, the resulting overtones will be more noticeable on hifi reproduction equipment such as headphones. Bass is highly conditioned in consumer recordings, and headphones (even very expensive ones) really don't do well with 'raw' bass guitar signals. For that reason, I would advise against practising with them unless absolutely necessary, and the signal is similarly conditioned (i.e. suitably EQ'd, compressed and limited). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 (edited) Do you dig in? If so, your action might be a bit low and it could be clattering a bit around the heel of the neck. I went through a phase where I got it into my head that my action had to be loooooooow. After a while I realised that the notes weren't big and fat any more. Raised the action, sorted. Edited February 19, 2010 by wateroftyne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slobluesine Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 +1 on a high action, plus heavier gauge strings, particularly with Jazz C necks, does depend on what you play of course Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrcrow Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 [quote name='M-Bass-M' post='749628' date='Feb 18 2010, 01:12 PM']Hi there, At home when practicing, I have my Jazz plugged into my Shuttle 6.0, and listen to the lot on [b]headphones[/b]. Now when I pluck the strings, the sound that rings is an annoying "bow" sound, rather than a plain "berr" sound. (Hopefully you'll get the idea that I'm trying to describe the initial attack of the note and how it then rings out!) The sound is very noticeable on the E and A strings, less so on the D string, and even less so on the G string. Playing on an open string or a fret makes little difference either. Quite frankly, the sound annoys the hell out of me, and it seems that no matter how I blend the pickups or tone, I cannot get away from the underlying sound. My thoughts about its source are as follows: 1. The strings - although I recently changed from DR Sunbeams to EB Slinkies and it had no effect. 2. The nut - although the sound even happens when fretted 3. The pickups - even when I blend from one to the other, I get the same effect. The odds of both pickups being wrong must be low... 4. The bridge - something to do with the way the strings rest on the saddle seems logical to me 5. The amp - could it be to do with how the sound is processed by the Shuttle? Do other Shuttle users get a similarly bright tone? [b]6. The headphones - although I have tried others, and it seems the same. [/b] I should add at this point that when I run the amp through a cabinet, the sound is much less noticeable. You may ask why I'm bothered then, and the reason is because I'm recording in a few days time and I don't want my sound to be sh*t . Anybody have any idea what I am on about, and some ideas on what approach I should take (other than sell the damn thing!)? Cheers Mark[/quote] never thought the sound through headphones was ....well....good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 I can't decide what a 'bow' and 'berr' sound like.. seriously.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velvetkevorkian Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 I gave my advice based on this: "Do other Shuttle users get a similarly bright tone?". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M-Bass-M Posted February 21, 2010 Author Share Posted February 21, 2010 Hi guys, Thanks for all the responses. The sound I'm trying to describe is "Beeeoooooooowwwwwww" where the "ow" is like "cow" as opposed to "bow and arrow"! I was in the recording studio yesterday, and just listening to the pre-eq DI out from the amp told me there was very little wrong with my sound. Therefore I've come to the conclusion that the sound must be related to listening to headphones connected to the headphone out on the amp. I think velvetkevorkian is therefore correct - I'm hearing too much of the pure sound through the headphones and not liking what I hear! The next question is then, as I live in a flat headphones are a must for me. Therefore, what better way could I hook up my headphones to my bass? Connecting through a computer would be an option, by the way. Cheers MArk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velvetkevorkian Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 (edited) Have you tried rolling the tone off at the bass? This is what I do (I mainly practice through my hi-fi speakers, and sometimes headphones). Failing that, some kind of preamp or effects unit would be your best bet- Korg Pandora maybe, or one of the smaller Zoom pedals. Both of those have a headphone out AFAIK. Or practice unplugged! Edited February 21, 2010 by velvetkevorkian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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