Warwick Corvette Pickup Balancing

[mrn1989]

So I recently purchased my first Semi expensive bass and I love it,thought fkin heavy. It's is a 99 FNA 5 string with the AEC pickup and preamp, however the B, E, A are loud and clear but the D and G are substantially quieter to the point where in a band situation the G is not existent.

Would a compressor pedal sort this out?

Would replacing the pickup to the Seymour Duncan be worth a go? And would it wire into the existing preamp?

I use a Markbass CMD121H and set everything with decent mids, no scooping going on.

Any advise would be great, I don't want to fall out of love with my new bass!!

[Silvia Bluejay]

Have you tried lifting the pickup so the end below the D ang G strings is closer to the strings themselves? (Not too close or the sound will distort). Sometimes half a millimeter can make a big difference. Tighten or loosen the screws around the pickup casing, as necessary.

PS - Edited for clarity!

Edited October 29, 2014 by bluejay

[Silvia Bluejay]

assuming you've ascertained that it's not your D and G strings that are at fault, after you've loosened the screws at the D/G end of the pickup, you may need to carefully push down the pickup at the B/E/A end and carefully pull it up at the D/G end, so that it can learn its new position. Proceed in small steps. I did that on my Corvette for the same reason, and it now sounds just the way I like it.

(The bass is a lefty model.)


Edit: forgot to add that I also have my G positioned lower than the other strings at the saddle and nut - it takes less effort to play with my pinkie when I need to stretch my fretting hand for a tricky chord or similar.

Edited October 29, 2014 by bluejay

[mrn1989]

Thanks Bluejay

I should have mentioned it is set to the extreme at the minute with the B side all the way down and the G side 2-3mm from the string

I'm a percussive player with my finger so don't want it too close as I hate unwanted thumps for hitting the strings

[Silvia Bluejay]

Hm, if you have any leeway in raising the pickup a bit, I'd still have a try. Or maybe tweaking the EQ/compression can help? Or installing a different set of strings (as in different gauges, maybe just for the D and G)?

[mrn1989]

I can try but as you say any higher it will start to distort, at the minute I'm not using compression so that could be an option.

I would hat to start getting into mixed strings so hope that would be it, I use 45-130 nickel on steel round wounds

[rmcki]

if you press the strings down at the highest frett, then the pickup should be 2mm below the strings.
Couple of thoughts;
Have you tried a new set of strings.
Is there still the same issue in passive mode

[HowieBass]

What's the action like for the G and D strings? You might have some note choking involved that's dampening them if you've got the action really low on that side. I've read that some pickups have such a strong field that too little a distance between pickup and string can also dampen string vibration.

[mrn1989]

[b] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/user/25677-rmcki/"]rmcki[/url] - The strings are 2 weeks old and I'm not a sweater, so they are still good. It doesn't have a passive mode. [/b]



[b] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/user/32636-howiebass/"]HowieBass[/url] - Medium action and no note chokes anywhere. Thats why I didn't want to bring the pickup too much.[/b]


Could it be a faulty pickup that was never replaced?