Taming/Controlling BIG Notes

[westicle]

Hello

I'm back on bass in a band playing through a big amp (as opposed to DI for home recording) after a few years off. Playing a 4 string jazz tuned to E standard straight into an Ampeg 450 into a 8x10. I'm only making minor tweaks to the EQ and quite often play it completely flat.

I'm also noticing as I move further up the neck there is a huge jump in lower frequencies from the 5th fret up, especially on the 4th string but also the others.

Obviously I'm controlling dynamics as much as I can with my playing but would a basic compressor help with this or is there even such a thing as a multiband compressor or limiter in a pedal?

[EliasMooseblaster]

How huge is this huge jump? I'd expect the tonal characteristics of a note to be different depending on the neck position you use to play it, but if it's bordering on the unworkable then you might have a problem with the guitar's setup.

First thing I'd try to do is plug it into a different amp and see whether you get the same results - if yes, you might want to tweak the pickup height. If not, perhaps it can be EQ'd out of the amp. (To be honest, if you're playing through an 810, you can probably get away with cutting quite a bit of bottom end to get a bit of a clarity!)

[elephantgrey]

An ordinary compressor will do the trick, there also are multiband compressors & limiter pedals, but i think thats a bit overkill for what you want. id check out [url="http://www.ovnilab.com/"]Ovnilab[/url] for general compressor advice, especially his [url="http://www.ovnilab.com/reviews/toppicks.shtml"]top picks[/url] page.

The most important things to look for is metering (led/s showing how much compression is happening); threshold, ratio, and makeup gain controls, and maybe attack, and release controls.

Edited December 1, 2015 by elephantgrey

[westicle]

It's big enough for me to notice and yeah it's a pretty big jump. To be honest I hear it in a lot of peope's playing. Most people play higher up the neck and it sounds out of balance to me. I'll look into the set up though, that's a good shout.

I'll have a look through that list of reviews as well, cheers.

[Guest FretNoMore]

Do you hear this in all rooms? If not, it could be that the issue is room resonance, boominess, and if so it coud help to get an EQ (parametric preferrably) so you can tame the frequency range that is too loud or resonant.

Edited December 1, 2015 by FretNoMore

[westicle]

[quote name='FretNoMore' timestamp='1448995829' post='2919948']
Do you hear this in all rooms? If not, it could be that the issue is room resonance, boominess, and if so it coud help to get an EQ (parametric preferrably) so you can tame the frequency range that is too loud or resonant.
[/quote]

We only rehearse in one room so I can't check unfortunately. To be honest it's something I hear on guitars and basses in general - the difference in tone between the same note played on an open string or 5th fret on the next string.

I've been working on my playing style to start using more notes lower down the neck recently because they have more character to my ears so I'm really aware of this difference at the moment. Definitely gonna look into the bass set up as well.

[Guest FretNoMore]

[quote name='westicle' timestamp='1449009472' post='2920124']
We only rehearse in one room so I can't check unfortunately. To be honest it's something I hear on guitars and basses in general - the difference in tone between the same note played on an open string or 5th fret on the next string.
[/quote]

That's normal though, an open string sounds different to a fretted note.

[CamdenRob]

The different available timbres for the same note are a useful tool to have in your arsenal as a bass player. I often play further up the neck on the B string rather than lower on the E to get a rounded fuller tone. When I want it a little clearer with added presence I'll play lower down on the higher strings. It's all part of finding your voice as a player.

However.. if it's a massive issue, as others have suggested maybe its something gone awry in your setup somewhere.

[westicle]

So I ended up going the compressor route anyway. I've wondered about multiband pedals before when I've recorded myself and other bands as that's something I've used in mixing and mastering before.

So I had a look through the list elephantgrey suggested and by chance managed to find an Fea Labs dual band on eBay that I bought straight away and picked up the next day. That was a lot of luck. I've only had one chance to use it so far and it definitely cleared up most of the problems. Still gonna go over the setup as well though as that can only help.

Thanks for the help.