Bass too boomy?

Gear
#1

I know it sounds weird, but it feels like my low E string is too boomy compared to my other strings. I’ve got a compressor pedal and have spent a not-insignificant amount of time tweaking the settings of that along with fiddling with my amp EQ and the knobs on my guitar.

Songs sound like “duhn duhn doo dihn BWAAAAAAAM!! duhn duhn”

It seems like the only way I can get it so that the low E doesn’t overpower the other strings is to drop the low end knobs almost all the way down on the amp and the guitar and turning the compressor on or off doesn’t seem to make much difference with the boom.

Also seems odd that holding an F# or G on the E string causes everything in my room to rattle, no matter what I have the EQ knobs set to.

Gear: Fender Rumble 40, MXR Bass Compressor Pedal, Spector Dimension and Fender Jazz. Doesn’t matter which guitar I use. The boom is constant. The boom is eternal.

Is this normal? Am I trying to fix something that isn’t a problem?

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#2

That sound Entish. Careful, you might summon an Entmoot. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: :rofl:

As for the F# and G on the E string that’s a physics phenomenon that I’ve always been fascinated by. I’m not sure if it’s a resonant frequency or something, but it’s a thing. Maybe these guys that are much smarter than me here on BB can explain that and why it happens.

Personally, one of the first things I do on any amp is drop the low end and pull up the mids and (depending on what type of bass I’ve got in my hand) adjust the treble down or up.
I have an OLD Fender Frontman 15B practice amp that I have to cut the low end on or else I’m rattling the printers in my home office. It is set: Low at 9 o’clock, Mid at 4 o’clock, High at 12. That’s a huge low end cut. I’m on a passive bass and it’s still got tons of low end to my ears.
Don’t know how helpful I’ve been, but I hope you figure out something that you like.

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#3

Have you tried to see whether a high-pass filter (HPF) with adjustable frequency could tame the boom??

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#4

This probably has allot to do with your pickups. Have you tried doing a setup on it? I’ll share a website that has a wealth of information. Part of it is setting your pickup height.

https://brokeassguitars.com/

3 Likes
#5

This was my first thought as well.
Hope the setup vid helps!

Gio

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#6

Part of this is the rumble 40v3. I’ve got one of those too.

Since I liked everything else about the amp I searched out and found a fix.

This makes for a rather expensive 40w practice amp but it sounds great.

getting the amp off the floor helps too.

#7

Rooms (especially nice rectangular ones) will have resonant frequencies that can make certain notes jump out and boom…to test for this play with same settings in some different sized rooms and see if it is any different, if not go with other suggestions to see if they help…oh and if it is the room that is booming acoustic foam might be able to dampen its resonance somewhat

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#8

Easiest explanation is pickup height. After that I would go to the room acoustics too, yeah.

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#9

If after checking your pickup height the problem still persists:
Try placing your amp at different spots in your room. Place it at an angle to the walls (not 90°).
Try moving around while playing, try different distances to your amp.

Bass frequencies are rather long and reflections from the wall can create standing waves for some frequencies. You will then get the effect of bass being louder at some places in the room.

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