This is the measured frequency response of my amp:
I haven’t played lower than D as I just play my “Drop D” songs with BEDAG tuning now…
Should be OK?!
Totally agree. If only Ibanez have an artist on its roster who’s an expert in finger ramp. Oh wait wtf, they do Gary Willis, he’s the BabaYega of finger ramp.
I could only imagine the guy who made and designed that included ramp, he prolly pat himself, and up on the back for the job well done, 
. That dude is a solid C student.
cool nice to see a graph. i’m used to the world of home theater and to a lesser degree lately 2 channel where every piece of gear has measurements. it’s one of the things i wish they did with guitar and bass stuff. not sure how low your amp specs to, i think most bass amps i’ve seen usually hit mid 30s, which might cause a little low end break up?
1 Like
Yeah, but fun fact: in my job I have to work on many “UI/design related” topics for quite succesful companies. If you knew, what is happening behind the screen (pun intended) you could not eat fast enough to b@rf!
I have seen millions €€€ wasted on amateur designs…
2 Likes
This is what I always do: Acus Amp - #2 by chris_van_hoven
I think, 40-45 Hz is doable, but lower than that makes no sense.
My EQ should take care of cutting of lower freqs…
But as far as I remember, @howard (???) said that harmonics (???) are more important than lower frequencies? I hope I did not quote you wrong, Howard??!
What you actually hear for the low notes (ca. E and below) is more the harmonics than the base frequencies. The base frequencies are both hard to reproduce (depending on your sound system), but also hard for our ears to hear. So, the harmonic contents (overtones) is mainly what we hear here.
Also, these very low frequencies (especially since we barely hear them anyway) should be high-passed out in order to make “life” easier for your loudspeakers and remove “mud” from your mix.
1 Like
Ha, that’s the explanation! So all good with my EQ, as I configured high pass…
1 Like
Here’s the ramp I went with (for Nordstram pickups) - Ibanez Bass Finger Ramp for EHB1005MS/1505MS/1265MS With NORDSTRAND PICKUPS - Etsy
and here’s one for Bartolini pickups: Ibanez Bass Finger Ramp for EHB1005MS/1505MS/1265MS With BARTOLINI PICKUPS - Etsy
A bit pricey, but the aesthetics alone are worth it!
2 Likes
I have to say that’s a lot for what it is. I’m figuring on making some ramps from wood either painted or oiled. Get a nice piece of wood and they should be perfectly aesthetically pleasing.
1 Like
I hear ya, it is costly for what it is. But, at least it fit perfectly and required no effort on my part. Didn’t really cost me anything either, as I bought it with a pre-paid credit card from work (corp puts money on there for various services I sell - don’t get a ton, but 5 bucks here, 10 bucks there, 2 bucks here, adds up over time, and then it becomes my “funny money” fund).
1 Like
Day 3 of playing the EHB1005SMS:
- Today I will tackle the perceived distortion. Hopefully it is just a gain issue or a matter of high pass adjustment on my amp. I will listen through my Austrian Audio Hi-x60 to analyze the issue, as they are quite neutral and have an excellent ferquency response.
- I had the straps falling of a few times now. Good thing, I’m sitting. Will install the included Schaller S-Locks strap pins now.
- I cannot find a good plucking position. That worries me very much and in fact, this might be a reason to return the bass. I created a new topic, just for that: Am I a T-Rex? (Cannot find good plucking position with Ibanez EHB1005SMS)
1 Like
Was your previous bass purely passive? As this one has an active preamp the output is likely a little higher. Have you tried turning off the active preamp? My Ampeg has a -15db input which I believe is intended for exactly that situation. But turning down the gain should achieve the same.
1 Like
No, both other basses are active!
Appearantly, the EHB allows for a “+6db” mod (just need to replug something). As my EHB is B-stock, possibly the previous owner has done just that.
I did a first preliminairy test and it sounded kind of ok. Will test some more later and give feedback…
1 Like
Listened for through monitoring headphones. Gain is optimal now.
Strange thing is: especially the B string sounds very “muddy”, but also the E string is not very “precise”.
My ESP sounds much more precise and even the Blackstar tuned on Drop D sounds less muddled (but has other restrictions).
I read somewhere that EHB has the habit of sometimes exchanging the pickups wrongly. Could that be the issue??!
I understand that I have the 1P-01 version and that there is an 1P-02 version out. Difference: a changed preamp.
Maybe this is the cause of the issue, as one guy on Bassic had the same problems with the “growling” sound and had to change quite a lot of EQ to clean it up…
EDIT Playing with “onboard” EQ did not reduce the muddy growl…
Have you tried lowering the bass side of the pickup at all?
1 Like
Yes!
I tried a) optimizing gain on the audio interface b) changing EQ on the many many knobs on the bass c) changing EQ via VST in the DAW and d) changing pickup height.
There was some improvement, but when I listened via headphone the sound was still muddy. I kind of hoped that it was due to the frequency range of my PA, but that’s not it
When I play the original tracks on my PA or via headphone, everything sounds clean … a good indication that there is something wrong with the bass.
Or is it??!
I would be quite confident there’s a high pass filter on the bass in any mixed track. I’d expect high passing bass to make it sound less muddy. I guess the other question is how does it sound if you solo the bridge pickup?
1 Like
I have tried all combinations now. But honestly can’t remember how the bridge pickup sounded. One of them was cleaner, the other muddy.
Let me retest after I havekicked my sandbag to relax a little ^^
Highpass is activated on my PA, but my headphones should show any weakness of the bass. Which it does 
100%, the first thing I do to any bass track (and this is really common) is trim away the mud below ~40-50Hz. Makes the whole mix sound much better.
This is a very typical bass EQ curve when mixing:
I like that guy’s diagram. I think others do too as it is usually the top google hit. But this kind of curve is what more or less all mixing and sound engineering sites recommend.
I don’t actually add the kick drum notch; I add some proportional EQ there. If I wanted to be spiffy I would sidechain it to the drum track (and Neutron can do this automatically) but usually I just leave it proportional to the bass.
I also don’t generally boost at 4-6k but if I were doing something where I wanted more of a Darkglass style clank I would. DG pedals do boost a bit there.
6 Likes