Help my new bass sounds distorted

Hey, I’m a beginner and I got the Squier Jass bass.
For some reason, my E string especially sounds very distorted! I’m using a Fender Rumble 15 amp. The rest of the strings sound ok but I don’t know if the E string sound is normal. I got the bass straight from a box, so no one touched it before. It doesn’t sound mild and smooth like in the video tutorials. I feel like I’m playing an electric guitar :sob:
Any ideas what I can do? I live in a country where it’s not very easy to get to a store to fix it, so I prefer to try and fix it myself if it’s even possible. Thanks!

Typically most all basses out of the box need a setup. Josh has a great video on how to do this if you’re handy. If not a local music shop can do it for you but I suggest at some point you learn to do it yourself.

That said, what is the gain on the amp set at? If too high you might hear distortion on the E first.

Thanks! I watched Josh’s videos and I’m willing to try and fix it myself, I just wanted to make sure first that it’s normal for a new bass, I don’t want to ruin it as I am a newbie…
For the amp, I have only mid and treble, no gain. I set them all to mid as explained in the videos. Any other ideas? I have a video recording of the sound, I just can’t post it here unfortunately

You could upload it on youtube and link it here? Afaik it’s free for personal use.

Good idea! I uploaded it but apparently, you can’t post links here :frowning:
try this maybe? just add the youtube dotcom before
shorts/CjZG_aYYygc

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No problem!

Also you can just paste the link in the text editor like this:

Your E strings has a rattle which you usually can fix with a setup. It’s hopefully gone if you do the truss rod adjustment from Josh’s video. If not I would do a proper setup by a luthier.

Good luck!

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The sound can be normal for a new bass.
I used to work at a music store and basses would come from the factory with all kinds of rattles and problems.
It’s not very common, but it does happen.

If you have the patience and the tools, the setup video should help fix that rattle.
Please keep us posted!
I’d love to know that you were able to fix it.

There is always a chance that there is a more significant problem, so if the setup does not fix things, there may be a defect. But you won’t know until you try the steps in the video.
Best of luck!

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I got an update guys!! @John_E @Paul @Gio
After following the steps in the video and really trying to fix it myself, I still had the same problem (distorted and jumping sound) which led me to suspect there was an issue with the amp itself and not the bass!

Eventually, I went to the music store, and first of all, they did fix my E string which looked farther from the neck than it should be (I tried to mess with the trussrod but was too afraid to risk it myself), anddd it turned out the amp was defective!

At first, they told me that with a 15 amp the sound is usually not what you’d want or expect from a bass, and they recommended buying the 25 or 30, but then I asked to try another 15 (same one, just what they had in the store) and it was smooth and perfect!!

So now with the new amp it sounds so good, I don’t feel bad playing anymore, and also it’s very nice to play after they fixed the strings a bit :slight_smile:

Thanks all

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Glad you got it fixed!

In any case learning to do a setup is good practice :+1:

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Love hearing this!
It’s so scary being brand new at something because, while things aren’t working, you don’t necessarily have the confidence to know why they aren’t working and it’s easy to assume it’s because you’re doing something wrong.
Not the case here!

I’m so glad you followed through on all this and that the fix was something obvious and easy.
Well done, and happy playing.