Rattling On Strings?

I’ve been practicing with headphones and the Vox so outside noises are pretty well muted. I just got my amp and as I was practicing today I have lots of rattling in the strings when I fret. If I have exact (EXACT) perfect location to play a note it only rattles if I pluck pretty hard, but even a millimeter up or down the string and the string rattles against the metal of the next fret. I know for sure I don’t have the best form yet, but is this sound normal and typically just washed out because the noise is not loud compared to amps, drums, etc.? Or do you just have to be within millimeter precision? Or is this a sign my strings need to be replaced? It’s a used bass I got off Craigslist, so 3-8 years old (based on review dates on Yamaha’s website). It’s a RBX 170 if that matters.

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if you don’t hear it through the amp/headphones, it doesn’t really matter.

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I usually practice only with an amp and dont like rattle either. Take a look at your neck shape and see if you need a truss rod tweak. Howard recommends a great vid of the basswizard teaching how to setup a bass ( HOW TO SETUP A BASS - HIGH OR LOW ACTION - BASS SETUP TUTORIAL - YouTube) I have played around a bit with the truss rod (I’m only a month into my lessons) and found a tiny crank on the truss has helped me with my yamaha. Havent messed with anything other than the truss rod at this point but not wanting to lose my hard earned bass to a luthier for a few days just yet to do a real set up.

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Everywhere or in certain sections?
Most likely truss rod or action too low or a combo of both IMO

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It seems to be from about the 5th fret onward.
Playing with it a little more, it’s ~5th fret on E string, then 6th on A, 7th on D, 8th on G.

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That was a pretty good video. I couldn’t quite tell the string differences in height very much, but at least I know what to look for to see some others until it clicks in my head.

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This.

If your bass needs an adjustment to the setup, that’s a separate matter.