oli@bass
Well-known member
So, some time back I acquired another Sabre: Beautiful transparent red body with poly finished maple neck. A combination I've always wanted. However, while the natural unamplified sound of this bass is really nice, the electric output does not meet my expectations. The level is much lower than any of my other MM/EBMMs, and even when levelled to the same loudness this bass sounds noticably thinner and lifeless.
I am fully aware that there are some differences in volume from instrument to instrument, but all of my MMs and EBMMs are at least in the same ballpark. Those differences can always be levelled with small adjustments of the volume pot on the instruments, and there are generally no major differences in how full and alive the instrument sounds.
Naturally, I expected a problem with the preamp and I took this '86 and my '87 Sabre as "known good" example to a luthier. He didn't find any problem with the preamp and stated "there's no difference, except that one is much lower in volume and there's not a lot I can do about that". But luckily, our guitar player, who is a studied sound electronics engineer, offered to measure and compare the preamps of my basses at his office. He came to the conclusion: The two preamps are working the same, but the pickup output of the '86 is considerably lower! And this is for both pickups.
With that information, I did another check (which didn't occur to me before), and ran both basses without a battery thus eliminating amplification. And indeed, the '86 has much output. I didn't have a proper level meter, but it's somewhere between 10dB and 15dB difference, even with the pickups moved as close as possible to the strings.
Now my question is: What could be the reason that the pickup output of that particular bass is so low and thin? And how could that happen to both pickups?
I know that you fully cannot diagnose my bass without actually having it in fron of you, but I've already tried to work with a technician and am running out of ideas. So, suggestions are welcome. Thanks!
And because no pic, no bass, here she is:
I am fully aware that there are some differences in volume from instrument to instrument, but all of my MMs and EBMMs are at least in the same ballpark. Those differences can always be levelled with small adjustments of the volume pot on the instruments, and there are generally no major differences in how full and alive the instrument sounds.
Naturally, I expected a problem with the preamp and I took this '86 and my '87 Sabre as "known good" example to a luthier. He didn't find any problem with the preamp and stated "there's no difference, except that one is much lower in volume and there's not a lot I can do about that". But luckily, our guitar player, who is a studied sound electronics engineer, offered to measure and compare the preamps of my basses at his office. He came to the conclusion: The two preamps are working the same, but the pickup output of the '86 is considerably lower! And this is for both pickups.
With that information, I did another check (which didn't occur to me before), and ran both basses without a battery thus eliminating amplification. And indeed, the '86 has much output. I didn't have a proper level meter, but it's somewhere between 10dB and 15dB difference, even with the pickups moved as close as possible to the strings.
Now my question is: What could be the reason that the pickup output of that particular bass is so low and thin? And how could that happen to both pickups?
I know that you fully cannot diagnose my bass without actually having it in fron of you, but I've already tried to work with a technician and am running out of ideas. So, suggestions are welcome. Thanks!
And because no pic, no bass, here she is:
