Ibanez SR series: 3 band EQ settings - is the electronic really that bad?

wneff

wneff

Supporting Member
May 27, 2003
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#1
I recently bought a SR30th5II bass - the semi acoustic

Depending on what speaker I use the sound is sometimes a bit boomy, and read that many feel that the electronic is not good. So....I alligator clipped an output directly from the volume pot and the bass sounds a lot cleaner. Next I tried to emulate that sound with the active eq, and I found I can get close if I lower bass and treble about halfway (direct sound is similar to PUs direct).

With this as my baseline I achieve now 4 sounds very very simple: (bass, mid and treble ALL dialed back half way)
- Rock bass: Front pickup, switch to 250 Hz: Really nice round rock bass sound.
- Slap bass bass: Both PUS, switch to 750 Hz
- Modern Fingersyle: Both PUs, switch to 500 hz
- Snarly Jazz: Bridge PU, switch to 500 Hz.

What are our favorite settings?
This is into an EA iAMP800, Bass at +10 @135, -5 @350, -10 @ 1k, -5 @3.5 k
 

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#2
Dunno ... I've never heard nor read anything downright bad about the pre. Read some upgraded to Aggie or Bart for an upgrade I guesd. I've owned six SRs and one BTB and the preamp/pickup combo is one of the reasons I keep coming back to them. I can make mine sound like almost any other bass. So my settings are all over the map to mimic tones I need playing covers.

If you don't like it though, trade it. There are so many awesome and reasonably priced basses out now that you can surely find something that works for you.
 
#5
Phlipper said:
Dunno ... I've never heard nor read anything downright bad about the pre. Read some upgraded to Aggie or Bart for an upgrade I guesd. I've owned six SRs and one BTB and the preamp/pickup combo is one of the reasons I keep coming back to them. I can make mine sound like almost any other bass. So my settings are all over the map to mimic tones I need playing covers.

If you don't like it though, trade it. There are so many awesome and reasonably priced basses out now that you can surely find something that works for you.
Click to expand...

I do like it, especially the semi acoustic aspect. Just wondering how others use the EQ - in all my years I never lowered bass and treble,,,,
 
#6
I don't think I've ever lowered the bass knob, either. I do use the treble roll off sometimes. Sounds like the hollow body may be a little bassy? The SR combos are a bit bright to my ears when set flat, so I definitely get that one. Plus you're strings are new, yes? Very snappy?

As I mentioned, I'm kinda all over the map with the EQ. I guess in general here's what I'm doing ...

* for a P bass tone, kinda growly, I roll full front pickup and anchor on the front pup
* old motown I roll full front and back off the treble, anchor on front pup and play well forward
* for a pseudo upright tone it's full front pup, treble off, mids to taste and a foam or band mute across the strings
* horn-like Jaco tone is full rear pup, bump the mids, a little bass, maybe roll off a little treble, anchored on the rear pup and fingered right up next to or on the rear pup
* slapping is treble full, bump the bass, a little off the mids, both pups on (centered)
* my general 'everything else' tone usually winds up everything flat with treble to taste, anchored rear pup, fingered more toward the center
* on my defretted SR300M it's full rear pup, mids full, and fingered right on the end of the board

But mine are all solid bodies, Peavey SS amps, and EB Cobalt Slinkys. These settings may suck on the hollow body. I'd like to try one of those but have never seen one in the wild.
 
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#7
Thinking more about it .... I set my amps with gain pushed (which doesn't add dirt but changes the tone) and eq generally flat but roll off the mids when solo, mids back up with band or even pushed with a louder rock or country gig. And I adjust bass kinda based on the room, so that I generally don't have to touch the bass on my guitar's eq.

Have you tried to get 'your sound' using the amp's eq with all the guitar knobs in the detent? Might be worth a shot. Or would this screw up the mix for your other basses?

If your main is a G&L L-series they are, as you already know, pretty hugely versatile, too. (And awesome growl!) But the passive combinations on it may operate wildly different from the SR.
 
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#8
Phlipper said:
Thinking more about it .... I set my amps with gain pushed (which doesn't add dirt but changes the tone) and eq generally flat but roll off the mids when solo, mids back up with band or even pushed with a louder rock or country gig. And I adjust bass kinda based on the room, so that I generally don't have to touch the bass on my guitar's eq.

Have you tried to get 'your sound' using the amp's eq with all the guitar knobs in the detent? Might be worth a shot. Or would this screw up the mix for your other basses?

If your main is a G&L L-series they are, as you already know, pretty hugely versatile, too. (And awesome growl!) But the passive combinations on it may operate wildly different from the SR.
Click to expand...

Thanks - I am generally successful with getting good to great sounds with this bass, I am just curious what settings other people have found. There seem to be a lot of really useful, warm and very different sounds in this bass....so whatever other people are doing is a great help as a baseline.
 
#9
I've really been curious about them. And it was in the running when I was looking for a 5+ string recently. I thought t'd be nice to have a hollow body with the Ibby EQ and one that wasn't boomy. But I'm kinda leary, not being able to test one out.

Set flat .... how would you compare the base tone to the G&L?
 
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