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ES330 with too much bass


bacham

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Hi all!

 

I have a 2012 ES330 VOS Custom Shop with dogear P90s and I play it with my Fender Princeton Reverb

 

I absolutely love the tone I get from the E B G and D strings, but the A and E strings are almost unplayable due to the extreme amount of bass they produce. It seems they have pretty extreme output even when I roll the bass all the way down on the amp and have to lower the volume on both guitar and amp just so the floor doesn't crack from all the bass. This happens even at volume levels of 1 or 2 on the fender amp... It just doesn't seem right.

 

I have two other guitars which work perfectly well with the Fender amp: a Stratocaster and an Epiphone les paul with Seymour Duncan pearly gates, but neither of them have this issue, so it seems it isn't the amp.

 

I have tried adjusting the poles on the P90s but they don't go very low and it seems you can't adjust the height of the pickups.

 

I love the tone I get from the guitar, I just wish I could play the bass strings as well.

 

Does anyone have any tips??

 

Thanks very much!!

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Even if you roll way back on the neck pickup? If so, it does seem a bit unusual. I have the exact same model & haven't had a problem dialing in the tone I'm after, but sometimes a particular guitar & amp combo will create a strange mix.

 

For those times, I use an older Fishman EQ unit that was made for acoustic guitars: either the ProEq-2, or ProEq-Platinum (I have both). These are small offboard units that allow you to dial in tone beyond the onboard amp settings. Although designed for acoustic guitars, they work perfectly well with electric setups, and add virtually no external noise.

 

It may seem like an off-beat solution, but with these units, I've been able to significantly alter & expand the character of my amps. Probably bought them about ten years ago, and at the time they ran $100(Eq-2) to $150(Eq-Platinum). Those versions are no longer available new, but they've been replaced by a redesigned Platinum model that currently retails for $299.

 

The 330-VOS is a great guitar. Hope you are able to dial it in to your satisfaction.

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Hi bobouz,

 

thanks so much for your reply. I hadn't thought of an external EQ and it might be a good idea. I'm not much of a tone-tinkerer so it didn't occur to me.

 

I do wish there was a more 'organic' solution though - but maybe it is just a bad guitar/amp combination. I would have thought the Fender princeton reverb would be a good fit...

 

What amp do you use with your ES330?

 

If you have any other thoughts I'd be interested in hearing them!

 

Thanks!

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bacham - All I'm after is a very clean tone with a little reverb. After a lot of experimentation, I've settled on a number of amps from the USA-made '90s Fender red knob series, including the tube Super 210, and the solidstate Princeton Chorus. Both of these amps use two 10" speakers. The Deluxe-85 (1x12) is also a favorite.

 

It's really difficult to make amp recommendations, since tone is such a subjective thing. But one thing is for sure - the amp matters as much as (or more than) the guitar in the final delivery of sound. You could experiment with speaker swaps, but that might alter what's already working with your other guitars, and your Princeton Reverb should be delivering a very sweet clean tone in it's stock configuration.

 

It's a dilemma, but I'd probably start with the external EQ.

 

Best of luck!

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This does seem an odd state of affairs.....[unsure]

 

I have played many P90 guitars....some are a bit 'shouty' in certain frequency areas.....:blink:

 

An EQ pedal could 'remove' the offending frequencies which might be specific bands in the bass area

 

As suggested, working back from an acceptable tone could achieve the desired effect

 

I have played Epi Casino, Peerless Songbird and currently ES330....[thumbup]

 

IMX hollow bodies are inherently more boomy in the bass than centre block ES335's etc

 

My ES330 sounds good through a typical AC30 ,Fender Deluxe and Roland JC type amp

 

V

 

:-({|=

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Something doesn't sound right to me. I play a 330 through a Princeton Reverb (1971 with a Weber 10F150T speaker) and don't have this problem.

I do tend to roll the bass completely down on the amp though which is fine.

 

You say that other guitars work fine with your amp. so that doesn't seem to be the problem.

 

Does your 330 work fine with other amps?

 

This should be fixable.

 

-B

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi all!

 

I have a 2012 ES330 VOS Custom Shop with dogear P90s and I play it with my Fender Princeton Reverb

 

I absolutely love the tone I get from the E B G and D strings, but the A and E strings are almost unplayable due to the extreme amount of bass they produce. It seems they have pretty extreme output even when I roll the bass all the way down on the amp and have to lower the volume on both guitar and amp just so the floor doesn't crack from all the bass. This happens even at volume levels of 1 or 2 on the fender amp... It just doesn't seem right.

 

I have two other guitars which work perfectly well with the Fender amp: a Stratocaster and an Epiphone les paul with Seymour Duncan pearly gates, but neither of them have this issue, so it seems it isn't the amp.

 

I have tried adjusting the poles on the P90s but they don't go very low and it seems you can't adjust the height of the pickups.

 

I love the tone I get from the guitar, I just wish I could play the bass strings as well.

 

Does anyone have any tips??

 

Thanks very much!!

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Hi all!

 

I have a 2012 ES330 VOS Custom Shop with dogear P90s and I play it with my Fender Princeton Reverb

 

I absolutely love the tone I get from the E B G and D strings, but the A and E strings are almost unplayable due to the extreme amount of bass they produce. ...

 

I have two other guitars which work perfectly well with the Fender amp: a Stratocaster and an Epiphone les paul with Seymour Duncan pearly gates, but neither of them have this issue, so it seems it isn't the amp.

What strings do you use on these guitars? I know the boomy bass strings phenomenon very well from flatwounds on six-string guitars and four-string basses, regardless of instrument or pickup build or brand.

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