Yeah, personally I would go thicker on the low strings for sure, and move to a brighter material. Coated nickel stays brighter longer than uncoated and I like the smooth feel, but stainless steel is grippier and even brighter if desired.johnnysomersett wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 12:33 pmIt sounds a lot better unplugged than plugged in. It's still a little flubby but has more bite and clank than amplified.
Currently using D'Addario Chromes, 100-45, Short Scale.
I guess there may be some improvement to be had going up to 105 and nickel, I must have overlooked the gauge issue
Also, I have no idea what a parallel hot rails sounds like in a bass. That may be a major component as well. Generally, bass pickups tend to be pretty low inductance and even in parallel, that Hot Rails might just not be a tone that you like.
And it's in pretty much the least-aggressive sounding spot on a bass too.
I put active ceramic EMG strat pickups in my Bass VI and let me tell you, those took it from polite and vintage sounding to modern and aggressive in a single bound. My Chowny is active as well, as is the Alembic SCS. My passive shortscale J Bass is much more tame in comparison, though it's not flubby. Just more of a Motown kind of J Bass than a Marcus Miller or Geddy Lee kind of J Bass.
The Stingray shortscales are passive but have custom neodymium pickups designed for them, so perhaps traditional passive pickups might never get you all the way there on that bass.