Guitar Thump = Wut?

[AngelCityOutlaw]

So yeah, I'm recording some metal and I have this issue.

For some reason, whenever I palm mute on the A string around the 4th and 5th frets it throws out an insane thump. I don't really notice it when I'm just playing, but mixing it.......holy.

I've tried recording with less bass and less gain. Playing with less attack etc. I'd been using an EQ to try to pinpoint the offending frequency and lower it. I found out that I could kinda fix it if I dropped this one part of the bass range by a huge amount. That didn't really work too well though because although the thump was less audible, it also really hurt the tone.

I don't know why this is happening. It only is happening on that specific part of the guitar. I don't have this issue anywhere else on the fretboard and there does not appear to be anything wrong with the guitar itself. Even if I roll the bass off completely on the amp, it doesn't fix it.

[SonicThHedgog]

So yeah, I'm recording some metal and I have this issue.

For some reason, whenever I palm mute on the A string around the 4th and 5th frets it throws out an insane thump. I don't really notice it when I'm just playing, but mixing it.......holy.

I've tried recording with less bass and less gain. Playing with less attack etc. I'd been using an EQ to try to pinpoint the offending frequency and lower it. I found out that I could kinda fix it if I dropped this one part of the bass range by a huge amount. That didn't really work too well though because although the thump was less audible, it also really hurt the tone.

I don't know why this is happening. It only is happening on that specific part of the guitar. I don't have this issue anywhere else on the fretboard and there does not appear to be anything wrong with the guitar itself. Even if I roll the bass off completely on the amp, it doesn't fix it.

An example would be nice.

[Darangen]

Play it unplugged, does it buzz a lot?

[AngelCityOutlaw]

Play it unplugged, does it buzz a lot?

No buzz10chars

[Darangen]

Do you hear it in headphones? If it's only thumping through speakers it could be your speakers or room acoustics.

[Brandon Strader]

My non-scientific opinion would be that you've got a vibration in your pickups caused by the low-end frequency created by those 2 notes. I used to get a similar effect with a Rogue Squire but on the much higher notes where it wasn't an issue.

My only recommendation would be to buy a nicer guitar or have it checked out by a dude at Guitar Center

[AngelCityOutlaw]

Well, I fixed it.

The amp I have is a modelin' amp and by changing the amp model....strangely enough it solved the problem. My other tone also was pretty mid heavy. Even still though, cycling through all the different amp models and screwing around with the EQs etc, it seems that only the one amp model does this and only on those notes. Like Strader said, pick ups possibly?

Either way, the rumble is gone now.

[Brandon Strader]

The magnetized pegs used to come out of the pickups of my old bass and stick to the strings. Then I'd push it off the string and it'd plop back into the hole and make a nasty click sound. There's a lot of pretty nefarious things that pickups can do.

[SnappleMan]

Don't buy a new guitar. What a horrible suggestion. The huge THUMP you get is because of the way the string vibrates in that position, your pickup height, and your tone settings. Make sure you run your guitar through a compressor to catch that thump, lower the low end EQ on your amp, and lower the pickup height under the bass strings.

The first thing I would do is tackle the string vibration. The string action shouldn't make a big difference in the bass response in your guitar, but if it's set improperly it may be a factor. Make sure you set your guitar up for the lowest possible action without getting fret buzz, that should give you more control over the strings. After that I'd mess with the pickup height and just make sure you have something in place to catch that low end thud (like a compressors). And the most basic solution would be to just mute the string more when you're over the fret position that causes the loudest thump.

[AngelCityOutlaw]

Don't buy a new guitar. What a horrible suggestion. The huge THUMP you get is because of the way the string vibrates in that position, your pickup height, and your tone settings. Make sure you run your guitar through a compressor to catch that thump, lower the low end EQ on your amp, and lower the pickup height under the bass strings.

The first thing I would do is tackle the string vibration. The string action shouldn't make a big difference in the bass response in your guitar, but if it's set improperly it may be a factor. Make sure you set your guitar up for the lowest possible action without getting fret buzz, that should give you more control over the strings. After that I'd mess with the pickup height and just make sure you have something in place to catch that low end thud (like a compressors). And the most basic solution would be to just mute the string more when you're over the fret position that causes the loudest thump.

I have eq'd the bass and lowered the pick up now. Lowering the pick up also seems to have fixed issues with insane amounts of treble I had when soloing.

Fixed the issue all around.

Thanks you guys/girls!