steves1053 Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 I discovered something I want to share. I have had my 4 string Variax bass for sometime and love it. Recently I decided to buy a 5 string. I found one on line at a reasonable price. When I got the five string I noticed the low B was very low compared to the other four strings. I looked online and tried a few things. I re-flashed the bass. It didn't work. I followed the blogs and tried a few things none of which worked. Including re calibrating the string volumes. The low B always seemed at half volume compared to the other strings. Long story short. I replaced the piezo. I found it a this site for $14.00 each. http://www.fullcompass.com/prod/114557-Line-6-11-11-0001 I bought a bunch. I received them quick as well. Good site. I have several spare piezos for the future now just in case. Very easy to replace. all you need is a screw driver and be proficient at soldering. After replacing the piezo, still the same. I was shocked. Before I started removing anything else I decided to try one more thing. I took my micrometer and found the low B to be .125. These were the strings that came with the bass. I replaced the .125 with a .120. Low and behold the volume is now equal to all the rest. Plus some low frequency noise that was there is gone as well. All the strings sound equal in volume and sound quality. I am so happy. I have obsessed with string gauges over the years. If I had not, I probably would not have thought to do this. It's quite possible I never had a piezo issue. It was a string gauge that was a little too big for that particular piezo to handle. That of course is only a guess as I am not an electrical engineer. Maybe someone from Line 6 can comment on Basses and the recommended string gauges to use. My 5 string now works great. So before you replace a piezo, try going a little lighter on the strings to see if that helps. Changing a string is much easier that changing a piezo. When troubleshooting always start with the easiest thing you can do and work towards the most difficult. I followed the Blogs and did what sounded correct. This advise is only for basses as they are the biggest strings. Since guitar strings are much thinner, if you experience the same volume issue, it is probably a piezo problem on the guitar. Just wanted to pass on what I had found. Thanks and Good Luck. 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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