Mudbucker Blues and how to Combat It.

Ric used a .0047uF as a bass blocking capacitor on the bass bridge pickup. On more recent models it's on a push-pull switch, optional.

Since no one knows what the bassist and you will like best, I'd have ready a .01 and a .0022 (double or half of .0047), and try them too, while it's open.

 

I don't know about adding a cap, but I'd explore eq options first. "Mud" typically refers to the bottom of the midrange from 200-300 hz-ish. If the bass amp can do this, try cutting the mids there, and boosting in the top of the midrange, maybe around 600-800 hz. That can help the low end stay, the mud get downplayed, and give the bass a boost where it will cut and not get lost in the mix. Different basses will like this done in different spots of the frequency ranges so sweeping through the areas I suggest is best to find what works for this one. Ideally with an eq that let's you shift where the frequency centers of the boost/cut happens, or with a multi-band graphic eq.

 

https://www.tdpri.com/threads/hi-pass-filter.324387/

Cap values in the .010uF-.0047uF (10000pF-4700pF) range should do the trick. The person in that thread who recommended .068uF is off by an order of magnitude (too big, they really meant .0068uF). The smaller the cap, the more the bass cut. A .068uF cap used as a high-pass will barely filter anything at all in the audible range, while .0068uF (6800pF) migt be perfect. That's twice or three times as big (lower cutoff frequency) as the size recommended for guitars.

Depending which EB it is, it might have a knob you can repurpose. Do you really need 2 volumes and 2 tones. One master treble-cut (low pass) tone control and one master bass-cut (high pass) tone control will be MUCH more versatile than a normal treble tone control for each pickup.

You don't need the knob, though, the cap in series all by itself will do the trick.

Additional articles, the first with sound samples (guitar not bass but again the entire demo is about clarity):
https://tonefiend.com/guitar/two-band-ptb-tone-control-useful-easy-cheap-awesome/
https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/24592-the-recording-guitarist-the-fabulous-focus-knob
https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/21112-three-must-try-guitar-wiring-mods

.022uF (2200pF) is good for guitar. For bass you prrrrobably don't want to go that small or it will sound very without-body.

 

Interested to see where this goes. I like, and am curious about, EB basses and unfortunately most threads I see about them say little about tackling the issues you refer to. Interested to see your solution and whether it does the trick.

(I play a p-style bass, but for me a
low- mids dip around 340-350 Hz and a slight bump at 100-150 seems to lose some mud but retain some beef. Also like a broad, gentle bump across 650 Hz-1.3 kHz...might be useful starting points to try and mess around with.)

 

If Jack Bruce hadn't have used that distorted tuba tone with his EB3 in the late 60's, it wouldn't have sounded like Cream. My friends and I were big Cream fans, but even back then we'd say "Man, Jack Bruce is so great, but what the frick's with that tone?"

Good luck with a fix. If it doesn't work maybe you could do a Cream tribute thing?

 

Bass eq pedal?

 

Problem: Gibson (and Epiphone) don't know jack about bass pickups but their basses are so darn cool.
Solution: Jason Lollar

 

Most of the guys I know who play muddy turn the tone way down because they think it sounds more bassy. When I play, I mix in some bridge with neck pickup and turn rhe tone up enough so it pops. Mids go a long way in clarifying bass signal.

Lately I have been running a bass preamp pedal. I eq it with low mids at noon, high mids 1 oclock, treble at 10 o'clock and bass at 11 o'clock.

 

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It's from machine wound pickups -- too much internal capacitance. Boutique hand-wound pickups scatter the windings and cut the capacitance at least in half. But you don't need to go there.

The capacitor in series option previously posted works. I use it all the time on guitars with muddy pickups. It brings back the clarity.

You can also swap in higher kohm volume pot(s) and different tone caps. The fast answer is just use that series cap. On guitars I use 0.047uF.

Just unsolder the muddy pickup hot lead from the switch and tie the cap leg to the pickup lead and the other to the switch. Solder and done. You can test drive different caps but really it won't make much difference as long as you are in that general range.

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It's highly likely that your bass player likes the sound he is getting, otherwise he would already be trying different equipment and things to try to get a clearer tone.

 

My EB0 sounds like mud. It's a part of the reason I bought it. It doesn't have to though. If I pluck the strings mid-point or close to the pickup, it is deep, low, and perhaps lacks bite and clarity, but it wuffles along nicely. If I pluck close to the bridge, it gains some bite and clarity. It'll never be Fender J on the bridge pickup, but it gets mighty close to a centrally mounted Precision pickup sound in terms of the bite. There is a lot of tonality to be had through variance of right hand technique, finger angle and hand position. <shudder> even try a pick...
EQ can solve the rest.

 

The original mudbucker circuit had a second cap (.001uF) that shunted the highs to ground. The only Epis this appeared on were the Kalasmazoo-made Newport and Rivoli in the 60s.

The modern day Epi EB-0 doesn't have that second cap. And its pickup is not a mudbucker. It's the same sidewinder design as the original but it's not overwound at all.

 

I hate mud.

Here is a foolproof way to get rid of it: Sentell’s UnMudbucker.

I was literally floored at the clarity this thing produces, even right up against the neck.