Need seasoned bassists help here

[shinobi]

you must take ur amp into consideration as well... cos my amp will distort if i pluck my active bass too hard lol

anyway i digress

Maybe can try plucking at the back pickup, or tilt the right hand fingers backwards (ie towards the bridge) and pluck.

it should give higher tension but less vibration.

that would give greater tension, but the tone would be totally different than if you were to say play over the pickups, or play over the fretboard. it gets deeper and deeper

and the tone also changes if you play 2 over the top, with the thumb, or a pick etc. alot of tonal possibilities you will discover that makes bass playing fun

 

[reyrey]

maybe your cone got problem if the amp got distorted... :roll:

 

[shinobi]

nolah, its doesnt distort and actually has a nice tone if the volume doesn't go beyond around halfway. strictly a practice amp i guess. but i prefer it to those 25w-30w amp that are supposedly very 'loud' but sound like shit.

in fact when i downsized my bedroom amp i was extremely dissatisfied with the tone. having tasted something sweeter i just couldn't go back to the same old fruit. but that amp was only temporary