Leaderboard

@lowlandtrees the ACG preamps are very sensitive indeed, i agree. the EQ01, EQ02 and EQ03 are all a very wide frequency sweep. as @BassBunny says, there isn't really a "flat" response, because the idea is that the preamp is mimicking different frequency responses as you manipulate the pots. all pickups have a natural frequency response of broadly the same shape, here is a plot that shows a bunch of different guitar pickups plotted next to one another: you can see that they are all broadly flat until 2000(ish) hz, and then they have a peak and then the frequency drops away. when we say a preamp is giving a "flat" response, we really just mean it is letting the pickup's natural sound through unobstructed. with a traditional boost/cut preamp, you're then applying boost or cut of different amounts at different frequencies. lots of different preamp makers allow for different levels of cut/boost, and at different frequencies, and this is generally what sets these preamps apart from one another. with filter control preamps like ACG, Wal or Alembic, its better to think of them as mimicking the sounds of a lot of different passive setups in one instrument. in a passive bass tone control, you have a pot that slowly pulls down that resonant peak, and then starts to roll off more and more high frequencies. here is a (exagerrated) plot of a normal tone control from the tone at 10, down to the tone at 0: (with the tone at 0 you get a low mid "hump" which is the blue line, ignore that for now ) you can see more and more of the high frequencies being wicked away as the tone control is turned. and different cap values change where the resonant peak and dropoff are: what the filter preamps do is allow you to mimick these different tone controls with a smooth sweep. on the EQ02, the frequency knob sweeps from high frequency to low, and the resonance knob changes the height of the resonant peak. here is a sweep from 500hz (red line) up to 5000hz (blue line) and here is a resonant sweep from 0 (green line) up to 13db ( blue line) the reason the ACG pre feels so sensitive, is that the frequency sweep on the bass filter stack is sweeping over a VERY wide range. all the way up to 6.3KHz, and down to below 100Hz i believe. Alan then also has a treble stack, that allows the treble frequencies to be attenuated sperately. I have an ACG EQ02 in one of my basses as well, and i know exactly what you mean. with the resosnance control all the way up (10db peak), even the tiniest movement of the frequency knob can make an enourmous difference to the sound. in reality with a resonant peak like that the frequency knob is acting like a wah wah pedal. my advice on getting the best out of it would be this: try sweeping the low stack frequency up and down a few times with the resonance knob in different positions. when you can sweep it without the change feeling extremely unnatural leave the resonance control there. then treat the frequency knob as a "set and forget" control as well, find a spot where it gives you the right balance of low end and midrange growl. then use the treble stack as you would a normal tone control. the lower knob chooses the actual sound of the high frequencies, and the upper knob decides how loud you want them to be. it really does take some getting used to, and i admit its certainly not for everyone, but you can get some really great sounds out of it if you give it a little time. i hope all that hasn't just made it more confusing. if you want to learn more about low pass filtering the first page of my latest build log has some details about the different examples out there (wal, alembic, ACG etc) (also, if you want to persevere with filter preamps but find the ACG too sensitive / complicated, im working on some at the moment that are based around Wal's current control setup, but that will let you choose how wide you want the sweep to be.) id also second the general advice that you shouldnt give up on a great bass because of the preamp. swapping out electronics is a great way to change the sounds you get out of a bass without major surgery

Thanks as always guys!! @Simon., ill have to see if theres a "Bowyerchat" somewhere in the bowells of the internet so this week ive started attacking it with a router... scary times. first off i routed the recess for the bridge. the neck is very flat and very straight, and the graphite saddles are fairly tall, so this should give me the adjustability needed to get a nice low action on day 1: and then i started routing the pickup cavities. this is a tough job, the pickups are pretty tall compared to most normal pickups, but thankfully because of the internal height adjustment per string, i dont need to leave a whole lot of room underneath them for springs or foam. here you can see how high the pickup sits at its lowest point, with the "window" that shows the current mode just sitting proud of the body: with both pickups in it gives you an idea of how this is going to end up looking, and just how much space these pickups take up: and, with a little bit of gold enamel paint and a steady hand: nice gold logos! i like these a lot more with the gold logos, it'll really help them stand out. and the gold mounting screws round the edge give just the look i was going for. just enough gold to not be over the top! time for a gratuitous mockup with artsy lighting: this is a pretty good representation of the control layout. the knobs are some aluminium shadowsky style knobs, 4 smaller ones for the filter controls, and 2 larger ones for the volume and blend. there will also be 2 switches for the premap modes on there as well. quite busy, but hopefully not too "mission control" the next step is routing out the control cavitites: the main control cavity is pretty huge, but it will have to be to accomodate the preamps. thankfully the batteries will be on the other side of the body so i dont need to worry about them. the volume control meanwhile will be up on the lower horn, so i simply drilled a hole for that with a large forstner bit and then drilled an acces hole between them the hole for the battery board on the other side is a whopper as well. this is going to be a snug fit. thankfully it all lines up with the lower pickup cavity, which will let me run the power wires through with no problems. last job at this stage is the two holes for the jack sockets. these are slightly recessed, and will accomodate a single mono 1/4" jack, just like a normal bass, that will operate the two preamps blended normally and running on 12v battery power, and the other will accomodate the 4 pin Mini XLR socket that will carry power, ground and the two pickup signals seperately. the plan then is to have an outboard pedal that provides the power, but also has a switchable mono/stereo jack so that i can run to either a stereo preamp / power amp setup, or to a normal bass amp if needed. the body shaping is getting close to being finsihed at this point, and so is the back of the neck. it feels super comfy to hold, and the weight with the pickups, batteries and all of the hardware is sitting aroundabout 9Lbs 10oz. not exactly a featherweight, but not too bad for an artsy fartsy bass like this

If anyone is interested, I've decided to build a recording studio in my back garden. I'm getting fed up with travelling over 150miles in a round trip to the wilds of Essex every time we want to record so am taking the plunge in building my own. So far over the past few weekends there's been some good progress:

Concrete went down. What a mission! Had to get a concrete pump and route it round a neighbours garden. Took all day to do. As it was drying overnight, the local fox decided to leave a permanent reminder of his visit.

There is no flat as such with a filter preamp the filters are engaged all the time. (Unless you have the ACG DFM which has an active/passive option) This is a common misunderstanding made by people who don't really understand how they work. There is however a close to flat as you can get setting. Stack 1 is the volume/blend. Stack 2 Upper ring fully of. Lower ring full on. This is the filter fully open so the full range allowable by the filter is allowed through. Stack 3 as stack 1 Stack 4. Upper ring fully of. This is a gain so with it fully off the highness filter does nothing so the lower rings position does not matter. Both pickups are now useable with the blend and both filters are open the highpass disengaged. The way I would go from there is to move the blend on to the bridge pickup. Then adjust the lower ring of stack 3 until you get something you like. I generally close the filter to a degree to cut the top end so I have a more mid heavy sound. Now move the blend to the neck pickup and do the same. I would normally generate the bottom end from there which again means closing the filter to remove the top end and some of the mids. So you have reduced the preamp to a Volume/Blend/Tone/Tone and that is basically all it is. Now use the blend to go between the two pickups to change the overall sound. The upper ring on stack 2 and 3 just boost the effect of the filter cut off so you get more filter effect if you turn them up. I like them in the centre detent. The preamp only appears complicated if you try to adjust every thing at the same time if you take it one thing at a time it is not that complicated but it does not work the way a 3 band does and most people approach it that way and generally can't get what they want. This is a common problem and it is why filter pre-amps are not that common people as a rule don't really get them. For those that get their head round it you will get sounds you will struggle to get with any other on board pre-amp. But there is a learning curve and some people just don't get on with them which is why I have always offered an alternative to the filter preamps. If you don't get on with the pre-amp and like the bass just replace the pre-amp would be my advice. Sell an 01 will not be difficult and the East Uni-Pre will fit the cavity it is what I use for builds that don't need the filters.

New mini amp day😁, surprisingly loud for such a little thing

Ok, an update. Here’s how it looks now: First thing to say, after experimenting more with bridge pickups, the Seymour Duncan SPB3 (Quarter Pounder) is a great match for the SPB1 at the neck. The thread about dual P pickup basses on Talkbass has this as a common combination, and with good reason. It sounds good. After a lot of work, I think what I have found is that the bridge pickup position best suits a pickup with big bass and big treble. Too much mid in this position just gets a bit too nasally for my taste. The DiMarzio Model P, for instance, works less well here IMO, because it is basically a ‘more of everything’ pickup frequency wise. It sounds fab at the front position though! I used car paint and clear car lacquer on the rear pickup cover to get the colour closer to the body. I now know quite closely the term ‘overspray’ and I can tell you if there are mistakes to be made whilst spray painting, I probably made them. The job is ok but could probably do with me sanding it all back and redoing it completely, but I’m not going to do that, lol. But it looks decent. Once I finished doing the pickup testing, I put a white pickguard back on. Slightly ‘mint’ shade. The chrome electronics cover was convenient for ease of access to electronics, but I think I do like the pickguard aesthetic, and once I finished the testing, I didn’t need easy access anymore, so... I very nearly tried reversing the neck pickup orientation. I think it probably would let the pickups blend better, from reports I read on Talkbass. However, the two ways of doing this (either keeping position same and reversing the orientation of each half, or moving the DG coil closer to the neck by moving it to the other side of the EA coil) both change the ‘Precision’ nature of the sound of the neck pickup considerably, at least IMO. I can’t bring myself to do it, a Precision’s fundamental sound is just too cool. As it is, it sounds like a gnarlier PJ bass. I think of it as being a Precision (so front pickup mostly being run at 100% and blending in different amounts of rear pickup) as opposed to being like a Jazz, where both pickups together is probably my favourite sound. Both pickups fully on together here sounds good, but I’m not sure if it was really worth the effort over many PJ setups. (Assuming the J pickup is a humbucker in those setups, never understood why people introduced single coil hum in that setup). The rear pickup on its own is like a beefier, angrier Jazz pickup. You can definitely 'Jaco out' there now and it is not nasally or clavinet-ish now. It’s fun. If I had my time again, I’d move the rear pickup DG coil right up against the back of the Precision pickguard, and of course start with it being reversed. It just works better. I think I will shell out for a maple Jazz neck on this. I prefer the nut width and the high end spank of maple. But it’s a personal project, very much my bass now, lol. On the whole, for economic effectiveness, I think I would simply say to most people they should just buy a PJ bass, and get most of the same sound without the effort. A split coil Jazz pickup at the rear will get much of the sound without the hassle. Or a Nordstrand Big Split, I bet.

This is one of the most amazing build threads for a while... and @Si600's comment the one that made me laugh!

Would have to now call it 'The Foxtrot Studio'?

Roof finally installed. It's a mixture of wood, felt and fibreglass.

Did quite a lot over the weekend. - Both top and bottom now glued on (1 at a time). Bottom in first, got a really good glue up. Hope 2nd is as good. - Weight reduction cavities routed - Neck rough outline cut, trussrod and graphite rod slots routed - Devised a way to keep body shape as it and still be able to access the tuners - and a few more bits here and there.... Apologies for the upside down pics, my iPad sometimes decides to flip pics when posting to BC.

Couple of gratuitous pics this morning 😊

My advice - if it doesn’t sound great with everything flat, it won’t sound greater with a pre. Sweeping statement I know but you have to start off with a great core tone.

Two NBD in a month! I traded an old Yamaha for a Squier CV Jazz V which I subsequently couldn't get on with and decided 4 strings is what I really want again. Sold the Jazz and a got me a lovely 2011 Bordeaux red G&L SB-2 Tribute. I was originally shooting for a mexican Fender P-bass, but realised I might miss having the jazz pickup for blending. After doing some research online and through searches on Basschat I thought the SB-2 tribute would actually be the one and I wasn't wrong. Loving the slim neck and the punchy pickups! Lack of tone control doesn't bother me, as I can always use some form of parametric EQ if I'm desperate, or just run the volumes lower. Definitely a good purchase and feels very well built and those pickups are superb. Anyone else have one of these?

Where is it located, and what will security be like ? Just, you know, asking for a friend ...🥷

For those of you who liked the Toy Matinee stuff that Guy has done previously, here’s a pretty long video about the band and recording, made by Tim Pierce, the guitarist. It features all the surviving members of that project.

They’re ace. Ive done some recordings with mine to try and give an idea of sounds. I’ll upload shortly - not that I wanted to put this stuff out there, but - what the heck 😂 the top one (soundtrack one) takes a while to get going, “Trav cruises” is a stupid joke I did with @Cuzzie and “Skylines” was more about getting used to a new guitar. it’s wearing well worn sadowsky rounds.

He'd just peed up the doorway and taking in the aroma! Ha! I wish! This was started in February and the weather has stopped work on occasion. As for a discount, well I'll have to brush up on my engineering skills first before I start charging anything. W = 3.5m x L = 5.4m x H = 2.5m

Absolutely love this jazz 🥲

Cheers fellas. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time but just haven't had the funds or had been unwilling to invest so heavily into something like this. Then I had an epiphany and thought, well life is too short, let's go for it. You wouldn't be the first to suggest I call it that and I'm giving it some serious consideration. 😇

Ha ha. ‘Yamaha screams cheap’ made me laugh, especially when the alternative is a Gibson, which I can’t stand. Personal preference I know, but I haven’t played a duff Yamaha yet. Can’t say the same for Gibsons.

Instant cure for GAS - not worth buying from Europe, nothing can get here from the Far East, not worth buying from the US... 😉🙄

Sandberg! Best bang for buck on the secondhand market for sure.

Don't worry, since the Evergiven decided to block the Suez Canal nothing from the Far East will get through anyway.........!

I love mononeon and think he's the most exciting and original player around but can't see what that has to do with Sharay Reed You say Sharay is just a session player but he like mononeon has original music under his own name out there , they're both coming out of church too and mononeon has depped for Sharay in Corey Henry's band, Sharay is way more in the contemporary gospel tradition and one of the masters of it whereas mononeon is a maverick trailblazer and for me a total genius but why on earth use this thread about appreciating a great player to say he's not as good as someone else?

Cheers! Funnily enough it is a Wal through my pedalboard using a chunk of Future Impact mainly coming in on the lower frequencies, then there's a tiny bit of Bass Whammy octave all blended with clean with Wounded Paw blender, then through my BBE preamp (with a touch of compression) and into Ableton where there's a touch more compression and a waft of dub delay...

This has been fun.

OK, this might go on a bit, but this is pretty much it. When I was a wee lad, Hamer were the new kids on the (guitar) block; sure, I was aware of Gibson/Fender etc. but my exposure to these brands was likely via Beat Instrumental, Top Of The Pops, the Bell catalogue (and so on). I can still remember the fevered, 'what was that guitar?' conversations at school the night after seeing Slade on TOTP where Dave Hill would be playing the Super Yob or a Burns Flyte. (This would never happen now, I suppose, which saddens me!) Anyhow, in the early 80s, Hamer were carrying out some fairly persuasive and proactive marketing...I'd go up to Denmark Street with my mates and many of the shops there had piles of these full colour US-letter sized flyers for the various Hamer models (The Special, Sunbursts, Vectors, Standards, Prototype - just type 'Hamer Flyers' into Google and you'll see how radical this was); we'd all pick up the flyers and have them taped to our bedroom walls when we got back. Despite none of us having the available coin to actually buy one, we did feel that Hamer was our brand, which was odd considering we were just a bunch of home-counties kids; Hamer were a little bit mental, a bit risky, a bit exciting and a bit edgy. We were all huge Cheap Trick fans too, which kind of sealed the deal. On one trip to the smoke, I happened upon the Cruisebass flyer below...early to mid-80s. There was a small pile of these postcard-sized things and the same shop also had the bass itself (in the same red and black livery) hanging on the wall and it was just beautiful. Cue angels singing. Smitten. The price tag was ridiculously expensive, my memory is clouded, but I think it was well over a grand, maybe £1,250 or more. Back then I was doing filing in an office and earning £250 a month, £50 of which went to my mum in housekeeping(!), so it was unattainable - which is why I ended up playing Ibanez stuff for so long (£187 for a Ibanez Roadster RS924 was pushing it). I was always looking for one; I'd owned other Hamer basses...a Scarab, Chapperal and I still have a FBIV (Thunderbird), but I've always wanted a Cruise. Sure other basses curried favour (predominantly Thunderbirds) and a couple bobbed to the surface for a while (Rickenbacker), but the Cruise was always there just under the surface, just rare enough for them to be out of reach, with sellers believing they're worth way more than they realistically are. I paid £600.00. I know it's not much, but think about it for a moment, it's a handmade (boutique?) bass, made in pretty small numbers by a team of less than a dozen luthiers in a little woodshop in the Chicago suburbs. These were the same people who made these made the guitars used by hundreds of bands from (love 'em/loathe 'em) Cheap Trick, Judas Priest, Skid Row, Kiss, Def Leppard, Lita Ford, The Police, Aerosmith, Nick Lowe, The Pretenders etc. etc. Roll forward to 2021, @cetera was the first of many to let me know this was up stupidly cheap. It was always coming to me...

I'm sure you will have a selection of willing volunteers to practice your engineering skills on for free to get you there. Great topic.

Nice work...and all in under an hour (your first post was 51 mins ago). Discount for BCers when it's up and running?

Sofits attached

The hardcore went down and was compacted. I've also decided to concrete most of the garden. No more cutting grass for me. Hurrah!!

Thanks all for your warm welcome

Note the trussrod access

I stopped taking my old Precisions out on the road a little while ago and. initially, used Fender Japan 70US models with Bass Doc tort scratchplates live. I swapped out the pickups for Kent Armstrong Vintage P's. I was asked (by Simon at SVL) if he could build a bass for me and I ended up getting two. They are copies of my 66 Precision but in a finish based on the mocha/black combination of late 70's basses. If it weren't for Simon I would still be using the Japanese basses as they are extraordinarily good and consistent (never bought one having played it first and every one has been brilliant). Here are the oldies and t he Japanese basses together - the other is a Classic 50s. The 66 is, as you might imagine, is in the middle of the front row.

I must say, I struggled abut with my acg pre for the first wee while too. Not ensure what I have but it's bass mid(sweepable) high with a pull pot for ultra high. In fact, I found its output was actually clipping the input of my b3n. But persevering with it is the best advice I can give. You'll get used to it, and you'll find the little settings you like. I find I tend to roll off a tiny bit if bass and push low mids. Or sometimes I go the complete opposite.. Push bass and treble and remove the mids! Very powerful!

I wouldn't punt it based on the preamp. East does a bunch of other more conventional preamps you would find easier to work with, and easy to change, as they are solderless connectors. This preamp would probably fly out of the classified ads if the price was right.

I like it too. Great guitar playing; great singing. Must be honest, I don't really get people slagging off music they don't enjoy listening to, often to the point of prejudging it before a note is played. It's a free country (more or less...), but if you don't like it then why not just say so and be on your way? When the thread title starts with the words 'Jazz cover' it's not exactly aerospace engineering to work out what it's likely to sound like, surely?

Just bought some great headphones from Patrick, who's been a pleasure to deal with from start to finish! Great comms, super-fast shipping and as I said, really good headphones. Highly recommended! 👍 Thanks Patrick - I'm really pleased with the Audio Technica h/phones and hope to deal with you again. 😊 Cheers Nik

I have no issue playing any of my basses, no matter where. It has nothing to do with the price. Why is a gig different from any other playing situation? My cats - or them others living in my house - could drop a bass from the sofa, the neck could be warped, if the instruments are in the direct sunlight... meteorites, fire, what else?