brensabre79

Well its been resprayed, but not in the neck pocket but aren't there usually dates on the genuine Fender stuff from this era? Not to mention the price!! I was thinking of bidding but thought that it looked like 60s spacing next to my 70s spacing Jazz pic... [attachment=98759:photo.JPG] maybe its the angle.

Why don't you check out this... a bit early, but they were waaaayyyy ahead of their time [media]http://youtu.be/NX4oOHuu9P4[/media]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140690827824&category=41406&_trksid=p5197.c0.m619 Looks like 60s spacing to me (among other dubious things!) What year did they change to 70s spacing?

Make sure your cab is sitting in the corner (I mean right in the corner as in almost touching the walls) if you can or at least flat against one wall. Unfortunately I think its just the boominess of the room you're hearing and whilst you can do so much with a graphic EQ, sometimes you can't get around it. I'm not sure the GrammaPad will do that much either as it seems to be the resonance of the space in the room rather than the floor. A carpet along the whole floor would help because soft surfaces will reduce resonances from reflections, but if you've got your amp off the ground on a chair I'm not sure theres much else...

OK I tested it out with a 4 pos. switch I have while Iwait for the 5 pos. It works perfectly! So I have foregone the 100% neck pickup with 50% bridge as I don't really need this for my purposes. In the 100% Bridge 50% neck position I get all the growl from the BPU with a bit of the thud of the NPU, a little tweak of the preset pot and the mix is just right. I haven't put the capacitor in yet (waiting for those too) and I think I might have to revise the position of that in the circuit but for now I'm pretty pleased with it. once I've put it all together I'll post a revised diagram. Thanks everyone for your help! Bren

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1327511766' post='1512645'] Quite. Why do you think the songs you've chosen to play were successful and popular in the first place? I hate it when cover bands fart around with tracks thinking they're being 'creative' and 'original'. Your audience does not give two sh1ts. They have paid to hear the original! If you want to be 'artistic' and 'express yourself', join an originals band and knock yourself out! That is all. [/quote] This [quote] Edit: Oh yeah, if the original is beyond your abilities, you shouldn't be playing it! [/quote] and this [quote] My, I'm grumpy today, aren't I? [/quote] Yes a little, but it doesn't make you wrong

Cheers mate. Yep, they are the black plastic ones - the ones you sent me a link to at Maplin... Thanks for your help sir! I might have to fiddle with the placement of the capacitor but once the rest of the bits arrive and I get it working right I'll post up on here the final circuit in case anyone else wants to try it out.

Apparently UK launch is early Feb. I think Thomann sold out of their first stock in about a day! Meanwhile I will have gigged and recorded with mine and used all the best sounds by the time you get one, so you'll all just be copying me now

They never sell them at RRP though do they...

I use effects for covers when the song requires it. I sometimes use effects on my original stuff - but with the line up not so much need. What I do not do is get a load of moogerfoogers/phasers/chorus/delay/whatever and obliterate a gentle ballad in the name of creativity. IF I were playing in a dubstep trio I would probably have a two-man lift pedalboard and I would probably use all of it. but I dont', I play in a covers band but it doesn't mean I havent got my own sound

They just arrived in the post, and indeed they do have three! I was wondering how on Earth they worked with two (if you'll pardon the pun). Thanks iKay and iCastle. So... [attachment=98121:wiring-6.jpg]

Not sure, I'll wait until the bits arrive and hook it up and see... The preset resistors only have two points, so in position 4 the signal from the neck pickup is resisted by up to 250k before it gets to the master vol/tone controls. Originally I had the resistor shunting off to earth, but I figured that actually this would just short out the pickup. I guess thats why I'm posting on here in the hope that someone can say "that'll never work because...." or "that will work and it will sound awesome..."

[quote name='1976fenderhead' timestamp='1327415538' post='1510843'] LOL... well, I have a very creative day job and honestly, I realised I didn't have enough creativity to go around for my job and for writing songs, I was getting burned out... and then playing my band's songs in empty-ish London venues for my friends and friends of the other bands, and people just staring at you like statues as you play, and getting treated like sh*t by promoters, and getting no money for it... Too old for that sh*t. At least now I: a ) gig a lot b ) get paid c ) can justify spending loads of money on gear coz I actually use it d ) have more uses for my bass synth than I ever had e ) make people dance and have fun, so I'm happy The downside: f ) have to wear a suit every now and then g ) haven't got a song to use my fuzz in (but plenty to use distortion in so not too bad) Go on kids, sell out! You'll enjoy it! [/quote] Ditto, the only thing I'm not sure about is why it took me so longto realise I have waaay more fun playing other peoples songs to folks who enjoy it than playing my own songs to an indifferent sound engineer and a nasty stain on the floor, oh no wait thats the indifferent sound engineer. I don't get to do my own stuff live these days at all, it just goes out on compilation albums, but that means I can use all sorts of sounds without worrying about recreating it at some excuse for a venue. Tropical insect based percussion sections are my speciality now, I could never get them to chirp in time live, the stain on the floor never had the right microphones and there would always be some cockroach in the venue trying to get in on the act!

[attachment=98074:Screen shot 2012-01-24 at 13.55.57.png]

This should do it I reckon...

I wouldn't necessarily choose to use effects for my own stuff, but playing in a covers band I'm required to use a multitude of different sounds to try and emulate the feel of the record. So for example, in some songs a bass chorus was used on the record - so I have a bass chorus. In some the amp was driven hard in a large room and miked up from 10 feet away. To get that sound I need a bit of overdrive and maybe some reverb. In The Reflex by Duran Duran for example there is a tempo sync'ed delay on the bass at the start of the song. Most of these effects were added at the mixing stage but without them the record wouldn't sound the same (thats why they are there). So I have an inexpensive multi fx unit that covers most of the things and means that the audience gets a faithful reproduction of the songs they've paid to hear... If you're mostly playing original stuff, use what you like! When I play my original stuff I leave Zoom at home and just take a compressor.

Haha exactly what happened to me the day I got mine except it was books Bet you can't wait to gig that setup

[quote name='LawrenceH' timestamp='1327406190' post='1510574'] (I'm assuming you meant 0.047uF?) [/quote] Oh I missed an 0! yes you assume correctly Cool, thanks I've ordered some bits and I will get the soldering iron out on Sunday

Looks cool! Like a Barefaced I don't think it'll make much difference to the sound as it only has one speaker. If it had two, then vertical alignment would increase clarity because of phasing issues, with one like this it'll just move the cone an inch or two closer to your ears, It'll look great though

I'd imagine if they had sufficient reason to discontinue it (e.g.lack of interest / legal dispute etc.) then that would be the same reason to omit it from their multi-effects... Looks like you'll have to scour the 'bay Eude

Thanks Lawrence, an intersting suggestion, I could add the cap just before the Preset VR so I get just the bottom end of the neck with the top of the bridge right? I guess the standard .47uF would do this to some degree, but maybe i wouldn't even need the VR with a higher value one of these in position... Any recommendations for the cap?

They are OK, I don't really use fuzz distortion, but theres a heap of overdrive available in the bass pre/DI section too if thats more what you're looking for.

[attachment=98066:wiring-5.jpg] And here's the pic

OK fine tuned version. I think this will work... so pos. 4 gets a resisted signal from NPU and all of BPU etc. I can fine tune the VR presets to taste and then close it all up and leave it. [quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1327357881' post='1510068'] going back the the original problem... you can't get on with blend or v/v controls... but have an ACG eq in your gear list.... surely that is harder to use than a blend pot? [/quote] Its a good point you make there, but that preamp is on my fretless bass. And in terms of pickup switching I tend to use one of two sounds, neck or bridge, thats it. The sound I use relies heavily on the ACGs parametric and flatwound strings to imitate a double bass - but I can set up my fretless before the gig starts and leave it. What i need this for is my main gigging bass, so I can dial in a preset sound without needing to listen to it in between songs. I do need to change tones throughout the set without subjecting the audience to a one note bass solo while I sort it out. We like to have very short gaps in between songs, literally as the note decays fom the last song the clicks are coming in for the next one, (can be quite frantic at times!) so i just need to switch and go! Cheers Bren [attachment=98065:wiring-5.jpg]