Woodinblack

it can be for the reason you don't like it. If you check the big retailers they list what their policies are. I have returned basses and other items to andertons and G4M without issues.

Noone wants to make a bad purchase choice, which is why the best thing you can do is play one, I know, pretty hard if you can't find one. You haven't listed where you are so hard to say what your options are, but obviously some of these things are easier to try than to find, for instance it doesn't matter what colour the Gibson LP Junior is if you just want to try it, rather than if you want to buy etc. Sometimes it is very hard to know what you are going to like. I don't like 4 string basses and hate flatwounds, yet I picked up a CV mustang recently, slapped flatwounds on it and it is all I am playing for the moment. Its really hard to tell what is going to 'click' without trying it.

Wow - I would have to spend at least a day in my music room to get it even close to being as neat as that. I can't really contemplate being that tidy!

I have gigged the CTM, but not clean. Which is why I don't really use it much - I save it for occasions with PA support, which is not that common for me.

Depends, you have a high and low input. on the high input you can barely get the preamp to overdrive at all. In the low input you can, but in normal use it just basically makes the sound thicker. Obviously it is just 100 watts, so you can get the power amp to overdrive pretty easily. I love the sound, I just don't like the weight and TBH, I have got an ABM600 now which makes a lovely sound with a bit more volume.

Thanks - will investigate, although those pickups look a lot bigger than the ones on the classic vibe, or maybe it is an optical illusion

I have one I would sell but there is no way I am posting it, so I hadn't bothered putting an ad up!

I put flats on it yesterday. Considering I don't play 4 string basses, and I don't like flats, I am enjoying this a surprisingly large amount, its really good (a bit buzzy in my living room) although the pickup is a bit microphonic. So where can you get a perloid scratchplate for this? I have looked around, can't find anything. I could just get the material and make something, but it would probably be bad if I did. I know there are custom places, but it seems that this would be a normal thing?

Hipshot ultralites. The ibanez monorail tuners on the EHBs, East preamp, Nordstrand big singles / big splits. Dunlop strap locks. Or the new Shaller ones. I wish I could pick!

Well, the 6.8 is standard resistor size in the E12 & E24 resistor range, which is 'normal' values. 690 would be a specialist value, and as the resistors used in those guitars would be around 10%, it is well within the range!

The F is only a semitone above the 8th string of a chapman stick in classic tuning and that doesn't break (and on a railboard is also 34", or 36 on a standard stick).

Having a look at the P pickups I have here, one in an ibanez Talman (budget as hell), and one in a Maruszczyk which is a Nordstrand P5, but before that was either a hausel or delano, not sure (probably the former), they were all equal sizes - I didn't even check with the replacement to see if it fit but it did. Is it not normal that both halves are the same size, I think the issue is you just want another dummy polepiece on the side that only has 2. Couldn't you just stick a silver dot on the half that has 2? Actually thinking about it the original Hausel pickup in my P didn't have pole pieces. Can't find a pic of my hausels, but here are some delanos, would this not be ok? https://www.delano.de/pc_5_he_m2/pc_5_he_m2_details.html

Indeed - I like the 5 string. I mean I like rics but I couldn't spend that much on a 4 string, as they don't get played much. Just need to know if it is something that I can use first. I figure at some stage someone I know will have one and I can give it a try, I doubt I will ever see one in a shop!

I almost got one a couple of months ago, and I keep going backwards and forwards about it, but until I have had a chance to play one I can't really justify it! Congrats on the new bass, hope it is great

So yes, you have a different board, this one: So to achieve that same effect its even easier, you just get a piece of wire to connect the white from plug one to the white from plug 3, and just in case they are not internally connected (although I am sure they are), the black from plug one to the black from plug 3.

I deleted my previous comment about there appearing to be a blend as I assumed you wouldn't be wiring another one if there was! Then I looked for a wiring diagram online but couldn't find one, but assumed you must have one in the box. So on the circuit board where the pins are, does it say what the connections are?

So I was missing all the bit about the preamp. Simple way to follow what is going on, I am guessing the electronics are in the back and the bass is together with the strings on? if you ignore the preamp (take the battery out), ground the outside of a jack plug plugged into an amp (remember to turn it down), so the outside barrel touches ground, you should be able to touch the tip to where the red wire connects on the blend and get the sound of the bass. If you don't get that there is nothing you are going to get from the preamp. Judging by the look of that kit, I assume it has everything you need once you get past the input. Also when you say yours has a long barrel jack - was it active before this as there are a lot of barrel jacks you get that have 3 pins but aren't trs sockets (confused myself with that one before). It has to be a TRS socket or the switching wont work (on the plus side it will be always on, so at least it will work for a bit)!

Well, thats ok, although if you have another pickup (unless it is the same type wired the same) it will be out of phase.. I was confused as you showed that Warman pickup diagram, which show that green and red were one side, which you shorted together and black and white were the other phase which were also shorted, whereas the other diagram seems to show kent armstrong which have different wiring. So what pickups are they? I assume not those warman. Have you buzzed out and made sure there is a connection between white and (one of green or red) and then (one of green or red) and black? Also you should be able to buzz out between the Red output and the earth on that bass and have a value with the knob fully towards that pickup which is 1 / (1/(resistance of pot) + 1/(total resistance of your pickup))

You are right:

you did, if only I had waited before ordering!

It says in the pickup description "Black is pre - soldered to earth wire". Black is the earth, white is the output. If you tie the white to earth you have shorted out the whole pickup, you wont' get anything at all. Seemed odd when you said black was output, black is almost always earthed.

Pretty close to the Bass VI tuning

Ooh thanks, I will get some of those then

Needs to be something like this - assuming if that wire is earth, and the red wire is out.

OK, now I was going to try to get some flats, but they are so expensive. Normally I don't mind but every experience I have had with flats has had me running back to rounds. But I thought this probably is something it would work with, so maybe some chromes would work? But the wrong side of £40 or having to shop with Amazon, nether of which I am particularly keen on. Seems if you get long scale they are cheap, but am I right in thinking I need medium? I suppose i have my last set of 5 string chromes, maybe I can just trim those down.