shoulderpet

Anyone have any experience of this pedal? For just under £25.00 it has to be worth a try SubZero Swollen Thumb Bass Compressor Pedal

Honestly I think a tuner upgrade is one of the most worthwhile upgrades, if you play entry level Fender or Squier basses the tuners on those basses will do the job but that is the best I can say for them. Having used those type of cheaper tuners they go out of tune more easily, I would find when tuning I needed to approach the note very slowly otherwise it would be very easy to overshoot and tune the note sharp or flat. Using higher quality, higher ratio 27:1 tuners they are much more precise, no more overshooting and tuning sharp and they stay in tune for longer, I can pick up a bass I haven't played in days and it will still be in tune

I haven't owned a compressor in eons but the place my band rehearses in has an Ashdown rm-500-evo ii and whilst the general tone of that amp is a little wooly for my tastes the compressor on that amp is a game changer for me, last rehearsal I had the compressor maxed and whilst it might have sounded a bit squashed on its own as soon as the rest of the band started playing my bass tone was really punchy and the more staccato bass parts sounded fantastic, there is literally only the one knob for the compression but whatever preset settings they used sound great Probably worth noting though is that I didnt have the input section of the amp turned up that high and it was not going into the red but still high enough that the compressor was triggered with whatever I played I know a lot of people say that you should not be able to hear compression, is there anyone else here who finds they like a lot of compression?

Thanks, so if I was to use the below diagram as a reference I am guessing the red wire takes the place of the short wire linking the volume pot to the tone (except in this case this would be linking the volume pot to the varitone) and then the black goes to the ground on the output jack?

Am interested in one of these but my electronics and soldering skills are limited, I am a bit of a wiring simpleton and I can't see how this would connect in a normal two control p bass, obviously this would replace the tone pot, has anyone fitted a varitone that can advise me as to how these are wired, thanks

Ohhh 48:1 ratio on the E string!!! The tuners that came on my P bass are 28:1 and honestly going from 20:1 to 28:1 was a revelation, no more overshooting when tuning and accidentally tuning a quarter step sharp

This!!! I have filed nut slots wider before and more often than not when I have gone back to lighter strings they have been fine

Sorry you lost me there, apologies I am a bit of a newb to all this, would you be able to elaborate on what you mean by this, thank you

Ok thanks, I assume also that soldering a capacitor to the copper tape should also be fine? Another thing that I have just thought of is that most of the time there is a ground wire soldered from the back of the tone pot to the underneath of the bridge, could I instead have the ground wire that would usually go to the back of the pot to the bridge wired from the output jack to the bridge?

I have always found soldering to the back of a pot to be tricky, I found a couple of cheat methods on Youtube and wondering if these can work, hoping someone more knowledgeable than me can advise Method 1 - This method I saw the person said you solder to some copper tape, the copper tape then gets attached to the back of the pot, does this work? Is this a good way of attaching ground wires and could this also work with capacitors which usually have one of there legs soldered to the back of the pot, could you solder the one leg of the capacitor to the copper tape and then attached that to the pot? Method 2 - In this method the person soldered a thin guitar string from one lug of the pot to the back of the pot, does this work? could you use this method to attach a ground wire by soldering the ground wire onto the string rather than the back of the pot(I am guessing it needs more direct contact with the pot)? Can you use this method to attach a capacitor by soldering the capacitor onto the string rather than the back of the pot? Thank you

I have a few 1. If I buy a bass and the setup is good, action is low and no buzz then I wont even bother checking the neck relief, I will give the truss rod a quarter turn to check it turns and then give it a turn to revert it back. 2. If I buy a bass and the setup is good, action is low and no buzz and I dont hate the stock strings then I will try and find out what strings it has on it already so that I can either but the same or buy something with the same tension so I dont have to adjust the neck 3. I dont bother with intonation above the 5th fret on the E string, the other strings I do but unless you are playing a Fodera then the E string does not sound pretty when you play high up the neck 4. My knowledge of theory is pretty much non existent There are more but I will leave it at that

So I received my transparent pickguard, unfortunately the screw holes are in the wrong place if it was a solid colour pickguard I would probably just drill new holes but as its transparent sadly I cant do that. I have decided that I am going to get a bunch of cheap pots, jacks and capacitors and use these to practice my soldering on, I have a spare P pickup that I can use to test that the wiring all works, I will continue to use solderless components in the meantime but I feel like learning to solder is probably an invaluable skill to have.

Thanks

Seymour Duncan SPB-2 Hot pickup, lots and lots of low mids, lots of warmth in the lows and somewhat rolled off highs, I'm a fingerstyle player but I think that pickup would sound great with a pick

Yes the treble bleed requires a 0.001 value, I was just curious to see if I could make a capacitor work by putting the legs of the capacitor into the solderless connections

How much work are you considering putting into this? On the Gibson Les paul tribute short scale under the pickup cover they have wired 2 single coil P pickups (like the 51 p bass) together in series, might be a cool idea if you can find a couple of single coils that will fit under the pickup cover https://youtu.be/qkp0unbtYsE?t=550

OMG Again!!!! Man I am whizzed for you, I would try Retrovibe https://retrovibe.co.uk/product/artec-ebc4-cr-mudbucker-30k-for-eb3-eb0-project-bass-pickup/

I am currently using a solderless pot for the volume, I have done a mock up using the stock capacitor that came with this bass (obviously I would be swapping this for the .001 cap), I am a bit of novice with wiring, would this work? Normal colour scheme (black is ground, white is hot) and each leg of the capacitor is going into the solderless connection for pickup hot and ground wires. Just for sh!ts and giggle I gave this a try with the stock Harley benton treble cut capacitor that they use and the volume functioned as a volume control but with the tone rolled off The back of the pot looks like the below (I had to disconnect the pickup wires to get a better picture) I noticed that the lug on the end is not pushed back and soldered to the back of the pot like it is in the treble bleed diagram from your post , the red wire is not attached to anything and I have covered the end of it with electrical tape so it is not making contact with anything

Thanks, I will add treble bleed to my "to do list"

Thanks, it is normal on a single pickup bass? I noticed as I turn down the volume it sounds like of like I have a tone pot that has been turned down about halfway which is odd as I have no tone pot at all

Ok so 1 mod completed, after trying a couple of different wiring configurations I decided to just go with 1 volume no tone for the brightest tone possible without wiring direct to the output jack. Tim at Gig.ink cut the new control plate for me. Tonally this beast is bright, lots of growl and treble on tap. I have a transparent pickguard on the way which will cover up the screw holes but still keep the red finish visible I tried the Kiwi polish trick on the neck but I ended up removing it with some alcohol shortly afterwards as it barely took to most of the neck but on the edges of the neck it left a red stain 🤮 I have been looking into replacement necks and I am considering getting one of the Northwest P bass necks, a Tele style headstock would be nice but is by no means a deal breaker, it is more the pale satin finish that bugs me, I have always been a vintage tint gloss kind of person Ok just noticed that whilst the tone is lovely and bright with the volume on full it gets noticeably darker as the volume is rolled off, is this normal?

Hi I have a bass that I suspect has the nut cut a little high, I searched but could not find anything, basically I am wondering what the action at the 1st fret should be, hoping someone can help, thanks

The way I think about the pricing is that with the MIM Fenders with the Player series you have what is basically Fenders "entry level" instrument ie the cheapest instruments available that will carry the Fender name, ime the Player series is basically comparable to the cheaper Squiers, maybe slightly better quality but not a world of difference and at this price point you are pretty much just paying for the name. When you go up in pricing to Vintera and Classic 50's these basses are a tonne better than the Player series, better necks, hardware, pickups the lot. The player plus series is also better than the standard Player series but I would take the Vintera or the Classic 50s over these . This is all imo and based on my experience only, I had a chance recently to play a load of Fenders/Squiers from the entry level Squiers up to the more expensive MIM Fenders

What are your thoughts on the aftermarket pickups you have tried? The stock pickup is decent but it seems to be a clone of the Duncan Quarter pounder so probably not the most traditional single coil tone, Herrick are probably not either but there promise of a brighter tone with added treble with the Neodymium pickup is intriguing.