itu

Not bad at all, well done. Did not find any faults, either. As I started from the classical side, the minors were written with small letters, but that is old music... It might be nice to enhance tritone (A4/d5).

If the battery change or possible wire connections do not change the situation, I would turn to Master himself.

https://www.thomann.de/gb/strings_for_electric_bass.html - 045 is the most common gauge - the number 045 equals 0.045 inch, or 1.143 mm and it is the thickness of the G-string (funny?) - if you want lighter, try 030 - 040; need for heavier set, start from 050 - there are basically three types of strings: roundwound (most common, brightest), halfround, and flatwound (really dark) - there are two materials: nickel (a more even sound, really good for fretless, too), and stainless steel (brighter, resembles a bit of that smile-shaped eq curve) - acoustic bass likes bronze strings but their output is really low compared to Ni and SS - coated strings have a polymer on top and they are claimed to last longer; if you sweat a lot and like bright sound, try a set of Elixirs or similar - there are strings for short scale instruments, too, so do not opt for 32" or similar, sets that fit 34" or longer is your choice - a special tuning (lower or higher than the basic (C)GDAE(B) ) needs special strings - this would be a start of a long discussion that I won't get into - there are few manufacturers (D'Addario, GHS, Rotosound...) and several companies that sell their strings (Fender, Lakland, Fodera etc.) Some suggestions: https://www.thomann.de/gb/daddario_eps1655.htm https://www.thomann.de/gb/daddario_exl1705sl_5stringsaiten.htm https://www.thomann.de/gb/elixir_14782_stainless_steel_5_l_m.htm

I would use #1 so, that there in the shielding is a pole/point/terminal of some kind where all ground wires connect well together. I would say that both would work but the first is a bit better way of doing this.

You have several grounds that are connected to the same ground point. This includes the preamp. There is no need to connect the ground to the switch. The switch only directs the signal through the preamp or not. That's it.

Some thoughts about the color first. Plain white is very visible, but do you really need the fretlines on top? Would a black or white plastic sheet look good? How about some glow-in-the-dark for stage use? You will get some colour difference, no matter how close the material will be. I have no idea, how to fill the fretboard, if there are chipped places, so someone may have practical ideas of performing the modification.

An easy and common way of making a very good quality headphone amp, is to use the power amp and few high power resistors. So the issue may be in the power amp, too. https://support.fender.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002392666-SWR-Amp-Schematics The schema tells, that the power amp section is its own. Please check the FX-loop, just in case (put a bass cable in between). Other than that, the amp needs to be opened and measured to find the issue. There seems to be lots of TPs, there. Should help.

A tube / A valve, as it is glass and becomes hot, makes some noise while warming up. But that light blinking may lead to another place, maybe to a capacitor. Capacitors get old. If you need to change them, the parts do not cost much (like £0.5 - 5 each) but the work costs something. It might be reasonable to show that amp to someone who has at least some experience in tube amps. My simple guess is that the actual work takes approx. three hours: opening and closing the unit is 1 hour, and 2 hours of desoldering and soldering the new parts. If the maker needs to visit or order parts, you may need to add that to work hours. After such a work, the unit may work well for the next 10 - 30 years.

https://www.spruceeffects.com/effects/old-growth-fuzz/ https://amptweaker.com/bass-tightfuzz/ The first is for the hi-Z basses, another for lo-Z. I have an old Dean Markley Overlord tube for fun. I tried quite a few before choosing these. Dark Glass Microtubes B3K, age old Muff, Vemuram, Way Huge Pork Loin etc. but most of them had some issues with adjustments or sound. Dark Glass Duality was very interesting but when I had the money, there was not one around.

Questions: Is that Phantom power on? Does the sound resemble a tube warming up? (Is there a tube?) Try an earthed power socket. Turn all knobs down, listen, and then up (except vol; maybe up to 11 o'clock) and check for possible issues.

Now you have to collect the money needed to that bass. Take her home and start to find "interesting" details. Sell after a year or two. Welcome to the GAS-family.

Yes, plain X-tals. But the size matters, as the sweet spot of the frequency peaks vary. It is reasonable to try few different sizes if possible. I would also suggest a very high input impedance buffer close to the X-tal. It changes the sound from being picky and icky to full and round. FET-based preamps are very good to do the job. Some effects may have so good input buffers, that they solve the issue (like tce SCF).

I think Lexicon does not patent their reverb stuff because of this.

bartolini uses colours, so follow them carefully. If you want to revise your pic, another 470 k in the bypass switch can be 1 M, but this is minor. With the resistors the switch is quiet. The output of the instrument is hi-Z without the booster and lo-Z with it. On the first effect this may change the sound, especially if it is a compressor or an OD/dist/fuzz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_TxIBJ7T0M Allan Holdsworth - Metal fatigue Metal string loses its flexibility over time. If the string is taken off from a bass, it will get some of its flexibility back, but that tiny amount will be lost pretty fast after the reinstallation.

You want a good one and a cheap one. Do you think you should buy both? There is also a great opportunity to get that market. We are waiting to see your fair offer in the near future.

The previous picture was pretty nice but these new ones are kool! I think that dark fretboards are the koolest there are and unlined has the best looks.

This topic seems to be a bit like what should the bass be, just the other way around. I have hated most of my basses, so they have gone. Now I have the best the most suitable four stringers there are: Vigier Passion II and a hand made fretless 4. All other lack something like the Modulus 5 does not have a 19 mm string spacing. After playing bass for quite a long time, I now have specs for my dream basses (fretted and fretless). It may be, that some day some of my dear instruments have to go and I get an allrounder or two. But before that I need to play with my ten basses (or something) that have some exceptional details.

Plain hi cut.

You want an active sound, you need an active preamp. Most of the preamps can be bypassed for no battery use. If you need a very versatile and functional unit, John East is a bit pricey (around £200) but studio quality. Of course you may just use an active tone shaping unit. Prices vary a lot, like £20 - £300. You can mix lo-Z (or "active") or hi-Z (or "passive") pickups with preamps / tone capsules. Pickups, there are lots of option but some basics: - active pickups are made by MEC and EMG and they need batteries as the buffers are built in to the pickup cases - single coil (so called Jazz) is bright and a bit thin - humbucker (dual coil) has darker and a bit more powerful sound - a Precision and a Music Man pickup is similar Depending on the pickup position (neck darker, bridge brighter) you can adjust the sound. If you use humbuckers with coil taps, you can have very many options from J-type single coil sounds to MM and P sounds. I have a bass that has two bartolini humbuckers with coil taps. Practical options are normal humbuckers and single coils. So called parallel humbucker has not so useful sound.

G-word? It is a so called instrument that has six thin strings and... and the F-word has something to do with certain Leo.

And I downright HATE narrow fretboards. Just sold my Status J neck only because it was so narrow. Everything under 19 mm @ the bridge is for g-word players, and narrow saddle is the same. I even have a 36" fretless that is a joy to play, so my fretted wonderbass would be... 5-string with aforementioned specs. And lightweight.

After testing quite a few instruments side by side, the exotic (read: hard) top's acoustic sound is slightly sharper or brighter, but when amplified the difference is negligible. If the body has only the top, the woods may bend the body. I have seen this happen in a high end instrument. One seasoned carpenter told me that it is reasonable to put top and bottom from the same wood. My neck through fretless is made of birch that is oiled. Works well, feels nice. Picture is somewhere here in the BC.

If you have time, please read these. Sound on sound is a very good source of knowledge. https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/whats-frequency https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/using-equalisation Here are few reasonable comments to study: https://www.izotope.com/en/blog/mixing/principles-of-equalization.html

If you have to desolder it anyway, you can make a graph with a pen and a paper and a DMM. The graph shows you the track type. The degree and the resistance... https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/resistor/potentiometer.html