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Upgrading an ACG


Bridgehouse
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Some of you may remember I have an oddball ACG Finn 4 - it’s the one Alan made for charity, and I got it from Bigwan on here a little while back.

It has one of the excellent PB pickups in, with a Series/Parallel switch and then passive vol and tone.

It’s routed for a battery box and has one installed - so I’m thinking it’s time to upgrade to a Pre-amp. 

I like the two knob arrangement so I’m tempted to put a Bartolini HR 2.2AP/918 in which means volume with push pull active/passive and stacked bass/treble. I’ll retain the series parallel switch as I really like the tonal contrast - more than you’d think tbh. 

Anyone got any thoughts or any alternate suggestions?

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Spoken to Alan on email. Wow, quick response - thanks Alan!

He’s pricing me up a P-Retro harness and I’ll stick one extra hole in so I can keep the series/parallel switch, with an extra dpdt for passive/active and the usual p-retro setup. 

Should give loads of extra tonal variety and still gives me those two basic passive tones which I like already. 

Top stuff. Once ordered and here I’ll do a mini-upgrade blog here..

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11 minutes ago, Bigwan said:

The P-retro was in the plans for that bass originally.  If you ever get tired of it just drop me a line. Awesome bass... 

Well it’s back on the cards for it ;)

I have a feeling this one is a bit special. I very much doubt I’d ever let this one go - but my policy is usually to go back to the point of origin for first dibs ;)

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11 hours ago, Bridgehouse said:

Well it’s back on the cards for it ;)

I have a feeling this one is a bit special. I very much doubt I’d ever let this one go - but my policy is usually to go back to the point of origin for first dibs ;)

Good man!

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P-Retro delivered and fitted. 

Needed an extra hole for the second dpdt switch (amp on/off) but otherwise it was a simple job. 

Range of tones is very impressive - the boost is really useful and I love the split mid-boost or treble/bass boost - just sweeping that single knob gives a huge tonal range. The deep boost is really good as well.

Love it. The east stuff is really high quality and Alan is a real gent. 

Same great lightweight feel and playability but with a totally new range of tones. And flick the switch to passive and it sounds just like it did before (perhaps with a bit more sparkle which is probably the tone cap)

 

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44 minutes ago, Bridgehouse said:

P-Retro delivered and fitted. 

Needed an extra hole for the second dpdt switch (amp on/off) but otherwise it was a simple job. 

Range of tones is very impressive - the boost is really useful and I love the split mid-boost or treble/bass boost - just sweeping that single knob gives a huge tonal range. The deep boost is really good as well.

Love it. The east stuff is really high quality and Alan is a real gent. 

Same great lightweight feel and playability but with a totally new range of tones. And flick the switch to passive and it sounds just like it did before (perhaps with a bit more sparkle which is probably the tone cap)

 

The P Retro is an awesome little preamp, and although I love the versatility of the Uni-pre, which I have in both my fretted basses, I did find the ACG/East P Retro that little bit quicker to find the sweet spot.
Might well just be the fact that it's that little bit simpler to use perhaps.

Good news all round though :)

Eude 

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I’ve been having a good play, and I’d say that if you are looking for an easy way to give a P bass a bit more tonal variety or something extra then this is the way to do it.

It’s a damn site easier than routing a bridge pickup in and it’s actually reversible (the east one has a push pull for on off and a rechargeable battery) - I do like the config on Alan’s version tho. 

Thanks for the advice chaps - you’ve steered me towards making a really great bass even better

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