Phil Starr Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 A few years ago I fitted one of these to my J bass (would you believe). It was an impulse buy from a fellow basschatter. all my other basses have a blend control and I wanted to rewire the VVT controls to give me blend instead of Volume/Volume, this gave me a shortcut, just drop it in and play, as well as a greater range of sounds. TBH I've never got on with it. It sounds great soloed at home but in a band situation the mid suckout and bass boost (cut isn't available) doesn't really work for me. The sound that is quite exciting at home just sounds muddy with a band and I haven't yet managed to dial in an uncoloured sound. I play the Jazz at home and the P-bass comes out when it's serious. To cut a long story short this morning I was running through a few songs and contemplating returning the original Fender passive controls back to the bass when I had an inspiration, I switched off the active. Clarity tone and character restored, there's a switch to go from bridge pickup to blended and I can switch the active on with no noticeable change in volume so I can return to the bass boosted mid cut John East sound whenever I want. How stupid am I, three tones at the flick of a switch and clarity through the speakers when I need it. Can't wait to try it with the band. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrevorR Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 Or throw in an Audere preamp. Lovely and transparent tone in non cut/boosted mode but with a really musical range of tone controls. And if you go for the "Z" control option you get a three way switch that loads the pickups in different ways (whatever that means) and creates some great character options and growl. Fab little preamp! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acidbass Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 Have to agree. The J Retro I had was very underwhelming. I hated the fact that some of the controls didn't have a centre detent! Might work for some but not for me. I much prefer the passive Jazz Bass sound, although going to look into a series/parallel switch soon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 The 'Z' option on the Audere I had in my MTD Heir made the sound go mahoosive, in a good way. Something else on my long list of things I should have not changed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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