Spector Greatness

[krispn]

@Al Krow

Meant to ask how did the new Spector do on the gig? You mentioned that you'd get it out for a trial.

[Al Krow]

1 minute ago, krispn said:

@Al Krow

Meant to ask how did the new Spector do on the gig? You mentioned that you'd get it out for a trial.

Just took my Yammy 1025 (as per the YT clip) - didn't want to be trialling too many new bits of gear in one go, otherwise it would be less clear as to which bit of gear was responsible for the improved clarity and punch! No question that it was down to the Fearless F112 cab  

The Spector, with its Bubinga wood, is a touch heavier than my other basses and I'm just in the process of sourcing a Gruv Gear Duo strap. Fingers crossed that will remove any barriers to being able to use full weight basses going forward and I'm looking forward to my Spector LC becoming a staple gigging bass.

[krispn]

Is the Yamaha passive?

Heavier basses can be a drag - no pun intended. I thought you were on the lightweight quest as I know from experience there are some great lighter weight 5'ers out there. Have the Ibanez's been relegated to back up duty these days?

[WHUFC BASS]

19 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Be interesting to see how the Barts on the LTs compare to the more traditional EMGs and whether the LTs have moved away from a more familiar 'Spector' sound.

Well there's a brief demo here. Hard to tell what it'd sound like in a band mix though ...
 

26 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Look forward to getting your thoughts following your next acquisition! Give me a shout if you decide, at that point, to move on the bass that started this thread off

Believe me ... that will not be for a Looong time!

[Al Krow]

12 minutes ago, krispn said:

Is the Yamaha passive?

Heavier basses can be a drag - no pun intended. I thought you were on the lightweight quest as I know from experience there are some great lighter weight 5'ers out there. Have the Ibanez's been relegated to back up duty these days?

Yup the Yammy BB 1025 is passive (you're clearly not spending enough time on the BB thread 😁) - only mainstream active Yammy BB is your 734A (and the 5A) model. Ibby SR Premium is still a staple, great bass and lightweight - but will now be in competition for gigs with the Spector methinks.

Lightweight quest for me has really been just to do with cabs  - and I'm not going to beat my BF SC on that score, which is why it will be sticking around despite not being in the same league as the Fearless F112. D class heads don't weigh anything and choice of bass has so far been driven more by quality than weight for me. And I'm hoping this Gruv Gear Duo strap will mean relative freedom not to be constrained by bass weight going forward.

[Al Krow]

6 hours ago, WHUFC BASS said:

Believe me ... that will not be for a Looong time!

'Long' for the Chinese civilisation = 1,000 years.

For BC'ers, about 6 months?

PS the fact that you are already thinking that your new purchase is going to be a keeper does suggest that: 

Euro 5LX with EMG BQC pre-amp and soapbar EMG 40J (bridge) and 40P (neck)

...is a winning combination. Give me a shout when you are gigging locally in Landern Taaan with it next - love to hear it in action!

Edited August 21, 2019 by Al Krow

[krispn]

http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Gruv_Gear_straps.html

BD have them in stock 👍

I hear good things about the Dave Ellefson strap  very adjustable!

Edited August 21, 2019 by krispn

[WHUFC BASS]

6 hours ago, Al Krow said:

'Long' for the Chinese civilisation = 1,000 years.

For BC'ers, about 6 months?

PS the fact that you are already thinking that your new purchase is going to be a keeper does suggest that: 

Euro 5LX with EMG BQC pre-amp and soapbar EMG 40J (bridge) and 40P (neck)

...is a winning combination. Give me a shout when you are gigging locally in Landern Taaan with it next - love to hear it in action!

Ha! No, this one is deffo a keeper. It's good to have tonal variations on different basses. The fact I have three Euros that sound completely different is also a bonus. Even the two with Tone Pumps are different sound-wise.

The Euro 5LX with EMG BQC pre-amp and soapbar EMG 40J (bridge) and 40P (neck) will be my main gigging bass though as It's lighter, sightly slimmer neck and cuts through the mix slightly better.

I'll let you know when I'm gigging in London - although to be honest, almost all my gigs are now in Kent or abroad in Europe.

[Al Krow]

One little 'really nice to have' feature which the previous owner didn't point out (maybe because this is a 'standard' feature on all Spectors and also Warwicks?) is the sculpted back, which just helps the bass to 'sit' a little more comfortably on my frame. The only other bass in my herd that has this feature is my Yammy BB NE2, so it came as a very welcome surprise when I realised the Spector had it also.

The sculpted back (and seamless neck through) are hopefully visible in this pic:

 

Edited August 31, 2019 by Al Krow

[WHUFC BASS]

That sculpted design is the "NS" style body which was designed by Ned Steinberger. He was a furniture maker by trade and in the 1970s met Stuart Spector by accident (he actually sold Stuart a bandsaw) and Stuart Spector challenged him to design a bass guitar. Ned Steinberger wasn't a bass player - in fact he wasn't even a musician and took a completely different approach to bass guitar design, focusing on balance and comfort - i.e. the curved body with extended upper horn, as well as the neck through design with maple wings body. The result was the NS1 which turned out to be Spector's biggest seller. Stuart Spector added a single coil pickup in the bridge position and the NS2 was born. The rest is history.

Oh and by all accounts, Warwick ripped the design off in 1984 on their Streamer models which Spector sued them for and won.

Steinberger went on to innovate in bass guitar (and guitar) design, with the use of carbon fibre bodies and necks, designing the first headless basses and many innovations in double-bass design. Aside from Leo Fender, you'd be hard pushed to come up with anybody else who has contributed to bass guitar design and innovation than Ned Steinberger, For a non-muscian he was a genius.

He's still producing great bass guitars to this day ...

https://thinkns.com/instrument/the-ns-design-radius-bass-guitar/

Edited August 22, 2019 by WHUFC BASS

[mangotango]

On ‎21‎/‎08‎/‎2019 at 08:55, Al Krow said:

Ah ok thanks. That explains why it's taken me so long to find a 3 band EQ Spector and why my ears picked up when @mangotangomentioned that the Legend Custom model, he owned, indeed had a 3 band EQ (with a stacked bass and treble pot)! 

Not clear to me, however, from the 4 knob options which EQ model is on the Legend Custom? This has an independent volume control for both pups rather than volume / blend and then two knobs providing stacked bass and treble and a separate one for mids. I'm hoping Mangotango might know off the top of his head - there only seems to be a reference to the 'US' Legend models online which have Aggie OB-2 pre's in them, and it's clearly not that!

Is the BTQ pre you refer to still available?

http://www.emgpickups.com/accessories/bass-accessories.html

If not, it seems that the 4 knob BQC pre would now be the one to go for with its 3 band EQ and semi para mids. Either that or go for a John East Uni-pre!

Waaaaaay beyond my level of knowledge or experience on these things, I'm afraid!!

Nothing on/off the top of my head, not even hair (see avatar for confirmation).

[cetera]

As a point of info - just to say - the new LT models have a custom designed Darkglass 2 band circuit, not the 3 band Tone Capsule.

[WHUFC BASS]

1 hour ago, cetera said:

As a point of info - just to say - the new LT models have a custom designed Darkglass 2 band circuit, not the 3 band Tone Capsule.

Ah intresting. Does that also comprise of a bass boost and treble boost setup, similar to the Tone Pump?

Any idea what the thinking is behind completely removing the ability to control the mids on Spectors ?

[Al Krow]

32 minutes ago, WHUFC BASS said:

Any idea what the thinking is behind completely removing the ability to control the mids on Spectors ?

Hah! Didn't I just ask that? You probably like West Ham and play bass too... 😂 

[mangotango]

6 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Hah! Didn't I just ask that? You probably like West Ham and play bass too... 😂 

Strong echo in this corner of the board...….

[cetera]

1 hour ago, WHUFC BASS said:

Ah intresting. Does that also comprise of a bass boost and treble boost setup, similar to the Tone Pump?

Any idea what the thinking is behind completely removing the ability to control the mids on Spectors ?

 

Yep.
Nope.

Lol!!

[Al Krow]

17 hours ago, WHUFC BASS said:

That sculpted design is the "NS" style body which was designed by Ned Steinberger...

Nice bit of history. So do the Euro LX models also have sculpted backs? 

Edited August 22, 2019 by Al Krow

[WHUFC BASS]

15 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Nice bit of history. So do the Euro LX models also have sculpted backs? 

Yes they do, as does the NS2 models. I think the only ones that don't are the Performer series and the Rex and Chris Kael signature models.

[Al Krow]

@mangotangoI think I've managed to pin down the make / model of the preamp in our Spector Legend Custom - it's the EMG B30-S which came out in 2004 and would appear to be precursor to WHUFC's much liked and more recent BQC preamp.

The description of this I've found on-line is that is: "a 3-band equalizer for bass guitar, which can be retrofitted snugly beneath two tone controls. Both bass and treble equalizers are mounted on a stacked pot, while the mid-range control mounts separately. Bass, treble and mid EQ's offer 12dB and feature a central detente. The new EMG B30-S can be used with either active or passive pickups and is powered by a 9 volt battery."

That fits the description of what's on our basses perfectly. Also turns out that our Legend Custom basses are not neck-through but actually set necks

[Al Krow]

@WHUFC BASS having been on a crash course about Spector basses since the start of this thread, it seems to me that you've picked up an almost ideally spec'd model!

Euro 5LX with EMG BQC pre-amp and soapbar EMG 40J (bridge) and 40P (neck) pickups.

Is yours a 35" scale and neck-through also?

The EMG 40P5, which turns this into a tasty PJ bass, I think is a 'reverse' P config - I was initially confused by a statement online that it was like a 'Spector or Yamaha' P config. Well actually they are the opposite way around! i.e. reverse P (Spector) and normal P (Yamaha). A reverse P, should provide a slightly tighter low end and warmer treble compared to a normal P, which is another plus.

http://www.emgpickups.com/media/productfile/4/0/40_bass_0230-0128rb.pdf

Edited August 23, 2019 by Al Krow

[WHUFC BASS]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

@WHUFC BASS having been on a crash course about Spector basses since the start of this thread, it seems to me that you've picked up an almost ideally spec'd model!

Euro 5LX with EMG BQC pre-amp and soapbar EMG 40J (bridge) and 40P (neck) pickups.

Is yours a 35" scale and neck-through also?

The EMG 40P5, which turns this into a tasty PJ bass, I think is a 'reverse' P config - I was initially confused by a statement online that it was like a 'Spector or Yamaha' P config. Well actually they are the opposite way around! i.e. reverse P (Spector) and normal P (Yamaha). A reverse P, should provide a slightly tighter low end and warmer treble compared to a normal P, which is another plus.

http://www.emgpickups.com/media/productfile/4/0/40_bass_0230-0128rb.pdf

Yes, it's a neck-through and 35" scale. That 35" scale puts some people off for some reason but to me it's fine.

In regard to the pickups, on my other Spector Euro, (with the Tone Pump) the pickups are coil-tapable (is that a word?), so you can have any combination you want - J/P or P/J giving it more versatility in sound. I usually just have them in their humbucker config and leave it at that.

[mangotango]

10 hours ago, Al Krow said:

@mangotangoI think I've managed to pin down the make / model of the preamp in our Spector Legend Custom - it's the EMG B30-S which came out in 2004 and would appear to be precursor to WHUFC's much liked and more recent BQC preamp.

The description of this I've found on-line is that is: "a 3-band equalizer for bass guitar, which can be retrofitted snugly beneath two tone controls. Both bass and treble equalizers are mounted on a stacked pot, while the mid-range control mounts separately. Bass, treble and mid EQ's offer 12dB and feature a central detente. The new EMG B30-S can be used with either active or passive pickups and is powered by a 9 volt battery."

That fits the description of what's on our basses perfectly. Also turns out that our Legend Custom basses are not neck-through but actually set necks

Thanks for the technical information. Good to know, but I'm probably not bright enough ever to use it....

And yes, set-neck is what they are - don't know what I was thinking with the "through neck" description I applied elsewhere. Hopeless on my part.

[WHUFC BASS]

1 hour ago, mangotango said:

And yes, set-neck is what they are - don't know what I was thinking with the "through neck" description I applied elsewhere. Hopeless on my part. 

The earlier NS-95s and 2000s were through-neck basses with maple bodies, but since then, no Korean models have had through necks.

[mangotango]

1 hour ago, WHUFC BASS said:

The earlier NS-95s and 2000s were through-neck basses with maple bodies, but since then, no Korean models have had through necks.

No. Nor does the one that I have, which makes it even more bewildering that I would have typed that in a post.

I hang my head in shame. Even more than an England batsman should.

[Al Krow]

1 hour ago, mangotango said:

No. Nor does the one that I have, which makes it even more bewildering that I would have typed that in a post.

I hang my head in shame. Even more than an England batsman should.

Well the chap who sold me mine also (incorrectly) described it as a neck-through and I only spotted that wasn't correct after I'd bought it! But set necks are pretty cool too - Jon Shuker's are particularly lovely.

But at the end of the day, the Spector Legend Custom has the look, feel and quality of a £600 to £700 used bass to me. If any of us manage to pick one up in vgc for less than that, then we definitely don't have anything to moan about!