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NBD: Ibanez SRMD205 Mezzo 5 string. Medium scale

fretmeister

By fretmeister,
in Bass Guitars

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sykilz Experienced

sykilz

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, TRBboy said:

Does anyone know of the pickups on these are kinda standard sizes, and could be replaced easily? 

I did read somewhere that the jazz pup is NOT standard and would need some woodwork ( maybe on talkbass, def not on basschat?) , but I think the P pup is standard. To be fair I only use the P and it sounds fine, I'd have been more than happy with a single pickup passive, in fact if I needed to gig thisbass that's what I'd do and just leave the jazz pup in unconnected as a thumb rest

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TRBboy Mentor

TRBboy

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Posted
1 hour ago, sykilz said:

I did read somewhere that the jazz pup is NOT standard and would need some woodwork ( maybe on talkbass, def not on basschat?) , but I think the P pup is standard. To be fair I only use the P and it sounds fine, I'd have been more than happy with a single pickup passive, in fact if I needed to gig thisbass that's what I'd do and just leave the jazz pup in unconnected as a thumb rest

Interesting you say that, I'm not digging active electronics at all currently, and was figuring IF I do get one of these, I'll probably re-wire it passive, VTVT a la stacked knob jazz. 

On the pickups, it doesn't sound as if anyone has an issue with the stock ones being lacklustre anyway (albeit with a lot of hum from the J) 

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sykilz Experienced

sykilz

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42 minutes ago, TRBboy said:

Some very interesting reading on there, and some guys seem to be spending twice the value of the bass on doing it up! 😂

I know.....I mean maybe I'm just mad but if I wanted to splash another £200+ then I'd possibly have looked at a different bass..? Perhaps that's just me. The jazz buzz  seems to me to be made worse by the pre-amp being quite bright, but the P pickup is nice and punchy ( and free of buzz) so I'm quite happy just to use that, if  it were a £700 bass I'd be a bit miffed but the thing plays so nicely that for £250 it's a little failing that doesn't bother me.

I'm sure you could put a passive loom in for a few quid and that would be a great low cost upgrade. 👍

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TRBboy Mentor

TRBboy

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44 minutes ago, sykilz said:

I know.....I mean maybe I'm just mad but if I wanted to splash another £200+ then I'd possibly have looked at a different bass..? Perhaps that's just me. The jazz buzz  seems to me to be made worse by the pre-amp being quite bright, but the P pickup is nice and punchy ( and free of buzz) so I'm quite happy just to use that, if  it were a £700 bass I'd be a bit miffed but the thing plays so nicely that for £250 it's a little failing that doesn't bother me.

I'm sure you could put a passive loom in for a few quid and that would be a great low cost upgrade. 👍

Yeah definitely, and I guess if it was just that and replacing the jazz pickup wouldn't cost too much. 🤷‍♂️

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sykilz Experienced

sykilz

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11 hours ago, TRBboy said:

Yeah definitely, and I guess if it was just that and replacing the jazz pickup wouldn't cost too much. 🤷‍♂️

The jazz pickup on its own run passive might not be so buzzy ( certainly no worse than any other single coil) , my hunch is the preamp is exacerbating the buzz. I could be very wrong though. There are, as Im sure you know, single coils that are wired as humbuckers so that'd be the other ( more costly) option I guess.

As a comparison the P pup doesn't sound a million miles away from my other bass ( Yamaha BB414) when solo'd on it's P pup. Bit more modern , forward, but still open and big sounding, to me. 👍

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therealting Mentor

therealting

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13 hours ago, sykilz said:

I know.....I mean maybe I'm just mad but if I wanted to splash another £200+ then I'd possibly have looked at a different bass..? Perhaps that's just me.

There really aren’t that many 32” five strings to choose from at this budget level. 

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sykilz Experienced

sykilz

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1 hour ago, therealting said:

 

There really aren’t that many 32” five strings to choose from at this budget level. 

That's true. Indeed the 5 string seems even better value at just £299, and the body work/ neck on my 4 string is fantastic so as a modding platform it makes sense. (Just not for my limited uses.)

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fretmeister Grand Master

fretmeister

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On 22/07/2020 at 11:33, therealting said:

 

There really aren’t that many 32” five strings to choose from at this budget level. 

There aren't many 32 inch scale 5 strings at all!

 

I haven't done any mods yet other than put flats on mine. I do find the "flat" eq setting to be a touchy boomy though. I suspect treble and bass are boosted a little even at the mid point of the controls, and the preamp is hot.

 

So my bass control is knocked back just a little at the time and then I adjust the treble one depending on what I'm playing. I haven't measured the pickups yet to see what other brands might fit. I'll leave that for a while as I'm happy.

 

But I have a few other things to sell and I will be getting another one... and that one is going to get properly modded - basically into a 32 scale stingray 5.

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fretmeister Grand Master

fretmeister

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2 minutes ago, therealting said:

Just snagged one on eBay for £230. Excited. 

Bargain!

I've still got the Dunlop flats on it and I'm liking them very much. I've also got some Newtone nickels on the way to try.

 

With the flats.... (Yes it's not the original arrangement!!).

It's a little quiet as I have no idea what I'm doing with video. :D 

 

It was a longer clip but the postman rang the bell so I had to cut it.

 

 

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fretmeister Grand Master

fretmeister

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I've got 2 now and I was about to say - I'm not finding them hissy - but then I remembered I've mostly been playing through my Helix and that has an amazing noise gate so I might not be noticing.

I think I'm going to go passive with one of them - probably an Aguilar PJ set. The 1960s winding version.

 

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redbandit599 Experienced

redbandit599

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Posted (edited)
45 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

I've got 2 now and I was about to say - I'm not finding them hissy - but then I remembered I've mostly been playing through my Helix and that has an amazing noise gate so I might not be noticing.

I think I'm going to go passive with one of them - probably an Aguilar PJ set. The 1960s winding version.

 

Yep, mine doesn't seem too bad either - certainly not anything to cause an issue live. Similarly the J pup isn't massively noisy either, currently I'll keep it stock.

Edited by redbandit599
grammar
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