Hoyer session

[Løchte]

I have an Old german Alembic-/Jaydee-wannabe made by Høyer.

its really well build and very nice to play, but the sound is not really me. Something like old strings even if they are new. I don’t know a thing about pickups (looks like obl-guitar pickups to me) and preamps, but would really like it to sound like a JayDee. Any ideas/suggestions?

 

[Steve Browning]

Hoyer. There's a name. Links to the Stuart Adamson thread as he tracked down the white Hoyer Les Paul brandished by Bill Nelson on the cover of the first Be Bop Deluxe album cover. 

 

Apologies for the slight derail. 

[Misdee]

Rather than invest a lot of money and energy into trying to customize this bass chasing an undefined tone chances are you will never achieve out of this instrument, you may be better off selling it and buying another bass you do like the sound of. I don't know much about Hoyer basses ( looks like a good quality bass) but I'm sure this one will be of great interest to someone. 

 

I would hesitate to start chopping and changing this bass in search of making it sound like a Jaydee.  You are are making the assumption that what you don't like about this bass is down to the pickups and or preamp. That is not necessarily the case. Why not see what you could sell it for and buy a used Jaydee or something similar that you do like the sound of?

[Løchte]

True, but buying a JayDee is not easy, living in denmark (inside EU). -and furthermore not easy to sell this fella with a not-known-name. -but perhaps you are still right!

[Bassassin]

I strongly suspect there's a good collector's market for Hoyers. It's not the most well-known brand on the planet, but this is hardly a garden-shed one-off. I'm pretty interested in vintage guitars from the 70s/80s era and have seen a good few Hoyers, and they do command good prices. I have never seen this before, had no idea this model existed, and I think it's likely to be a high-value instrument. Please don't try to modify it - that will destroy its value & collectability.

 

Just had a quick look & there's a Hoyer FB group, this would be a good place to enquire about your bass & try to get some idea of its value - https://www.facebook.com/groups/139968829374228

[Grahambythesea]

I wonder if you really need to change those pickups. I assume it’s active with all those controls and if you can’t dial up the sound, why not get a preamp system which offers different sound patterns and amp simulators. I suspect what you are looking for is a particular artist’s sound when using a JayDee. It may be the amp/speaker combination that you’re really hearing.