SEI bass

[Woodinblack]

10 hours ago, pierreganseman said:

 

Sorry dude haha - is that a Typo or your bass is actually 43 scale?? 

 

I was incorrect, it was actually a 42" scale.

[pierreganseman]

On 19/03/2025 at 10:33, eude said:

How's the 30" 6er coming along?

 

no idea - I let him do his thing. Last I heard 2 3 month ago he was waiting for some nice roasted ash (I think) for the body 

 

gonna be banging. 

[Owen]

On 19/03/2025 at 19:21, Woodinblack said:

 

I was incorrect, it was actually a 42" scale.

That must speak with the voice of Thunder!!!

[pierreganseman]

On 19/03/2025 at 20:21, Woodinblack said:

 

I was incorrect, it was actually a 42" scale.

 

DAMN ! HAHA.... 

1 : I did not even know such things existed lol 

2 : I don't compute how you play that thing .... must feel like a boat 

[Woodinblack]

11 minutes ago, pierreganseman said:

DAMN ! HAHA.... 

1 : I did not even know such things existed lol 

2 : I don't compute how you play that thing .... must feel like a boat 

 

1: in general they probably don't

2: actually in use, its big but not so big

[Woodinblack]

Interestingly enough (at least to me), I decided to have a poke around in the elctronics last night.

Both separate boards are preamps, not sure why there are two, one is a printed one, one is a bit of patchboard. I found out the LEDs weren't working as one of the battery wires had come off the battery holder (on the 2xAA holder), so when that is back the front volume pull switch turns on the LEDs. So I have no idea what the other switch does and it is under too many wires to get to to see - the other switch is a series / parallel / single coil I think. But for what I don't know, maybe both of them as it is a 4 pole 3 positon

 

I failed to get any response from emailing Bass Gallery unfortunately - maybe they are another company that don't respond.

[Terry M.]

8 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

I failed to get any response from emailing Bass Gallery unfortunately - maybe they are another company that don't respond.

Call them or if you're able to bring it in person for Martin to see it. Great chaps but they don't always answer their emails.

[Russ]

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

Interestingly enough (at least to me), I decided to have a poke around in the elctronics last night.

Both separate boards are preamps, not sure why there are two, one is a printed one, one is a bit of patchboard. I found out the LEDs weren't working as one of the battery wires had come off the battery holder (on the 2xAA holder), so when that is back the front volume pull switch turns on the LEDs. So I have no idea what the other switch does and it is under too many wires to get to to see - the other switch is a series / parallel / single coil I think. But for what I don't know, maybe both of them as it is a 4 pole 3 positon

 

I failed to get any response from emailing Bass Gallery unfortunately - maybe they are another company that don't respond.

Martin was using the Schack electronics pretty much exclusively back then (the occasional Bart NTMB, but probably 90% Schack), but it was only a single PCB with three sets of DIP switches on. So I'm not sure what that additional board might have been - possibly something one of the previous owners put in there?

 

You should see if you can arrange to go over and see Martin and bring the bass with you. He's always happy to see where his old instruments (especially some of the more notable ones, such as that one) end up. 

 

EDIT: Additional thought - does the bass have a piezo system? Maybe that could be it? 

Edited Friday at 14:21 by Russ

[Woodinblack]

2 hours ago, Russ said:

Martin was using the Schack electronics pretty much exclusively back then (the occasional Bart NTMB, but probably 90% Schack), but it was only a single PCB with three sets of DIP switches on. So I'm not sure what that additional board might have been - possibly something one of the previous owners put in there?

 

Interesting, thanks, I will do a lookup. THere are 2 bart preamps as well as these two boards. One is a single PCB with 2 sets of dip switches on it.

 

No, tell a lie, there are 2 probably bart preamps, another potted box, presumably a preamp, a single PCB that is printed with dip switches on and an jfet op amp (LF442) on the other side, and a single PCB on a bit of veroboard with what looks like a TL061 amp.

 

2 hours ago, Russ said:

You should see if you can arrange to go over and see Martin and bring the bass with you. He's always happy to see where his old instruments (especially some of the more notable ones, such as that one) end up.

 

Very unlikely i can do that - I go to london maybe once every 2 or 3 years, and when I do I don't really have the option to lug a 5kg bass (with no case or bag) around with me!

 

2 hours ago, Russ said:

EDIT: Additional thought - does the bass have a piezo system? Maybe that could be it? 

 

It does indeed

[Terry M.]

20 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Very unlikely i can do that - I go to london maybe once every 2 or 3 years, and when I do I don't really have the option to lug a 5kg bass (with no case or bag) around with me!

Actually what gig bag would fit that?

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, Terry M. said:

Actually what gig bag would fit that?

 

Took me long enough to find a gig bag to fit the bongo - I carried it home in that but there was quite a lot sticking out!

[Terry M.]

29 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Took me long enough to find a gig bag to fit the bongo - I carried it home in that but there was quite a lot sticking out!

True. I had a Bongo.

[itu]

19 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

...there are 2 probably bart preamps, another potted box, presumably a preamp, a single PCB that is printed with dip switches on and an jfet op amp (LF442) on the other side, and a single PCB on a bit of veroboard with what looks like a TL061 amp.

Jfet sounds like a hi-Z preamp, maybe a piezo pre. TL061 is only a single, could it be a summing amp? (All preamps are lo-Z, and could be summed via resistors.) 

 

Martin sure could open up the specs.

[Russ]

20 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

Very unlikely i can do that - I go to london maybe once every 2 or 3 years, and when I do I don't really have the option to lug a 5kg bass (with no case or bag) around with me!

Dude… if you’re in Somerset, you’re two hours away. Make a day of it! Although I guess I’ve developed a bit of a different concept of travel time since I’ve lived in the US… 

 

Look online for a gig bag for a Flying V bass - they’re out there. That should be sufficiently long for that bass. 

[crazycloud]

36 minutes ago, itu said:

All preamps are lo-Z

No, they're not. Onboard pres are quite high Zin because they need to be to not load down the relatively high Z of passive pickups ROT is Zin of 10x source Z). Pretty much every onboard pre is opamp based and I can easily design one with just about any common opamp.

 

Piezo pres are higher Zin than a pre for coil type PUs, but only by a factor of 5 or 10.

[itu]

28 minutes ago, crazycloud said:

No, they're not. Onboard pres are quite high Zin because they need to be to not load down the relatively high Z of passive pickups ROT is Zin of 10x source Z). Pretty much every onboard pre is opamp based and I can easily design one with just about any common opamp.

 

Piezo pres are higher Zin than a pre for coil type PUs, but only by a factor of 5 or 10.

Sorry if I mislead you:

Preamp outs are lo-Z. Therefore the summing amp could be done with a simple resistor based single.

 

Inputs are pretty high, but for that piezo, it has to be very high, as you stated. Otherwise the input impedance would cut lows.

[Terry M.]

47 minutes ago, Russ said:

Dude… if you’re in Somerset, you’re two hours away.

Takes me that to drive from my home in north London to Bass Direct. It's really not that far. I go there quite a bit 😊

[Woodinblack]

2 hours ago, Russ said:

Dude… if you’re in Somerset, you’re two hours away. Make a day of it! Although I guess I’ve developed a bit of a different concept of travel time since I’ve lived in the US… 

 

Oh if only that were true! Google says its 3 hours and 5 minutes avoiding traffic, so a 6.5 hour round trip, which involves driving and being in London, which isn't something I like doing!

[Woodinblack]

2 hours ago, Russ said:

Look online for a gig bag for a Flying V bass - they’re out there. That should be sufficiently long for that bass. 

 

It would be tight (ie, it is exactly the same lenth as the bass, so not sure how much room there is, but it is too narrow at the body due to the horn! Seems strange noone makes a case for a bass that is 53" long and as wide as an ordinary bass

 

[tauzero]

On 21/03/2025 at 12:15, pierreganseman said:

 

DAMN ! HAHA.... 

1 : I did not even know such things existed lol 

2 : I don't compute how you play that thing .... must feel like a boat 

 

42" scale is the same as a double bass (at normal 3/4 size).

[tauzero]

On 21/03/2025 at 14:17, Russ said:

Martin was using the Schack electronics pretty much exclusively back then (the occasional Bart NTMB, but probably 90% Schack), but it was only a single PCB with three sets of DIP switches on. So I'm not sure what that additional board might have been - possibly something one of the previous owners put in there?

 

As an extra data point, my Original, s/n 036, had a Bart NTMB in it. As it failed soon after I got it and now has a Delano in it, I can't provide more details on it.

[tauzero]

On 21/03/2025 at 18:29, Woodinblack said:

 

Took me long enough to find a gig bag to fit the bongo - I carried it home in that but there was quite a lot sticking out!

 

I found one to fit a Warwick Buzzard so you should be able to find something from the guitar equivalent of Curvissa.

[Woodinblack]

6 hours ago, tauzero said:

As an extra data point, my Original, s/n 036, had a Bart NTMB in it. 

 

I assume the two larger black boxes are those, due to the colours of the wires, but no labels on them, not sure if they are removed or on the bottom.

 

6 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

I found one to fit a Warwick Buzzard so you should be able to find something from the guitar equivalent of Curvissa.

 

Still haven't found anything, was going to modify an existing old bass case with an extension, seemed easier than making a new case!

[Ruarl]

All this case chat has reminded me: My Sei came in a wildly oversized case, which I still have. It might be big enough for your 42” monster. What’s the total length? I’ll dig the case out next time I’m at the storage unit. 

[Woodinblack]

The full length, bass to tip of the headstock is 134cm

 

Been looking, found a Warwick Buzzard case that was long enough, but an odd shape which might not fit (in fact, I was puzzled how it fits a buzzard), and a few 88 key cases. There is an Flying V bag that is long enough but it tapers to the neck (as you would expect from a V), which is where the sei is the widest.