Overwater basses by Tanglewood

[bisonkills]

Hey guys. I have a Classic J that I bought second hand a while ago. Wonderful value for money and I love the bass. I did have to rewire the whole thing and removed a lot of excess length on the wiring. I was getting some electronic buzz from the bass but resoldering everything sorted that out.

I love the sound of the P pickup, but as others have mentioned the J just sounds a tad too thin to me. There's a big volume drop when I use the J, a tad too much for my liking. Was thinking of perhaps putting a Wizard P/J set in it. Any thoughts?

Edited July 12, 2012 by bisonkills

[Mornats]

Not sure about the Classic J but my Contemporary J has small gain pots on the electronics for each pickup. Worth checking to see if they're set ok on yours.

[Machines]

Passive ones won't have them.

[Mornats]

Of course... because they're passive! D'oh!

[dmccombe7]

[quote name='bisonkills' timestamp='1342123309' post='1730115']
Hey guys. I have a Classic J that I bought second hand a while ago. Wonderful value for money and I love the bass. I did have to rewire the whole thing and removed a lot of excess length on the wiring. I was getting some electronic buzz from the bass but resoldering everything sorted that out.

I love the sound of the P pickup, but as others have mentioned the J just sounds a tad too thin to me. There's a big volume drop when I use the J, a tad too much for my liking. Was thinking of perhaps putting a Wizard P/J set in it. Any thoughts?
[/quote]

Overwater basses normally have gain adj for each pick up i think. I'm sure that's what Chris told me a few yrs ago. I've not had to adjust mine but then again Chris set up both my Overwaters so no issues at all. Have a Contemp J4 and Custom fretless 6 stringer.

I certainly don't have noise issues even with very high top end settings when mucking around with tones.

Dave

[ead]

For those who were mentioning fretless versions of the range, I just saw this on evilbay...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Overwater-Active-Electric-fretless-Bass-Guitar-taken-in-exchange-NEW-condition-/400323104008?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item5d351dcd08

[barkin]

[quote name='bisonkills' timestamp='1342123309' post='1730115']
Hey guys. I have a Classic J that I bought second hand a while ago.

[...]

I love the sound of the P pickup, but as others have mentioned the J just sounds a tad too thin to me. There's a big volume drop when I use the J, a tad too much for my liking. Was thinking of perhaps putting a Wizard P/J set in it. Any thoughts?
[/quote]

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1342171561' post='1730670']
Overwater basses normally have gain adj for each pick up i think.

Dave
[/quote]

I'm sure that's correct for the active Tanglewaters, but the Classic J is passive and doesn't have any adjustment.

I thought I had the same issue as bisonkills when I first got my Classic J, and went looking for the gain adjustment. If there is one, it's very well hidden!

I agree that the J PUP is a bit weak compared to the P, but I managed to get them balanced to my liking just by raising the J and lowering the P

[barkin]

Out of curiosity more than anything, I emailed Alan Entwistle about his JBX pickups, and asked how they compare with the ones fitted to the Classic J Tanglewater.

He replied that his JBX is definitely hotter than the Overwater ones, which he produces to Overwater spec.

For a tenner, I might just give one a go.

[BetaFunk]

I recently bought an Overwater Tanglewood Aspiration Elite 4-String Fretless but couldn't see it listed on the Overwater website so i emailed them and got a nice reply from Chris May:

"I'm pleased you are liking you new bass! The top wood is maple - these basses have been made in small numbers (just a few dozen) - but the spec' is due to change with the next production and we are dropping the solid top at this level of production - so your bass will be fairly unique! :-)"

I wondered if anyone else has got one of these basses (as there are obviously a few around) and what you think of it.

[W11ATO]

I've got a "tanglewater" and a UK original and love them both.

Very little to choose between them, certainly not £2k difference in quality or sound.

I'd say the neck construction on the "real" one is a touch better, the joints between the 3 sections on the tanglewater are just noticeable but apart from that, it plays and feels like an expensive bass.

Well done Overwater :-)

[All New Neil Morrell]

Pleased to hear that there are (or at least have been fretless models). Was originally thinking I fancied an Elite 5 if they were going to do one, and even more if they were to do a Fretless Elite 5.

Just spotted this on Ebay, so maybe, just maybe, it might happen one day. First Elite 5 I've ever seen (again in Sunderland).

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Overwater-Active-Electric-5-string-Bass-Guitar-taken-part-exchange-NEW-/400401456323?_trksid=p2047675.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D11%26meid%3D5274092049352007864%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3D1005%26rk%3D5%26sd%3D400323104008%26

[BetaFunk]

[quote name='All New Neil Morrell' timestamp='1359752813' post='1960002']
Pleased to hear that there are (or at least have been fretless models). Was originally thinking I fancied an Elite 5 if they were going to do one, and even more if they were to do a Fretless Elite 5.

Just spotted this on Ebay, so maybe, just maybe, it might happen one day. First Elite 5 I've ever seen (again in Sunderland).

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Overwater-Active-Electric-5-string-Bass-Guitar-taken-part-exchange-NEW-/400401456323?_trksid=p2047675.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D11%26meid%3D5274092049352007864%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3D1005%26rk%3D5%26sd%3D400323104008%26"]http://www.ebay.co.u...400323104008%26[/url]
[/quote]
I have a 4-String Aspiration Elite just like that. Well pleased with it!!!!!

[Mornats]

[quote name='barkin' timestamp='1349626876' post='1828421']
Out of curiosity more than anything, I emailed Alan Entwistle about his JBX pickups, and asked how they compare with the ones fitted to the Classic J Tanglewater.

He replied that his JBX is definitely hotter than the Overwater ones, which he produces to Overwater spec.

For a tenner, I might just give one a go.
[/quote]

Hey Barkin, did you ever fit that Entwistle JBX pickup to your Classic J? I've recently bought one from here and find that the J and P pups have different volumes. I've adjusted the heights a bit and they're a closer match but I'd still have to adjust the volume a bit if I swap between full P and full J. For £23 for a P and a J pup from Alan Entwistle, they're worth a bash. I was thinking of some Wizard pickups but I'm looking at around £90 for those.