randythoades

Thanks all,

As it happens, I just happened to find an email from a custom pickup maker that I have used in the past (anyone believe in fate?) so asked the question. The 3 x 3 configuration no problem, and no problem to put it within the p90 cover as a staggered set up (so no modification needed there). Only would be £75  done and delivered.

I am going to try the suggustion of doing it as a temporary trial with an old precision pickup and if it does what I want I will order a custom one and save myself some grief trying to fashion a new pickguard etc.

Much obliged for your input.

1 hour ago, Funkfingers said:

That is "soapbar" as in Gibson P90 rather than the sense in which the term usually applies to bass guitar pickups.

The polepieces of these pickups are filister head screws. They thread through a plastic tubular section in the bobbin and, then, through the metal baseplate of the pickup (if present).

Removing three of the screws from such a pickup may defocus its magnetic field above that half of the pickup but it will not stop it altogether. For that, it would be necessary to use shorter bar magnets below the bobbin. Even this will not create perfect separation between the wanted and unwanted signals from the strings.

 

 

What amplifiers are you using? Which ABY box? How good, bad or indifferent are the cables carrying your signals? 

Does the RJT-60B sound muddy when you play chords through just the bass amp? This could possibly be the fault of the amplifier rather than the instrument.

Finally, what resistance value and taper pots does the RJT-60B use? 500k Ohm pots would be normal with the P90 type pickups. 250k pots will suck away a lot of the high frequency content - especially if the pots are cheap 'n' nasty.

Yes, Funkfingers, my mistake in original post. Soapbar as in Gibson P90 rather than Ibanez or Norstrand type thing. I replaced the electronics with Seymour Duncan SDP-500 500K Pots, switchcraft socket and Oak Grigsby switch, removing the Varitone circuit out of the system entirely. Using Radial Big Shot ABY and goes into a Fender Superchamp guitar amp on blackface settings and Phil Jones head and matching cab. Just playing full chords is muddy on it's own even without splitting the signal when just playing through the bass amp or if I just DI straight to the board. Being a bass rather than a baritone guitar, chords are really only possible using the upper reaches or higher strings, exactly as you would find trying to play chords on regular Precision. No effects on anything. Cables are Whirlwind Leader series.

What I am trying to do is play a clear single bass note through my PJB amp but emphasise the clean guitar melody with the higher strings through the Fender guitar amp. It works, don't get me wrong, but I have just been thinking that there must be a way to clean it up and there is no need for the higher notes to be present in the bass amp, and no need to overload the guitar amp with high volume bass notes that the speaker can't cope with.

24 minutes ago, ikay said:

Yes, just cut the wire that joins them and each half should then have two wires which are the hot/cold for each coil. Each half is a single coil pickup. You might get some single coil hum. If you do, try swapping the polarity of the wiring on one half.

Excellent, thanks ikay. I have an unused pBass pickup so will try that...

Hi Adam

I understand. That is pretty much what I do at the moment. A radial ABY pedal spilt into 2, but even with dramatic EQ (a Boss Bass EQ on one and the regular Boss EQ for the other), I still get the sound of the higher strings going through the bass amp and vice versa, and sounds muddy on the bass amp. Reducing the bass on the guitar amp side is much more successful compared to reducing the chord sounds into the bass amp.

I achieved it the other way to some degree by using a guitar to do faux bass lines bthrough the Boss OC3 octave as that has some sort of hard threshold frequency control that only lets notes below a certain pitch to go through the octave into the bass amp. But I am attempting to be playing basslines plus a little flourish for the most part so would prefer to use the bass if I can work it out.

Hi Adam,

Thanks for this. I looked at the Ibanez actually but prefer the more vintage look to play country and 50s/60s material. I have no experience with corssovers so don't really know how they work or what they actually are. What would I need? If I can set it so that notes above a certain pitch go one way, and noted below go the otherway that that would be perfect and require no guitar modification.

Will they? How would that work? Would I just cut the wire that joins them to use as the hot wire from the uppermost coil and add a ground wire from the baseplate? That might solve part of my issue. I could make a small blanking plate to fit over one of the soapbar apertures no problem

They look the part, but would each coil be able to be wired to it's own output jack? Look very similar to older Mustang bass pickup.

Thanks MoonBassAlpha, I have tried that and it what I am currently using. It does definitely work to give bias to the strings I want and i would contunie on that basis if I can't find an otherwise suitable solution (if you do the EQ as much as you can to scoop the bass or cut the treble down) but I want to try and isolate them completely. What I need is effectively a Precision pickup but with each coil having its own live output.

I think trying it on my existing and currently redundant strat pickups will be my first port of call.

Brilliant, thanks for this, ikay very informative actually!

On further inspection though I have realised the immense flaw in my plan... My soapbar pickups are P90s and have bar magnets running through the pickup so no poles to remove!!

I have some strat pickups in my parts box so i may attempt a similar thing with 3 strat pickups and do a temporary wire up test and if it works I will do a new pickguard. Standard Bass VI uses Jaguar pickups as far as I know so should be quite similar in soound to that. Also had another thought that I could change my bottom 3 strings to flatwounds and leave the top 3 as rounds to give more of a difference in tones.

Thanks guys, at least I know it is not super crazy and will have a look at trying it with a strat pickup set.

Although i really like your idea of wiring one of the pickups straight to an output jack and let it dangle off the bass!

A very easy thing to attempt and try out feasibility.

Thanks for the respose mybass. It is a cheap Revelation RJT60-B which is a 3 pickup jazzmaster style bass with nice but generic soapbar pickups.

Yes, my idea is to definitely run pickups separately to each amp from their own jack (or a single stereo jack) but I wanted see if there was a way to take (or dramatically) reduce the higher string sound from going to the bass amp and vice versa to the guitar amp,  a bit like a hard limiter, hence the thought of removing poles or maybe covering them to render them less effective?

I don't mind ruining the pickups if it came to it as they are a cheapish replacement and I would change the Entwhistle ones for Duncans or Bare Knuckle or similar (but there is no actaul need as it stands so if there is a non destroying option then I would be very happy!!).

Feel free to jump in and tell me this is a bonkers idea, it was just one of those moments that I thought... 'I wonder if I could'....

I have a Bass VI clone that I have really started to enjoy playing as my main bass, but now want to start exploring the possibilities tonally. I currently just use it as a standard bass with extra room to twiddle if I need it but have started a new (very casual) project with the idea of just drums and bass doing some old time country and folk - a bit like Royal Blood etc but without the distortion and attempting to do a sort of hybrid picking  to play both simple Root / 5 bass lines and guitar chords simultaneously - picking the root note of the chord I am playing and playing the higher strings with fingers. I have started playing around using an ABY pedal to feed a guitar amp as well as a bass amp and I have found a couple of sonic issues...

If I play chords or multiple strings they sound fine on the guitar amp if I use the higher strings, but really muddy on bass amp and obscures the nice rich bass note.

How can I isolate the output so that a chord doesn't come completely through the bass amp but the bass note still does? I have tried removing the appropriate frequencies on the EQ on each amp but doesn't quite do what I want to hear.

So, my idea is this: Can I remove 3 poles from the neck pickup and 3 from the bridge pickup and route each pickup to feed each appropriate amp? I could blend them or use middle pickup alone if i wanted to use as a fulll range bass alone. Does this sound feasible? Or is there a pedal anyone knows of (or pedal collection) that I could set to do a similar job? Or is it purely a technique I need to really master?

PM Sent

I know this is a pretty old thread now, but I have bought a Revelation bass VI which I actually really like having used it at a couple of rehearsals but not live as yet. I like the narrow neck and close string spacing  (as I also play with a pick), and I like the way that it actually does sound like a bass rather than a baritone even with the thinner strings, but I am interested to see how others use these. I play in a 3 piece so have started adding some chords and arpeggios in under guitar solos etc at reahersal, but with mixed results, definitely better on a song that needs a small amount of drive or fuzz. Does anyone use these on a regualr basis and do you run the whole lot into bass amp or split the signal and do the Royal Blood type thing with guitar amp running as well as bass amp? We do standard rock, pop and blues covers from 50s and 60s upwards (Elvis, Stones, Bowie, Clapton, Skynyrd, Doobie Brothers etc) and I think it has potential but not sure how to get the best out of it.

Looks like I have answered my own question in that the Boss LMB-3 seems to do what I need. I assumed it was a compressor that squished both ends but doing a search on here (oops should have done it before...) you should be able to limit the top volume  without squeezing the lower notes.

Thanks for looking!

Hi chaps, I don't know what it is I am asking for or what I actually need but I have a problem that I haven't managed to solve so far. I play with a pick and vary my attack according to the dynamics of each song or parts of songs which works well overall, as well as using a lot of palm muting and 'tic' 'tac' type playing, but occasionally I get a bit carried away pinging open strings which tend to resonate louder than my fretted notes (particularly open E) which then distorts.

I play a violin bass direct into PA (Behringer XR16) through Tech 21 VT Bass DI with only a TC Electronic Sub n Up octave pedal for occasional use and use In ear Monitors, no amp at all for the most part which probably doesn't help as the signal is distorting digitally I suspect rather than causing a nice warm distortion through amp. I have adjusted the gain on the PA input to what I think is appropriate for most things but unless I have the level set much too low for most uses, I can't get rid of the spike I get from the open E (and A too, but mostly E).

Is there any pedal that I can use to tame the maximum input whilst leaving the rest unaffected for me to vary my dynamic? I did try playing with around TC Electronic Spectracomp but it seemed to squash what I was already doing too much even with very minor use.

Otherwise it will be me having to knuckle down and control my exuberance on my playing...

Kind regards Simon

I have used exactly the HT5 direct into desk and I think it is an emulated output. Works to a degree and sounds perfectly fine out front but you lose the feel on stage if it is loud enough to need desk support. I upgraded to the Fender Superchamp X2 (15w) to use in the same way, but that also underpowered at gig volumes, you just can't hear yourself properly, even with decent monitor wedges.

Then we went IEM and a completely different experience. Only played one gig like it but it felt amazing as you can control the gain on guitar to clean up or dirty up the signal and you get your sound at the right level in your ears. I still have the Superchamp and am pretty much on bass full time but if I was doing it again I would just use the Behringer V-amp or Pod pro or something and take a fully processed sound to the desk - I figure that if I have the ear pieces in and I am taking a feed prior to the speaker then I can't see the point of having the amp.

I think this ebayer may have some of his information wrong
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bass-guitar-Fender-Jazz-Bass-Power-Special-Ser-No-E918655-1963/253243997150?hash=item3af684bbde:g:0KcAAOSwVlVZ~0z4

Active 1980s bass timewarped back to 1963 anyone?

Hi guys, we have also switched to IEM during the summer and I am looking seriously at this too. I have done it several times at rehearsal using Sansamp VT bass DI and it has been ok if not spectacular.
Has anyone actually made the jump and sold their amp?
How do you get a nice bass feel using the DI? I still normally take my amp (Hartke HA3500 and 212 cab) for the room 'bass' as with the Sansamp it feels a bit too crisp and direct even though I like a punchy rather than fat bas sound. We have a good Yamaha PA but no subs as yet. Would subs make all the difference to the overall bass bloom in the room? I would love to lose the amp entirely so could sell off bass gear to finance a sub (or subs).
I do have rackmount Behringer bass v-amp pro which I use for recording at home. Would this sort of thing be better to push out through the PA with it's cab emulation etc
I do use a couple of FX pedals but tend to use them for the whole song (such as overdrive or octave) so I could easily set up a couple of banks with different FX loaded.

This might be a bit off the main topic but I have had great results, particularly when seated in the mix, of my Parkwood H2 which has the fishman power bridge. I just run this into an outboard Ashdown acoustic preamp and into the desk. If you use heavy strings it gets a great acoustic tone without all of the faff that goes with mics. Depends on the quality level required of course but it may well be worth looking into the hybrid guitars at that price point (Godin, Taylor etc) which will probably have better electronics on board to be able to lose the outboard preamp.

I am with Paul, I have the same need, I only need one (2 at the most) settings but would like to have that without all the extra bells and whistles and have the solid state for the weight etc. I actually accept the limitations of Fender solid state in preference over heavy and bulky valve tones just for convenience, weight and consistency of sound. I did go through the phase of using just a Zoom G5 multi effects into a power amp but again, too much to fiddle with. Playing with Bass I now just use a Tech 21 VT bass DI to keep consistent sound ad plug into effects loop of whatever amp happens to be available.

Why can't they make some solid state amps with just good power amp and speaker with the option to add sounds via PC like TC Electronic do with Toneprint? I have a Fender Superchamp X2 (I know it has a valve in the preamp but still technically solid state I believe) and just set one sound, deactivated the rest and works well, but I actually prefer my Fender Frontman 65w 'beginners' amp with it's default sound, just wish I had the confidence in it's reliability.

As Paul says, being able to choose the basic amp in whatever format you need then add the amp model afterward would make a lot of sense and surely make it easier for manufacturers to appeal to a wider audience.

Perfect. Thanks to both!!

Brilliant, love that rhyme! I will have to teach the children...

Uke is tuned with high G. Thanks SpondonBassed, it would be appreciated. And thanks again Dlloyd, I will check out that website over the weekend.
Much appreciated chaps.

Thanks Dlloyd. I have some of these books for guitar and agree they are great. Not tried these particularly with the uke but it was the key sounding appropriate that was the issue with other (actually uke specific books). I will give it another go though with transposing. Thanks

I have tried (to a limited degree) lots of instruments but can't seem to get over the bit between total novice and becoming more accomplished. I can do a basic drum beat but can't get it more than that; struggling a little with ukulele (can play all the chords but struggling to play any proper songs); saxophone, couldn't even get a proper note out; can't seem to get to grips with acoustic guitar at all, particularly fingerpicking or open chords; pretty good on the recorder and xylophone due to kids playing them at school; keyboard I can use the white keys only so have to transpose everything into C major; slide guitar I REALLY can't do and just don't understand.