Woodinblack

My dad was against us going to university, not to the point of forbidding us to go, but just that we should be out working, so we both went out to work at 16.I went to the Open University later on

I had ordered one too (not entirely sure why, but thought it would be good as a drop D thing for a new group), but it was shown as out of stock, to be sent on the 2nd January, but now it has been delayed by 3 weeks. I am not actually that bothered, quite happy to wait if it does turn up!

On 16/12/2025 at 17:57, Woodinblack said:

 

Thats the one I use instead of the U4, although mine cost me £32! But the switch can be a bit intermittent, sometimes the quality can slip and after a lot of gigs and practices the receiver battery life is starting to get close to the end of our gigs if I forget to plug it in at half time.

OK, I got the WX52- and I have been pretty impressed with it, tried it tonight in a practice, really good sound quality and a solid build.

I have a fender one and it has been good, which is a surprise as every other fender cable I have had has been junk. Maybe it was a lucky accident.

31 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

I was just pointing out that adjusting any one setting does change the perception of the overall sound

Yes, but in a passive system, changing the volume does actually change the EQ, not just the perception of it.

2 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Ah... but that's what I don't agree with. There are plenty of passive low-z pickups out there used in active basses and they aren't associatedwith noise issues.

Not low-z like the EMGs are though. obviously the main issue with those isn't noise, the main issue is that they would just be completely useless without a preamp / buffer, so why bother having an external preamp.

3 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Agreed but there's nothing magical about active pickups that you can't do with 6" of shielded cable and the right preamp.

Agreed there is nothing, but what it does mean is that you can make very low impedance pickups (with a very low output), which means that you aren't choking your own frequencies with the pickup, which is what EMGs do.  They are active because not only would the noise be an issue, even with 6" of shielded cable, but there would be no point using them without a preamp as the signal would be too small, so might as well put one there. 

3 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

But any instrument with an onboard buffer, even without tone boost is active.

Agreed - active has nothing to do with tone circuits, its just that if you have gone to the trouble of making it active, might as well make a tone circuit. Most of my basses are active, I rarely touch the EQ on the bass. In fact, nowadays that I play on a wireless all the time, there is little point me using an active, as I am already buffered by the wireless, hence most of the time I am using my Ric.

3 hours ago, ped said:

Further research shows that there is indeed a second cap fitted, which some people snip for more treble (I won’t) 

 

You can see them both here - one rectangle (the one some people snip) and a circular one behind it. I guess the rectangular one is the additional one to better voice the pickup for bass 

Interestingly, one of those is wired permanently on, one is added by the tone control

They only seem to sell roland items, and their vat number is real, so probably real, even if it is a private house. Maybe they just get demo stuff

12 hours ago, ezbass said:

Glad it’s over, only 365 days until the next one. At least it was an easy drive home.

So why bother next year? Why don't you just slope off to the keyboard players NYE family!

On 30/12/2025 at 20:34, MichaelDean said:

I saw on Instagram that @Goliath_FX has had one arrive! Any first impressions? It looked cool!

£69? He was done!

2 hours ago, JPJ said:

Funny thing is that despite having never been an active smoker, I now find the smell of tobacco smoke to be “nostalgic”.  

I was and find it anything but!

3 hours ago, BubbasnEvilGenius said:

This is the first time that I have dealt with an active preamp. I bought a pre wired 2 band preamp for my jazz bass originally. But, decided to install it in my generic P bass instead. I couldn't find the right wiring diagram on Google or anywhere I looked online. I was wondering and hoping if anyone on here to help me out with my bass? You got a wiring diagram that would be amazing. This preamp has a master volume that is an 1 mega ohm audio taper pot. A bass & trouble cut there are B-50 killaohm  pots, and a MN250K blender pot. I would greatly appreciate it? If anybody can help me figure out this wiring!

 

P.S. instead of having this PB split called pickup connected.  I know him two single coil pickups. I'm going to upload pictures of my preamp and the wires a little cock eyed. Any help would be truly appreciated especially if there's a wiring diagram or some other type visual along with everything. The first picture is of my pickups and the blend pot. The second picture is the bass and treble cut. Along with the brand module. I would also like to add either spdt or D PDT switches., I have a dpdt slide switch, and spdt mini toggle on off on switch. Lastly the output Jack is a mono stereo Jack. I kind of have an idea on how to connect all the wires and make it work right. Cuz the other day I had her completely together. I was testing the preamp out. Two different amps

 

I am not sure if I am following your problem here - you had this preamp working on a jazz bass, and now you want it on a P bass? Do you have a picture of the label on the preamp or an indication of what make it is (like from when you bought it) - the blend doesn't work but obviously some preamps (most?) the blend is before the preamp - the rest of it would be exactly the same as how it was originally installed. You say you want switches - for what?

3 hours ago, Geek99 said:

Possibly in the wrong place ? @Woodinblack

Is it? Its where I would put it. Probably more a mod issue, they tend to do these things and know better than me!

I bought a piano years ago, smelled very smokey, cleaned it, still smelled, and for years you could hit some random key and get a whiff of smoke!

3 minutes ago, ped said:

Surprised you still get four strings… I bet they thought about it!

I am sure they did - anything they could sell!

20 minutes ago, ped said:

I believe there are two caps in the circuit to enhance the low end response. 

Not in a standard musicmaster - one tone, one volume, one tone cap, one pickup, one socket, and thats the lot - built the cheapest it could be.

If they are pure tube outputs with a 8Ω and 4Ω output, and it is ok on one but not the other, then the only thing that can be wrong is the transformer or the socket for the 4Ω connector as there is nothing else, unless there is a problem with the speaker, or the loading is wrong (ie, not a 4Ω speaker), but I assume you tried that with the other one.

Yeh, my first bass I got when I was 15 so 45 years too. Definitely going to learn it one day!

4 minutes ago, Kev said:

I still have this niggling thought that its all hype but hoping I'm wrong!

Just because something is all hype doesn't mean it won't actually be useful to you!

3 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

but with Blues / rock then a lot of people will be watching and admiring the musicianship

Pah, speak for your own band

3 hours ago, SimonK said:

1) I've taken my Linsoul KZ ZS10 ear pieces back from my son (who was using them for gaming), but he's buggered up the cable - can anyone recommend a replacement (probably looking at around £20 accepting it is probably a disposable item in the long run)? There seem to be plenty of options on Amazon?

I got a really nice tangle free cable from aliexpress which is all braided, unhelpfully I dont' remember the name but it has been excelent, and saved a good minute at each gig!

Quite local pub last night for an early evening gig (or 7-10). Setup and found I forgot the iPad so dashed home to get it, seeing as I had already setup everything. Looked like it was going to be a quiet night, there were actually 2 people in the room when we started!

Luckily after a song, another group of 6 people came in and then some more afterwards. By song 5 it was actually pretty busy, although it is a fairly small room. 

The drum kit lights had broken so I put my aliexpress bar light across the front and it worked really well.

All in all a good gig and the last we need to do christmas songs for!

4 hours ago, ead said:

 

What is this "justification" of which you speak?

Its the only thing that stops me from filling the house!

But I did ask Chris about it,. and I still think about it

4 hours ago, ead said:

I had this on an Alpher bass:

 

I was so tempted to custom make a 5 string version of that but could never pluck up the justification!