Waddycall

Ive just got a second hand Ibanez SR1820. It’s the best sounding bass I’ve had. Had first band practice with it on Tuesday and got a text from guitar player earlier saying how good it sounds! It’s one of the premium range with the Nordstrand big single pickups. If you like a light versatile bass with a slim neck they could be for you too.

I replaced it with a bourns mn taper pot. It’s not quite right but fine for now. Ive got an original Ibanez pot on order but it won’t arrive until the new year!

Blend pot issue sorted! Took the bass to band practice for the first time tonight and it was great. Really pleased!

Forget the bit about the passive tone control not working. It’s fine. Not sure what I was thinking there.

Well ive fitted the bourns pot as per an Aguilar OBP diagram for MN taper blend pots and it works, sort of! in active mode it’s absolutely fine although there’s is a bit of a jump in tone once moved from centre towards the bridge. It’s not too bad so can live with that. The other difference is lack of treble control in passive mode. The treble control now acts as a second volume pot. still it’s now useable at least and I think I can live with it until the ibanez part arrives in the new year. its a bit of a lash up as I wasn’t sure it would work. As it’s temporary it can stay that way! cheers

Yep, that’s makes sense. I’m sure that’s where the cap is. Not sure the pot is connected up quite like my diagram as it seems both pickups could end up being off. i think I’ll just disconnect it and try the bourns pot and see what happens. Don’t think I’ll blow anything in the process.

The fourth terminal is a centre tap on the resistive track so I’m assuming gives a 250k resistance. The output seems to come from these joined together. Terminal 1 of the upper track goes to ground and terminal 3 of the lower track goes to ground. Seems to make some sense but what I don’t understand is what the capacitor does. badly drawn diagram -

Thanks for the suggestions. Ive managed to order a genuine spare through Mansons. I only need to wait until 2020 to receive it 😳. I’ve also ordered the Bourn MN taper pot which arrived today. Stupidly when I was looking for pots I didn’t notice that the one on the bass (which is mounted in a small PCB) has 8 terminals as it’s centre tapped. I can only find 6 terminal ones online and the Pot that’s arrived has 6 terminals. Ive been trying to trace the tracks on the PCB to figure out what’s going on but I’m out of my depth. There is a small capacitor (I think) bleeding some signal to ground from the output but I can’t work out why. The bass has passive tone control but I can’t believe it’s for that as it’s nowhere near the treble/tone pot. The output from the balance pot goes to the volume pot - a hot and a ground. im hoping that I can basically remove the old pot and it’s pcb and connect the pickups and output to the new 6 terminal pot but that would eliminate the capacitor. does anyone know what the capacitor does or if what I’m planning seems feasible? I’m keen to get this bass working. cheers

I need to replace the blend pot in my Ibanez sr1820 which I took delivery of at the weekend. I’m having difficulty sourcing a genuine spare so now looking for an alternative. The original pot is AC500K. Can this be replaced with a Bourn MN taper pot? The bass is both active and passive. I’ve been doing some research but the more I find out the more my head spins! I’m handy with a soldering iron so no probs there. Just need to know what part to fit as I can’t find an AC taper pot. cheers

No, not yet. Being the impatient type and it’s being a weekend I was hoping I could just put an order in for a new one!

Thanks. I’ll give that a go. I had seen their site but misread it as no shipping to addresses outside the us. No web orders doesn’t sound quite so definitive. cheers

Took delivery of a used Ibanez SR1820 yesterday. Was playing it on and off all day and was really pleased with it until the blend pot packed up! ive tried contract cleaner but that’s not sorted it. Might take the pot out and disassemble it later. Anyone know where I can get a replacement? It’s PCB mounted so I guess it has to be the exact one. They’re shown in the Ibanez spares catalogue but I can’t see any uk sellers on the internet, only German or American and neither will post to the uk. https://cs.hoshinogakki.co.jp/pcw.nsf/item.xsp?documentId=EE088A978F5B6FEF4925821A0002A13D&strItemKey=3EMV5_S_5D_01&curSuffix=5D01&curFromYMTX=&curToYMTX=&strMode=newpage apologies for grainy pics. cheers, pete

Thanks to Dan for recent purchase of his bass pod. Super smooth transaction, great communication, fast shipping, secure packaging and a great price! buy from Dan with confidence.

The pre amp definitely made the biggest improvement. If I could choose the pre amp or pickup it would be the pre amp. It’s so much more versatile and lots less noise. I think the pickup made a very small difference in comparison. Looks like mouthmw found the same from the post above. With the original pickup in the demo probably wouldn’t be noticeably different.

Here you go. Excuse the shoddy and repetitive playing. I'm useless at slap but I know its good for tone comparison so thought Id do what I could with this temptations tune. Its got some slap and finger playing in it so a good mix. It starts off with the treble mid and bass in the middle. After the first pause the bass and treble are boosted to about 75%. After the second pause the bass is fully cut and the lowest mid frequency is boosted. Its recorded in Cubase through a Zoom R16 as interface with a little bit of compression. https://soundcloud.com/user-693218768/ray-34-with-mm42-and-johneast

Update - I still think it sounds great. Just got back from band practice. Just need to be better at playing it now.

Yep, pretty easy to install. It comes with the jack socket ready soldered leaving just the pickup wires, battery wires and bridge ground to connect. Had a few beers now but as far as I can remember - remove battery remove screws and lift up control cover Snip off battery wires snip off pickup wires snip off ground wire from bridge remove jack socket from plate remove old pre amp including jack remove pots from plate fit new pots to plate strip back pick up wires and connect to new pre amp with screw terminals strip back battery wires and connect to pre amp with screw terminals solder bridge ground to new pre amp ground wire and insulate with heat shrink (not supplied) install new jack socket Refit control cover i did add an extra ground wire which I connected to the bridge ground and soldered to a washer I put under the bass control pot. This was before I’d tried using the supplied springs in the kit. These may have done the job without the extra wire. the pre amp change definitely got rid of the harsh high end noise that the original seemed to accentuate. The east pre amp seems more useable even as a two band than the original and once you start playing with the mid sweep control there are lots of tones available. Doesn’t seem as nasal as the original either.

Some may have seen my Ray34 in the for sale section a while back. I was not able to get the tone I wanted out of it for the band I’m in. It wasn’t selling and rather then drop the price further I decided to hang onto it and turn it in to the bass I wanted it to be. ive fitted the 3 band John east pre amp with variable mid frequency, a nordstrand mm4.2 pickup and a tort guard to fit the new pickup. It’s becom a much more useable bass in my hands and to my ears. The biggest difference has been the pre amp. With the original I never knew what to do with the treble control because of all the clicking and clanking it seemed to accentuate. With the John east I can have the treble right up for some sizzle without the unwanted noise. It now sounds warmer and fatter too. if anyone else is considering changing the electronics in a Ray34 I’d recommend the east pre amp first. The pickup was a smaller step in the same direction. For the total spend I could have bought a second hand stingray but I’m still very pleased with the result. I love the neck on this bass and didn’t really want to let it go.

Great playing but a bit of sustain is always nice when demonstrating tone! Both sound great. I’m trying to persuade myself I don’t need a mustang and this hasnt helped!

Thanks guys. Gives me a couple more options.

Hi, can anyone recommend a good helpful supplier to get Delano pickups from. Current experience is like getting blood out of a stone. cheers.