Hellzero

9 hours ago, Pirellithecat said:

Update.   It's not the Active Tone pot I need ......... it's the 25k passive one.  
Which is Good News from the financial point to view.  

Delirious, as it's what I said since the beginning and even explained why. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Hi @michele,

Should you consider a GP12SMX Series 6 preamp, one just appeared in France: https://www.zikinf.com/annonces/annonce-2210949?ek=cPiYNOSg

@Pirellithecat, your question has its answer in my numerous replies and as I said if you want to keep your signal path totally passive, put an MN taper blend and everything will work perfectly, still using the original GZR pots.

The EMG ABC and the Bartolini AGDB are not per se exactly the same things, they both are buffer preamps for sure, but the ABC includes the 25 KOhms MN taper blend abd everything is totally solder less when you have to buy it separately for the AGDB and solder everything.

Your EMG GZR tone pot is a passive model, so you'll need to buy an EMG active tone pot that EMG is selling, of course, but the total amount of the ABC and the active pot will be the same as buying a new set of pickups...

1 hour ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

So connecting two passive magnetic pickups to a passive MN taper blend pot gives the same result as if mixing the separate respective isolated outputs from each pickup (being connected to each their own jack output socket on the bass) on an outboard active mixer? 

 

I truly think you have absolutely no electronics knowledge at all, but feel the urge to comment everything without even understanding a single thing.

1 hour ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

So connecting two passive magnetic pickups to a passive MN taper blend pot gives the same result as if mixing the separate respective isolated outputs from each pickup (being connected to each their own jack output socket on the bass) on an outboard active mixer? 

 

I truly think you have absolutely no electronics knowledge at all, but feel the urge to comment everything without even understanding a single thing.

1 hour ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

So connecting two passive magnetic pickups to a passive MN taper blend pot gives the same result as if mixing the separate respective isolated outputs from each pickup (being connected to each their own jack output socket on the bass) on an outboard active mixer? 

 

I truly think you have absolutely no electronics knowledge at all, but feel the urge to comment everything without even understanding a single thing.

By the way @tauzero a dual buffer like the Bartolini you mentioned won't solve the insertion loss, it turns the output in low impedance and can enable an adjustable gain (this very model), fixed gain or even unity gain, simply put buffering the signal.

What is solving the insertion loss is a blend control with MN taper and strangely as the Bartolini buffer is a low impedance circuitry all pots are ... 25 KOhms.

What's an MN taper blend pot:

This is exactly it @Gwilym, and it's what I'm saying since the beginning of this thread, but some people with absolutely no knowledge in electronics weren't able to understand it.

Glad that EMG mentioned it too in their ABC manual, but it's strange that this Alex guy didn't do it.

And in the OP case, a simple MN taper balance pot of 250 or 500 KOhms will solve this typical insertion loss issue keeping all the signal a totally passive path.

Some people here owe me some apologies.

Won't trust EMG anymore, this denotes a total absence of knowledge of the signal path and only the will to sell.

They should have said: It's OK, but as the balance will be the first in the signal chain, don't forget to put a volume and tone with a 25 KOhms value and a 100 nF capacitor as they will come after the ABC in the signal chain, if you want to be able to use them correctly.

Good luck @fretmeister, you're talking to Mister I Know Everything And You Are All Idiots aka @Baloney Balderdash.

I'll stop here as he's just telling utter bullshìt and I'm really tired talking to these kinds of persons, especially those who refuse simple solutions as there's always one.

Self reminder: stop helping people.

@Baloney Balderdash, looks like you don't know what an MN type balance control is.

There's a simple solution @Pirellithecat and you can stay passive all the way.

If you put your 250 KOhms volume and tone control after the EMG ABC, it will almost have no action, especially the tone control, as you'll get out of the balance in low impedance and then enter your volume and tone control intended to work with a signal in high impedance : a nice impedance mismatching will result with a very poor sound...

But do it the way you want, it's your money after all.

The EMG Geezer Butler are PASSIVE pickups and the EMG ABC(X), meaning Active Balance Control (2 x 25 KOhms) is intended for ACTIVE pickups, so it won't work here.

What you need is an MN type balance control in 250 KOhms or 500 KOhms to avoid that insertion loss.

Guys, read before answering...

A tech can start it using a Variac and slowly applying the tension needed and not damaging the capacitors.

It just takes a bit of time.

If it's never been used in 20 years or so, beware of the capacitors that might have dried...

If you could post a fresh photo of the bass with the double strings and some close ups, it would help a lot... 😉

There are a lot of luthiers in Croatia, and this looks like a bass dating back to the communist era, so no real brand name.

11 hours ago, Dread Bass said:

Just a million hours of sanding to do.

It sums so well the worst part of the job...

11 hours ago, Waddo Soqable said:

That looks brilliant, I'd use it just as it is 😁

Yep, for once a non fake steampunk bass, good catch.

I was talking about the bass, not the tetanus, by the way.

I know the guy too and he even asked me once to put a bass I was selling on hold, because "it was exactly what he was looking for": a Takamine TB-10 at a really fair price.

Of course, he never bought it...

So I totally understand your rant, especially as he kept contacting me each time I was selling something interesting, like you I guess.

I ended up blocking his phone and email.

He's just a one person company acting like a broker, looking for bargains, trying to make even more bargain reducing the price, then putting it for sale at impossible to sell in Poland (and almost elsewhere) prices, and as you noticed @SurroundedByManatees always lying about everything: such a shame.

Fender has this A string or whatever string retainer standard on their new models since a decade or two and they even sell it. 😉

It's basically a washer with a string guide pulling down the string, at a delirious price: https://www.fender.com/en-GB/parts/electric-bass-parts/string-guides-nuts/stealth-bass-string-retainer/0078972049.html

24 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

I nearly bought one...

... of each. 🤦🏻‍♂️

@three : maybe something like the Bernard Paganotti upper horn extension.

I nearly bought one...

8 minutes ago, marcblum said:

I have one of these sixers. That's a special one.

Yep, the Bajadera!

5 hours ago, Kiwi said:

Trace also did a version of the all valve V4 amp in combo format in the mid 90's but they're super rare.  IIRC maybe only a hundred were made.  

Hundred is the weight, right?