Hellzero

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.

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

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

... of each. 🤦🏻‍♂️

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

I nearly bought one...

Hundred is the weight, right?

As a fretless bass player myself, I love the most natural sounding tone coming out of the speakers, that's why I bought a GR Bass AeroTech Full Carbon Combo 800 coupled to a GR Bass AeroTech Full Carbon Cabinet 112+. I also have two fretless Leduc U-basses (one 4 and one 6) with a Fishman BP-100 twin piezo pickup and magnetic pickup(s) going to an internal Fishman PowerChip, which is a buffer preamp allowing to split (stereo cable with two mono jacks on the other end) or sum both signals (the usual suspect mono lead). As I wanted to have two very distinct tones from the magnetics and piezos, I ended up buying a GR Bass Dual Pre, which is a twin preamp with two separate identical EQ's, a compressor working on both channels and a distortion section working on channel 2 only. I then go out to the GR Bass combo switched in the "Pure" position thus having a non really colouring powered cab with just a gain and a master, both set at noon as I manage the power on the preamp pedal with the two master volumes. And it's working the way I want, with a very rich and deep tone on the piezo nearly emulating a double bass tone and a fretless tone with loads of mwah possibilities (if you want so but it will be linked to the way you play with these U-Basses and their free floating soundboard) on the magnetic pickup(s), so channel 1 is double bass like and channel 2 is typical fretless tone, but I can also have the two channels mixed or bypassed or muted and add distortion (on channel 2) and/or compression. So yes, @Linus27 I'm using something quite close to what you described, but for other reasons than you. And I still have the opportunity to use the combo as a standard combo with its own EQ, when disengaging the "Pure" switch. Furthermore, the whole rig is super lightweight. This GR Bass Dual Pre is also working really well with my other combo: an old original Hevos Midget 10 with everything at noon. Here is the preamp out of the box and it's bloody complete with even 2 D.I.'s (one for each channel), an fx loop, an aux in, a parallel out (non treated signal) and an headphones out with its own bass, treble and volume:

Too bad @Happy Jack doesn't make the flying double bass trick anymore. 🤪

Joe Morello as well as Dave Brubeck are both left foot counters. One of my all time favourite masterpiece and that moving time drum solo has always amazed me. Thanks so much @Dad3353 !

Here is the manual for the complete range of the GP12(X) Series 6 iterations and also some of the GP7. There was a preamp available at the time named GP12X. Trace Elliot GP12 Series 6 Manual.pdf

There's also this one @michele, but I don't where you are in Italy. https://www.mercatinomusicale.com/mm/a_trace-elliot-gp12_id7319863.html?stkn=bD3728N2y8n7bS58# It's not a preamp as it has send/return jacks. Worth asking a photo of the back to know which model it really is...

Your back.

@sandy_r : Is your bass a Kubicki Ex Factor?

After receiving my long ordered and awaited Leduc U-Basse 6 fretless for my birthday last month, I'm GAS free, having owned and played more than 400 basses and a lot of amps. I'm now in the process of selling what I don't need, you know those useless bargains, not for gasing again, but because I don't want anything else and just like for my Hi-Fi system, after a very long quest, everything is settled, to my taste. I really love my actual lightweight basses and lightweight combos as I get exactly the tone I hear in my head and can move them and play them without breaking my bad back. So yes, I'm GAS free.