MartinB

8 hours ago, Marc S said:

Is the weight due to a very slim body?

Luck of the draw. I bought two of these Sonics with the intention of sending back the heavier one, and they both came in a 8lb 11oz (3.94kg) 🤷‍♂️

That's the "trouble" with flatwounds - you don't really need to do anything to make them sound good. Rounds, on the other hand...

Agreed - VHS is a great option for non-Beyerdynamic owners. Currently available for €2.50 with code WINSAL80: https://www.hornetplugins.com/plugins/hornet-vhs/

I like EHX's recent approach of producing a limited-edition vintage style big box version of a new pedal, for collectors - and then releasing a normal-sized version at a normal price for normal people shortly afterwards.

The EQ controls are clever - HPF/LPF when cut, shelf-to-bell when boosted. The price though... 😬

It's a bit flat... a pearl finish would have been snazzier. Ultimately it's always going to be second-best to burgundy mist metallic though 🤩
 

Quote

Hybrid magnet design: These pickups utilise Alnico 5 magnets on the E and A strings for tight low-end punch, and Alnico 2 on the D and G strings for a warm, fat growl.

Didn't they try mixed-magnet pickups a few years back? And people said that they sounded much better if you took them out and rotated them 180 degrees 😆

14 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

not sure what to make, my guidelines would be

interesting on bass

not in current production

prob not something that I can easily get from Musikding as a kit.

I don’t mind developing have mods or tunings for something. 

EHX Knockout? It's surely possible to fit the circuit into a less gigantic box:
 

I've got weights for four Squier necks without hardware - three of them Jazz-width, and one a five-string:
824g

827g
829g
868g

Surprisingly, the fiver is the second-lightest!

I'd hang fire on changing the bridge until you've got the neck and tuners fitted. Those paulownia bodies can be so light that you need a heavier bridge to counter neck dive.

Result! Glad you got it sorted. Neither pickup is really to blame - if they're out of phase with each other, then it doesn't matter which one you reverse.

If you'd seen my efforts at soldering, you wouldn't be asking me for advice 😉

Removing the wires should be a case of pulling gently on them while applying the iron to the solder pad - as soon as the solder melts, they should come free. If they're not loose after a couple of seconds, remove the iron to avoid overheating, and re-think. You may need more power or a larger tip.

Remove one wire at a time if possible - you'll want to cut the cable tie bundling the P wires to the MM wires, and it may be easier if you can separate the black and white wires a few inches along their length.

https://mightyohm.com/blog/2011/04/soldering-is-easy-comic-book/

https://www.premierguitar.com/diy/guitar-bass-mods/guitar-soldering?page=1

Personally I'd go for the terminal block, as it's hard to get wrong - but best of luck either way!

First thing you could try is to flip both of these connectors upside down:

If that doesn't do it, flip them back to where they were when you started.

It looks like you really need to swap the black and white wires that go from the P pickup to the blend pot, but from your question I'm guessing that soldering is not an option?

One possible solution would be to cut those two wires and use a small terminal block to reconnect them the other way round - white to black, and black to white:

1 hour ago, Raslee said:

Don’t suppose you still have the scratchlate details? 

What I sent to Brian was the original plate with a piece of cardboard attached:

So if he kept a copy of the final template he used, then you might be in luck. I'll PM you some details and you can ask him.

You want the centre line of the MM pickup to be in the region of 30 1/2" to 30 5/8" from the nut

3 hours ago, Grahambythesea said:

Too many windings, 3 is enough.

☝️

Press each string down on either side of the nut as well, so that it doesn't curve like a banana over the top. Reduces your chance of weird chorus-y noises. Same thing at the saddles too.

This thing's a real problem solver. GLWTS!

If he knew how to play, he wouldn't need to go to the school

 300 Hz here - there's a wide range around there that all sounds good, so I just went for the round number

https://reverb.com/news/the-golden-age-of-the-ampeg-b-15-1960-1980

On 02/10/2024 at 19:14, tayste_2000 said:

But if I don’t like it, it’ll be going in a drawer for 10 years ready to cash in on that scarcity 😂 (or more likely it’ll be on this forum end of October)

You were only a couple of weeks out 😄

On 13/09/2025 at 21:20, Mediocre Polymath said:

One thing that has thrown me a little is just how chunky the neck is – I'd taken measurements and so I knew in theory that it was a big boy, but I was still a little taken aback when I got it in my hands. It feels more like my dad's 70's EB3 than the jazz and stingray style necks on my custom basses. 

Is it wide from edge to edge, or thick from front to back - or both 😬? I've been keeping an eye out for one of these basses, as it's of the few headless designs that doesn't look completely weird to me, but if it's anything like a full Precision-width nut then I will think again.

6 hours ago, Obrienp said:

I need to find an oversized blank as the Satellite’s scratchplate is 48cm long! Any suggested sources?

Is that 48cm at the longest point, i.e. down the middle of the surfboard? A 43 x 29 blank like this would give you 51cm corner-to-corner.

2 hours ago, Hellzero said:

with the serial place on the switch better positioned (to avoid huge differences in output).

You just mean moving the loudest (serial) position to one end of the switch, right? So that when flicking between settings, you don't have to go "across" the loudest one.

The price of those adapters was already something of a joke. I use strips of veneer to reduce the hole size, same as @neepheid and Gerry Hayes.

These are worth considering as a Hipshot alternative:

How about some radioactive side dots?

https://www.reidtimber.co.uk/edc/luminous-tritium-side-dot-markers

Another vote for TC Electronic Spark Booster - the budget king of this sort of thing