@MELLOW
I thought that this has to be confirmed, so I wrote to bartolini. Yes, they said, they do have produced few pickups without logos. No brands, projects, or artists were mentioned.
It is possible, now we all know it.
Sound. An instrument may look and feel good, but everything else comes after the sound. I may forget many things and issues while playing because I love the sound of the bass.
If money and weight was not an object, a Mesa 400+ and maybe a 4 x 10" or 2 x 12" or even a 4 x 12". That would be it!
I had had one chance to play such Mesa in a gig. Loud, tough sound! Now my workhorse is a Glockenklang Soul. Works really well and weighs 24 lbs, which is about 1/10th of the 400+. Well, Mesa is actually 70 lbs.
Old Peaveys have something that resembles a comp, and GK micro series combos have comps. Sessionette bass amps had a switchable one pot comp.
Some kind soul had opened up the Spectra's settings. I moved them to my HyperGravity and now I have four knobs to tweak the settings. Very powerful.
I had started playing piano at the age of 5, and was in music schools until I was like 25, so school gave me friends, not any musical education.
This is like my son playing basketball in a wonderful team and the school teacher trying to tell him something about his playing skills.
Or when I went to do my military service and my condition started to go down. There was simply not enough sports.
When I was a kid at school there were levels in maths: if you were good enough you could learn more. Things have changed later on when everybody has to have an equal chance not to learn too much...
There is also this former Modulus neck builder, whose name I tend to forget... Jerry Dorsch. He has built several necks for those who find him. He is in States, so customs etc. may affect the price quite a lot.
I certainly would try to find something that I already have. I can not see any benefit in doing this kind of sell-all-buy-something.
If I use a retroscope, and think about the past, I do see many purchases that were funny and unnecessary. Live and learn...
Modulus Quantum neck (5-string) is very thin from the fretboard to the back, and 17.5 mm string spacing.
Ibanez Veasley model (6-string) has 14 mm string spacing.
Sorry for hi-jacking this thread.
We have been discussing about this particular issue elsewhere, and we disagree. A bartolini without a logo is an SD or LP.
A simplfication:
- nickels provide flatter response (= more mids), suitable for fretless and old skool
- SS have a bit like 80's slap eq curve
But:
Depending on the manufacturer and gauge (not to talk about RW, GW, or flats), these generalizations aren't so sharp.
tce SCF, I rarely use other than the flanger side of the unit. That flanger sound is slightly similar to Prince's, and I like it. If there is a need to use it a lot, I mix it through a X-over (IE Divaricator).
Very interesting, this was made in 1990. The body shape is probably just in between SP(X) and SPi, closer to the latter. The P/J is not very common after the beginning of the 1990's. EMG and bartolini soap bars are common choice. The Modulus logo is also pretty old, this is somewhat special instrument. Is the string spacing less than 19 mm? 17.5?
I had the RC-2, but did not like it. Complicated use. Ditto x 2 was quite good, but sold it. Now I have this red Valeton and I try to learn to play and push the footswitch at the same time. Very hard for a bassist like me... but the response/feedback from the unit is very helpful.
The first thing is to consider any existing model. If there is one, I cannot see any reason to build another from scratch.
The second is the requirements. What should the instrument have and why. Beware if it is something some other (like some star bassist) has. A custom is the custom for you! If something is unclear, we get to the third point...
3) The dialogue with the luthier has to work. If not, try the next one.
Fourth point is to do the discussion and be honest with both: yourself and the maker. Any detail that feels strange or wrong has to be discussed now! not afterwards.
5) Play a lot and learn your new friend!
bartolini without a logo sounds like some other manufacturer. Their design is the logo, never seen a pickup without one.
A short correction: I think that Zon has had bartolinis with kind of "bp" logo (bartolini pickups?) in them, so at least two logos exist.
Are you referring to a single pickup unit named as Flea bass or maybe some of its predecessors, like Sonic Hammer?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulus_Guitars
Remember to put some grease to the rod thread and turn the screw from end to end before installation. It is easy to do it now before the unit is inside the neck.