bloke_zero

Maybe! I just went on an emotional rollercoaster going passive to active, not liking active and going back to passive and then back to active on a stingray build. I did it becasue the voicing of the MM pickup is, because of it's position close to the bridge, always going to be a bit bass light. Switching from the PU from series to parallel wiring made it work with the preamp much better (stingrays are normally parallel). One of the things that Rautia guys reference is emphasised mids and a nasal quality (great marketing!) so that top end clarity (that I love with the passive sound) came at a cost of somethig I had to EQ pretty radically when recording - which is a no for me.

I see what you're saying: https://www.rautiaguitars.net/multi-coil-bass-pickups.html# Same tip - there is an openness to the sound I like - prefer the parallel to series on them. Nice demo on that page.

I'm considering building up a passive bass with a MM pickup and, sparked by someone necro-ing a Wal thread on here I went and revisted: https://www.herrickpickups.com/products/split-8-coil-mm-humbucker/ I was looking to get an idea of the tone but didn't find too much except for these 2: Which are pretty tantalising - just wondered if anyone had some direct experience they could share!

Seems like he's using it to trigger a synth at about 5:12

Need to know more! Let us know how the tracking works after calibration... I'm particularly interested in the note articulation like bend or tremelo. Looks awesome - I like that they have partnered with Warmoth for the bodies.

A mate of mine swears that if it isn't an alder p-bass with nitro finish it isn't worth a look.

I think hooky means on the sound! If you encase a vibrating mass in plastic then the plastic (poly) will have a large effect on the tonality of the mass as opposed to say nitro or wax or oil. There are a lot of questions about how much wood affects the tone as opposed to pickups, electronics and strings, but as rational beings I think we'd agree that all these things play a part.

John East Pre is really nice and drop in. Sounds great - very expensive. Or this - super cheap if you solder: https://www.musikding.de/Classic-Bass-Preamp-Preamp-kit The gy that designed it gives an interesting rundown of the process: here is a weird google translation! https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fandyszeugs.wordpress.com%2Fmusicman-stingray-classic-preamp%2F Pickups are legion! I got a Nordstrand MM 4.4 - sounds really good to me. I planned to have a lot of switching options but in the end am just running it parallel - old school style. It's worth checking that if you're going for a sound-a-like the impedence is right as otherwise the interaction between the pickup and the preamp might not work well (if you check the german article I linked there are some remarks in the comments) I'd upgrade the pickup first as it's really good to know what the passive sound is first.

I've used them a lot in the past on modular synth builds - they are good and cheap. Sometimes you get hit with additional import charges and sometimes not - I used to get their deliveries at work and it drove goods-in crazy 🙂

Got to love Dr Bonkers - amazing range of speaker IR's - never thought that you could load into a pedal - we live in age of wonders!

Worth trying Farnell? I find it really hard to keep track of ebay sellers and end up buying 12 things from 12 sellers at £1.50 each (plus postage of course - the kicker!)

This chat just made me re-install the John East I'd previously removed. It's the 3-Band. I took it out because I didn't like what it did to the top end and clarity having been used to the straight pickup through a passive treble and bass circuit (ala G&L L-2000). Subsequently I got a MM Cutlass (the new one not the old one) and was finding it much easier to record with - I was having to do a lot of eq-ing to get the right sound on my stingray-like. Upshot? Sounds great! Reading your 'The Mule' build diary (awesome!) I see the MM pickup position is naturally a bit bass lite and Leo moved it a bit for the L1500 which described exactly the problem I was having. So I scrapped the PTB circuit and parallel/series switch that I never used and put in the John East and immediately felt the relief that comes with more bass. I've not used it in anger but so far it's working well at 18V with Nordstrand MM4.4 in parallel.

Just built the Omnilooper: https://schalltechnik04.de/en/instructions/omnilooper Mainly to try with various oldschool envelope follower pedals - very nice with the mutron clone - phase shift required! The impedence button makes a big difference too. Really useful for integrating those pedals that remove all the body. The only problem I'm having, which I've noticed in some of his other designs, is that it can stop passing signal when the power supply fluctuates - e.g. a cable gets unseated and then comes back straightaway - the light is on but the circuit doesn't work until you turn it off and on again, which can be confusing on stage with bad power! That and although it is satisfying to have it was a bit build by numbers getting the whole kit from Julian - but the thought of trying to drill the little button holes so the caps didn't stick gave me the heebie jeebies!

This looks close https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MJT-Official-Custom-Vintage-Age-Nitro-Guitar-Body-By-Mark-Jenny-PBT-Bass-Purple/313191851590

I agree about the lead to some extent. I tend to use some buffered pedals so it's not something I worry about much. The preamp was a John East MM and to my ears it sounded significantly better at 18v than 9 - clarity and head room. Maybe I was making it up in my head 🤷‍♂️ - I thought it was relatively uncontroversial that some gain circuits work better with more voltage?

I think there is definitely a vogue for removing as much as possible from the signal path. In someways that makes sense to me - why have a preamp and tone shaping on the bass as well as the amp? The interactions between the two might well make the sound worse rather than better. And having heard the difference between preamps run at 9V and 18V onboard I can see the argument for having all that stuff mains powered. Wasn't there a Kramer guitar that you could click to remove the tone circuit - get more of that 80's high end fizz!

A vote for C

That is what I was thinking. Those need to be soldered. If they are just secured with tape they *will* come apart - probably at the most crucial moment. Soldering wires isn't difficult and a soldering iron is pretty cheap. Or maybe you have a friend with one - if you're near Finsbury Park London I'd help myself!

You can use any wire, cloth covered is proabably good. You have a solderless pot and are extending the wires - I'm assuming you'll solder the extensions - otherwise they will come loose - forgive me if I state the obvious!

Like! And great studio - every piece of it a classic from the 70's or 80's - sadly I think I can name them all, though I've only played a couple.

I put togerther a bitsa - easily my favorite bass - it came out really well. I think that it depends on your approach - I was trying to make a better than factory build, so the quality of the parts was important to me - a great neck and pickup ended up being expensive but made the bass a true pleasure to play. I also got the final bits done by a luthier - cutting the nut and drilling the tuner screw holes and final set up - cheating? Maybe but it made me happy.

Thanks for the replys - I like them because they are a bit brighter than the la bella's The extra tension doesn't seem to hurt my playing, but that might be becasue I'm coming from their nickle wound wound XL's 160 and the tension is only 20 lb's less. I put some fast fret on and that seemed to help a bit, they are definitely getting smoother as I play them and they have a lovely strong tone.

Sorry - I was a bit in doubt as to where to put it - duly noted. Thanks - I was worried I just wasn't going to get on with them.

I like the tone but I'm finding them quite grabby on the right hand - almost like my fingers are getting stuck. A function of them being new or is it the tension and they won't get better?