bloke_zero

19 hours ago, disssa said:

Pearce BC1 clone

 

Woah - awesome! One of my favorite pieces in the studio. I like how you did the channel select - really makes sense. How does it sound?

Boss bass - very close to my current perfect spec. If only I had the money - GLWTS!

3 hours ago, funkle said:

However there has to be a major difference in height between the neck and bridge pickups to get the right volume balance; I don’t think I was achieving this before in spite of my best efforts. The pickup routes were just not deep enough. 

Can't you set the relative volume on the Luistand? There is a trimmer on each filter board on mine. That way you could set the height the same for tone but balance the volume electronically.

That is an amazing looking thing. I count at least 3 pickups? P pickup at an extreme angle neck bottom strings?! 2 guitar pickups off set and then there is the same plastic mounting as the P-pickup at the bridge which might have something?

1 hour ago, Ralf1e said:

Ooo Maybe I should have gone for one if they are lighter. Maybe next time

Let me know if you do and want a deal - I went with a cheap alder body I got off ebay in the end so it's sat here waiting for a new home!

On 26/04/2023 at 14:49, Ralf1e said:

Absolutely. The ones on their page look somewhat better than the much used photo of stuff on ebay etc so I am looking forward to seeing if it compares favorably to the photos they use or otherwise.

I got the 'mahogany' version. Was very easy to work with. It was very light and resonant and seemed well finished especially for the money.

Ack sorry - I thought 'Dave' meant somone on the forum selling a preamp! All links point to retrovibe!

9 minutes ago, Chaddy said:

Thankyou mate, I don't mind passive or active tbh.

What are you going to do with the extra hole in the control plate :-)? You could try the Passive Treble and Bass circuit they put in G&L basses? I think I have some details if you're interested. The only thing is it's a bass cut and treble cut.

Passive MM is good.

I have one wired up parallel, series and single coil and really like the parallel and single and find the series a bit overwhelming - could be useful live for those moments where you need to go massive?

I'm not sure about using the loom though as wouldn't that need 2 pickups? You could wire it up so that each half went to a volume pot so you'd effectively have two single coils just like the jazz? Depending on the pickup there will be plenty of wiring diagrams, and people like Nordstrand etc are happy to help.

I wasn't wild about the Nordstrand 4.4 I had, I think I would have preferred the 4.2 as the additional coil makes it a bit darker and I prefer the zing. I've got a Delano MC 4 HE/S and I really like it - very bright and clear! Same as the others on this thread I don't think you have to worry about the output sounding anemic -especially in series!

People like these: https://retrovibe.co.uk/product/retrovibe-stinger-77-classic-mm-stingray-bass-eq-pre-amp-2-band-pre-eb-circuit/

I've not tried it myself.

A portion of the Stingray sound is the preamp - it adds a bit of bass IIRC. Depends on how keen you are to keep the original tone? I like the MM passive - there is quite a bit of discussion on here about it. Like:

I think they are great looking basses too - I love the way the pickguard sort of mirrors the curve of the upper horn.

Wow. Bold! I really like that.

Double NFP.

I could totally see a stingray chrome cresent on there. I was concerned that the NFP wouldn't fit in the cavity and that it would be easier to extend the back than the front.

In the end it did fit in just. I had to put the 2 larger filter PCB's in the middle 2 slots. I'd have rather had VOL/BLEND/FILTER/FILTER instead of VOL/FILTER/FILTER/BLEND

Pretty much finished for the time being. Very pleased with the results both visually and sound. Very much as I hoped. The mahogany feels like a better voicing for what I want.
 

The lusitand pre is very present and pushing the resonance up with the filter right open gives it an extra bit of definition and clarity. I'll get some sound clips up soon. The large switch is parallel/single/series on the Delano. With the shielding I did the single is pretty noise free and very crunchy.

I was a bit worried about the bridge as the tracks keeping the outside saddles in place look a little sketchy, but it's fine.

18 minutes ago, Owen said:

It is so weird with white pickup covers. I used to think they were the beyond tasteless. Now I cannot get enough of them in bright coloured basses.

I know what you mean. Feels a little bit like wearing trousers that end 2 inches above the ankle and white socks with a pair of loafers. Or something!

It's hard to know which way to got wth orange. Black or tort pickguard with black pickups, or white on white. I'm feeling the white right now though it's sort of accidental!

Did some work at the weekend. Electronics in place (tight fit inside the standard MM cavity!). Sounding good! It's got that grind at the top end.

Right now the neck is back off as the fit between neck and pocket was 5mm loose, so I'm going to re-drill.

Pretty pleased so far!

11 hours ago, lidl e said:

How long did you wait between final spray and polish?

 

Im finishing spray tomorrow and everything im reading says wait at least three weeks.

 

Thats going to be hard!

 

Edit: i just sqw you didnt paint it yourself. Looks like they dont wait but a few days. Is it poly or nitro?

It's nitro. There were issues with the nitro going off in the cold weather over Christmas. MMm - April 12th for picture + 6 days to get to me. I think your maths is correct! Sorry I can't be more help!

I've changed my mind on the bridge. Ordered a MM style bridge which I hope will match the guide drill holes. I had no idea how hard it would be to find something compatible! this was it:

https://www.ampshopbassexchange.com/product/albridge-parts-m20-mm-style-4-string-bridge-for-sterling-olp-and-overseas-basses/

Or this

https://www.armstrongmusic.co.uk//hardware-parts-c1/bridges-tailpieces-c2/bass-c96/armstrong-music-musicman-style-bass-bridge-chrome-p2093/s2780

Now my bass mate is bothering me about a pickguard. Says the stingray pickguard is iconic and I'm letting myself down and the bass down if I don't get one 🙄

9 hours ago, velvetkevorkian said:

Good thing you've got your shades handy!

“The futures so bright”

 I’m hoping it will also be warm and woody at the flick of a switch!

Moving towards the end game.

Finish is POPPING, I'm very pleased. These are a little dull, but you get an idea.

Now I just need to re-drill for fender bridge, 4 knobs and 3 switches and move the pickups and electronics across.

I used a light application of 'Montypresso', it's ok, but is a little more brown than the amber you might want. It certainly helps remove some of that Ibiza 'first day on the beach' studio tan feel from the maple:

Bloody expensive though! https://www.montysguitars.com/products/montys-montypresso-relic-wax

Probably only really worth it if you're also going to use it for it's intended purpose: darkening pao ferro or light rosewood fingerboards as well. (Which it excels at).

20 hours ago, iconic said:

Autotune😉

Isn't that 'frets'? 😜

6 hours ago, luthifer said:

Not bad news, just surprising they want to boost way up there. I spent enormous amounts of time playing with a pick and trying different frequencies to get the same kind of meaty pick sound, and settled on ~2k. 6k seems more like a "fret noise" boost to me...

With some studio EQ you add 'sweetness/sparkle' by boosting very high frequencies, 14K plus. Maybe this is on that same sort of basis?

The Luistand pre I have I think cuts off at 4K - I can see why you might want to add in some top end just to provide some defintition in that case. Say you cut everything above 2K you could then add some attack, like the click at the start of an electrictronic bass drum.

I agree about the fret noise though - especially with my terrible technique!

50 minutes ago, attackbass said:

Looks good! I finally had my bass assembled and it is killin'! 

 

Good to know! I got a p-bass body of theirs off ebay and I was very pleased with it. I just need to hack out a truss rod adjustment hole on that as taking the neck off to fix the intonation is killing me!

15 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

Optical illusion or is that a small body? 

 

Review for the Lusithand preamp please.

It's a standard stingray size I hope! Maybe he's just a giant?

I'll need to re-install them in the new body before I can really say as I've sort of started to forget (it's been months!).

I liked them - clear, clean, strong sound from the buffered inputs. The filtering was strong - going from about 4k to 150Hz or therabouts.