Obrienp

About 4 months ago I commissioned my friendly local luthier to make a 32” fretless neck for my (fretted) Ibanez SRH500. Unfortunately he is so busy, with a custom short scale build for me among other commissions, that he hasn’t got round to it yet. I thought long and hard about this, before deciding that this would be cheaper than buying a new chambered fretless, or having one made. You can pick up a used SRH500/505 for not much money, so doing this might work out cheaper than buying a new bass, or getting a custom build. No reason why the neck shouldn’t be a 30”, although I thought it might look a bit unbalanced, even though the body is relatively small (width) for a full size bass.

OK folks. This process is amazingly straightforward, as long as your supplier has sent you the correct valves. My JJ ECC81 is fine (12AT7): sounds good but the Mullards I was sent are ECC84, that is not a 12AX7 equivalent. It should have been ECC83. Doh! The job is only half done but at least it won’t take too long when the JJ ECC83 arrives from Watford Valves. The original valves are branded Ruby. I did a quick Google search on them and it seems they are a low cost Chinese brand. Opinions in various forums range from they are crap to there’s nothing wrong with them. Apparently they have been used in various Marshall models as well. I guess manufacturers have to keep costs down and are bound to source components locally for their Chinese made products. I wonder if they put Ruby in the UK made amps. But hey, JJ are made in the Slovak Republic and loads of other makes are actually made in Russia. I doubt there are any still made in the USA or UK. One thing I noticed while I had the cover off but with mains, speakers and bass connected, and powered up, you have to look really hard to see any glow from the valves,me specially with the protective housings in place. Don’t take lack of glow to mean the valves are dud. Try it all connected before deciding you’ve put a dud in. Probably obvious to all you knowledgeable people but one YouTube video said to look for the valves glowing as an indicator of success. I am sure that applies to output valves in an all valve amp but doesn’t seem to hold for the Terror’s preamp valves.

I put Pro Steels on my 4 string and I think it has made it sound nasal and emphasises the unbalanced nature of the hybrid 45-110 set. I am going back to nickels but a proper 50-110 set of mediums. I suspect it is not going to be enough though and eventually I am going to have to shell out for Aguilars but maybe Super Splits rather than DCBs.

Thanks. That’s reassuring. 👍

I came across a post started in 2011 describing the process of changing valves in the previous model Terror. No pics though, as the links had broken. One thing that was not mentioned but is in some YouTube vids about valve changing, is the danger of residual current in the capacitors. I guess it is not a problem with the Terror preamp valves, as nobody has mentioned it. Is that right, or are there procedures I need to follow (apart from the obvious unplugging) to avoid getting fried?

Hi All, Reviving this thread with a question but first a bit of context. I just bought a secondhand Terror Bass MKII off fleaBay. It is apparently a year old, give or take. It looks immaculate, so I believe it and it seems to work fine. The manual says amp valves should be replaced every year. Given this is a used amp, etc, it strikes me it might be a good idea to replace the valves before relying on it at a gig. So… I have the new valves: a Mullard ECC84 and a JJ ECC81. I had a quick look at some YouTube clips about replacing amp valves (there aren’t many) and they gave dire warnings about residual current lurking in the capacitors. One gave instructions on how to bleed the residual charge from the capacitors but TBH it didn’t look like something I would want to attempt. Plus looking in through the heat vents on my Terror, I can see the two valves inside their covers and nothing else. I have a kind of feeling that the really nasty current would be in the output stage of a valve amp rather than the preamp and as this is class D in that stage, that is not an issue. Am I deluding myself? What precautions do I need to take when changing these valves? Nobody has mentioned taking any when describing doing the swap. Your experience of doing the swap would be gratefully received!

Thanks. That’s good to know.

Thanks for the recommendation. Do you still have to pay post-Brexit import duty on stuff from Thomann, or have they sorted that now? I heard a horror story about somebody getting a £200 bill on a bass, not that knobs are going to attract huge duty but it’s the hassle.

I found this with mine as well. The dots aren’t much use in the light either, they just blend into the beige tone of the neck. I have found that I am getting used to it now and I don’t have to look as much. I haven’t tried it on a dark stage yet. Getting a luthier to change the dots, or even stickers sound like good options. The other great irritation to me was the cheap toothpaste tube tops they used for the control knobs. I have replaced them for about £16 with tele and jazz bass metal ones from Northwest Guitars but they catch a bit on the edge of the indentation around the knobs. It’s manageable but keeping my eyes open for a better fit set. I would be interested to hear your view of the pickups as you get used to them. Quite a few people, me included, liked them to start off with and then went off them with more use. Replacing the Bartolini pickups with Aguilars seems a popular option. I am holding out against spending another £200 at the moment. I have put D’Addario Steels on mine to try to make it less muddy but listening back to yesterday’s rehearsal recording, it now sounds really nasal. I might put the nickels back on it.

I found a JJ 12AT7 on fleaBay for £13 inc p&p, which seems like a good price, so I’ve ordered that. I am going to stick with the valve combo that Orange put in the amp OEM. I’ll just have a spare 12 AX7; probably worth having just in case. I certainly don’t want to be putting a higher gain 12AX7 in the FX loop and DI. I think there was some criticism of the original Terror Bass DI being too hot, so maybe the change to a 12AT7 in that circuit was to calm it down. Anyway, it is reassuring to hear that the Clean setting is clear, without messing with the valve specs. That is just what I want: a warm clean valve sound most of the time, with the option to add some break up when it’s needed.

Thanks. Rats! I have ordered 2 x 12AX7 and no 12AT7. I’ll have to ring them up and change the order before they post it. 12AT7 is lower gain than the 12AX7 and there must be a reason why Orange have made that change in the MKII.

Thanks, that is very helpful. I am buying secondhand too, so it sounds as though it would be worth doing an immediate swap for new valves. I might put the 12AT7 on hold until I have heard how the clean switch performs but good to know, thanks.

I am waiting on the V2 version that I bought off FleaBay. The description said that it was a year old and never gigged… we’ll see. If it as good as everybody says, I am hoping it is going to give me the same range of tones as my Ashdown Little Stubby but louder to cope with gigging. A few questions for long term owners: how often do you have to re-valve these? is it a straight forward basic competence job, or one for an amp tech? Do the valves have to be biased and is that straightforward? another post suggested a valve upgrade would improve the clean tone. I can’t remember the particular valve recommended but has anybody done this and is it worth it? Thanks in advance for any wisdom on this.

I guess if your only concern is neck dive but a lot of us play short scale basses because they generally (but not always) are lighter than standard scale equivalents. For me this is a major concern to reduce back and shoulder pain and compliments the other joint related benefit of reducing the fretting hand stretch. As others have said, reducing the weight at the other end of the lever (the neck) is just as effective as increasing body weight. For me I have found the ultimate example of that is the Ibanez EHB series of short scale basses. I know other headless basses are available but possibly at a higher price point. I have the EHB1000s and it ticks all the boxes for me: lightweight, short scale (chambered body), ergonomic and extremely well balanced either on a strap, or sitting.

Ibanez EHB1000S.

Well I have put the D’Addario pro steels on. I am amazed at how easy it was to change the strings. Anyway I kept to the stock hybrid gauge and I am pleased by the tone improvement. It has certainly made the tone less muddy and if anything, there seems to be a less pronounced transition between the bottom and top strings than there was with the standard nickel set. This seems counter intuitive, given that the steels are supposed to be much brighter but I’ll take it. Time will tell if this has reprieved the Bartolinis. I have yet to try the new strings in a live set up, or at least an onstage rehearsal. One thing that crossed my mind was that the sound I was getting in rehearsal was very likely made worse by the rig sitting on a suspended wooden stage floor. I have ordered an Auralex isolator to see if that will get rid of unwanted boominess caused by the stage resonating. A lot of our gigs are in halls on wooden floors or stages, so this will definitely earn its keep.

See what I mean.

I was going to say that there are some echoes of the Affirma in the EHB horns, although the main body is much more SR. I am not so sure now I look at the Affirma again.

Maybe but it balances well on a strap, so they got something right.

Thanks for the info on that. I feel more comfortable soldering than trying to source the correct plugs. 🤞 that it doesn’t come to changing them but if I do, I now know what to do. I have ordered some D’Addario Pro Steels, which I hope will make it sound clearer.

Thanks for the info on that. I was obviously looking at the wrong two leads. As I said, I haven’t unbundled the wiring so I could get a better look at what is going on. I can only see one plug connector onto that board but obviously there must be another, which is currently obscured by the wiring. I imagine I could find some of those plugs online, if I wanted to do a neat job, or as you say reuse the old ones. Something to think about anyway but at the moment I am hoping to avoid having to change the pickups. 🤞

That is what it looks like but I haven’t cut the tie wrap and started pulling the wires around, so I may have been tracing the wrong set of cables. Definitely a pair of cables with black and white leads are soldered to that board. There are molex plugs all over the place after that. I am guessing replacement pickups don’t come from Aguilar, etc with molex plugs on them, so soldering is going to be needed anyway.

Yep, I’m not trying to be too objective about this. It’s all personal opinion and taste based on my particular bass. Others may vary in certain characteristics, like the stiffness of the tuners. I take the point regarding having a passive tone control. Compared to some switchable active basses, this is definitely a plus. I have only ever had stock active basses from Ibanez. Of those, 2 are active only and one (an SR) was switchable active /passive and I am pretty sure it had a passive tone control (and 5 controls without the sweepable mids). Looking at the specification of after market active preamps, several Aguilars have this feature, either with, or without a passive tone control. I can’t see one with a separate passive tone control and I guess another control on the EHB would be over the top. A question for anybody who has changed the pickups on an EHB, whether 4 or 5 string: it seems the pickup lead connections are soldered onto a circuit board attached to the blend control. How did unsoldering the original pickup leads and soldering the new ones go compared to doing the same on conventional potentiometers? I feel nervous about frying the board but at least you don’t have to solder the earths on the back of the pot. Also the cavity looks very full with all the boards and cables. My inclination would be to undo the retaining nut on the blend pot and pull it clear of the cavity to do the work. Obviously I would have to cut the cable tie and pull the preamp board and cables clear as well but is there sufficient length of wire between the pots to enable one to be pulled clear on its own, without touching the others? It becomes a really major job if you have to pull all the pots clear and possibly disconnect the jack socket to do this. I am hoping to be able to avoid the pickup change but the difficulty of the swap would also influence my decision to do the mod.