Baloney Balderdash

Because there is an edit function, and it's not something I insist on, I think it is relevant to edit your post if you think you didn't manage to get your point clearly through the way you actually meant it when you first time posted a given reply (that aside for purely grammar reasons is the whole point of having an edit function in the first place). However I perfectly understand why that can be annoying when replying to such posts, but in my defense the main edit of my reply was done before I saw your reply and was notified about it (the one done after was just a minor grammar edit), you probably posted your reply while I was editing mine, and I admit that I do have a bad habit of posting replies before actually making sure I also actually have formulated it in a way that makes my actual point clear and have included everything I actually wanted to say and the way I wanted to say it, and I won't be shy apologizing for the annoyance this bad habit of mine might course. For whatever it's worth I guess my excuse is that I am diagnosed with ADHD.

I don't blame you for asking for clips at all (which is the reason why I didn't quote you there but Nancy Johnson), it's a perfectly relevant request for the topic as far as I am concerned, the comment was aimed at Nancy Johnson, who almost demanded that I'd adhere to that request.

Indeed.

It's not subjective weather the BDDI has a huge baked in mid scoop or that JJ Burnel's tone being all about mids, that's a fact, and that is what you'll discover if you ran it through a spectrum analyzer, that you can't hear it doesn't make it a fact, that makes you probably suffering from hearing damage, or just basically being largely ignorant about tone which I think you have made perfectly clear here. And while not having quite 30 years of experience with it yet, though not that far from either, I got the similar experience (and seems like I have learned more from it anyway too in that slightly shorter time span, at least when it comes to tone). Regarding sound clips I agree though, it would certainly help, but I haven't got anything recorded as of currently and beside the topic I chose for the thread was "Describe your tone", it's not like you have a licence to dictate which kind of subjects people are allowed to post threads about, as long as it is relevant for the topic of the forum.

Haven't tried it out in person, but sounds good on the only 2 demos currently on YouTube featuring this pedal demoed on bass : Personally I settled for the digital Boss CE-1 emulation, the "VintageCE" model, on my Zoom G1Xon with hacked firmware version, as it is not on that unit from stock (it's in the MS-70CDR multi stompbox though), which is actually a really great emulation of this legendary chorus effectm and which I run a fairly subtle tremolo effect, also from the G1Xon in front of in the chorus patch. And if I need a little extra depth and lushness from the chorus I engage the Monarch Flanger (same as the old Arion Flanger) placed before the G1Xon, which I have placed in one of the effects loops in one of my Boss LS-2 pedals, blended in parallel with about an equal amount of clean signal from the other effects loop of the LS-2 (the flanger normally used blended in parallel with a phaser effect in this effects loop), which gives a fairly subtle chorus like effect, which works perfect in tandem with my chorus patch on the G1Xon.

Don't think I ever posted a picture of my main Ibanez Mikro Bass here after I transplanted the outstanding neck from my old 2010 production GSRM20 Mikro Bass to the mahogany body of my newer 2017 production GSRM20B in Weathered Black finish, so here it is (also swapped the side mounted barrel type jack output socket to a front mounted regular one, as I got the 1 P pickup I have installed wired directly to the output jack socket, and as such the knobs are only there for strictly cosmetic reasons. Also swapped the Model P pickup on this picture out for an EMG Geezer Butler P pickup since the photo was shot) :

I stand corrected then. I am curious to which does then though?

Also that is how I express myself when I write, it's part of my personality, I certainly don't do it to throw anyone or show off, it is how I naturally write. I suppose some adaption to make it easier for the average reader if one wants help is fair but don't expect me to change my personality to please you. Personally I find artificially cut up stutter writings tedious to read, I prefer flow, that doesn't mean you'll have to, but it certainly doesn't mean that you are entitled to dictate my personal preferences either.

Does this track feature a spoon player? :

It won't half the current reversed (well obviously it kind of will since it is then only plugged into 1 single power outlet at half the power, but that would be screaming obvious, and so would any other regular pedal power cord. It won't half the current of that one power outlet though), otherwise daisy chaining would be worthless, but I assume that wasn't what you actually meant? Also no electrical device ever in history has been damaged by receiving lower power than needed, it might just not work as it is supposed to or might not work at all. In fact feeding distortion and fuzz pedals with lower voltage than needed to work as intended is actually an old trick to get the sagging dying battery effect which some people desire for some applications, some dirt pedals even implement a voltage sag control in their design, though it doesn't work equally well for all dirt pedals.

A sledgehammer I found will fix most things. As the old wise proverb goes: "If it ain't broke, break it!"

Just be sure to use really coarse sandpaper or you might get fatigue in your hands before the job is done. I actually sanded the ends of the Geezer J pickup when I had to fit it in the J cavity of my newer 2017 production Mikro, but using a file or having chipped off some length of the pickup cover with a hobby knife retrospectively would definitely had made the job a great deal easier and less straining. If you are really picky about looks you can always touch up the ends of the pickup cover and remove eventual filing/sanding/chipping marks after the rough job is done with some strokes with fine grained sandpaper.

Your welcome You might have missed the most recent edit of my post above that you quote from, there is another piece of information added which you would be best off knowing when planing to swap the stock pickups of the Mikro Bass. As for strings I have never used flatwounds, tried a couple of other brands, but the D'Addario short scale EXL 170S, gauge .100-.045 nickle plated steel core roundwound, set of strings is a good bet for E standard tuning (the shorter scale, contrary to common believes, will actually make strings feel and actually also be much stiffer compared to a 34" scale bass with similar string tension), don't be afraid of cutting long scale strings shorter to fit either, the horror stories of unwrapping dead strings are wildly exaggerated as far as I am concerned, I have never experienced such, just be sure to make an abrupt 90 degree bend on the string bellow the cutting point, the bend part being the one you fit down into the hole of the tuning peg, and you should be good, and with a short scale set the cutting point would be in the thinner tapered area of the strings anyway.

I use an Ibanez GSRM20 neck + GSRM20B body Mikro Bass as my main and it's about as perfect as any mass produced bass currently on the market gets, my number 1 or 2 favorite out of all the basses I have owned, which admittedly is not that many considering how long I have been playing bass, but 4 of those being 1000$+ basses from new, the one that about equals my current Mikro main in greatness being the Jerry Jones Longhorn, that I still regret being stupid enough to sell at some point, it being a, 1200$ from new, back when they were still made, high end, sort of "boutique", version of the Danelectro bass of the same name. And regarding swapping the stock pickups on the Mikro, the stock pickups on the Mikro actually being fairly decent, though I swapped them for first a P/J set of EMG Geezer Butler pickups, then just a Dimarzio Model P, and now back at the Geezer, though just the P pickup this time, and when I first swapped the stock pickups the improvement in tone was huge, so will absolutely recommend that mod, also I can warmly recommend both the Geezer and the Model P. The Geezer if you want absolutely dead quiet pickups, as they are shielded internally, meaning that no shielding of the bass is required, and if you want a vintage-esque kind of tone, just a bit hotter and slightly more aggressive than you average vintage P, and with a nice upper mids snap and bite. And the Model P if you want a somewhat more modern, quite hot, aggressive, and overall fuller sounding P pickup, with a nice amount of lower mids punch, though not quite as articulate and dynamically responsive as the the Geezer, and definitely much more noisy (unless you shield your bass properly).. The Mikro Basses are generally of high quality compared to their price point, though as with all cheap budget basses every now and then you still get a dud one, which was the case with the stock fretwork on my newer GSRM20B Mikro Bass, absolutely horrible fretwork buzzing all over, even with insanely high string action. The body of that bass then later had the the neck from my older GSRM20 Mikro transplanted to it, that neck on the other hand being the most stable neck I ever had on any bass or guitar, holding tuning exceptionally well, almost never requiring adjustments, and with fretwork close enough to perfect that I can get the action exactly as low as I prefer it without any fret buzz whatsoever, which is a nice bit under the usual standard, by Fender for instance, recommended specs. And my, newer as well, 5 string GSRM25 Mikro Bass even had absolutely dead on perfect fretwork from stock, and I could get string action insanely low without any fret buzz whatsoever if I wanted to, though the stock J pickups are pretty crappy and the stock nut was cut too low as well. One thing to note though, at some point for some strange reason Ibanez decided to change the dimensions of the bridge J pickup cavity on the Mikro Basses, from previously fitting standard J bridge pickup dimensions perfectly (my 2010 production Mikro got this) to an ever so slightly shorter cavity (my 2017 production Mikro got this, and Ibanez still route the cavities slightly too short to this day), though it will only be a matter of filing, sanding or chipping off less than 1mm (<0,039") of each end of the J pickup cover to get it to fit, as the width, depth and placement of the screw ears are where and as they should be for a standard J bridge pickup.

Well, at least you tried this time, though clearly still without actually reading the OP, I got to give you credit for your effort on not coming off as a jerk, this time around at least. OP has now been edited to be more friendly towards people who refuse to bother actually reading OP before trying to be helpful. I still dare say that the chances that one might succeed in that effort would increase if they did bother, but guess, since I am the one asking for help here, that I am not really entitled to be picky.

I guess James Joyce lived in vain, and that Ulysses becoming a giant classic piece of literature and art must have been due to some loophole in the laws of reality, and yet my post requires almost infinite less of the reader and certainly doesn't require any sort of what could be categorized as even remotely advanced abstract thinking performed (while doubtfully having quite the same value as literature though), in fact it contains precisely all the information needed to answer my question satisfactory and nothing more, but I guess there will always be people who'd rather be a jerk and blame it on the OP than actually even at least doing an attempt at being helpful. Personally I prefer a thoroughly written OP over the one-liner riddles people typically will post as their OP when asking for help, leading to half the thread ending up consisting of inquiries from people with a genuine intent to help on elaboration on OP, and the other half, well, being self-entitled jerks, as per usual.

So as the tittle says, from previously being absolutely dead quiet, my EMG Geezer Butler P pickup, that I currently have installed in my main bass, has starting making a, still fairly subtle compared to most other pickups, static noise when my hands are not in contact with any strings or metal parts connected with the bridge ground of the bass, and while all the other pole pieces doesn't produce any noise whatsoever when touched the lower pole piece of the pair on each side of the D string produce a fairly loud continuous crackling sound when I touch it (which though becomes a lot more quiet if I get in contact with any metal connected with the bridge ground), which tells me that somehow something has happened to the pickup at some point so that that pole piece is either not properly grounded anymore or worse possibly have come in contact with the hot signal of the pickup, which if the latter in fact is the case I assume would mean being in direct contact with some coil wire where the thin layer of insulation that the wire normally is coated with for some reason has failed. So my question is, if there is any way one could possibly tell with any real probability and not just by absolute pure guesswork, would I have any reason to believe that this issue is likely to develop for the worse, possibly eventually leading to the final dead of the pickup, or perhaps it just eventually becoming so noisy that it might as well be dead, or are the odds noticeable higher that the issue in all likelihood won't develop for the worse and that I should probably have little reason to worry as long as the above described issue doesn't bother me? Any speculations on how this issue could suddenly occur, apparently out of the blue, are welcome too, cause frankly I have absolutely no idea and find it rather odd, but whatever has coursed it it must have happened in between last time I uninstalled it, in favor of a DiMarzio Model P, almost a year ago, and then when I fairly recently reinstalled it.

Personally I go for HarleyBentonian, which is properly a more realistic bet.

I get what you are saying, but I don't agree with what you say, not even one bit. I know for a fact that other people care about my tone, I know cause I care about other people's tone, and not just on bass, and I know people who feel the same way. You would think that would be the reason why I made this thread in fact, but obviously you don't. You know (or maybe the problem is that you don't?) people who actually care about music. Also using a Sansamp BDDI to mimic JJ Burnel's tone got to be one of the worst pieces of advice ever given, that sucker sucks the mids right out of your tone, exactly what his tone is all about, mids. Also I don't care for a generic tone I care for the tone the way I envision it to be, it's called being creative. And your bass getting lost in the mix in a bass/vocals and drums duo is kind of really hard, like you would have to do a serious effort for it to get lost, I don't say it is impossible, but it's not something I plan to do, and I would think very few people would either. In other words you don't know what you are talking about, which might explain why my OP looks like mad scribbings to you. Truth hurts, eh?

Well the single coil P Quater Pounder got a totally different tonal character than the other Quarter Pound pickup, including the J, for one having a lot more mids frequency content and less bass than mids, if one is to believe Seymour Duncan's own tone charge for the pickup.

Just get old Trace Elliot solid state head, it'll cost a faction of the price of a tube amp used, and it'll sound better (in my opinion at least, mind the Ampeg B-15S that I once owened and still regret being stupid enough to sell did sound amazing, but still the best bass tone I ever had was with an old Trace Elliot SMGP7 amp), and if you still want some tube coloration buy a proper tube preamp, and still having ended up spending less money. Those old Trace Elliots are some of the absolute best sounding amps ever made, and the SMX series comes with a tube in the preamp that can be blended in and driven according to taste.

As the tittle says how do I wire just a single tone pot to the 1 P pickup on my bass, with no volume pot, just the tone pot and no other controls?

Nothing inherently wrong with combining pickups from 2 different brands if you like what they do and they work well together, I for instance plan to upgrade the pickups in my Epiphone SG Special guitar with a Seymour Duncan Jazz humbucker neck and a DiMarzio Super Distortion humbucker bridge, as I really like what they both do in that position on the demos I have watched and once had a guitar that I loved, yet was stupid enough to sell, with a somewhat similar configuration, a PAF '59 Neck and a Super Distortion bridge, and the Seymopur Duncan Jazz is somewhat similar to the PAF, just in my opinion sounding even better. I would actually expect the Quarter Pounder J and the Model P to have somewhat similar output, one thing to maybe consider though is that while they are both hot quite aggressive pickups their tonal profile is almost opposite to each other, the Model P being all about mids and the Quarter Pounder having a great chunk of mids scooped out. Now that isn't necessarily a bad thing, could still sound great, and if you reconsider your wiring, eventually consider implementing a pickup blend control, it might even bring more versatility to the table. As for using them in series to me that would spell absolute boomy mud fest, especially with both these pickups already having a quite hot output by them self to begin with and with the fact that the Quarter Pounder produces lots of low end and the Model P a lot of lower mids frequency content and those qualities are going to be multiplied when you put them in series, I know it did when I tried it out with my P/J EMG Geezer Butler set, even if they have a considerably more moderate output and not being particularly bassy either, but again who knows, you might still find having them in series useful, I just know for certain that I wouldn't.

Do you have a favorite tone that you consider your's, and if that is the case how would you the describe it and what are the main contributes to it? Not sure if this is the correct sub forum, one could argue it'll fit as well or better in some of the other, but well now it's here, if a moderator feels that it is better placed somewhere else feel free to move it. How I would describe my tone would be twangy, like it got some of that Fender Bass VI vibe going for it, or one could maybe describe it as a more twangy and polite version of the classic 80's punk P bass tone, like for instance JJ Burnel utilize, as it also got a fair bit of bite, snap and punch to it and is mildly overdriven with an Orange amp type low gain overdrive that got that signature grinding clanky character to it. I achieve it with my main Ibanez GSRM20 neck + GSRM20B mahogany body Mikro Bass with just an EMG Geezer Butler P pickup installed, wired directly to the output jack socket, tuned to F# standard, as in 2 half steps above regular 4 string E standard tuning, and string accordingly with gauge .095 - .072 - .054 - .040 strings, which gives a very balanced tension, always run through a 1 octave up effect mixed with clean signal, delivered by a customized toneprint in my TC Electronic Sub'N'Up Mini, to give an effect similar to that of an 8 string bass, with pairs of respectively bass and octave strings, only the octave up is mixed a bit lower than it typically would on a real 8 string bass, but before that a TC Electronic SpectraComp at the very beginning of my signal chain, right after the bass, also with a thoroughly customized toneprint, adding some snap, bite and punch, then after the Sub'N'Up going into a Boss LS-2 with 1 of the parallel effect loops got the before mentioned Orange amp type light overdrive in it in form of a Joyo Orange Juice, which adds some light grindy grit and a good deal of snap and bite, mixed with the other parallel effects loop of the LS-2, where an 8 band graphic equalizer resides, then after that some additional EQ'ing, mainly boosting the lower and upper mids, again emphasizing punch, snap and bite, then a subtle plate reverb, and finally a faux, EQ based, cab sim, utilizing the bass specific full parametric equalizer model in my Zoom MS-70CDR, basically just rolling off a good chunk of upper treble frequencies, before going into an EHX Black Finger, tube driven optical compressor, though with the compression dialed in so that it practically never reaches threshold, just adding a beautiful touch of tube coloration warmth and slight compression, really acting primarily as a tube preamp stage then a compressor, making it all sound a bit more focused and just rounding off the upper most harsh edges, through without in any possible way affecting playing dynamics or dulling my tone in any possible way, basically retaining all it's snap and bite, just keeping it from sounding unpleasant, and then as the last point in my "ampless" setup going into an Art Tube MP Project Series tube preamp with the 40Hz LPF engaged, again helping with focusing my tone (unlike the Black Finger, which run it's 2 preamp tubes at proper high 300V plate voltage, the Art ustilizes a starved tube plate design, I think around 70V, but I like what it does, and the tube in it is definitely not just for a gimmick, changing the cheap horrible Chinese stock tube it came with out with an EHX 12AX7EH one, same as in my Black Finger, made a huge different for the better on it's tone). That's more or less roughly how I get my basic main clean tone. However I would also consider my high gain distortion tone a main aspect of "my tone", which is basically the same as above, but with another Boss LS-2 being placed right after the first one, having a Mosky Black Rat, RAT clone, set to vintage (silicon I assume) clipping mode, with the gain knob up fairly high and a relatively dark tone, placed in one of the parallel effect loops, blended with the other parallel effects low where another Orange Juice overdrive is sitting, sort of set to a lower medium gain stacked into a Boss MT-2 Metal Zone, which has the gain knob set close to the minimum position, which together with the fact of the Orange Juice overdrive stacked into it helps with it not getting into the fizz territory that the Metal Zone otherwise is infamous for, the Orange Juice also bringing it in a more crunchy and grindy direction, together contributing to bring in some high end and a more focused shaping of the mids, and actually overall having a big say in making this cross-fusion high gain distortion tone exceptionally well articulated and defined, despite it the otherwise being absolutely massively ballsy, monster heavy, roaring and growling, with a quite prominent super raunchy fuzz like quality, basically preventing it from turning into just one big indistinguishable monolithic shapeless sludge of a blurry mess. In some way you could say that my high gain distortion tone is somewhat in contrast with my clean tone, but I actually find they compliment each other well, despite one would properly expect something less heavy and massive, somthing in a more biting and clanky direction, somewhat more in line with my clean tone. Just for reference here's my entire signal chain put to words: (*pedals listed in [ red/bold/underline text ] are "always on" effects*) 4 string 28,6" scale Ibanez GSRM20 neck + GSRM20B body Mikro Bass (equipped with an EMG Geezer Butler P pickup, wired directly to the output jack socket, and strung with gauge .95 - .75 - .55 - .40 D'Addario XL nickle roundwound steel core strings, tuned in F# standard tuning, 2 half steps above regular 4 string bass E standard tuning) ->> TC Electronic SpectraComp (always on compressor) ->> TC Electronic Sub'N'Up Mini (always on digital polyphonic octaver, used as an 1 octave up effect mixed with clean bass signal, giving an effect similar to that of an 8 string "octave" bass, with pairs of respectively bass and octave strings) ->> Boss LS-2 [A+B Mix <-> Bypass] (always on, parallel effect loops mixer/switch) ={ [Loop A Send] ->> Joyo Orange Juice (always on low gain overdrive, really primarily used to enhance harmonic content, [Tone] set at about 10:30 o'clock, [Voice] set to boost a wide curve around a 800Hz center frequency about +2dB pre gain stage, always mixed with the Artec Graphic EQ in parallel effects [Loop B]) ->> Joyo Orange Juice (medium gain clanky grinding overdrive, always used with the other Orange Juice behind it stacked into it, and always mixed with the Artec Graphic EQ in parallel effects [Loop B]) ->> [Loop A Return] ->||<- [Loop B Send] ->> Artec SE-EQ8 Graphic EQ (always on 8 band graphic equalizer [100Hz LoShlv= +1dB ; 170Hz (low Q)= 0 ; 280Hz (high Q)= +3dB ; 500Hz (high Q)= 0 ; 800Hz (high Q)= +1dB ; 1.4kHz (high Q)= +3dB ; 2.3 (low Q)= +3dB ; 5kHz HiShlv= -10dB], always blended with the Orange Juice overdrive in parallel effects [Loop A]) ->> [Loop B Return] ([Loop A] + [Loop B] mixed at an about 55/45 ratio) }=>> Boss LS-2 [A+B Mix <-> Bypass] (parallel effect loops mixer/switch) ={ [Loop A Send] ->> Orange Juice (lower medium gain, somewhat grindy type of overdrive, always used staked into the Metal Zone in front of it, together always mixed with the Rat distortion in parallel effects [Loop B]) ->> Boss MT-2 Metal Zone (distortion, always used with the Orange Juice behind it stacked into it, and always used mixed with the Rat distortion in parallel effects [Loop B]) ->> Behringer VP1 Vintage Phaser (EHX Small Stone clone, used in the high feedback and deep sweep mode, always used boosted by the Hotone Trem in front of it, and almost always used mixed with flanger in parallel effects [Loop B]) ->> Hotone Trem (Tremolo with rate and depth at 0, always used to boost either the Behringer phaser placed behind it and make it a bit brighter, or stacked into the Metal Zone in front of it, since it's a few dB above unity gain when engaged) ->> [Loop A Return] ->||<- [Loop B Send] ->> Mosky Black Rat (RAT clone, in original classic RAT [Vintage] mode, quite raunchy, fuzz-esque, high gain distortion, always used mixed with the Metal Zone distortion in parallel effects [Loop A]) ->> Monarch MFL-22 (flanger, most often used mixed with phaser in parallel effects [Loop A]) ->> [Loop B Return] ([Loop A] + [Loop B] mixed at an about 50/50 ratio) }=>> Zoom G1Xon (Used for an always on 2 band parametric equalizer [Freq=63Hz Q=4 Boost=+1dB ; Freq=200 Q=2 Boost=+1dB], and additionally used for 3 patches (all including the EQ at the end of the chain), which respectively are as follows: Tremolo+VintageCE (Boss CE-1 emulation), chorus patch :-: Plate Reverb+HD Hall Reverb+Tape Delay, prominent reverb patch :-: Plate Reverb+HD Hall Reverb+Tape Delay, extremely thick lush reverb patch, used as a reverb pad effect with volume swells) ->> NUX Tape Core Deluxe (Roland Space Echo tape delay emulation) ->> Zoom MS-70CDR (always on 2 band parametric EQ [Freq=400Hz Q=2 Boost=+1dB ; Freq=1kHz Q=4 Boost=+1dB], subtle spring reverb, and faux, EQ based, cab sim, consisting of a 2 band parametric EQ set as follows: [Freq=10kHz Q=1 Cut=-18dB ; Freq=20kHz Q=0.5 Cut=-20dB], plus a lush Church Reverb model with a line selector behind, making it switchable on/off) ->> Band rehearsal/jamming/gigging // ->> Home practice / Home recordings : ->> EHX Black Finger (always on tube driven optical compressor, dialed in to a quite subtle compression, primarily functioning as a tube preamp stage) ->> Art Tube MP Project Series (tube preamp, with HPF at 40Hz) // ->> Band rehearsal/jamming/gigging ->> [Effects Return] (poweramp input) of Peavey Solo Special 112 (160W, solid state guitar combo, with the build in 4 Ohm 12" speaker unit disconnected and instead hooked up to a The Box PA 502 PA speaker) ->> The Box PA 502 (full range PA speaker with 1x 15" + 1.7" high frequency tweeter horn) // ->> Home practice / Home recordings ->> Behringer Eurorack UB1202 (mixer) ->> [ ->> Sennheiser HD 380 Pro (headphones) ]/[ ->> Behringer Tube Ultragain MIC100 (tube preamp) ->> M-Audio Fast Track (sound interface) ->> Reaper (DAW) ]