GreeneKing

What a great day. Thank you Rob and all who came along. Some lovely basses too.

I spoke to John about using the MMSR as it is the obvious choice. He didn't recommend it. I've since lowered the treble response frequency using the internal switches and I've fitted some high quality Gotoh knobs to the EMG controls. The bass is now simply awesome especially in a band setting. It's difficult to imagine anything better (given that I've owned well over 100 basses that's saying something significant ). Peter

At the risk of being accused of sacrilege I decided to look at ways of altering my lovely US L2500 CLF's electronics. I found that the treble cut did nothing to my ears. My ears aren't great but I've read that others have had similar issues. I had checked everything through a couple of times and it was all that it should be. I didn't want to do anything that wasn't reversible. This is an expensive instrument. It sounds really great given that I can't significantly roll off the treble with onboard controls. I love it! I spoke to John East. A Uni Pre 3 knob would have done the job well but it would need to be modified to accept a single input (I want to use the existing 3 position pickup selector) and the 3 knob version has no passive tone control. The EMG BQC Control seemed to be suitable. It is a 3 EQ +/- preamp with sweepable mids. I sourced a 250K/250k concentric pot (Allparts) and set it up as volume over tone, no treble bleed circuit and a 0.047uf tone capacitor. I replaced the 3 way active/passive switch with a 2 way. The passive volume and tone output switches either to the jack socket or via the BQC. I put a 10M resistor across it to mitigate any 'pop' on switching. It works to a large extent. There was a lot of wiring and soldering involved. I had to turn the series/parallel switch through 90 degrees to get everything to fit. I checked connections as I went along but I suspected it would need some fault finding when complete. It worked straight off the bat! Given that the volume was back to front, easily sorted. I'm really pleased. The passive tone works subtly but as I expect. It's always in circuit. The active treble control is again subtle but useable. The bass and sweepable mids are stronger but nothing silly. The active pre gives hardly any noticeable boost. The ability to roll off the treble is what I want and I have it. Adding a variety of mids is also very useful. The EMG knobs are awful. I'm sure that they used to be a nice moulded rubber. These are a horrible plastic and the top catches on the bottom. So a success. Everything added and nothing taken away - except for those knobs.

Vegetarian is me Thank you.

Thank you Matt. I did wonder if the original volume could be used. That helps a lot. Peter

Does anyone have experience of the EMG BQC control (not the BQC System)? I have a lovely USA G&L L2500 and I miss having real +/- EQ and mid control. The bass itself is superb. A later Plek'd model with the CLF headstock. It's a dream to play. The passive treble cut does very little. The BQC Control has two concentric controls, one for bass/treble and one for mids with a sweepable frequency. Any mods I make need to be reversible and I'd like to retain use of the 3 way pickup selector and the series/parallel switch. I've spoken to the lovely man that is John East and a Uni pre would do the job but I don't think he can make me a single input version plus it needs to be plate mounted. I don't think that the BQC Control includes a Volume control. Am I correct in this and if so what volume control should I use? The perfect setup for this bass would include an active/passive switch and a passive tone control under the volume knob. Any thoughts or ideas? I have emailed EMG. Peter

I shall most likely bring the following basses: Warmoth P roundwounds and P-Retro Warmoth 54P Flats G&L L2500 Zoot ZB1000 medium scale Aria SB1000 remodel Possibly Yamaha BB435 currently for sale Markbass MB58R 122 P-4 (Ceramic) cabinet Peavey Minimax 600watt head