Paulhauser

Maybe I'm stating the obvious but is there any reason not to make your Spector passive? Most Legends have EMG HZs in them which is a passive pickup design and a simple VVT or VBT wiring bypassing the preamp would be relatively easy. I mean if you wanna move it and / or want a new bass I won't talk you out of that, this is Basschat after all 🙂

@Rich have you done the swap? If so how're you liking the result?

@Rich My first hand experiences based on swapping different EMGs in my Euro and US Spectors: - The P works really well in the neck position and the pairing with the DC in bridge position is an ideal match. The 35J works well there, too, but its output is lot less than the P and has to be matched by pickup height. Mind you by default "soapbar" housing EMG P's are reversed, the "normal" position (treble side closer to the bridge) can be ordered as custom from EMG. Also MAKE SURE you get the 35P4, not the 35P as the latter is for five string basses with offset magnets (2/3) - The TW is a great sounding pu, but if you go that way make sure your get the X series TW ("TWX") as the original TW suffers a huge volume loss when using the coil tap and that is fixed with the X series one. Be aware that you need to change the wiring and also have to drill larger hole to accomodate typosthe push/pull pot that does the coil tap (included in the package) because its shaft has a larger diameter. - In my experience I like the X series EMGs better (marked by and X in the modell name, like 35JX)

There are a couple but let's bring it on with this one. 1. I've already had a history with Spector basses at this point (2016) Back in '07 I had my first Czech 5er (NS-5CR) followed a pre-LX Euro 5 which I've used as my main bass for a couple of years. Sold'em all when I thought I was quitting music for good. Bad move, but anyways. I Love your Green Dragon! 2. At this point I was playing my Spector Euro 5 for a couple of years, which had been modified as well. (maybe a next post) This is the sandwich body (alder/walnut/quilted maple) with the EMG 40TW pus. I was contemplating how to reach the classic 80's Spector growl albeit in a 5 string format and without robbing the bank and proceeding to source those ver so elusive 80's 5 string Spectors (or 4 strings for that matter) So it came to the opportunity to acquire a pre-LX 5 string Czech Euro (full maple wings, that is ) on this very forum. Ohhh, those lovely pre-Brexit times when I (we) were free to deal with our brethren on those cloudy islands.... Upon receiving said bass she looked like this (sounded and felt ACE!) So my plan was to make it look and sound like this came from 1985 (well Spector never had color like this back then but you get the vibe) I wanted this to be pink, has PJ pickups and also the neck to be shaven. The previous owner put in a John East preamp which as to be kept and I sourced EMG 40 housing P and J pickups. The cool thing about EMGs are that they sound great and also they are interchangeable within reason. So if you have a certan sized housing like mine with the 40s here you have a quite wide range of pickups with different features to be used as replacements with relatively small footprint as to exchange work needed. I have ended up putting X series 40 P and J into it and the finish came about after much trial and erroe but I'm still happy with it after 7 years. I have used this bass extensively live and in studio and it is on of my all time fav's bringing the grit that is associated with Spectors but offering so much more and especially sensitive to playing dynamics.

Congratulations! I have a soft spot for Dingwall Z3's and still kicking myself for missing the opportunity to buy one of them (6 string Z3 in tiger eye burst) a few years back.

From TB: "We made a database for a German speaking platform using the distance between 12. fret and the middle of the PU. Have a look"

I wasn't crazy about either color at first but the gold really grew on me. Still I think they nailed it with the original 3 colors (red, black and white) Right? Black cherry is one of my fav Spector colors, they do that really well, both US and Euro. Some years ago I almost bought a NS-6XL in that color but the seller wasn't shipping to EU (he was in the States)

For those not on social media or simply missed it: Spector made some new colors available for the Euro Classic line ( Metallic Gold and Metallic Blue ) I love my Classic Euro 5 white and these colors wouldn't top that combo (or the red for that matter) but still they are nice nonetheless

@attackbass congratulations on your new Spector - is it your first one? (also congrats to becoming an endorser) I have yet to try this LT5 version, I've been put off a bit by the reviews and general consesus about the barts but almost purchased one of these thrice already (Bartolinis I happen to like in some of my other basses but Spectors are EMG for me - apart for the '77 and '79 reissues with DiMarzios)) I think the Czech shop are really outdoing themselves lately, I have / had a couple of US Spectors and a handful of Czech ones (currently a small collection of 7 US/CZ basses ) and the gap is surely narrowing.

Well, you are certainly right....its just the fact that the NS shape works so well for me, especially the undersized body and that the bass stays in position. The closest thing to a TB shaped instrument was a Spector Rex 5 I had for a while. At that time I played exclusively fingerstyle and the fact that I needed to use either of my hands to keep it in place bothered me. Nowadays the gigs I do I play more with a pick than fingers and keeping it in position with the picking hand would not be an issue.

Great! I have my reservations about the ergonomics but I understand that this is such a personal thing. Turns out there is one white Euro X for sale in this side of the channel....

That's something you have to try and see if works for yourself as it is not the most sophisticated one with just an off-mid-high settings (eventhough there are trimpots inside so you can change the threshold and comp level for the mid setting) I never tried the new one (utimate) only the original purple but that worked for me just fine.

I would recommend putting a distortion / overdrive pedal into the signal path which is capable of blending the clean signal with the overdriven. Like the EBS Billy Sheehan for example or some Darkglass pedals. I would add just a little bit of grit to the sound, just a tiny bit on the top of the clean signal but it makes wonders. I have been a fingerstyle player for a long time and had almost exactly the same problem as you have. Never liked distorted bass sounds but when I got an EBS BS Drive it solved it for me, partly because of its built in compressor just works well plus the whole thing is really sensitive to attack and you can play with the dynamics. Again, the aim was not to make a distorted sound at all but to bring out more attack without actually having to play harder on the strings (I play soft) I don't know if that makes sense but worked really well for me.

@hiram.k.hackenbacker's for sale post bought me back here. (Unfortunately I'm no game for it me being outside of GB) I loved seeing this project being realized by @cetera and eventhough the NS shape is what does it for me in the Spector world I know the X shape is one of the Holy Grails for some of the hard core Spector players. How's everybody likes their Euro X now after a few months?

I do have a small collection of basses but the main ones that I use are these: Spector NS-5XL My main recording bass, apart from fretless I haven't used anything else for the last 5 years of recordings (couple of LP's, EP's etc.) Spector Euro 5 Classic This is now my main gigging bass for one of the few bands I do live gigs with. This gets most of the action though as this band gigs the most. I'm subbing for an Iron Maiden cover band a couple of times a year and this is what I use for that gig Spector Euro LE1977 (the one on the right, left is it's sister, the LE1979) I don't use fretless that often and certainly not live but when I do use it for recordings and practice this is the one Warwick Thumb NT6

Yes, it doesn't get any more classy than the white one, which is a custom Euro 435 with 35" scale length. The only white 435 I've ever seen. Nice occasion to share a better pic of it (laying on our neck-through dining table 🙂 ) The pink one is notoriously hard to take a relevant picture of, here are two so you get the idea: It is a pre-lx Euro 5 with EMG 40 P and J pickups and John East deluxe preamp. A real joy to play. I think that's exactly what I'm gonna do this afternoon.

Just came across this picture I've taken a while ago when I was doing maintance to some of my Spectors. Gotta love a nice clean bass with freshly oiled boards and new strigs....especially if it's a Spector. (Also big shoutout to EB Cobalt strings, they sound ace and last long)

I have two Thumb Made in Garmany / masterbuilt NT6s, one from 2009 the other is 2016 and both have truss rods that are right-tighten.

Seems like a really rare and wonderful example of a transition era NS-5CR FM in lefty version. 34” scale. If I were a lefty player it’d be mine in a heartbeat. One of my favorite Spector colors, too.

I’m a big fan of EMGs in my Spectors. I bought a Yamaha TRB6PII a few years back with EMG’s installed, a pair of 45TW or DC I cannot remember. I got the original pickups in the package as well. Truth to be told I didn’t like the setup much so I reverted back to the original set which was more to my liking. So based on this I would leave them as they are pickup-wise

My pleasure....and it has given me a reason to break this out from the case and play a few tunes 😄

13mm for the J, 10mm for the lower P. Measured from surface level of the body to the surface level of the pickup in the median of the body as pictured.

@Dov65 I can measure on my Euro 435 whatever you want but I’m not sure it’s useful as I set them up to match the outputs just like @ead so they are at different heights. Also the other issue is that the bridge on this one sticks out a lot more than on my other Euros because the neck is angled slightly, not flat to the body like on the others so the pickups are at a higher level. Still I can measure if you want

The Ibanez SRSC805 ticks most of the boxes I believe, nut is around 45, and eventhough the "horn" does not extend to the 12th, the position of the strap pin makes in very well balanced.