BassBunny

I'm after a favour from the Bass Collection owning fraternity. I'll get the humour out of the way first. I replaced the pre-amp in my 88 Bass Collection as I had a spare Bartolini one kicking around. When I removed the old one I was very careful to diagram where all the wires went and that drawing was parceled away in a small box. Fast forward to now and the Bart is playing up, so I'd like to replace the original pre. I opened the box and to my horror/amusement the wiring diagram turns out to be a shopping list. Now I have 2 other Bass Collection, both with different pre-amps to the 88. Is there a BC owner with a bass using the same pre-amp that could identify what goes where for me? I have attached pics of my pre-amp, it is the one with the "dip" switch that seems to do nothing and 2 wires are still present. I assume these are ground and signal out that go to the jack. So I need to know where the pickups are wired to etc. Hope that makes sense and that someone can help out.

You won't need another cab with the Schroeder. They are great cabs and very loud.

Correct. It's a damn shame they can't put better pots in as it's a decent preamp for not a lot of money.

I have never owned a passive Bass Collection but all 3 of my 5 strings are active. In my opinion the pre-amp isn't the best there is, but then again it is an 80's design. I've swapped 2 out, (the third will be changed this week). One has a Bartolini, which is great, the second a Glockenklang which is awesome. Both have made a real difference in how the bass sounds. I also put an Artec in a BC I sold and that was a worthwhile swap for around £30.

Heavier strings will result in forward bow but adjusting the truss rod isn't a "one shot". Generally a quarter to half turn, retune, leave overnight. Repeat until you get the relief you want.

Thanks for updating on the history of this bass Mike.

Roqsolid will make a cover to fit anything.

I've been so tempted that I have 3 of them. 🙂 The one you highlighted is a pretty rare colour. I've only seen one other and it's in my possession.

I think you just buy the saddles which would definitely be the easiest and cheapest way to go.

Speak to Bernie. He is very helpful.

So here are the brackets. Looks like they started life as 60x60 brackets and 40cm high. They came with 2 holes drilled on each end and to get them to fit my cabinet I ended up chopping through them on the front face and then had to drill suitable holes to match up with the amp on the other leg. Obviously this part isn't seen. You can probably get the same sort of thing undrilled, which would be much neater. A quick spray of black paint and job done.

I've a load of the front ones, EA told me the size. They are chrome, but a black marker soon cures that. Had the same problem, haven't a clue where they went. PM me your address and I'll send you some. Just ask EA what size they are and then screwfix/toolstation/eBay is your friend. I have a brilliant tool suppliers near me that also does screws/bolts/fixings. Lost count of the times i have taken something in asked if they have what i want. they usually do. I would be really surprised if the rack mount screws for the iAmp are any different to the current range so it might be worth asking what size the current ones are.

If I remember rightly the iAmp has holes to mount rack ears so when faced with a similar problem to you I used some aluminium angle brackets. Similar to these and mounted my amp in the amp slot as normal: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aluminium-Corner-Brace-Angle-90-Degree-Bracket/263138777771?var=562137755591&hash=item3d444b1aab:m:ma82AAgBsXb8AQYOEOvy0Tw I couldn't quickly find a size that could be cut down when just searching eBay, but they are there. Where I got mine from they did about 10 different sizes and I got the widest one I could that required the minimum effort in shortening it. Obviously being aluminium, it's easy to play with. Sprayed them black and bobs your whatsit. I think I've still got them somewhere, I'll dig them out as a picture is worth a 1,000 words.

Chances of finding a pickup, probably zero. As far as a rewind goes, is it worth it? Well a very, very, very quick Google brought 2 up on Reverb. One for £580 the second, (Sold) for £630. Malvern Hills Guitars had one for £650, (Sold), so it looks like there is some value in it. Another route would be to get a new scratch plate made cut for whatever pickups you fancy, but I would keep it stock as you appear to have made a major score. Last time i had a pick-up rewound it was about £25. If it were mine, I know what I would be doing.😉

Gotcha. 😉

Just had a thought, if this loom is going in a Jazz, there will be a spare hole in the bell plate. that seems to be crying out for either a pickup selector switch or a series/parallel switch. That would make the bass much more flexible.

Shouldn't be any problem at all. Yes they will be in parallel and the Volume will control both pickups.

I've heard some good things about some of the older Kustom bass gear. The KXB500 was supposed to be awesome and I was chasing one for a while but seems not many came this way. Our guitarist uses a little Kustom combo. Only about 30w, but bloody loud. He also has a Mesa and a Dr Z but seems to prefer the Kustom.

Yep, sounds like a job for new saddle screws or it could be the thread in the saddle is worn. You can get replacement saddles, (brass ones look the business), or the threadlock/varnish idea is possibly worth a try. The Badass bridge is not made any more. Hipshot do the Kickass bridge and Omega do one that is similar. You are talking £70 - 100 for one of those, similar if you can find a NOS Badass. Replacement saddles are about £10 or a Wilkinson Vintage bridge, (I can highly recommend these), about £12 - £15 and is a direct replacement.

I'm in South Manchester and the proud owner of a soldering iron. Give me a shout if you need me to sort it out.

I would go this route as well, in fact I have done a few times.

But there doesn't appear to be a ground to the pickups or pots or have I missed something. The ground from the pickups is connected to the body of the volume controls and all the pot bodies are connected together but they aren't grounded.

It is possibly covered by the "ground to shielding" wire as all earths should come together at some point. The Bart diagram just shows all the controls earthed so I would suggest a wire from the body of the pots to the same tag as "ground to shielding" on the jack should do the job. Without that it will probably hum like a good un no matter which mode you have it in.

Don't use rechargeable ones. They lose their charge much quicker than standard Alkaline or Lithium ones. The pre-amp takes very little current anyway so as long as you buy decent batteries, they will last ages.

Here's the actual wiring diagram from Bartolini which shows 1M resistor on 1 side of the switch. https://bartolini.net/wp-content/uploads/Docs/Electronics/Legacy/TC-PREAMPS_WEB.pdf