ikay

Some useful 'how to' tips here - http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f38/wax-potting-microphonic-pickup-g-l-pic-heavy-859675/

[quote name='blackmn90' timestamp='1334830232' post='1621889'] ... maybe my bridge pickup was wound to be weak on purpose. [/quote] As Doctor J says. it's more usual for the bridge pickup to be wound hotter than the neck, not weaker. Maybe your Tokai doesn't have a properly matched pair of pups.

General wisdom is to put a compressor as the first thing in the effects signal chain. If it accepts an instrument level input then this can be before the amp (and before any other effects). If it needs a line level input then run it from the effects loop as you're already doing. I run a DBX160A from the series effects loop of my amp. That's a general guideline anyway, as with most things there are no hard and fast rules. You can probably do the exact reverse and still get a decent result!

The neck pup gets stronger vibrations from the strings than the bridge and will therefore generate a stronger output. Balancing the output of neck and bridge pups is down to seting the pickup height. I have my bridge pup set a little closer to the strings than the neck but it's a matter of personal taste. If you're not happy with the balance on your jazz try lowering the neck pup or raising the bridge pup and seeing how that sounds.

Doesn't the Dean Stylist have a tunomatic bridge with a couple of screws to adjust the height?

No worries Gary, I've now switched the wiring on the neck pup to bring it in phase which I'm pretty sure is how it should be. Great little bass with a huge sound and a lot of character, I like it a lot. Cheers! Ian

Here's a chart from the G&L forum listing allen key sizes. http://guitarsbyleo.com/FORUM/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=43 For Tribute models refer to the metric table. According to this the trussrod is 4mm.

I've just acquired an Epi Allen Woody and noticed that the mini humbuckers are wired out of phase. Control setup is VVT. When both pickups are turned all the way up the sound becomes very trebly and loses bottom end. I've checked the pickups using a multimeter and sure enough they are out of phase. The pups have separate wires for hot, cold and earth so it's an easy fix to swap over the hot/cold wires on one of them, but I'm now curious whether they are intended to be out of phase. Sounds unlikely but the reason I'm even asking is that there are some useful tones on offer around the point where the balance of the second 'out of phase' pup just starts to bite (around the '8' mark). The Woody has a very full bottom end and this adds a little edge and tightens up the low end without losing it altogether. On the other hand, with both pups up full it does lose a lot of bottom end which doesn't seem right. If anyone reading this has an Allen Woody can you please let me know what the sound is like on yours with both pups maxed? Cheers, Ian

Just bought an Epi Allen Woody from Gary. Very pleasant experience, quick replies to messages, honest and fair to deal with, bass was well packed and exactly as described. Would happily do business with again. Thanks Gary, very much appreciated! Cheers, Ian

One to consider is Thomastik Acousticores (AB344). These have a nylon core with phosphor-bronze windings and sound like a classical (bass) guitar. Very expressive strings. And expensive for that matter but they are a bit special! Not everyone likes them - but I do

'Transcribe' is very good as well (http://www.seventhstring.com/) but a little pricier at $40

Depends what you're after and what sort of music you play but if you go for a fretless I'd suggest having the piezo bridge as part of your pickup configuration. My Recurve (0067) has piezo + humbucker (switchable single-coil) and filter preamp which is a very flexible combination. The piezo has a very wide and open natural sound. Combined with the more focused sound of a mag pup you can cover everything from acoustic-like tones to real grunt and snarl with all points in between. Have fun speccing your bass and enjoy!

Fretless Epiphone Zenith on ebay right now - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/260984396214?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2648

[quote name='Sean' timestamp='1332691328' post='1591678'] Interesting stuff, however it doesn't really explain the physics of it. The engineer in me wants to know [/quote] Here's a bit of the supposed science relating to resonant frequency (not my words, result of googling but sounds reasonable): "A neck through will have a longer continuous fiber length throughout the piece and will have a lower natural resonating frequency (RF) due to this longer length. The fundamental will dominate. [tone will be more round and less bright due to less complex harmonics - see below] A set neck [or bolt-on] will have 2 shorter pieces (body and neck) each with their own RF along with their combined signature. The impedance mismatch at the neck joint will reflect some of that back into the body and neck but will also allow specific frequencies to pass and blend. It all makes it to the strings eventually and you have a more complex sonic signature with a larger range than with a single piece body/neck core. The fundamental is still there but the midrange will dominate." Another link here although this study focused on sustain rather than tone - [url="http://liutaiomottola.com/myth/neckJointSustain.htm"]http://liutaiomottol...ointSustain.htm[/url]

This video gives a direct tonal comparison of similar bolt-on and neck-through basses and may be of interest: http://www.theguitarcolumn.com/2010/03/bolt-on-vs-neck-thru-tone-difference.html

How about a Status Streamline? [url="http://www.status-graphite.com/status/frames/index_home.html"]http://www.status-gr...index_home.html[/url] [attachment=102953:Status Streamline 5.jpg]

LukeFRC, I have a passive jazz and a jazz with an Audere JZ3 pre with buffered blend. To my ears the active blend just gives a much smoother and more progressive transition from one pickup to the other. There's a wider range of blended sounds to be had over a wider area of control movement. The sound at the mid point is still slightly scooped. The passive blend on the other hand only has a very small zone either side of centre where you can actually 'mix' the pickups. For example, if you slowly move the blend from centre towards the bridge pup there's a particular point where you can hear the bridge pup starting to 'bite'. Very small movements around this point are where you can find some 'blended' tones but it's quite delcate compared with an active blend. II wouldn't say that passive blend is inferior - it has it's own unique character and in some ways is more characterful than the finer grained control offered by active. As with most things it depends on what you're after and what works for you. I'll do a quick back to back recording to compare in the next day or two. Not sure how effective that will be in showing the difference but will give it a go. If it works I'll post it here (if not I wont!).

The headstock looks the same as my 72 P and also has a laminated board so is probably kosher. If not it's a pretty good copy. Tuners look too shiny and are probably replacements