bremen

Flea's sock had a schlong in it, and he got a great tone.

Speaking as a qualified Pat test engineer (pat test as in pin number), I suggest you do this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125336892037?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=coHYpnN-SeO&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=hNc7PDPYRJi&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY and if you're feeling saucy ask to see the venue's most recent installation inspection certificate 😉

Curious as an endangered cat, I had a look at the schematic in search of clues. First glance it looks not unusual but look at the power amp input stage: I have no idea what's going on there, never seen anything like it. And it's got half the reservoir capacitance you usually see for that power of amp (and only the usual rail voltage) Has it a very big power transformer? There's some magic going on there... It's not classA, by the way, class AB. Class A amps are hilariously inefficient; an amp stuffing 200w into a speaker would burn 2kW in heat. Get me, what a geek. Sorry. Been up to my ears in solder fumes all day and it's done something to my brain...

Ee, bodgineering at its finest.

Heatshrink (or "heartstrings" as predictive text would have it) is right up there with wd40 and gaffer tape.

Series is a huge level and pretty boomy. Parallel is scooped. Individual sounds most natural to me, more like a p. But writing about sound is like dancing about architecture so take that with a pinch of salt.

I can't comment on cap value, but I've done a 4 way switch and can confirm that series is way different from the others, but there is an appreciable difference between parallel and either of the singles (and a slight but definite difference between the two singles). I actually prefer the singles, though the humbucking effect of series or parallel is useful.

Another satisfied customer here, got a set of Jazz pickups packed carefully and posted swiftly.

Not sure where to post this... I've just built a sansamp clone. It works. I have a couple of spare boards, free to good homes. You'll need to be OK with surface mount, but nothing too tiny; passives are mostly 0805 with a few 0603. I got the pots from Tayda and most everything else from Mouser. Can provide full documentation and a reasonable amount of hand-holding.

Indeed. The same geniuses who think kick drum should have nothing above 200Hz and be 6dB louder than the rest of the band.

Last few gigs I've been to sound like that's exactly how the bass has been mic'd.

Happy to report that the Dimarzios are doing what I wanted them to do. Recording now, so far so fundamental 😁

Biamp is good.

I used and enjoyed an ampeg svp Pro for years, sounded great but for a hum that you don't hear live but makes it a bit noisy for recording.

I'll stick 'em back on Marketplace if they don't satisfy.

You know them then !

Got a lot of complaints 😁

Increasing the cap will reduce the highs for sure, but won't do anything to the fundamental (unless it gets big enough to resonate with the inductance of the pup at 42Hz) Anyway. I don't want to cut the highs. I want Everything Louder Than Everything Else 🙂 Closest I got to a proper reggae sound was with a bitsa P, with a SD alnico MM pickup up in the mudbucker position, Chromes and no tone capacitor, ampeg svp Pro and a pair of 15s live, bit of compression for recording. If I play reggae again I'll use that again.

I might have been a bit misleading in my original post... Not actually looking to get a sound like Family did; I'm not playing reggae so I'm not playing like him. I was looking for a pickup that could give as much pure low end as heard on some of his recordings. Point taken that eq is a big part of it, and that it's in the fingers...just don't think my current pup could emulate that solid sound no matter how skilfully the pultec is tweezed or how much I practise his technique. Anyway. There's a dimarzio ultra bass in the post, thanks to the lovely Jay Syncro of this parish. Thanks to all!

Thicker wire won't do anything. And ignore any advice about "star" grounding, it's only a thing when there's more than one current flowing eg in an amplifier. So long as the grounds are continuous, and theres no floating metalwork (pot bodies, knobs) youre good. Insulating over the copper is often necessary as tabs on the socket move around as you plug in and can short out. But not in your case; if the tip was shorting to ground there'd be no signal. Anyway, good luck with the paint. Be sure it connects to the sleeve of the socket, not the tip!

Sounds like the copper is connected to the wrong end of the jack

They are mine now. Thanks!

Yes, that's probably part of Family's tone. But it doesnt work with my current pickup, just becomes muddy. Thanks for the dimarzio tip. Though I'm in a rabbit hole now...found something called a dimarzio ultra that promises a lot

Thanks for all the replies. I'm looking to replace the neck pickup in a Jet J bass, lovely playing bass but just not as weighty as I like compared to my P with quarter Pounder. Family: Yes his tone was certainly "in the fingers". I've got close with a bitsa I made when I was playing in a (frankly terrible) reggae band, with a mm pickup slightly North of the P pickup position and playing softly over the 20th fret. But I know he played a Jazz, and was wondering what sort of pickup would do that sublime solid, dense sound. Like on Exodus. And Blackheart Man. A bass sound that comes in through the pores, not the ears.

Thanks, they describe what I want to hear... ...as do the Gemini, have you (Pow and Baloney) tried either of these?