stingrayPete1977 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 [quote name='BB3000S' post='1269284' date='Jun 14 2011, 09:52 PM']By "up" do you mean "down" as in "pressed into the bass body"?? Button 1 up, ie buttons 2 and 3 down would be (if counting from the bridge) Middle (2) + Neck (3) in parallell. Sure this is not what your in fact getting? The all buttons up setting should be Bridge + Middle in series, this is the setting that has a clear volume and low mid boost. All three buttons down are should be all three PU's wired in parallell, a really nicely full and complex sound. 2 down (not up!) should be the Middle PU, a great and easily spotted P-bass sound. Perhaps you've just developed a backwards logic of how the switching works? No pun intended, it could easily be done. Or I'm just slow... [/quote] This is why I have single pup basses, even my Jazz only has a blend pot rather than separate options. Confuddles me like the G&L basses. Long live the P Bass! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 (edited) Proper Rays should be parallel wired only the cheaper versions are series Edited June 14, 2011 by stingrayPete1977 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB3000S Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 [quote name='Prime_BASS' post='1269313' date='Jun 14 2011, 11:07 PM']I feel you post is wasted. Lol. I mean up as in the up position. When the buttons are in the down position this turns them Off, so up is on. Well I must say the turn out on this thread is great. I can die happy in the knowledge that I made an interesting thread that went on longer than 3 pages with my posts being outweighed by other members lol. Ive just finishe the gig tonight, and I played with the big al, using my new found setting of third button turning the bridge pickup on. I always wondered why I could never get a jaco burping sound out of it, until now that is. I think this brings up another problem, the bridge single coil sounds kinda like my stingray so I think whoever put that SD pickup in my ray wired it in parallel. Any way to find out, if had a look at the wiring before and I'm a bit lost all the wires are just soldered on.[/quote] Hey, it kept me distracted at least so not totally wasted anyway. But ok, if your buttons are wired like that, then it's definitely quite opposite to the Big Al I owned previously, and about 5 or 6 other ones I've played. Up on all of of them meant off, down meant on. You really must have gotten a strange one mate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB3000S Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 [quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1269318' date='Jun 14 2011, 11:09 PM']This is why I have single pup basses, even my Jazz only has a blend pot rather than separate options. Confuddles me like the G&L basses. Long live the P Bass![/quote] I really shouldn't tell you guys this, but when I had sold my Big Al 4SSS on and returned to my trusty old P-bass for my blues gigs, I actually managed to mix up the tone and volume knobs!! A few times! So much for simplicity - on a bad day its just hopeless anyway... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Maybe the battery is in backwards! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ou7shined Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Or................ ........ if it's taken this long to suss it, just keep it the way it is. It will ultimately be worth way more than it's brothers and sisters as a genuine rare oddity, like a Penny Black with the queen's head on backwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB3000S Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 No offence Prime_BASS and please don't get upset at me, but until further notice and for the suspense of this thread I will be of the opinion that the bass is perfectly fine like any other Big Al 4SSS and just as EBMM meant it to be. [color="#808080"](Yes I'm registered at the EBMM fanboi forum also.)[/color] Most importantly, I hope you get it all sorted in a good way and get to enjoy your Big Al to its fullest potential - they are really great basses! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB3000S Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Down is on, up is off, at least if everything is as it should, and it's about time to get my coat for this evening... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomBassmonkey Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Maybe for the sake of simplicity you should use "in" and "out". I have no idea about the specific basses but I'd be surprised if the buttons weren't standard latching buttons. Obviously since I'm totally ignorant of how it works, I'm probably totally wrong but it wouldn't make sense to me to have something like a basic circuit connection on/off PCB based when a simpler mechanism would be cheaper and...well...simpler. Maybe if there are PCBs covering it, they're just there because it's a convenient space for them rather than their direct involvement with the buttons. Like I say though, I know nothing about the basses, some things are overly complicated and I could quite well be wrong. Either way, if it's a bother, take it back. As soon as you open it up and start fiddling, they can argue that it's something you've done. If you're happy with it then keep it, it doesn't sound like something that's affecting the sound in any other way than some initial confusion on how it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime_BASS Posted June 15, 2011 Author Share Posted June 15, 2011 For those concerned, forgive the confusion last night, I'd consumed a large amount of crabbies gingerbeer. Anyway the switches 1 and 3 still work the opposite way round. The inside looks deliberately complicated, usually I can look inside and know what is what but there is so much going on I'm not surprised some poor Mexican got it wrong on a Friday night. An email has gone to strings and things, I just stated that I would like it fixed without it voiding the warranty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daquifsta Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Loking at this from a purely practical fault finding viewpoint. If I've understood the posts correctly, there is an On/ Off switch per pickup yes? Why not just turn on one switch at a time (or whatever combination you want to check), and lightly tap the corresponding pickup / pickups with a screwdriver - clicky noise from your amp. = pickup is on, no clicky noise = pickup is off? Of course this won't tell you anything about series / parallel wiring or phasing for pickups in combination, but it might get you somewhere? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martthebass Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 As BP would probably say 'it's an intelligence test and you failed!' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sime17 Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 (edited) [quote name='Jigster' post='1269036' date='Jun 14 2011, 07:06 PM']EBMM all sounds a bit PRC/ GDR /USSR if you ask me.[/quote] It does but it's the unelpful proprietor thing that concerns me most. For all the personality-led businesses that you hear good customer service stories from (I'm thinking of the 'helpful company-owner replied personally' style stories I've heard about people like Dan Lakin/Rob Green/Chris May/Mark Gooday) you don't hear many on the flipside that are [i]so[/i] bad that the guy in charge pitches in with the abuse on the in-house forums !!! Whatever happened to 'customer's always right?' Any factory-style production facility can get things wrong but it's how they put it right after that's really important (excuse cliche). I hope you'll be kind enough to keep us informed on how you get on, I was seriously on the verge of buying a five string Stingray or Sterling but I'll hang back for a bit - this doesn't exactly inspire confidence! I'm off to research other QC complaints on here about EBMM. Edited June 15, 2011 by sime17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musicman20 Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Trust me. Once you get a Ray or Sterling 5 you like, it will be great! I've had a few problems and just had some re ordered and they are great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Count Bassy Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 On some basses I have the pickups are connected to the pre-amp with push on connectors. If its the same on the Big Al then it may simply be that the connectors have been swapped over. If the selector switches are mounted directly onto a PCB it seems unlikely that the problem would be with them. Even if the pickups are soldered to the board it still seems more likely that they are wrong rather than PCB mounted switches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismuzz Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 It's a very bizarre issue for a new bass, I'm sure you'll get it sorted though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 [b][i]If[/i][/b] the OP posted about it on the EBMM forum, and [b][i]if[/i][/b] Sterling Bollock ended up posting any form of abuse on it, when the subject is a bass that [u]left his factory faulty[/u]... then it would speak volumes about his business sense and the extent to which he cared about his customer base. [b][i]If[/i][/b]. This is all hypothetical, of course. But I almost want to see this on the EBMM forum, just to see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacker Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 [quote name='Rich' post='1270946' date='Jun 16 2011, 06:09 AM'][b][i]If[/i][/b]. This is all hypothetical, of course. But I almost want to see this on the EBMM forum, just to see what happens.[/quote] In the spirit of justifyable mischief, me too. It has gone a bit quiet up here and I need some entertaining. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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