I'll be playing at Champs in Blacksburg this Thursday night... hopefully with my new Barden PUPs & Mike Pope onboard pre-amp. I'm still waiting for the pre-amp to arrive, but I'm sending major vibes out to the universe to get it here by Wednesday morning :)

Either way, we'll be pumping out some fun tunes, mainly covers done in the style of the Grateful Dead... if John Entwistle had been their bass player. Sorry, I play too aggressively to be mistaken for Phil :bassist:

What bass are you putting those in? Sounds like a KILLLLLER setup!

BTW... here's an odd note: Remember back in '92 when I went to visit my bro' in TX when he was at school? I came back railing about an AMAZING dude that my brother was in classes with who playing a 6 string when I was in Denton at a place called "Dr. Smith's (aka The Library)".... it was Mike Pope! Small freakin' world no?

How cool is that? What a small world. Mike is apparently a beast of a player (he's playing with David Sanborn today/tonight somewhere in NYC). He rushed to get my preamp out today before he left for the gig, which I REALLY appreciate. Let's see... mess with Greg's crap, or get ready to play w/ David Sanborn... hmmmm... Greg who?

What made me go with the Mike Pope pre-amp was talking with Anthony Wellington (Victor Wooten's bass tech & fellow bass player in the VWB). He was telling me about his bass collection, and it seemed like with every other bass he said "and I put a Mike Pope preamp in it"... needless to say, I got the picture. Mike makes a nice preamp :)

So it's going in my Warwick Thumb NT, shown here in it's current stock condition:
http://www.rocketmusic.net/images/ThumbNT.jpg

I'm also putting in Joe Barden JB4 pickups. It should be completely bitchin' when I'm done.

Glad Mike got that Pre-amp to you. I had him put together a 4 band for me and it took much longer than he had anticipated.....To Mikes credit, he was busy touring and working on some other electronic projects, but he did come through.......Pricey to say the least, but well worth it.....Let us now how much you like it, once you get it in !!!!

Tony

(another satisfied Rocket Music customer)

Greg, that thing is seriously HOT! I can't wait to hear what you think of it after the electronics swap... a serious beast it'll be!

Hey, Tony,

What did you put your Pope pre-amp into? And what PUPs did you use? Do you have any before/after sound clips?

I'm so excited I could just piss myself!!! I'm hoping mine shows up UPS tomorrow.

Cheers,
Greg

Alright!! 3 hours before gig time, and the new pickups and pre-amp are installed and functioning properly. PLENTY of time to spare :)

I'm REALLY digging the new setup. Mike Pope's preamp has MUCH less hiss when boosting the treble, and the overall tone has fattened a bit (which, if you've ever played a Thumb, is a GOOD thing). I'm very pleased.

I spent this morning recording my bass in it's stock condition, and I'll do some more recording soon with the new setup so I can post a real before/after analysis. Should be interesting if my recording this morning was successful...

Now off to play! Please stop by Champs and say hey if you're in Blacksburg tonight!

Well, my bass was more present in the PA last night than I've EVER heard myself in the course of 25 years of playing... I can only describe it as it was like I was louder without actually being louder. There's just more of everything there now (lows, mids, highs). I'm not sure how much to attribute to the Barden PUPs vs the Pope pre, but I'm sure it's a bit of both.

The new pre is really smooth, very musical. The MEC treble boost could be a little harsh at the extremes, not so with my new Pope pre. The only knock I have (and this is a stretch) is that I can't dial in the massive amounts of bottom that the MEC could do... but that only made my tone muddy anyway, so who cares?

All in all, I'm tickled pink. I didn't notice a huge difference here in the store (other than the lack of hiss in the treble boost). But at fulll volume through a PA, my bass is now a very different, much improved animal.

Hey, Tony,

What did you put your Pope pre-amp into? And what PUPs did you use? Do you have any before/after sound clips?

I'm so excited I could just piss myself!!! I'm hoping mine shows up UPS tomorrow.

Cheers,
Greg

Mine was actually a custom Stambaugh 5 string, so I do not have any before/after clips...

Pope Setup:

2 Aero Dual coils w/coil tap
Active/Passive switch
Passive Tone control ( works in active mode as well)
Bass
Low MId (with switch for 2 different freq. points)
High Mid (Switch for 2 different freq points)
Treble

Price was more than I have paid for good rack mounted Pre's in the past !!!


I agree with you on the bass control. I also notice lower output, as compared to my other basses. I will try to get some sound clips up in a couple of days. Tony

Hey, Tony,

Sounds nice! My Pope pre has an overall gain pot (a little blue pot) on the bass/treble PCB. I can increase/decrease the overall output of the pre-amp by tweaking that. Yours could/should be able to do the same.

I'm gettin' ready to post some pics in a separate thread. I haven't recorded the bass with the new electronics yet, so sound clips will be a little while...