Midi (a new way of doin it)

[ninefingerbass]

Alright, I have quite a project for you guys. You've seen ugly gorgeous basses with ugly midi installed on the outside. Well I'd like the change that. Ok I have a bass that I'm going to get soon but thought I could get some insight on midi and regular pick up combination.

First. I am getting a Roland GK-3, they are going to be picking up the vibrations of a piccolo 6 string bass or a soprano type of bass. Think of a 7 to 9 string bass with just midi on the top end. Basically this is a 6 string fretless piccolo bass with midi and Kahler tremelo. As far as the electronics I was looking towards a simple preamp, maybe V/T/T. But the main heart would rely on the combination of two soapbar configurations and a midi.

I'd like to keep the outside of the bass as natural and electronic free from the midi connection jack. I was thinking, do you have to have the midi pup installed right behind the bridge pup? or can I install it where a regular bridge wood be. Is this for latency reasons?

I am going to pull the up/down switches and route them up to the outside of the body so I can have two buttons that control the midi controller from outside the bass while it is housed in the cavity. Also a seperate volume and GK/mix/bass 3 way switch so it can adjust "remotely" from the outside. As far as attaching it. is there anywhere I can find an extender for the midi connection?

The soapbars, I'd like another, eithr 3 way or two way switch to control either of the pick ups or the midi by itself. If using the midi switch and switching to mix, what if I change the pick up congfigurations with the switch? Anyone have any input? I'm pretty much trying to create the impossible but I think it can be done.

It would be installed like the look of a Rick. Am I just bat **** insane in even attempting this or is this doable. I am good with electronics so wiring and solder as well as extending switches/buttons/jacks are of no problem. I'd like to hear what others think.

For simplicity:

switch 1- pup1/pup2/midi
switch 2- midi/mix/bass
btn1- up
btn2- dwn
knob 1-master volume
knob 2-tone for pup1
knob 3-tone for pup2
knob 4- volume for midi

outside-midi jack and 1/4inch jack

[luknfur]

I'm not too clear on what you're wanting to do/accomplish here but I can tell you Roland makes an internal GK control for bass and guitar that mounts through the body like a conventional harness (pot/switch) - it just cost twice what the surface mounts units run. Regardless the GK pup itself has to be mounted on the face right at the bridge - where you've seen them on every instrument that's had one. To my knowledge you have to use the roland control to use the Roland pickup.

[agreatheight]

I have a Brian Moore midi guitar that has the midi pick up in the bridge. Does anyone do this for bass?

http://www.iguitar.com/i2000/i2000Mo...ar=iGuitar8.13

[cybersnyder]

I thought I saw a V-Bass demo somewhere with Alain Caron and he had an internal GK pickup. You may be able to do something with the graphtec Ghost system.

[fretlessrock]

Take a look at the GK-Kit setup that has been mentioned. It is the same thing as the GK controller, but it is made for an install like you describe.

Also, be aware that the Roland GK setup does not generate MIDI output on its own. It generates 13-pin control output that gets sent to a MIDI converter device. This could be a MIDI-only converter, a sound module, or a VG system, etc...

I think your best bet is to have magnetic pickup controls side by side with the GK controls, and do your blending downstream.

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by agreatheight

I have a Brian Moore midi guitar that has the midi pick up in the bridge. Does anyone do this for bass?

Lots of people do, and it's definitely the cleanest looking way to go. It's not MIDI though, it's an analog divided pickup.

[Webtroll]

I hear the Ghost system works pretty well for bass

[ninefingerbass]

I have come to the conclusion that taking apart the normal controler would be a bad idea. I like the internal one better and I dont mind the pup being outside. Does anyone know where I can find this and it will be able to fit a 6 string? Thanks for all the replies.

[luknfur]

Originally Posted by ninefingerbass

I have come to the conclusion that taking apart the normal controler would be a bad idea. I like the internal one better and I dont mind the pup being outside. Does anyone know where I can find this and it will be able to fit a 6 string? Thanks for all the replies.

I assume you're talking about the GK pup. I've had both the external GK bass pups. I could see no way to take it apart without basically breaking it and taking a chance of do as much to the internal components - least of all being able to reassemble it after the fact if I found it just wouldn't work. This aside from having to rig some way to attatch the knob and switch once apart.

You could order the internal gk pup through MF, I assume that hasn't changed. All are hex pups and work for 4, 5, or 6 string basses.

[Dirk Diggler]

I think you would have a happier and cleaner look to use RMC piezo pickups. The price is a bit rough and you have to route for the wires, but you get a total clean look and better tracking. Also it depends on what you're using for a converter, I don't think Roland supports piezo, Axon does and works great.

Ok one last thing that I have to ask, tremolo/whammy and fretless? Isn't that a bit redundant?

Good luck,
Dirk

[ninefingerbass]

Well, talk to Les Claypool about the redundancy, I think he has a tremelo on his fretless. I'm still unsure of the tremelo but who knows. It's just an option. On top of that it's not even concrete yet so I'll probably change my mind.

[Dirk Diggler]

I wish I could ask and talk to Les. Actually I think I do understand why you would want that, but in the last video I saw of Primus he only had the whammy bar on a fretted. I was just curious why you wanted it.
Dirk