Upgrading a Brice Prestige Z6

[rockin982]

I'm looking for a little help upgrading my bass. Currently I have a Brice Z Prestige 6 string (http://www.rondomusic.net/z6nat.html (this guy here) and I like the feel of the bass, other than it being a bit on the heavy side, but I'd really like to upgrade the tone. I was in Sam Ash the other day toying around with a Yamaha TRB 5P, and I decided that's the sound I'd love to go for.

I think I want to go with EMG electronics, so anyone here have any idea what kind of pickup/electronics setup will give me a roughly similar sound to the TRB?

Right now I'm not impressed with my rig either (a Fender Rumble 60) but I'm looking to upgrade that to an Acme Low B2 powered by a BBE BMax Preamp and a Crown XLS 202 Poweramp (600W Bridged Mono @ 8 oms).

Im hoping this setup will give me a nice low end growl that I'm sorely lacking right now.

Any suggestions?

[luknfur]

Originally Posted by rockin982

I was in Sam Ash the other day toying around with a Yamaha TRB 5P, and I decided that's the sound I'd love to go for.

I think I want to go with EMG electronics, so anyone here have any idea what kind of pickup/electronics setup will give me a roughly similar sound to the TRB?

Any suggestions?

FWIW:

the best way I know to get a tone is to buy what put's it out, not change something else to cop it.

If there's some reason what puts it out can't be had then that's not an option but you CAN (not necessarily will) spend a lot more trying to cop a tone than buying it.

Did you play the TRB to your music or just play solo? Solo tone will tell you nothing (unless you have the ear and played so much that you know what solo tone works for you). Solo tone means even less if you're not playing it through your rig.

But EMG makes some stuff I like, some of it I don't.

[gerryjazzman]

Originally Posted by rockin982

I'm looking for a little help upgrading my bass. Currently I have a Brice Z Prestige 6 string (http://www.rondomusic.net/z6nat.html (this guy here) and I like the feel of the bass, other than it being a bit on the heavy side, but I'd really like to upgrade the tone. I was in Sam Ash the other day toying around with a Yamaha TRB 5P, and I decided that's the sound I'd love to go for.

I think I want to go with EMG electronics, so anyone here have any idea what kind of pickup/electronics setup will give me a roughly similar sound to the TRB?

Right now I'm not impressed with my rig either (a Fender Rumble 60) but I'm looking to upgrade that to an Acme Low B2 powered by a BBE BMax Preamp and a Crown XLS 202 Poweramp (600W Bridged Mono @ 8 oms).

Im hoping this setup will give me a nice low end growl that I'm sorely lacking right now.

Any suggestions?

I'm in a similar boat, since I just bought the Brice Z6 but in the fretless version. The electronics aren't very good, but I believe from playing around a bit with it and disecting the control cavity that the problem is primarily the preamp / pot setup, not as much the pickups.

The preamp in there is just a gain stage / buffer and the pots are all wired essentially as though the bass is passive (the tone controls are just that... just simple treble cut controls, one per pickup, that you'd find in a passive bass). I intend to pull the guts and replace then with a decent preamp pot setup (haven't decided which yet myself) but leave the pickups. I also have a TRB6JP which has bass / treble and switchable mid boost/cut which I'd guess is similar to the TRB5P. I'd suggest looking for a preamp that has some control over the mids in addition to the bass / treble controls and leave the pickups alone for now. You could always change them out later if you still don't have the exact sound you want.

[luknfur]

FWIW:

don't know if the routes are the same but another consideration is getting the TRB electronics off ebay. Haven't really paid attention to yamaha stuff but I know Yamaha pups show pretty regularly, the pre too may be a harder find but from the previous post, maybe not something you'd want anyway. Pups are where the signal begins.