SPECTOR® Club - Part 50

[brotherbassj]

Hey my 2 cents, dinging a bass means you love it enough to show it off! Lol. I'm changing my tune....I'm not buying any bass that I won't play live. I have a bass I played for 6 years straight and I put every ding and scratch in it, don't know how I did almost all of them, but loved every second I played it. And it has a good flamed finish.....

Disclaimer......my opinion only. Lol

[vin088xk1]

Yeah I haven't seen any but took a chance, nice woody tone, neck feels like the legend, strung it uo with d'addario half rounds, now just gotta find some time to play it

[cableguy]

Originally Posted by brotherbassj

Hey my 2 cents, dinging a bass means you love it enough to show it off! Lol. I'm changing my tune....I'm not buying any bass that I won't play live. I have a bass I played for 6 years straight and I put every ding and scratch in it, don't know how I did almost all of them, but loved every second I played it. And it has a good flamed finish.....

Disclaimer......my opinion only. Lol

+1

I haven't had my Spectors long enough to do much to them. My old G&L is another story...Had it 20 years (and counting) and there are a few battle wounds, but nothing compared to the HSC it resides in.

[LimaGuy]

Originally Posted by vin088xk1

Finally got a chance to setup and give it a cleaning and fresh strings, nice deep tones but you can tell its a spector, couple of not so great pics.

Originally Posted by Clearwave

Cool bass! I don't of anyone else in the club that has one. I've always been curious about those.

Originally Posted by vin088xk1

Yeah I haven't seen any but took a chance, nice woody tone, neck feels like the legend, strung it uo with d'addario half rounds, now just gotta find some time to play it

Congrats,

I think you are the first one in the club to have one.

That's alot of responsibility going to be a bunch of people wanting a full report.

[iceboxbass]

Originally Posted by JPSBassist

See... here's where I'm not going to agree with Steve. And no offense. Sincerely...

I have tried the EMG BQC in a couple of basses and it seems to not have the growl or bark that I like.

In probably what comes down to a playing or music genre difference between us, I find that the TP when tamed with the volume output trim pot is a very aggressive, yet flexible circuit.

Outside of the OBP-3, which when I spoke with Dave Boonshoft, owner of Aguilar about it, come to find out it's a mixture of the warm, analog tone that you get with OpAmps and it has the clean and articulate JFET circuit, both running inside the same pre-amp.

I really was impressed with how close the OBP-2 @ 18v sounds to the Spector USA 18v circuit.

And of course the USA 9v circuit is that growly, gritty gold standard.

For myself, and honestly you're in a tough place because you're not really going to know what a circuit is going to sound like in your bass until you put it there, the Smadder setup isn't really an option I'd ever go for. Even in the Alex Webster I had, which sincerely I really didn't play because I'm not a 5-string guy, I find it much easier to dial in the tone I'm looking for with the OBP-3. And most of the time I've been playing USA Bolt-Ons and they're setup for 9v.

Run the OBP-3 at 18v and you'll have headroom, warmth, articulation and the ability to overdrive it with clarity.

My $$$ would be on the OBP-3 @ 18v if you don't want to go for the USA 9v or USA 18v Spector circuits.

^THIS^ 100% agree with!

[superdick2112]

Originally Posted by brotherbassj

Hey my 2 cents, dinging a bass means you love it enough to show it off! Lol. I'm changing my tune....I'm not buying any bass that I won't play live. I have a bass I played for 6 years straight and I put every ding and scratch in it, don't know how I did almost all of them, but loved every second I played it. And it has a good flamed finish.....

Disclaimer......my opinion only. Lol

Well, after almost a year of writing songs & woodshedding, I have my 1st gig tonight with my original metal band.
I"ll be playing all 3 of my Spectors, including my new USA NS-4. Yeah, I'm a bit nervous about bringing it to a semi-dive bar, but they are meant to be played, and I'm always careful to protect their finishes.
Full report & gig pics tomorrow...

[iceboxbass]

Originally Posted by brotherbassj

I'd like to chime in. Before I got into Spectors I had decided that the Aguilar OBP-3 was the greatest pre ever.....Steve turned me onto the BQC. I find them usable, but prefer the Spector USA 18 volt circuit over it in my Spectors. I like a big round organic bass tone.

All in all.....if I were to pick one pre, that I would try in any bass.....at 18 volts with any pickups. I think I would still go with the Aguilar OBP-3. Having said that....I'm not a high mids guy. I like a wall of air moving past me. Keep that in mind and digest my thoughts with that in mind......

YES! This exactly!

[PhatBasstard]

Originally Posted by JPSBassist

The TWs are awful sounding in dual mode compared to the DC models to me. At least that's what my ears hear.

Absolutely!
This, along with the horrible volume drop that made single coil mode unusable (especially on the fly), is why I switched back to DC's.
The TW is really a badly designed and not good sounding pup in comparison to the DC's. I've really had trouble understanding Spector's decision to push it.

[ynot12]

Hey guys, finally got to have our second jam yesterday. Me and the guys did a PTO jam day and had a blast. Notice my new little Ampeg Microstack. One guy said, "man those Spectors not only look cool, but they sound mean."

My basses did sound really good with this amp. It was perfect for this type of basement jam, but I will need something bigger if we get to doing bigger things.

A note to all of the preamp talk. We all thought the red one, with the PJX pups and BQC sounded just a little better than the standard Euro with the tone pump at 18v. I think I was able to dial in the mids to sit in better. But, as you can see, it's just a 100 watt mini amp.

As a side note, I didn't bring the CRFM with the Aguilar OBP-2, but I think it may be my favorite sounding of all of them - perhaps the all maple has something to do with it.

[ynot12]

Originally Posted by superdick2112

Well, after almost a year of writing songs & woodshedding, I have my 1st gig tonight with my original metal band.
I"ll be playing all 3 of my Spectors, including my new USA NS-4. Yeah, I'm a bit nervous about bringing it to a semi-dive bar, but they are meant to be played, and I'm always careful to protect their finishes.
Full report & gig pics tomorrow...

Awesome. Good luck!!! \,,/

[JPSBassist]

Originally Posted by grendle

I would be curious to ask why the us 9v was designed the way it was. It's a different preamp than anything else out there (then again so is the bass lol ). I'm curious if he designed it with tube ampeg heads in mind ? They were definatly the std back line of the day, and the hot signal works magic with the tube pre. The 9v is also far hotter than anything of the day and is still hotter than most pre's out today. Back then Duncan was the electronics wizard and the focus was on coil splitting and phase changing to get all the different tones available on the bass.
We won't even talk about the beast that is the tone pump.

I'm just curious about what goes on in the head of someone like Stuart. To have a vision of a sound in your head , and figure out how to build an instrument and design a circuit to produce that tone must have bordered on maddening. God love him though because he did it! A world without the Spector tone would just suck.

If you haven't read the greatly augmented and updated company history, you might want to... I learned so much about Stuart when I was in Woodstock this past June & July.

http://www.spectorguitars.com/history/brooklyn.html

He specifically designed the NS-2 to sit in a particular place in the mix. He's got an amazing ear. Part of it is very natural to who he is. The other part is the work he put into training his ears to listen for certain things.

[iceboxbass]

Originally Posted by superdick2112

Well, after almost a year of writing songs & woodshedding, I have my 1st gig tonight with my original metal band.
I"ll be playing all 3 of my Spectors, including my new USA NS-4. Yeah, I'm a bit nervous about bringing it to a semi-dive bar, but they are meant to be played, and I'm always careful to protect their finishes.
Full report & gig pics tomorrow...

YES!

[JeffplaysBass]

Originally Posted by brotherbassj

Hey my 2 cents, dinging a bass means you love it enough to show it off! Lol. I'm changing my tune....I'm not buying any bass that I won't play live. I have a bass I played for 6 years straight and I put every ding and scratch in it, don't know how I did almost all of them, but loved every second I played it. And it has a good flamed finish.....

Disclaimer......my opinion only. Lol

Not saying "never" play it at a show...Just be selective at which shows.....one show bass (a/b) at another show bass (a/c) at another show bass (b/c)...

[JeffplaysBass]

Originally Posted by superdick2112

Well, after almost a year of writing songs & woodshedding, I have my 1st gig tonight with my original metal band.
I"ll be playing all 3 of my Spectors, including my new USA NS-4. Yeah, I'm a bit nervous about bringing it to a semi-dive bar, but they are meant to be played, and I'm always careful to protect their finishes.
Full report & gig pics tomorrow...

Excellent, what about the Rick??...hehe

[brotherbassj]

Originally Posted by JeffplaysBass

Not saying "never" play it at a show...Just be selective at which shows.....one show bass (a/b) at another show bass (a/c) at another show bass (b/c)...

Spoken like a performing madman and genius! Rock on!

[RichardCranium]

Another action shot no cuties this time. My weaksauce attempt at bass face!

[JPSBassist]

Originally Posted by smadder

You guys inspired me to try some different picks.

Dunlop Max Grip 1.14
It's like velcro for your fingertips. These picks never slip or slide even if you get sweaty and they're solid enough to really let you dig in.

[brotherbassj]

Originally Posted by JPSBassist

Dunlop Max Grip 1.14
It's like velcro for your fingertips. These picks never slip or slide even if you get sweaty and they're solid enough to really let you dig in.

I just got the max grip jazz 3s and love them. I used Dunlop purple tortex 1.14s for years. Max grip is good

[seventhframe]

Originally Posted by JPSBassist

This is cooler than I can find the words for. Omer is a total jet-setting bad-azz dude.

Easter Island. Did you know that the ecological devastation on that island came from the natives cutting down all the trees on the island to make those statues?

Sort of sad... but man those statues are sweet.

Originally Posted by JPSBassist

Omer looked like he needed a bass in those photos.

I started with a Forte. But you know... he's on an island in the summer (since that is south of the equator... it's summer there).

So I decided to hook him up with something more festive.

Thanks Patrick! And HELLO EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Boy I've missed out on a LOT of forum talk! I just got back to Santiago from Easter Island. An amazing experience!!!! Simply a magical place on so many levels!!

**The natives didn't cut down the trees to move to Moai and at last devastate themselves :P That's a poor myth. Peruvian explorers came to the island and brought disease with them....from 40,000 they were left only 1500 inhabitants on the island.
Chilean explorers came to a ghost island, surprised by the 1500 people left as it was recorded that there were more than 40,000...the ship turned around, came back with medicine, and saves the few remaining.
Though that is only the story about the Polynesians that FOUND the island a long time ago.....There's another far more advanced civilization that lived there much much early on that actually made the Moai statues...but that's another long story (no, not aliens )


I hope everyone is well. I will try and share photos with you at some point, but my internet connection here is a "free wifi" based connection, so it sucks.
I MISS MY SPECTORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Sam has a cool video I sent him that he can share.

Take care everyone!!!!

[JPSBassist]

Originally Posted by PhatBasstard

Absolutely!
This, along with the horrible volume drop that made single coil mode unusable (especially on the fly), is why I switched back to DC's.
The TW is really a badly designed and not good sounding pup in comparison to the DC's. I've really had trouble understanding Spector's decision to push it.

My only guess would be that one thing Stuart has focused on in recent years is flexibility... meaning the NS-2 is the NS-2. And the application for it is well-known.

With the USA Bolt-ons and the Euro models I think he wanted to create a bass that gave the player more tonal options.

Darryl Anders was playing an Euro5LX with the TW's in it at NAMM this past January and he really liked the "Carlton Armstrong" setup... meaning he'd leave the bridge in humbucker mode and go single coil on the neck.

I agree that the overall tone of the TWs just isn't as appealing as the DC pups.

As far as the volume drop. I know you and I have discussed this before. And I get that you wouldn't want to have to adjust your amp or EQ settings between songs... but could.

However, if you are talking about switching coils during a song... I just can't figure out why anyone would want to?
If you're going to do a "Bass Solo"... that's what pedals are for. LOL. Dude. Totally kidding.

I agree with you. I wouldn't own a Spector with the TWs. It's just not my thing. But there are a lot of people who do like them.

Since getting the Blue Dream I'm really thinking I'm a dual J guy. Which makes sense why I like the TW's in single coil mode. LOL.