"Official" Mikro Bass Club

unbridled · #1 02-04-2009, 07:52 PM

Got a Mikro? Join the club and show it off along with your thoughts and what you use it fore.

PM me or reply to this thread for a number. These are cool short-scale basses that don't look or feel like toys and play very nicely!
My $.02 review here: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=513353

GassieBall · #2 07-01-2009, 12:47 PM

I'm getting this little bass today and would like to join the club. Very excited about hotrodding the heck out of it. I was wondering if you guys could tell me if the J pickup is a neck or bridge size pickup. I thought I read somewhere that it's a neck sized pickup in the bridge position. Also, will standard Hipshot or Gotoh ultralite type tuners fit? Thanks.

mongo2 · #3 07-01-2009, 01:24 PM

Here's one of mine (modded with Barts and some stealthy bits):

Sign me up please.

unbridled · #4 07-01-2009, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GassieBall

I'm getting this little bass today and would like to join the club. Very excited about hotrodding the heck out of it. I was wondering if you guys could tell me if the J pickup is a neck or bridge size pickup. I thought I read somewhere that it's a neck sized pickup in the bridge position. Also, will standard Hipshot or Gotoh ultralite type tuners fit? Thanks.

Got your PM. #3 to you. You should have fun! Nothing like new bass day! I think Mongo had some threads about what pups he used in his Mikro and also what tuners he used when he gave it the stealth treatment. I *think* they are in the Ibanez Owner's thread. Make sure you post up some pics if you can pull yourself away from playing it long enough!

unbridled · #5 07-01-2009, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mongo2

Here's one of mine (modded with Barts and some stealthy bits):

Sign me up please.

Cool! #4 to you. We're small but LOUD! Good to see folks modding their Mikros. I've only done the pots to mine so far.

GassieBall · #6 07-01-2009, 11:42 PM

Thanks for the #, unbridled. I'll take a look at that thread. I just got the bass and it's lots of fun! Still tweaking the setup, though.

mongo2 · #7 07-02-2009, 05:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by unbridled

Got your PM. #3 to you. You should have fun! Nothing like new bass day! I think Mongo had some threads about what pups he used in his Mikro and also what tuners he used when he gave it the stealth treatment. I *think* they are in the Ibanez Owner's thread. Make sure you post up some pics if you can pull yourself away from playing it long enough!

I was going to install a set of the small Schaller tuners (in black) I have but they are considerably heavier than the stock tuners and would cause the neck to dive for the floor. I haven't yet found an appropriate aftermarket solution for the OEM tuners.

I picked up a black bridge but it doesn't cover the same footprint as the stock bridge so I may look for another.

The only real niggle with modding is that the Ibanez P pickup is longer than a Fender style P so there's a gap when using them.

unbridled · #8 07-02-2009, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mongo2

I was going to install a set of the small Schaller tuners (in black) I have but they are considerably heavier than the stock tuners and would cause the neck to dive for the floor. I haven't yet found an appropriate aftermarket solution for the OEM tuners.

I picked up a black bridge but it doesn't cover the same footprint as the stock bridge so I may look for another.

The only real niggle with modding is that the Ibanez P pickup is longer than a Fender style P so there's a gap when using them.

I checked out the pictures. The Bart J looks like it was a wonderful fit and the P doesn't look like it's a horrible fit. It looks really nice on the black and the gap is hardly noticable. Ive seen some pickups that look like it would be real easy to swap out the covers of the P pickups as long as the base of the pup fits in the cover. I think the J pups are the best candidate for swapping out as the P pup sounds pretty good to my ears.

I guess the weight of the tuners make it so about the only good swap would be for an expensive set of super light tuners. I was going to swap mine too if I ever find a good replacement that would offer equal or better performance and equal or less weight. Do you know the size of the posts?

GassieBall- Here's a link to page 17 of the Short-Scale Club where Mongo talks about his stealthing of his Mikro.
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?p=7525470
(sorry about the bad info, I thought it was in the Ibanez Thread.)
What color is your new bass? It looks to me like even if you want to replace both pups in your Mikro, the fit is nice and even if they are smaller, the gap isn't noticable.

We need pics!!!

mongo2 · #9 07-02-2009, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by unbridled

I checked out the pictures. The Bart J looks like it was a wonderful fit and the P doesn't look like it's a horrible fit. It looks really nice on the black and the gap is hardly noticable. Ive seen some pickups that look like it would be real easy to swap out the covers of the P pickups as long as the base of the pup fits in the cover. I think the J pups are the best candidate for swapping out as the P pup sounds pretty good to my ears.

I guess the weight of the tuners make it so about the only good swap would be for an expensive set of super light tuners. I was going to swap mine too if I ever find a good replacement that would offer equal or better performance and equal or less weight. Do you know the size of the posts?

GassieBall- Here's a link to page 17 of the Short-Scale Club where Mongo talks about his stealthing of his Mikro.
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?p=7525470
(sorry about the bad info, I thought it was in the Ibanez Thread.)
What color is your new bass? It looks to me like even if you want to replace both pups in your Mikro, the fit is nice and even if they are smaller, the gap isn't noticable.

We need pics!!!

The J does fit just right.

The diameter of the tuner post looks to be 5/16" on my machinist's rule. I'm thinking of using a set of closed back guitar tuners like the Klusons used on my Silvertone/Danelectro Dolphin Nose bass. But since the post is more narrow, I think I'd have to fill the original holes or get larger bushings for that to work.

My new Mikro is the Blue sparkle and I'm just leaving that one stock...for now.

GassieBall · #10 07-02-2009, 07:04 PM

I got a pearl white. I know... no pix, no bass. Gimme a sec

GassieBall · #11 07-02-2009, 10:16 PM

So I finally got to do a little work on the Mikro. The setup from the factory was less than stellar. Truss rod tweak. Intonation was way off. Filed some frets. Lemon oiled the dry rosewood. Now it plays pretty good.

I put some DR Sunbeam short scale strings on. Much better than stock in feel and tone.

I replaced the hideous, cheap, cheesy, sickening plastic knobs with some chrome domes I had lying around.

What to do next???

1. The tuners are pretty mediocre. They are the ones with a rectangular closed body. I appreciate your comments above for a swap out. Finding a direct replacement seems impossible so I'll keep looking for suggestions.

2. Looks like pickup replacements might be trickier than I thought. I didn't know the Ibanez P pickups were a different size from the Fender size. Ugh. Right now, I was leaning toward a Basslines STK-J1 + SPB-1 to get a more traditional vibe. Another thought is the Dimarzio DP126 (Model P+J) but I've had the Model J's before and although they were powerful and growly, I think they miss some of the vintage sparkle.

3. Better pots (CTS?) and cap. The stock input jack actually seems pretty solid.

3. I'm very tempted to file down the nut. Seems a little high, but I'm a newbie at this. Do any of you think it's high?

GassieBall · #12 07-02-2009, 10:17 PM

Here is the little guy with some of his big brothers.

unbridled · #13 07-03-2009, 03:46 AM

Very nice! I've only seen the white in airbrushed catalog pics. I like it a lot! I can't help you much as far as the decision to file the nut or not. I must have gotten lucky because the set up on mine was really close. I had to lower the saddles just a bit and only had to move one saddle for intonation. No truss rod tweeks were needed. I did file one fret that was poking out and I plan on doing some more filing later this summer. Montana is so hot and dry that I expect more fret-sprout to occur.

I put some old CTS pots that I had in my Mikro. I used the same cap because I couldn't read the value on the caps I had laying around. Like I said, the pots were left over from when I had my store. All I knew was they were CTS pots and that they came out of an Ibanez 5 string (not factory) . They went in very easy. I'm using the same knobs until I find something that I like (or until they break).

Can you describe the tone of the Sunbeams on the bass compared to stock?

Very cool Mikro! Good mods to come too!

Mongo- Thanks for the information! I'm going to go through some of my old catalogs and see if I can find more info on tuners. I'm going to pull one tuner after this weekend and throw it on the powder scale so I have an idea of what they weigh. I had forgotten that you have another Mikro in blue. You'll have to get a pic of the siblings together! Check your PMs.

unbridled · #14 07-03-2009, 03:49 AM

Oh yeah, as far as the pickups, if you have some Fender Ps (Or whatever) avaiable, see if it looks like the pole pieces will line up with the holes in the Ibanez covers and if you think you can pop the covers without breaking them. Who knows, you might get lucky and be able to swap out the guts and keep the nice fitting covers. Might be worth a shot!

unbridled · #15 07-03-2009, 03:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GassieBall

Here is the little guy with some of his big brothers.

Nice group shot! I'm likin them!

mongo2 · #16 07-03-2009, 05:26 AM

I adjusted the width of the nut slots to accomodate the wider nylon tapewounds I installed and I also adjusted the slot depth to where I want it.

The body of the nut is somewhat proud and I may knock it down some or smooth off the edges if it ever becomes bothersome, but so far it hasn't.

GassieBall · #17 07-03-2009, 08:58 AM

Hey guys. Cool little club we have here for a cool little bass. Mongo, your bass is crazy! I know other people must think we are weird putting in pickups that basically cost the same as the bass itself. It looks like we really have a quest to find some tuners. Unbridled, I don't currently have anything other than the Mikro with P pickups for me to compare, so your information about the poles seeming to line up is very valuable.

When I have time, I will try to post clips with both the stock strings and the DRs. The stock strings seem to have a little bit of "grab" that I don't like. The DRs have a sweeter treble whereas the stocks seemed a little flat and ho-hum.

I'll also try to do pickup comparisons when the mods come!

mongo2 · #18 07-03-2009, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GassieBall

Hey guys. Cool little club we have here for a cool little bass. Mongo, your bass is crazy! I know other people must think we are weird putting in pickups that basically cost the same as the bass itself. It looks like we really have a quest to find some tuners. Unbridled, I don't currently have anything other than the Mikro with P pickups for me to compare, so your information about the poles seeming to line up is very valuable.

The main reason I picked the Bartolinis is that I wanted to use Labella tapewound strings and the Barts are so well shielded that they are noiseless even when using tapewounds.

A side benefit of using the Barts is that they don't have discrete exposed poles so I didn't have to worry about the "look" of the poles not aligning precisely with the strings due to them being a bit smaller than the OEM P pickups.

In any event, where the strings go through the mag field on a standard bi-pole P pickup, the mag field is a continuous strip and not discrete so it shouldn't matter much tonally as long as the pickups are positioned so the strings are somewhere over the line of the poles.

I've had that particular set of Barts for about 10 years and they've been used in several projects over that time so I feel I've gotten my money's worth from them.

Besides, I don't think I give a ratzazz what others think.

GassieBall · #19 07-03-2009, 09:42 AM

Hey Mongo, oh, I didn't mean any disrespect. I meant crazy in a good way. I'm going the same path as you with the Mikro modding so we are birds of a feather. That makes a lot of sense with the Barts. Now I'm not sure that Basslines are a good idea

mongo2 · #20 07-03-2009, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GassieBall

Hey Mongo, oh, I didn't mean any disrespect.

Not to worry, I didn't think you did. My point was basically "damn the torpedos, full speed ahead" regarding mods and what others thought of them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GassieBall

I'm going the same path as you with the Mikro modding so we are birds of a feather. That makes a lot of sense with the Barts. Now I'm not sure that Basslines are a good idea

Later today I'll position a set of standard exposed poles P pickups over the strings and see how they line up. I'd think the J would line up pretty good but I'll check that too.