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Quadzilla said:

I received it this way. Was told that the Piezo failed and as a result, the preamp was also replaced (with a wonderful sounding Demeter preamp).

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Not suprising these basses have a major issue with their PCB quality, mine was replaced because it drained the battery in about 20 hours even without being plugged in !, i managed to get a replacement PCB from Peavey UK so years back , Peavey USA had no idea about locating a replacement!

Theirs a Wilkinson 3d/Adjustable bridge on reverb for about $40 shipped if you fancy replacing it

Cheers

I bought one of these recently and ended up selling it pretty quickly. It was strange. They added the bridge pickup, but I didn't at all like what it did to the tone. I get why they added the second pickup to blend into the muddy neck one, but this seemed like it didn't do much to solve the issue. I think what it needed was a different type of pickup instead of having two of the same.

The one thing Fender got absolutely correct about this was adding the forearm contour and belly cut to the body shape. I don't know why they refuse to do this to any other tele bass because it was a fantastic upgrade.

As an update for people searching threads in the future and considering buying one, I sold it. I truly love how it looks.

It sounded pretty good but not great. It's in the jazz bass neighborhood but is also its own thing.

But it wasn't until I took it to a couple of rehearsals and played it standing up did I realize how much the body shape give it a neck dive even my 4" wide strap couldn't stop. It messed with my playing because I was having to fight it so much.

TonyP- said:

I put 45-126 GHS Progressives on...My big complaint on this bass is how small that post is. So don't try to put many windings on.
Cheers

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Follow-up…
A few weeks ago while tuning up about an hour before downbeat at a gig, the B-string post snapped at the base. Replacement GOTOH tuners are a significant upgrade. No more skinny tuning posts.
The stock Grovers were nice, until they weren’t. Highly recommend replacing them before it happens to someone else at the least opportune time. Fortunately, the gig was only 10 minutes from home and my wife ran over a replacement.

Bob Coldwell said:

Closer To The Fart? Seriously?

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Not everyone has a sense of humour. Not everyone played songs so often that they changed the lyrics to see if anyone in the club was paying attention, which they never are, because they're trying to catch a buzz and get laid.

BassAgent said:

Really? Nice. Also preset up/down?

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No but there’s a couple ways to approach it. Have one switch activate preset mode, select one of the 4 presets on the mini switches. If you need more than 4 presets at a time then you’ll need a back up and down on the MIDI or QC.

.

4StringTheory said:

Finally got my hands on a PB55 with a 1.5" nut width
Big thanks to Jay at Matt's Music Center for helping make it happen.

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I ended up swapping the Lollar SCPB in the PB-55 for a Curtis Novak TB-V. I had described to Curtis that I was looking for a warmer, rounder tone and feel, with a softer attack and fuller low mids, and he recommended the TB-V. After trying it, it was pretty much exactly the direction I was looking for

The TB-V wasn't quite a drop-in replacement, though. The pickup base is shaped slightly differently and needed some minor reshaping to fit the cavity.

ubrowz said:

Already implemented and live. Select a note where you want to start the new time signature. Type the time signature in the "Time" field in the "Song section" and the rest of the song is put in that signature until the place where you change it again. Also adding the time signature at the beginning of the TAB, which was missing.

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Wow. Thank you! Loving it so far! Thank you for sharing!

RWRLV said:

1997 catalog / the net
Alder with Ash Top
Fingerboard Radius- 15"
Frets- 24
Scale Length- 34"
Nut Width- 2.038"
Weight 9.8 lbs (reverb.com)

I currently only have the XB-500, these specs may help you estimate if need be.
XB-500 Specs, my measurements.
The body is 13.500" using widest squared points and it is 1.830" thick.
Nut Width is 1.820" / 1.550" OD strings
0.387" string spacing.
Weight 9.4 lbs.
I hope that helps!

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This is amazingly helpful, thank you so much!

I originally messaged Curtis about the TB-JB for my Nash PB-55, explaining that I was looking for a warmer, rounder tone and feel than the Lollar SCPB, with a softer attack and fuller low mids. I play fingerstyle with La Bella Low Tension Flats, and also asked whether an Alnico 2 version of the TB-JB might better suit what I was after.

His response was basically, "I think first you might try my TB-V, as I think it might be what you are wanting."

So I took his advice and tried the TB-V. He was right. It's warmer and fuller than the Lollar SCPB, with just a little more heft and weight to the notes when I dig in, while still keeping that classic single-coil P character. Pretty much exactly the direction I was hoping to go.

Side note for anyone considering one for a Nash PB-55, it wasn't quite a drop-in replacement. The shape of the pickup base is slightly different and needed some minor reshaping to fit the cavity.

Carlson or Nyman?

flatback said:

Yeah Earl good call on this plug. Having the three possibilities shows the differences unequivocally. Seems to work well on piezos (EAP is less pronounced) Curiously sounded best on the Yama with it all the way on (...even after I noticed that I was using the jack with a cap already installed...maybe my soldering sucked on that)

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Cool! It also has a more subtle effect with the Krivo and Stat B, but really sounds amazing with the Yama and probably most piezos.

BismarckHerring said:

This video just came out yesterday. It’s by bass the world, so take it with a grain of salt. The style of music in the video is not really my thing, but as he says, it’s a good addition to the (excellent) demo videos on the Baum website.

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This thing looks right up my alley. They have 45 day try out period and even pay for the return shipping within Europe. That makes it very tempting to order one. But this model will only be available in January, so I’ll wait and see if I will still want it by then.

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That is a nice looking bass sounds great too. Would like to see a reverse P setup on one of their basses in the future.

DonaldR said:

Another vote for the Joyo BA30. It's the bass amp I played the most in 2026. Sounds good on its own + OTG to connect to your phone/tablet/laptop and use plugins. And has bluetooth. And $100.

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Same for me. I bought it on a whim to replace a Roland Bass Micro cube, and it ended up being the bass amp I use the most at home.

Mine is prone to overdriving the input so I have to turn down the volume on my basses or pedals.

Built in Bluetooth is handy too.

To the OP. . . . I'm an old dog and haven't learnt any new tricks in years. . . . but I upped my game by buying the best gear I could find and that made my old tricks sound better than they ever did!

The neck doesn't need to be for that body, just the correct scale and number of frets. You can check out my fretless build using an Ibanez neck on a Dean body. I reshaped the heel to fit the Dean body and did a lot of other reshaping for cosmetics.
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/nbb-my-franken-6-fretless.1580816/

Guitar Scale Acoustic Basses - How about a 23" scale Mini Double Bass?

So, I have now successfully taken a 200 dollar cello and tuned it to standard E1 bass tuning - using DAddario jazz flatwound guitar strings.

No, it does not have lots of volume. Neither do many acoustic basses. But, it has very good, quiet tone, while giving me stable tuning at E1.

This is on a 3/4, so we are talking 23" scale guitar scale bass - mini double bass.

Next step is a decent pickup, but I will need to wait on that. [post retirement - discretionary spending no longer a given. ]

If it goes well after the pickup, I will probably create a separate thread just for specifics of the parts, in case anyone wants to kick the tires.

I bent the body support (upper part only) so the contact with by body is equally well on upper and lower part (looks a bit strange) and wound rubber foam around the support so it doesn’t slip too easily but doesn’t stick too much either. That way the support doesn’t press too deep into the body.
Sorry, no photo, instrument is a bit far away from me.

Dirk Diggler said:

FYI those Steinberger headless clamps have 2 pins milled into them so they align the clamp properly.
Then it's just pressure that holds it on the neck. Would only require 2 small holes into your existing headpiece.

Not actually drilling into the bass, just the existing headpiece.

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Probably work although I'm not exactly sure what the end of the existing retainer looks like. The pics in the initial post appear to be (1) a standard ball-end retainere and (2) the same retainer with a similar converter (with an upper ridge / lip) butted-up against the distal aspect.

Riis

Ya back a few years ago i had Dave Avenius e-mail direct three or four times just to help take care of an issue,He even sent me some swag of my choice for the trouble.

Couple more pictures of all the bits so far. realised I need to hunt a left hand tuner and figure out how I'm going to fit 5 knobs of gear into 4 holes and a switch. wood should be here in a few days.


think I'm going to use a stingray upper horn. follow pick guards line for the bum. bottom horn might be a bit tricky. keen to get stuck in proper

Greathammer incoming, my go-to drive is a Rusty Box but I find that I need to run it with a crossover pedal to keep the low-end solid. Looking forward to A/B'ing these!

Just got the sonicake octaver for under $50 CAD and yeah... it really takes the cake

Sounds good, tracks well, no gain loss... best of the budget octavers I would think? I'm happy with it.