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Mod'd 5501 thread

Chef

Chef

In Memoriam
May 23, 2004
41,814
18,945
65
Columbia MO
Disclosures
Staff Reviewer; Bass Gear Magazine
#1
Maybe this has been done before, but I did search and couldn't find one...

I bought a sweet 5501, loved the axe, didn't care for the stock guts. Boomy bass, glassy highs, preamp didn't have much usable range without exacerbating that. So, after seeing BillBern's modded 5501 (search pickups forum for thread and clips) I decided to put Nord DC5's in there. Lakland were nice enough to do the work, and install an LH3 preamp at the same time. Nord hadn't relaeased their preamp yet-and while I really like their preamp in the basses I have one in, I really like the LH 3. I also had Lakland instal coil taps for single coil; dual parallel, and dual series.

The end result flat out kills.

5501.jpg

5501-1-1.jpg


Great huge aggressive single coil tone; parallel is P-esque; and dual series is huge!
 
#2
Chef, What did the mods end up costing you overall (including labor)? Excluding the price of the bass?

Thinking of trying a Lakie 5 as a first ERB. Trying to decide 01 vs 02. Seems to me that the modded 01(as you've done it) would actually be more versatile than the 02. Have you played the 02 as well?

What's your opinion?

God Bless, Ray
 
#5
Hey Ray...costs:
Used 5501=$550
DC5's from calssifieds here: ~$175
LH3+ install at Lakland ~$250

I did have a very nice Bart loaded 5502; it just didn't speak to me like this bass does. Great axe; just never made it out the door very often with the other choices I have that work better for me, personally. I've just never come to terms with MusicMan anything. Great stuff if it works for you; it just ain't my thing...

LilRay said:
Chef, What did the mods end up costing you overall (including labor)? Excluding the price of the bass?

Thinking of trying a Lakie 5 as a first ERB. Trying to decide 01 vs 02. Seems to me that the modded 01(as you've done it) would actually be more versatile than the 02. Have you played the 02 as well?

What's your opinion?

God Bless, Ray
Click to expand...
 
#9
My 55-01 came with a half finished installation of Big Singles. I took the gloss off with super fine sandpaper, added the J knobs using the small ones out of 3 sets for the Sandberg 3 band pre and buttoned it up. It kills, and it just keeps getting better. :smug:
This was also my first serious attempt and playing 5'ers. I actually gave up at one point and posted it here for sale. Lucky for me no one bought it before I came to my senses and pulled it off.

But wait, that's not all!

I was fortunate to run across a 55-94 neck and damn if it didn't just pop right on! Body and neck 10 years apart on 2 different continents!
The difference is even greater than I thought it would be. Of course it feels incredible, but there is a very noticable physical difference going on as far as resonance and timbre. I never would have thought a neck alone could make such a difference in sound quality. It is seducing me away from every other bass I own.

Here it is before the neck swap...

IMG_0665.jpg
 
#11
Right...that's why I went with two switches!
It's nice to have neck single coil, and bridge parallel, as that way they seem to have ''similar beef,' and it's not a drastci change in volume to pan b/t them...

Looking at your eq, I see you run it pretty much like mine: flat!
It's a great setup.

(the eq shown in my first post up there was just me messing for science, and has way more bass added than I'd ever use.)
 
#12
I always smile when I see this 55-01, Chef. You are a lucky Laklander with that bass!

Chef said:
Maybe this has been done before, but I did search and couldn't find one...

I bought a sweet 5501, loved the axe, didn't care for the stock guts. Boomy bass, glassy highs, preamp didn't have much usable range without exacerbating that. So, after seeing BillBern's modded 5501 (search pickups forum for thread and clips) I decided to put Nord DC5's in there. Lakland were nice enough to do the work, and install an LH3 preamp at the same time. Nord hadn't relaeased their preamp yet-and while I really like their preamp in the basses I have one in, I really like the LH 3. I also had Lakland instal coil taps for single coil; dual parallel, and dual series.

The end result flat out kills.

5501.jpg

5501-1-1.jpg


Great huge aggressive single coil tone; parallel is P-esque; and dual series is huge!
Click to expand...
 
#17
I've got the DC's in mine. I have them in parallel right now. I've never gotten back to install the DPDT switches for parallel/single/series. The preamp is an NTMB-L that the original owner had put in. The switch controls where the center frequency of the mid is.

I almost always use it with the preamp bypassed. I'm planning on pulling the pre and putting a simple buffering pre with no EQ in there and doing passive bass and treble in there, probably utilizing the extra hole on top to mount the second coil splitter switch in (vol/vol/bass/treble with two coil switches). When all that is done it will get chrome knobs.

As it is, it's fine.

Link Removed
Link Removed

Sorry for the crappy pix.

KO
 
#20
I don't know the actual year. It's first year - one of the first 200 made. The original tuners weren't the Hipshot cloverleafs (cloverleaves?) that are on there now. The headstock is thicker, like a USA Lakland and the neck heel is different: I had ordered a tortoise shell pick guard for it from Lakland and it wasn't right for that neck.

It's a nice bass. I don't really shop for five string basses any more. It and my fretless Noguera five string cover everything I want a five string for. I do still shop for four string "character" (e.g. semi-hollow body) basses occasionally.

KO
 

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