Aftermarket 5 Knob Sets For Active EQ Basses

[KeithAlanK]

There aren't any.

For example, the very popular Ibanez SR series that have been around for decades.
They have volume and blend controls using normal size knobs, and a 3-band EQ with smaller versions because those controls are closer together.

The 2 large+3 small arrangement has been used by many other brands for a long time, too.

Doing a cosmetic makeover on an LTD Viper some years ago, I couldn't find any aftermarket sets that might be in different materials/colors and ended up having to paint some 1970s stereo system knobs I had saved that happened to fit. I wanted copper for a black bass that I had made a copper colored pickguard for.
Searched every parts website I could find and found zero offerings.

A few years later a similar situation came up, and I searched online for months.
Amazon has a huge and AMAZING selection of guitar/amp/pedal/etc knobs---------still no sets of 5 with 2 big, 3 small.

Very strange lack of interest in a sizable section of the market, in my opinion.
Am I missing a supplier somehow?
Is anyone else dissatisfied by this situation?

 

[ardgedee]

I've been surprised by how small the aftermarket is for Soundgear basses. Ibanez has been making Soundgears for over 35 years, there are millions of basses, an avid fanbase, and... no aftermarket.

There's definitely an opening for somebody who's feeling entrepreneurial.

But anyway, there's no shortage of vendors who sell knobs by the piece so you can assemble your own sets. It's a little tricky for anybody to make prepackaged sets because there's no kinda-defacto-standard for knob sets for Soundgears like there are for Fender Precision and Jazz basses. A lot of SRs have three, four, six knobs, four + switches... some of them have split-shaft pots, some have solid shaft...

 

[Dirk Diggler]

The solution I would suggest is DIY, knobs are not that hard to make.
Of course if you want metal, that requires tougher tools.

 

[KeithAlanK]

Dirk, I have DIY knobs as well as pickguards, control cavity plates, trussrod covers, etc.
It's always fun to fire up the drill press, sanders, Dremel, jeweler's saw, whatever is needed.
I'm just surprised that such a popular control configuration is completely ignored, for everyone else's sake.
I mean, 2 of my 5 basses have it, and they aren't Ibanez.

When I put a Duncan active EQ in my Iceman the bass and treble pots it came with were half shafts. The supplied knobs were nice enough but the bass looks best with speed knobs, which are split shaft only. Custom made set-screw speed knobs were going for around $35 each before shipping on eBay, so instead I spent around $3 for set screws and drilled/tapped my old knobs.

 

[Aloe]

frankly, I'm used to the fact, most basses have knobs of the same size, the SR way of doing things is not that common.

if I wanted a set with 2 large and 3 small, I'd get a jazz bass set and two small knobs separately. Thomann caries them, so they're easily purchasable. bakelite, not brass tho.

if you order through some Ibanez dealer, you should be able to get Ibanez stock knobs: they have at least gold, black and chrome.