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Brubaker Brute Club, Part 2

#1,021
I'm finally, finally putting my MJXSC-5 in the shop for the upgrade. Bart split coil J, Bart MM Pup, and HR 4.6 pre. MM will be split series, parallel, south coil. She'll be home for Christmas. Went all Bart since signing on with them as an Emerging Artist.
 
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#1,023
Still trying to decide if I should replace pups or preamp on this thing first. I just played it out yesterday and remembered why I loved it. My doubts on the pickups were more subsided than ever as I suspected them as the weakest link for a long time. Any recommendations?
 
#1,024
The JJX-5 and the new (to me) MJX-5

I replaced the bridge with an aluminum Babicz and swapped out the tuners for HipShot Ultra-lights . . . still comes in at around 10.5 lbs, but balances perfecetly. My JJX-5 with nato body is just under 9.5, and thats with the HipShot brass bridge. I'll get my first chance to check out how the all Aguilar electronics sound with my rig at Sunday morning services. I really like the looks of the darker alder body wood over the older/original nato Brutes.

003.JPG
 
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#1,025
a2zbassman said:
The JJX-5 and the new (to me) MJX-5

I replaced the bridge with an aluminum Babicz and swapped out the tuners for HipShot Ultra-lights . . . still comes in at around 10.5 lbs, but balances perfecetly. My JJX-5 with nato body is just under 9.5, and thats with the HipShot brass bridge. I'll get my first chance to check out how the all Aguilar electronics sound with my rig at Sunday morning services. I really like the looks of the darker alder body wood over the older/original nato Brutes.

View attachment 750376
Click to expand...

I'm very interested to know how those Aguilar pups sound! I'm thinking of doing the same thing.
 
#1,026
Well, I played the new Brute at church this morning, and loved it. Here was my set up:
20151213_115410.jpg


It's hard to judge the tone I got from the MJX-5 as this was also my first time using the Trace Elliot head with the 12/6/1 fEARful. Part of my trade for the Brute was my EBS Reidmar head. But I would call the Aguilar pups and pre more fundamental or traditional sounding than my Delano equipped JJX-5 (I'd say more modern/hi-fi sounding). The tone over all was, as our worship leader put it, very fat sounding, and totally cut through without PA support. Much of that may be attributed to the Trace Elliot, as I haven't used anything but class-D micros for about 7 years. After hearing my fEARful today, I'm wondering why, other than the weight, I ever went to a micro head.

Bottom line . . . I'm very happy :hyper: :bassist: :cool:
 
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#1,027
a2zbassman said:
The JJX-5 and the new (to me) MJX-5

I replaced the bridge with an aluminum Babicz and swapped out the tuners for HipShot Ultra-lights . . . still comes in at around 10.5 lbs, but balances perfecetly. My JJX-5 with nato body is just under 9.5, and thats with the HipShot brass bridge. I'll get my first chance to check out how the all Aguilar electronics sound with my rig at Sunday morning services. I really like the looks of the darker alder body wood over the older/original nato Brutes.

View attachment 750376
Click to expand...

Where on earth did you get that pickguard for your jj? I want one just like that with a stronger flame finish
 
#1,028
JDLowEnd said:
Where on earth did you get that pickguard for your jj? I want one just like that with a stronger flame finish
Click to expand...

I actually did that myself, along with the fretboard. Sanded the stock one down to bare wood, highlighted the flame maple with thinned acrylic airbrush paint, re-sanded, then airbrushed light to dark colors. Didn't come out perfect, but it was a fun project. Thanks, glad you like it!
006-1_zps01049a81.jpg
 
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#1,029
a2zbassman said:
Well, I played the new Brute at church this morning, and loved it. Here was my set up: View attachment 751613

It's hard to judge the tone I got from the MJX-5 as this was also my first time using the Trace Elliot head with the 12/6/1 fEARful. Part of my trade for the Brute was my EBS Reidmar head. But I would call the Aguilar pups and pre more fundamental or traditional sounding than my Delano equipped JJX-5 (I'd say more modern/hi-fi sounding). The tone over all was, as our worship leader put it, very fat sounding, and totally cut through without PA support. Much of that may be attributed to the Trace Elliot, as I haven't used anything but class-D micros for about 7 years. After hearing my fEARful today, I'm wondering why, other than the weight, I ever went to a micro head.

Bottom line . . . I'm very happy :hyper: :bassist: :cool:
Click to expand...

Awesome! After some digging I'm tempted to just swap in a Sadowsky preamp and see if that doesn't provide some extra magic to the Brute. I'm starting to fall back in love with inherent tone of this bass. After playing this against a Lakland 55-94 at Chicago Music Exchange this summer I can see how with a little love in the electronics could really make this bass a contender with a $2K+ bass.
 
#1,030
Hi I might be able to get my hands on a used Brubaker Brute MJX 5 if I stretch my budget a bit. They look absolutely stunning and I heard they are very versitle. So I thought this might be the right place to ask some questions.

Has anyone tried them for metal. I tried finding sound samples but it seems everyone uses them for slap or jazz.

Also I have a fairly small hands, Can someone with smallish hands tell me about their experience with their?

Thanks
 
#1,031
Scopey said:
Hi I might be able to get my hands on a used Brubaker Brute MJX 5 if I stretch my budget a bit. They look absolutely stunning and I heard they are very versitle. So I thought this might be the right place to ask some questions.

Has anyone tried them for metal. I tried finding sound samples but it seems everyone uses them for slap or jazz.

Also I have a fairly small hands, Can someone with smallish hands tell me about their experience with their?

Thanks
Click to expand...
I know this may not applicable, but I use my MJX-4 at practices with my Kiss tribute band.

I find that in hard rock situations, she shines best when the bridge pup is soloed. It seems to punch through, better. I love my Bru
 
#1,032
Scopey said:
Hi I might be able to get my hands on a used Brubaker Brute MJX 5 if I stretch my budget a bit. They look absolutely stunning and I heard they are very versitle. So I thought this might be the right place to ask some questions.

Has anyone tried them for metal. I tried finding sound samples but it seems everyone uses them for slap or jazz.

Also I have a fairly small hands, Can someone with smallish hands tell me about their experience with their?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I have used mine for metal before. What kind of subgenres are you looking to play? I have a JJX-5 but they're pretty similar.

As for small hands, I have pretty average hands and sometimes reaching for the low C and C# can be a struggle but that's a lot more due to the way I hold the bass and my awful strap.
 
#1,034
BRUTE MJX-5 INPUT JACK FAILURE. The jack broke internally. Does anyone know a part number for replacement? It's a black plastic cube (surface-mount style) with three lugs inside, and I assume one of the leads is a battery disconnect. A parts search yields quite a few different configurations, open-circuit, closed circuit, etc. It is NOT mounted to a circuit board.
 
#1,035
jmcgliss said:
BRUTE MJX-5 INPUT JACK FAILURE. The jack broke internally. Does anyone know a part number for replacement? It's a black plastic cube (surface-mount style) with three lugs inside, and I assume one of the leads is a battery disconnect. A parts search yields quite a few different configurations, open-circuit, closed circuit, etc. It is NOT mounted to a circuit board.
Click to expand...

Its just a regular 1/4" stereo jack.
 
#1,037
jmcgliss said:
Thanks, that is what I thought until I found a parts site with quite a few versions of it.
Click to expand...

This is what my Brute had.

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#1,040
jmcgliss said:
BRUTE MJX-5 INPUT JACK FAILURE. The jack broke internally. Does anyone know a part number for replacement? It's a black plastic cube (surface-mount style) with three lugs inside, and I assume one of the leads is a battery disconnect. A parts search yields quite a few different configurations, open-circuit, closed circuit, etc. It is NOT mounted to a circuit board.
Click to expand...

It's a good jack. I just replaced mine when I swapped the preamp to higher quality, open, Switchcraft jack. It's much firmer in place now! But one like the old one works just fine too.
 

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