total bummer... my brute was set up perfectly from the factory and still plays like a dream. the frets have slightly rough edges, that's the only flaw i can find on mine.
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Got my Brute back from the shop.
Aaaand i'm not happy with the shop.
They polished and filed the nut, awesome. Dressed the fret ends, awesome. Put new strings on, awesome. But it looks (and feels) like they didn't even touch the neck or bridge.
And they put three little divits (gouges, maybe even) in the back. : /
Buuut I'm using it at practice and everyone likes the tone better than the Lakland i've been using.
(I love the tone of the Lakkie, but it's vintage, and I can't vibe with the 35" scale)
So some good, some bad.
Aaaand i'm not happy with the shop.
They polished and filed the nut, awesome. Dressed the fret ends, awesome. Put new strings on, awesome. But it looks (and feels) like they didn't even touch the neck or bridge.
And they put three little divits (gouges, maybe even) in the back. : /
Buuut I'm using it at practice and everyone likes the tone better than the Lakland i've been using.
(I love the tone of the Lakkie, but it's vintage, and I can't vibe with the 35" scale)
So some good, some bad.
So i took the Brute back to the tech. She apologized for the divits, said she'd drop-fill 'em when i had a day or two to leave it with her.
As to the action, she showed me where she had lowered it, but as I didn't speak to her when i dropped it off, she had no idea how low i actually wanted it.
She lowered it quite a bit, but we hit a roadblock.
The neck has a slight hump around the first fret, which i've heard is a common problem with truss rod access at the body. This bump is keeping me from getting the action even lower.
Two workarounds: shim/cant the neck, or raise the bridge with a pad.
The neck thing is iffy, and complicated by the thick pickguard.
And I'd rather the bridge stay attached to the body.
So does anyone have any suggestions?
And/or does anyone know where i can find a thinner pickguard?
I may just put it in a joiner, see what that does.
As to the action, she showed me where she had lowered it, but as I didn't speak to her when i dropped it off, she had no idea how low i actually wanted it.
She lowered it quite a bit, but we hit a roadblock.
The neck has a slight hump around the first fret, which i've heard is a common problem with truss rod access at the body. This bump is keeping me from getting the action even lower.
Two workarounds: shim/cant the neck, or raise the bridge with a pad.
The neck thing is iffy, and complicated by the thick pickguard.
And I'd rather the bridge stay attached to the body.
So does anyone have any suggestions?
And/or does anyone know where i can find a thinner pickguard?
I may just put it in a joiner, see what that does.
Hey, i'm looking for a backup bass for my gig, so if anyone here's looking to sell their doublecut 5string Brute, let me know please.
Bonus points if it still has the original logo pups.
Double bonus points if it's black & maple.
Thanks!
Bonus points if it still has the original logo pups.
Double bonus points if it's black & maple.
Thanks!
I guess nobody's digging these basses anymore...
Just wanted to post that I swapped the electronics in mine to all passive.
Series/parallel switch, vol, blend, no-load tone, and the series/single switch for the MM.
Sooo many tones!
Just wanted to post that I swapped the electronics in mine to all passive.
Series/parallel switch, vol, blend, no-load tone, and the series/single switch for the MM.
Sooo many tones!
That's an interesting thought, that no one likes them. Not too long ago I was thinking how people must be loving theirs since I haven't seen many up for sale. I really wanted to like mine and still have fond, fond memories of the neck; played so well.
Yeah, i really like mine. Great neck.
It was perfect for my modern country gig and it kills at church.
For everything else, i use the Pbass.
It was perfect for my modern country gig and it kills at church.
For everything else, i use the Pbass.
Zombie thread, but I'm rewiring my Brute and can't figure to how to wire up the hum bucker because none of the illustrations have the cap, so I don't know how to do it.
What does the cap do, and how do I get this thing running again?
What does the cap do, and how do I get this thing running again?
Afraid I dumped both the pickups and the preamp, didn't really like either. Are you just rewiring because the wiring got damaged? Doesn't sound like you are swapping anything out?
Pete
Pete
A while back i went fully passive, and it worked well.
But something in my wiring failed last week, so i opened it up to resolder the joints and found that i did a pretty poor job with my wiring the first time because i was in a hurry.
So i took it all apart trying to get it back up and running, and now I can’t remember where anything goes. : /
OK, so I assume by cap you mean the capacitor, which in a passive bleeds tone out of the main signal. It is a four hole bass, so you can't have done classic j/j wiring? I would recommend going to bestbassgear and getting them to make you a 4 pot dual tone passive harness, ie a separate tone for each pickup, or a blend volume tone tone.
Prewired Passive Harness (Volume - Blend - Tone - Tone) - Best Bass Gear
Prewired Passive Harness (Volume-Volume-Tone-Tone) - Best Bass Gear
Prewired Passive Harness (Volume - Blend - Tone - Tone) - Best Bass Gear
Prewired Passive Harness (Volume-Volume-Tone-Tone) - Best Bass Gear
I can dig that, but i really just need a detailed pic or diagram on the switch for the MM pup, so i can get mine back to stock.
Email Brubaker! I've heard from others that Kevin is helpful with these kinds of things.
Emailed Kevin. No responce yet.
Anybody with a stock MJX wanna snap a pic of their MM switch? Just need to see where everything goes.
Anybody with a stock MJX wanna snap a pic of their MM switch? Just need to see where everything goes.
I picked up an MJX-5 recently at a nice price as a 'liquidation special' from Red One Music out of Montreal. I gather Brubaker doesn't make these anymore and the store picked up a bunch of them from the end of the production run. The first one had a big dent in the back and a missing pick guard screw, but they exchanged it no questions asked, so no complaints there. The second one was alright, but there's no coil split switch for the MM pickup, which doesn't seem to match the description I've seen elsewhere.
Needed a lot of work to get the setup OK but now it plays fairly nicely. Could still use a fret levelling. The finish on the neck is very thin, practically non-existent, and the action seems to go up and down with the humidity. I may eventually pull the neck off and Tru-Oil it or something.
The electronics are interesting. The pickup blend control doesn't really work as a blend, more like a three position switch. I've never had anything with a blend knob before, not sure if this is normal or not. The MM pickup is about twice as loud as the neck pickup; I should just lower it but it sounds great where it is. The neck pickup is very bland.
Needed a lot of work to get the setup OK but now it plays fairly nicely. Could still use a fret levelling. The finish on the neck is very thin, practically non-existent, and the action seems to go up and down with the humidity. I may eventually pull the neck off and Tru-Oil it or something.
The electronics are interesting. The pickup blend control doesn't really work as a blend, more like a three position switch. I've never had anything with a blend knob before, not sure if this is normal or not. The MM pickup is about twice as loud as the neck pickup; I should just lower it but it sounds great where it is. The neck pickup is very bland.
Absolutely. I picked up this JJX-4 used a while ago and immediately put in a BQC preamp and a set of JX pickups. I was a big fan of the upgrades.
