- Jul 11, 2005
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Chi-love Club
- Thread starter MarkusBass
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I got my Chi loaded bass finished a little while ago. Love this thing - it's a semi-hollowbody Italia Rimini bass. The Chi's are a set of Vintage hollowbody's.
I posted this over in electronics but have not gotten an answer. I just picked up a Decade with CS single coils, 500K vol pots, 250k tone pot, .22 cap and a stereo jack. Based on the condition of the pots, cap, wire and soldiering I don't think this is original stuff. Can anyone tell me what OEM Lakland pot & cap value us for CS pups?
Thanks,
Steve
Thanks,
Steve
500k volume
500k volume
250k tone
.05mfd capacitor.
So what you have is mostly right. The information I just provided is from Bo at Hanson.
Getting closer to picking up a pair of chisonics for my 55-01. A couple of questions.
1) If staying with direct-drop-in, is the plain topped single the only choice I have?
2) What is suggested with the control arrangement? I'm considering going passive, but there's 5 holes to be filled. Maybe just drop in a Les Paul setup?
1) If staying with direct-drop-in, is the plain topped single the only choice I have?
2) What is suggested with the control arrangement? I'm considering going passive, but there's 5 holes to be filled. Maybe just drop in a Les Paul setup?
Hello Chi-lovers, I hope I can join the club soon, as I’m trying to upgrade the stock soapbar PU in my Mikey Way Mustang with a Chi.
Does anybody know if ChiSonics are available in an EMG35 style enclosure? I mailed Hanson about it, but it can’t hurt to ask the specialists on TB, can it?
Does anybody know if ChiSonics are available in an EMG35 style enclosure? I mailed Hanson about it, but it can’t hurt to ask the specialists on TB, can it?
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As long as this Thread is back I'll give a brief update on this. Might not be the story folks were hoping for though.
-About 2 years ago I added a pair of single-coil Chi's (in the MK-shaped soapbar) and a passive harness to the 55-01.
- One of the pups was bad and the harness had major issues to work out.
-Lakland came through with a replacement pup and eventually a local tech worked out the issues with the harness.
-At that point the bass sounded quite good, but not quite the miracle I was hoping for.
-Shortly after it all was finished I picked up a Carlo (basically a custom 4-94 by Carl Pedigo). The wonderful light weight and amazing sound won me over.
-Returned the notably heavier (northern ash?) 55-01 to stock and sold it and the Chi's.
I'd definitely be open to trying a Chi-sonic bass again sometime, but at this point my focus is on tweaking the instruments I have. Also, as I've now gone all-4-strings, my dark-star frankenbass covers the "-sonic" place in my arsenal quite well.
Also, I learned some lessons about major instrument changes.
1) It might be better to take things one small step at a time. Perhaps adding a simple passive harness to the 55-01 before the Chi's to see if passive was the answer and if the stock pickups were just fine as-is.
2) Also keep things simple. The passive Harness I ordered had way to many bells and whistles to fill the 5 holes on the bass and that might have been why it arrived not properly wired. A simple VVT and a series/paralel switch like I have on my jazz and have wired myself on several other bases might have been a better place to start.
I am very glad though that I went with the boring-but-standard MK-shaped soapbars instead of the cool looking chrome housings that would have required routing. When it was all over I was at least able to return everything to stock and ended being out alot less $ than I might have been.
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The post above is fairly negative and on reflection I thought of a few aspects that make the story a bit less so.
Mostly the fact that that 55-01's hold their value quite well. I bought used online in 2004 via a TB'er and sold it locally in 2016 for $100 more than I paid (including shipping!) 12 years before. Now it was a MIK, and a somewhat rare cherryburst-on-ash finish, but that's still darn good and what the buyer paid me was still notably less than the going rate for examples that were not nearly as nice as mine.
Still had to pay a fair bit for tech work, took a bath when I sold the pups, and the Harness is a complete loss, but considering that I had 12 good years with the bass and only came out around $150 behind that's pretty darn amazing.
All this to say, if you want to experiment with Chi-Sonics, a used 55-01 and a set of drop-in soapbar Chi-Sonics from Lakland could be a relatively low-risk way to go, especially if you are interested in going passive and/or can source a used preamp.
Mostly the fact that that 55-01's hold their value quite well. I bought used online in 2004 via a TB'er and sold it locally in 2016 for $100 more than I paid (including shipping!) 12 years before. Now it was a MIK, and a somewhat rare cherryburst-on-ash finish, but that's still darn good and what the buyer paid me was still notably less than the going rate for examples that were not nearly as nice as mine.
Still had to pay a fair bit for tech work, took a bath when I sold the pups, and the Harness is a complete loss, but considering that I had 12 good years with the bass and only came out around $150 behind that's pretty darn amazing.
All this to say, if you want to experiment with Chi-Sonics, a used 55-01 and a set of drop-in soapbar Chi-Sonics from Lakland could be a relatively low-risk way to go, especially if you are interested in going passive and/or can source a used preamp.
Hi chi-people! Anyone who owns a bass fitted with CHIsonic humbuckers around here? I just got an amazing USA Lakland with those pickups, and I expected them to be very hot in output, like Darkstars, but to my surprise they have lower output than my single coil CHIsonics. Any experience would be appreciated, thanks!!
Do you know which magnets your Singles and Humbuckers have? My memory on the matter is vague, but IIRC, there have at some point been ChiSonics with both Neo and Alnico magnets. Perhaps your humbuckers are alnico and your singles are Neo?
Might also be a function of strings, or pickup height, but I don't know what those are on your instruments.
Glad you're loving the Chi's. They are nice pickups in all their incarnations.
Thanks for the reply. My singles areo from 2008, so I think only alnico was used back then. The humbuckers come from 2014, not sure what was used then. Can the magnet material affect the output massively? The tone is beautiful, I just expected the humbuckers to have crazy high gain, like Darkstars for instance.
I just bought a Lakland Hollowbody 30, and this is my first experience with Chi-sonic pickups.
They vibrate noisily when I play the bass without an amp. They feel loose. I can move them side to side.
I've removed and reinstalled plenty of P, J, or MM pickups, but I'm afraid that if I remove a screw from these Chi-sonics I might lose a spring or something into the body.
How are these pickups mounted?
They vibrate noisily when I play the bass without an amp. They feel loose. I can move them side to side.
I've removed and reinstalled plenty of P, J, or MM pickups, but I'm afraid that if I remove a screw from these Chi-sonics I might lose a spring or something into the body.
How are these pickups mounted?
Had Chisonics in a few US Laklands...Love them.
The other two were passive basses, this one is active... US 44-07
And this one has buckers, not singles...
The other two were passive basses, this one is active... US 44-07
And this one has buckers, not singles...
