Club Alleva-Coppolo (Part 21)

[svtb15]

If an old P bass is your thing.. then you will love it... If you are a J bass man maybe not so much..
They have all the attributes of an Old P which is why i dig them. The bright top that is smooth and not brittle, focused mid and round punchy bottom..

Im real excited about this new one. It is the first Sunburst that i will get from Jimmy .. and i always loved his 64-ishish SB... they look like and old fender...
Clapton's tech asked me about an Alleva SB when he saw it form a distance.. He thought it was an old fender till he put his glasses on.. HA... And he know vintage ,,,

 

[svtb15]

call him.. I think he is in right now...

oh man, I would LOVE a J pickup back there! I wonder how much he'd charge for that....

 

[Joelc73]

oh man, I would LOVE a J pickup back there! I wonder how much he'd charge for that....

Don't do it! When you eventually sell it to me I will hate having it! ;-)

 

[MixBass]

All this talk about P's and strings:
I am and have been a P-addict for ages and have come to the conclusion that you really need to have 2, one w/flats and 1 w/rounds. When I want some rock grind rounds are a must, and flats for the creamy fatt stuff. I also think which ever one sets up best, do rounds on it because flats are more forgiving, especially recording.
And Jimmy does the magic with a P, as good as it gets.

 

[jonno1707]

I'm definitely modding my KBP5 with a J in the 60's position probably be going down to Mas in the next week or so once I choose the right pickup any suggestions I'm leaning towards a Nordy.

 

[svtb15]

Personally I dont care for the Nordy Pickups. I dont think they will compliment the warmth and fatness of the Alleva.. TO me all of those Nords have a harsh edge to them. Not a smooth aggressive edge but something harsh.. But many dig them, and i would say go with what your ears tell you.
Jimmy has a few Hum Cancelled J 5s that he is prototyping right now.
But I Think Aguilar has some Long shell J5s either out now or coming out soon...

Single coils are my fave and wound be nice but if you solo it up you will get hum.. Much like my early 80s yamaha BB3000s... Great bass but that rear J will hum!!!

 

[KJung]

Personally I dont care for the Nordy Pickups. I dont think they will compliment the warmth and fatness of the Alleva.. TO me all of those Nords have a harsh edge to them. Not a smooth aggressive edge but something harsh.. But many dig them, and i would say go with what your ears tell you.
Jimmy has a few Hum Cancelled J 5s that he is prototyping right now.
But I Think Aguilar has some Long shell J5s either out now or coming out soon...

Single coils are my fave and wound be nice but if you solo it up you will get hum.. Much like my early 80s yamaha BB3000s... Great bass but that rear J will hum!!!

Actually it will hum period, since you don't have another single coil to balance it. That is one of the reasons I'm not a PJ fan, along with my dislike of most hc J pickups

 

[jonno1707]

I want the ability to blend without hum and the only reason I would do a bucker in the first place.
Is Jimmy selling his bucking singles?

 

[Mitchthebassplayer]

I had the thought a while ago of having Jimmy sort of make like a dual coil out of two of his J pickups but obviously the tone will be way warmer than a SC. I'm not a fan of the hum but I almost 100% of the time keep my pup volumes the same, so it might not be a problem. I just love this purple KBP too much to risk it, but I think I'm going to sell my LM5 and have Jimmy build me another KBP that I can go a little crazy with.

Kirk, I feel you on the Nordy pups. They're on the more aggressive, bitey side, whereas Jimmy's pups tend to fall on the warmer, more pillowy side. Mixing them could be interesting....

 

[svtb15]

No it wont .. What are you talking about ?..
If its a hum cancelled dual coil side by side or stacked its not going to hum or it will be nearly as silent as a P

RE: my 80s Yamaha BB3000, the P pups are uneven coil winds.. You would only know if you opened it up and looked inside under the covers. One coil is wrapped in Blue the other in Yellow.
One P coil has less wraps than the other and when the P and J are 100% up. it is nearly 100% cancelled... At least as good as my Sadowsky nyc pj5 that will get some Hi freq static in some heavy RF areas..That I notice if i have headphones on .. That bass is just killer good.

Actually it will hum period, since you don't have another single coil to balance it. That is one of the reasons I'm not a PJ fan, along with my dislike of most hc J pickups

 

[svtb15]

No,,, If you dig a bass i would not MOD it.. Ive done that with my real '62 oly Pbass, my 71 P bass, my stolen '65 jazz bass and two other mid 60s p basses.. One if which is at jimmys being restored.
I made a promise to myself to just , leave it alone and play it.. PLAY PLAY PLAY.
Jimmy had 2 PJ5s at NAMM two years ago... I was really surprised that the HCJ weren't really much darker sounding than a single coil.. The darkness and Noise were the two things that i was looking for..
I wired those two for the show and tested them.. It was sort of an LP Jr look . Mahogany with Black PG.. Super lightweight... And a punchy mofo.

Another was Jason Langleys PJ5.
I think Jimmy is calling them KBP5 Custom ???
But both of those J 5 pups were a little different since they were prototypes. But they sounded full and quiet.. And he has just about settled on what he likes now... Just like the J5 pups..

Thats why i figure, Ill have one put in now when it is built. .And get that great SB that only he does...
Engineers give me a weird look when they first see the Ava Maria.. Then i play it .. and its a Whoa moment ..

EDIT: They are CUSTOM MODIFIED.Im not watching this every day the way i used to.. just keeping busy .. My mistake for the wrong name above.
From NAMM here is the link
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I had the thought a while ago of having Jimmy sort of make like a dual coil out of two of his J pickups but obviously the tone will be way warmer than a SC. I'm not a fan of the hum but I almost 100% of the time keep my pup volumes the same, so it might not be a problem. I just love this purple KBP too much to risk it, but I think I'm going to sell my LM5 and have Jimmy build me another KBP that I can go a little crazy with.

Kirk, I feel you on the Nordy pups. They're on the more aggressive, bitey side, whereas Jimmy's pups tend to fall on the warmer, more pillowy side. Mixing them could be interesting....

 

[svtb15]

I may follow in my tradition of doing things differently by perhaps using a STACK knob , in order to keep the two knob look on the bass..
That's a ways off though.. No need to fret about it now..

 

[KJung]

I had the thought a while ago of having Jimmy sort of make like a dual coil out of two of his J pickups but obviously the tone will be way warmer than a SC. I'm not a fan of the hum but I almost 100% of the time keep my pup volumes the same, so it might not be a problem. I just love this purple KBP too much to risk it, but I think I'm going to sell my LM5 and have Jimmy build me another KBP that I can go a little crazy with.

Kirk, I feel you on the Nordy pups. They're on the more aggressive, bitey side, whereas Jimmy's pups tend to fall on the warmer, more pillowy side. Mixing them could be interesting....

Again, just remember that a hum canceling P pickup will not eliminate hum with the one single coil J, whether you have both pickups dimed or not,

 

[Chef]

Some one could make a side by side hum cancelling single coil
That would work ok

My reverend pj had a p and a regular single coil
And for whatever reason, that bass works really well

 

[Mitchthebassplayer]

No,,, If you dig a bass i would not MOD it.. Ive done that with my real '62 oly Pbass, my 71 P bass, my stolen '65 jazz bass and two other mid 60s p basses.. One if which is at jimmys being restored.
I made a promise to myself to just , leave it alone and play it.. PLAY PLAY PLAY.
Jimmy had 2 PJ5s at NAMM two years ago... I was really surprised that the HCJ weren't really much darker sounding than a single coil.. The darkness and Noise were the two things that i was looking for..
I wired those two for the show and tested them.. It was sort of an LP Jr look . Mahogany with Black PG.. Super lightweight... And a punchy mofo.

Another was Jason Langleys PJ5.
I think Jimmy is calling them KBP5 Custom ???
But both of those J 5 pups were a little different since they were prototypes. But they sounded full and quiet.. And he has just about settled on what he likes now... Just like the J5 pups..

Thats why i figure, Ill have one put in now when it is built. .And get that great SB that only he does...
Engineers give me a weird look when they first see the Ava Maria.. Then i play it .. and its a Whoa moment ..

EDIT: They are CUSTOM MODIFIED.Im not watching this every day the way i used to.. just keeping busy .. My mistake for the wrong name above.
From NAMM here is the link
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I played Jason's PJ5 at Jimmy's shop a while back and he offered it to me for sale. I played it for like a minute and was NOT feelin it. It felt totally different than my KBP5 and the sound just wasn't right. Same day I played and your sparkle KBP5 and was blown away. I remember Jason mentioning he didn't dig it and sent it back to Jimmy. Either way, I'd def be interested in having Jimmy make me one with some slightly different specs. dual stacked knob could look cool too!

Again, just remember that a hum canceling P pickup will not eliminate hum with the one single coil J, whether you have both pickups dimed or not,

Ken, there's no way to eliminate hum even with a HCJ against the P pickup?

 

[KJung]

I played Jason's PJ5 at Jimmy's shop a while back and he offered it to me for sale. I played it for like a minute and was NOT feelin it. It felt totally different than my KBP5 and the sound just wasn't right. Same day I played and your sparkle KBP5 and was blown away. I remember Jason mentioning he didn't dig it and sent it back to Jimmy. Either way, I'd def be interested in having Jimmy make me one with some slightly different specs. dual stacked knob could look cool too!



Ken, there's no way to eliminate hum even with a HCJ against the P pickup?

No, if you use an hc j you are cool. Zero issue. Of course, it will sound like an hc J pickup!

I thought you were thinking that balancing the sc J with the P would elimate hum. That won't work.

 

[svtb15]

Pssssstttttt.. I broke the truss rod in Jasons neck.. Snapped it.. ooops. I didn't mean to..

That bass had too much inlay in the neck.. Its what Jason wanted but , i think all that inlay work changes something and makes it hard sounding.. especially when mixed with binding... An his had triple binding IIRC. and i think his blocks had contrasting blocks surrounding the main red block IIRC.
Thats why when i did my bound neck, i prefer DOTS.. like my Oly white '66 style LG5 with DN... Dots with Binding works .. I never liked Blocks and binding... looks cool though...

Thank you for trying my Sparkle bass for me.. My GF said to get it. But then i asked you ( since you know vintage) please try it and tell me how it is. Since i could not get to LA.. You gave the Two Thumbs Up.. I called jimmy that day and told him to send it to me..
so THANK YOU MITCH...
It is one punchy in your face bass..

The stacked knob would make sense for me.. Since i play with my eyes closed most of the time...
I was on a local gig last night,, and on a P bass.. And i like not looking , and my body knows exactly where that ONE knob is without looking.. Its like scratching your nose.. Your hand just knows where the tip of your nose is without looking...
Thats when I am not just playing a bass in a band.. It's where i actually become the music. Its ZEN man!! ZEN

I played Jason's PJ5 at Jimmy's shop a while back and he offered it to me for sale. I played it for like a minute and was NOT feelin it. It felt totally different than my KBP5 and the sound just wasn't right. Same day I played and your sparkle KBP5 and was blown away. I remember Jason mentioning he didn't dig it and sent it back to Jimmy. Either way, I'd def be interested in having Jimmy make me one with some slightly different specs. dual stacked knob could look cool too!



Ken, there's no way to eliminate hum even with a HCJ against the P pickup?

 

[svtb15]

Yep I agree... Some Side by side coils work.. One coil is smaller than the other so you have to mess with Winds..

Similar to what Yamaha did on my old BB3000s P pickup.. One P coil has less wraps than the other.. They are not a matched coil P set.. BUT it somehow works and cancels hum in the SC Alnico Blade coil in the bridge.. Unique concept... ... Actually Yamaha sent me a bunch of their prototype 5 string pickups years ago to play with. I put them in a Warmoth bass test bed.. They actually sound great.. I need to pull that bass out from under the bed.. Ill try to post some photos of those pups later... They are dusty im sure

But it certainly is attainable no matter what the nay sayers say.
(No Offense Mitch. I know you gig with the Nay Sayers) HA

I have found that stacks can sound better at times.. But the coils are at opposite ends of the magnetic pole.. Some difference yes.. I am no expert, but i have done my share of R&D for a few makers and have heard alot of pups over the decades...

IIRC those Rumble basses were pretty nice. and quiet too.. My buddy who gigs in Austin is a big fan of theirs... LIGHTWEIGHT TOO!

Some one could make a side by side hum cancelling single coil
That would work ok

My reverend pj had a p and a regular single coil
And for whatever reason, that bass works really well

 

[Mitchthebassplayer]

Pssssstttttt.. I broke the truss rod in Jasons neck.. Snapped it.. ooops. I didn't mean to..

That bass had too much inlay in the neck.. Its what Jason wanted but , i think all test inlay work changes something and makes it hard sounding.. especially when mixed with binding... An his had triple binding IIRC. and i think his blocks had contrasting blocks surrounding the main red block IIRC.
Thats why when i did bound neck, i prefer DOTS.. like my Oly white '66 style LG5 with DN... Dot with Binding works .. But i never liked Blocks and binding... looks cool...

Thank you for trying my Sparkle bass for me.. My GF said to get it. But then i asked you ( since you know vintage) to please try it and tell me how it is, since i could not get to LA.. You gave the Two Thumbs Up.. I called jimmy that day and told him to send it to me..
so THANK YOU MITCH...
It is one punchy in your face bass..

The stacked knob would make sense for me.. Since i play with my eyes closed most of the time...
I was on a local gig last night,, and on a P bass.. And i like not looking , and my body knows exactly where that ONE knob is without looking.. Its like scratching your nose.. Your hand just knows where the tip of your nose is without looking...
Thats when you I am just not playing a bass in a band.. It where i actually become the music. Its ZEN man!! ZEN

haha that makes a lot of sense now.Def something not feeling right about that bass, but you are correct, it had some crazy binding as well as some really intense block inlay work. Looked awesome! Just didn't really sound too hot....

haha and you're very welcome Kirk, only few men out there could rock it, and i think you do it justice. What a piece!

And I totally get you on the Zen thing. It took me many years before I was able to admit that a P-bass can handle ANY gig, and just melt into the mix. It's the ultimate simplicity, and gigs where you can close your eyes and just become part of it are always the best. Not that you can't do that with other basses, but something sonically about the P bass just fits. I gave up my sunburst KBP5 a while ago for a Fodera and it got me all wrapped up in a whole new sound. Which I LOVE! But trading one of mine again for a KBP5 was one of the best moves I could have made. What a BASS! I have indeed decided to let go of my fabulous TB LM5 and order another KBP5! Thinkin I'll give the "Jimmywood" board a try....

 

[KJung]

Some one could make a side by side hum cancelling single coil
That would work ok

My reverend pj had a p and a regular single coil
And for whatever reason, that bass works really well

Split coils ARE HC pickups... just one way to do it (split coils, stack coils). 5 string split coil designs are 'slightly less hc' since they are asymmetric, but again, yeah, that is how you do an HC pickup for the most part from what I understand..... split coil side by side, or stack two coils, one on top of the other.

The classic offset P pickup is basically a split coil humbucker.