• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Club Dark Star

#281
I hope all goes well, Chef!

I would attribute part of the difference in response of a one pickup instrument versus a double pickup to magnetic influence on string vibration. I would think the additional magnetic field on the two pickup instrument would have a slight damping effect.

Peer75RI - dig your collection of blues! You need a ten-inch record though... ;)
 
#285
Oh man, that's one sweet LeCompte, Alan! Looking forward to a review when you get it.
Chef said:
Coincidentally, if all goes well, I'll have this in hand by the end of the week...

lecompteschb.jpg

lecompte2.jpg

lecompte3.jpg
Click to expand...
 
#286
Chef, that DS Tele is at the very top of my "drool" list. (If you're ever behind on the mortgage, you just let me know. ;))

I wish there was a way to scoot the single pickup on my Artcore back a couple inches without a lot of hacking and filling. :hmm: Full-time bridge pickup has never quite been my thing. (But just a dab of EQ helps a lot.)

I've never tried the "extreme neck" placement - would love to.

My favorite single pickup spot thus far is the '51 (i.e. single-coil P-bass). I have a bass like that with a Lollar SCPB pickup and it just melts me every time. (Absolutely nails that elusive balance of depth and presence.) I'd really love to see what the Dark Star does, there! :bassist:
 
#287
Beautiful LeCompte! :cool:

carlos840 said:
Well its hard to put into words but i think the pickup "breaths" more when you only have one (sorry for the crappy analogy)!
When you have two you get this classic scooped sound when using both and IMO even if you put the volume of the bridge pickup off you still have some sort of loss/scoop through the pots etc..

The single one just has a more even tone to my ears and more grunt!

Fred had noticed that to and recommended i tried doing a single pickup bass, when we first exchanged emails, since a was a diehard Jazz Bass guy i still went for two...

Now i see what he meant! I was talking to Eric Whylie from warmoth and he noticed that to...

Could the same effect be had with a pickup selector so you can completely cut the second pickup of the circuit, i dont know... Might be worth trying if you really want to go the Jazz bass route!
Click to expand...

Sorry for the long quote, but I recognize this. And that's why I installed a toggle switch in my Precision with two Darkstars, additional to the standard P electronics. The two pups together get very scooped, but with one of the two DS's soloed, it has that same grunt and power as the DS in my Tractor, or the Darkstar-Precision I previously had.

spiritbass said:
I would attribute part of the difference in response of a one pickup instrument versus a double pickup to magnetic influence on string vibration. I would think the additional magnetic field on the two pickup instrument would have a slight damping effect.

Peer75RI - dig your collection of blues! You need a ten-inch record though... ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks! :cool:

About the slight damping effect: I don't recognize that in the case of my Precision.
 
#288
Stated in other words and hopefully more clearly: to my mind, the string would be damped by the additional magnetic field of the bridge pickup. I could also 'see' how this would change the string vibration/excursion, thus altering harmonic content.

Jefenator - I concur on the sonic sweetness of Jason's SCPB pickup. I have one mounted in a Squier CV 50's that I've been diggin' on. :bassist:
 
#289
spiritbass said:
Stated in other words and hopefully more clearly: to my mind, the string would be damped by the additional magnetic field of the bridge pickup. I could also 'see' how this would change the string vibration/excursion, thus altering harmonic content.
Click to expand...

I always thought it was more a matter of potentially weird field stuff going on between the two pickups that was the major issue. Doesn't Anthony Jackson touch on this in an interview talking about why he ended up with a single passive p.up on his bass?
 
#290
Not hip to AJ's "wierd field" theories. I was just advancing a simple hypothesis from my simple mind. The string is made of metal. Magnets exert 'pull' on metal. Two magnets = more pull. One magnet = less pull. Pull = damping. Even with a pickup selector to take one of the pickups "out of the circuit', it's magnet will still be exerting a slight pull on the string, making it vibrate differently than if its field (pull) was not there. I understand that having two pickups closely together that the fields would have an effect on each other, but I don't know about the effects other than they would tend to either intensify or cancel each others' field strength depending on magnet orientation. I have a background in electronics, but I am not a physicist or pickup designer. :cool: These are my simple observations. :) The harmonic content that two pickups transduce* will of course be different because of their placement along the string. The two different signals will also complement (strengthen) and cancel each other at different frequencies. Anytime you have more than one transducer, be it a pickup, microphone, or loudspeaker in the mix, there are phase issues to contend with.

*Transducer: a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy or vice-versa
 
#293
I concur it doesn't seem quite the same w/ a second pickup. I suspect wiring (loading from the 2nd volume pot) and/or the designs of the pickups I was using. (I eventually want to do a J project with a switch instead of two volumes, and one pole per string.)

I'm not so concerned about magnetic dampening, since I often impose much more unsubtle muting with foam rubber or my palm. (At least for pick work I'm totally hooked on that.)
 
#294
spiritbass said:
Not hip to AJ's "wierd field" theories. I was just advancing a simple hypothesis from my simple mind.
Click to expand...

The "wierd field" theory were my words. AJ being AJ had a much better researched and thought out explanation. Being fairly simple myself I don't remember what exactly it was.

I hear what you're saying.....I guess I don't know if I really believe the magnetic pull of most p.ups has any audible effect on the excursion of a bass string.
 
#295
Steering the "magnetic dampening" tangent back on "Dark Star" topic. :D

Would I be correct in assuming that these pickups have an extra-strong magnetic field? The DC resistance of the coil seems comparable with conventional pickups and that super hot output has to come from somewhere.

(I also suspect this because my Dark Star had a low output issue that got fixed - to put it mildly - by flipping back one of those side magnets.)
 
#296
Here she is - my "Opry" Darkstar P-Bass
'56 style body and headstock in Shoreline Gold, neck has '62 Jazz neck profile with Ultralite tuners. Tooled leather 'guard in Vanilla and Satin Gold accents on engraved hardware, etc.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2308.JPG
    IMG_2308.JPG
    84.5 KB · Views: 275
  • IMG_2310.JPG
    IMG_2310.JPG
    57 KB · Views: 152
#298
XRYDER said:
Here she is - my "Opry" Darkstar P-Bass
'56 style body and headstock in Shoreline Gold, neck has '62 Jazz neck profile with Ultralite tuners. Tooled leather 'guard in Vanilla and Satin Gold accents on engraved hardware, etc.
Click to expand...
Wow, very stylish! I really dig that.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back