Conklin Q's (7's)

[nikki_k]

Hi!
Already searched thru, found some posts that helped a bit, but looking for ideas/suggestions that would work today.

I own a Conklin GTBD-7, as well as a fretless GT-7.
The BD has been gutted, shielding foil placed in cavity, Barts remain, as does the "blending" pot and (unused) mini toggle. 250K's for volume and tone.
Question: Looking to stay passive (I think). Replacement suggestions for the Barts? Or do you think I am already sitting well with the stockers?
The fretless 7 has stock P/U's, but has an Aguilar pre installed. Due to this, I am thinking of installikng a pre in the BD-7 as well, but unsure if I would be better off with a nice outboard pre, since I do not play live at all, studio work only.
I love flexability, and the ability to really wring tone form the electronics
I saw JT uses (used?) Lane Poor's, but seeing as they are gone...

Next up is strings...
I prefer flats for the fretless. I am seeing alot of ERB'ers posting about using SIT- good place to buy sets for 7's?
I play (mostly) prog rock/metal, and do not care for that "predominant-clickity-clackity" type sound (not that there's anything wrong with that ).

Lastly, recording the beasts.
In the past, I have done a few techniques: DI only. DI plus mic 4/2x10, DI + mic 15, DI + mic 4x12.
I was planning on simply grabbing an AMI-TAB-Funkenwerk V71 DI, and then simply opting for tossing a mic on a 15 I have, or possibly grabbing a 2x10 (have 3 4x12 cabs, all loaded differently).
However, I am thinking there may be a better option, especially if I opt to forgo the "onboard active" idea on both basses. Trying to stay around $500-600 here if possible.

Oh- one more (oops!) Any good resources for developing ERB techniques and such? I played 4's and 5's for years (on and off), and grabbed the 7's a couple years ago, but only recently have had time to begin digging into 'em. I realize imagination is the greatest fuel, but I find other players to be quite inspirational, and have a love of instructional vids and live vids

Thx!

 

[john turner]

hiya!

I own a Conklin GTBD-7, as well as a fretless GT-7.
The BD has been gutted, shielding foil placed in cavity, Barts remain, as does the "blending" pot and (unused) mini toggle. 250K's for volume and tone.
Question: Looking to stay passive (I think). Replacement suggestions for the Barts? Or do you think I am already sitting well with the stockers?

you should be fine with the stock pickups - they're pretty good. i have them on a few of my custom 7's.

The fretless 7 has stock P/U's, but has an Aguilar pre installed. Due to this, I am thinking of installikng a pre in the BD-7 as well, but unsure if I would be better off with a nice outboard pre, since I do not play live at all, studio work only.
I love flexability, and the ability to really wring tone form the electronics

i really like on board pre's on my basses. i'd say either the seymour duncan 3 band or else the demeter on-board 3 band, if not the bart that was originally in there. any would sound good - too bad you don't still have the original stock pre in there, it was a bart and matched to the pickups. i think it is available to purchase - shoot an email over to bill conklin - [email protected], iirc, and he should be able to tell you the model number for it if you don't know.

Next up is strings...
I prefer flats for the fretless. I am seeing alot of ERB'ers posting about using SIT- good place to buy sets for 7's?
I play (mostly) prog rock/metal, and do not care for that "predominant-clickity-clackity" type sound (not that there's anything wrong with that ).

juststrings.com has a lot of options available. i have a set of dean markley sr2000 flats that were great sounding for flat wound strings, although i'm not a big fan of flats. from talking to the guys at SIT i've also heard that they are working on a very nice semi-flat string that should be really the best of both worlds, from what i've seen. don't know when it will be ready though.

Lastly, recording the beasts.
In the past, I have done a few techniques: DI only. DI plus mic 4/2x10, DI + mic 15, DI + mic 4x12.
I was planning on simply grabbing an AMI-TAB-Funkenwerk V71 DI, and then simply opting for tossing a mic on a 15 I have, or possibly grabbing a 2x10 (have 3 4x12 cabs, all loaded differently).
However, I am thinking there may be a better option, especially if I opt to forgo the "onboard active" idea on both basses. Trying to stay around $500-600 here if possible.

i like the countryman di for passive bass, but for active i strongly dislike it. in general i used my amp di plus a mic on my 4x12" hartke cab and a mic on my 1x18 sub, but even there i hardly used the di signal.

Oh- one more (oops!) Any good resources for developing ERB techniques and such? I played 4's and 5's for years (on and off), and grabbed the 7's a couple years ago, but only recently have had time to begin digging into 'em. I realize imagination is the greatest fuel, but I find other players to be quite inspirational, and have a love of instructional vids and live vids
Thx!

there's actually a real vacuum of extended range instrument instructional videos on the market right now. i know a few folks who are working towards changing that, so we'll see.

 

[nikki_k]

Wow! Thx for the reply

Videos: instructional are great- love them for the "dedicated" camera angles, plus listening to players explain little things they do
I am actually trying to find vids (prefer DVD) that have some good highlighting of ERB being played. Not so much the super ERB stuff (9, 10, 11 and more), as they will tend to approach the instrument in a different context (from what I have seen and heard anyway). Looking more for video of players using ERBs in "real life" type playing. Realizing that typically something like a 7 string isn't like, "Woohoo! open season for me! I will rule on this thing, and will play notes on every string during every minute of playing, just cause I can..." LOL!
More like those little things...you know- song is rollin along, cool song, nothing (too) special, and then out of nowhere- one little run, fill, trick, etc- and the whole reason the person has a 7 on is all the reason needed. Just those few notes. The way they were used. Ya know?
(BTW- love the Lord Only stuff JT- wish you guys had vid{s}...nudge nudge, wink, wink )

Strings: Semi-flats would be VERY cool. Fretless has stainless rounds now, and while I can *cope* with 'em, I would prefer to go flat or semi-flat.
I was actually thinking of combining: going flat or semi-flat on the bottom 5, and then nickleor stainless round for the top 2. Possible to grab singles of all 7? SIT does singles for guitar, dont they? If so, I might just go all SIT for guitar and bass

Thx again!

 

[nikki_k]

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