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Dean Q4 w/Bartolinis, $132.99 84% Off

#281
I got mine yesterday. I only got about 20 minutes with it. I agree that the extra area under the fretboard extension is due to the body contour. The construction seems much better than the price point (retail) so for 139 it is a steal.

To me it seems to sound similar to a Cirrus BXP that I recently played. Maybe the quilt top is messing with my head. I didn't notice an unusual hiss with mine. I have a Aphex Punch Factory on my board, I don't use it much as it doesn't really "help" my Warwick $$. Wow.... it really wakes up the Dean. When played through the compressor it got what I consider the Bart Active Sound... for what thats worth... I hope to get more time with it this weekend.
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#282
UncleFluffy said:
First observation, as everyone else has said ... the hiss is horrible. I wonder if this is why they're selling them off cheap? Bad batch of preamps?
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I don't know how EMG could screw up a circuit that simple.

I think it's just that 062 OpAmp, never known for low-noise operation compared to the alternatives. Why they use this dime OpAmp as the heart of the $75 BTS, I still can't figure out. Profit margin on that should be obscene already.

It turns out that I have the identical unit in a Schecter C5 Custom I've never used. I should try it and see it it's substantially the same. I need to get some better OpAmps, but it's such a pain to get small numbers of components. There appear to be several OpAmps with lower noise, faster slew rates and lower power consumption that would work in this application.

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They also recommend 18VDC operation. Would another battery help? I dunno.

I'm keeping it. It's a keeper.
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It's certainly a nice bass, no kidding. :)
 
#285
Restrung the Q4 with D'Addario Chromes, .045 - .100 (ECB81). Tone is now a lot smoother and warmer than the stock strings. I especially love the tone I'm getting out of the bridge pickup. This is my first time with Chromes, and I really love the feel. Action didn't seem to change enough to be worried about, though I spent some time working on the intonation (it was pretty "off" from the factory). I'll need to fiddle with my amp and pickup settings to dial it in, but overall I couldn't be happier.

Incidentally, the black stuff rubbing off onto your fingertips is not the strings, it's the stain on the fret board. I first tried cleaning the strings with a variety of solvents including mineral spirits and acetone -- the strings were clean. When I had the strings off, I went to work on the board with some Old English polish, and it took off a lot of the excess stain. No more black fingertips. All it needs now is some fine sanding on the back of the neck to smooth out a couple tiny specks.
 
#288
UncleFluffy said:
Interesting ... I just pulled mine to take a look at the preamp, and it's not the same one.

Back of board says "EMG-BT-B100-D" and the opamp is an LT1638.

!
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That's the one I got too. The center freq is factory set for 4.5KHz, and I don't have any noticeable hiss.

I definitely have to change these strings though. It sounds like the core of the E string has separated from the winding - I hear a rattling within the string itself.
 
#292
Sorry guys, mine arrived a few days ago, but we had out of town company with us until earlier today. I didn't even take it out of the box yet.

The UPS guy just dumped it at the door. It was packed a box within a box. The Smaller one just FELL out of the larger box. Smaller seems intact, I'll take it out tomorrow and give it a blast.
 
#293
froghat said:
I don't have any noticeable hiss.
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I have the same active controls in two basses, both hiss in exactly the same way: Null everything else, turn up the treble and you get hiss.

"EMG B11 rB" boards with 062 OpAmps.

How, I dunno as the volume is off, but both do the same thing, and I'm sure all the the others in the world do as well.

Not a problem with the bass (which is excellent), just EMG's dubious active, insanely overpriced controls.
 
#294
Okay finish is decent, setup out of the box wasn't too bad. I did adjust the intonation and the truss rod needed about an eighth of a turn. Sounds good....no hisses or anything. The strings that came with it are horrible. They sounded and felt like kids guitar strings. Ugh. I did practice with it last night. It did a good job, but towards the end of practice I lost signal twice in the middle of a harder tune. I thought I stepped on my cable at first. So I am hoping maybe the battery needs replaced with a fresh one. I guess will see.

Update: Battery needed replaced...all is good. I did notice one of the pots seemed to be a little bent off of center. Not to bad though.
 
#297
I did indeed sell mine for $240. I hadn't planned on selling it and now mildly regret it. I also had an Edge Q4 with EMG HZ's that I got from Amazon for $140. Sold it two some through Craigslist. The buyer liked the Q4 so much he came back for the Q4 Bartolini. I hadn't been playing it much so I decided to let it go. I'm not too bummed I sold it but it was a great bass for the money.
 
#300
Well I just got back today from Taiwan for NBD x 2. Had My new Dean Q4B, and a new Cort Artisan B5 tha I bagged on EBay for $228. The Cort is a winner across the board. My Dean took me a little of playing around with to get some good tones out of. The Dean does not want to give nice tones at low gain levels. Crank up the EQ and and Volume and it gets pretty punchy and sounds nice. The Cort B5 sounds good at all gain levels. I'm not sure how much of that is the strings though. My B5 came strung with D'Addario's, the Dean who knows what it's got? Both are Korean made Core-Tek basses with Bartolini's so it does make for an interesting comparison.
 

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