Devon basses and switching "components". Is that important to you?

[Katoosie]

This is better than the entire thread, wow I have never seen such a thing! What!!!

 

[TrustRod]

If I'm not mistaken Devon is only offering the preamp swap, not pickups. The bass hang video says not available until 2024. And also points out the frequency centers are different between the modules. That can be handled with a mini or dip switch and just one preamp and would seem to cover most of the benefit of a swap.

 

[TrustRod]

This is better than the entire thread, wow I have never seen such a thing! What!!!

There's been a number of variations on this. I haven't seen one in person but I wonder how they can make this change hundreds of times and keep the height consistent across the full length of all those frets with enough strength to handle a gorilla fisted player pressing on them. Then there's the issue of the lack of fret crowns as they need flat tops to work as a fretless. How much weight does it add? Do truss rod tweaks mess things up?

Fun experiments, and dreams for me to crush!!!

 

[nick333]

A great idea, especially if the bass feels and plays great
to you. Instead of buying other basses , change flavors with the component swaps.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

Many many have. The Novatone Switchboard was probably the most successful though not with a lever, and few even know what that is.

From a Premier Guitar article dated May 11, 2013;

Unfortunately, the Novatone system required removing a lot of neck wood to make room for the metal plate and new fretboard, so the modified necks got unstable, especially when the neck ended up having open truss rod channels. The truss then no longer had a solid counterpart to hold up to. Many also complained about the magnets not being strong enough to hold the fretboard in place. Novatone soon went out of business, leaving many with a broken bass.

Too bad, looked like something I would have been interested in, especially in 2013.

 

[TrustRod]

Another downside of the novatone was carrying the thin fragile fingerboards safely. Someone had one at BIT on a Steinberger in '85 and he said it kinda worked.

They did swap nicely but you could pull it out of place while playing. So many of these ideas are neat but shelter from criticism and then fail.

 

[buldog5151bass]

I've mostly been a "set and forget" guy on any gig or session. I like to get something that fits, and leave it, at most dialing the tone knob down if I want something a little deeper. So it's not for me.

 

[TrustRod]

A positive for the Devon preamp version. It looks like this would be simple to retrofit on any guitar. Routing is no more complex than a battery box and if you end up abandoning it you can just pop a plug to fill in the hole or leave it empty. The demo model has 9 controls on the face, that might be an issue to get all the function.

 

[DrummerwStrings]

No one has mentioned yet what this may do for his own manufacturing process. It’s possible that once he’s got the jigs and fixtures lined up that this may be a major time saver in manufacturing for him, as well as a benefit for fickle minded players.

+1 The time savings are worth it for the builder & in the future for the tech, even if a typical Devon bass owner may not make more than one or 2 preamp/pu changes. Newer bassists like me who don’t have much experience with different preamp & pickup types will probably use Devon’s modular approach more - but if I bought a Devon, it would fill a niche (e.g., ‘this is my fretless P/MM’) & I would be inclined to leave it as is. Tho, there’s plenty of TB threads of ppl who come across a pickup & decide after having it for a while to pull it out of a bass & install in their pristine, GAS-slaying main bass, let alone all of the NBD threads of ppl shortening their pickup (& preamp, & tuners, &…) lists while they wait for their bass to arrive at their door.

I haven’t seen yet what Devon is doing - my initial impression was Devon is using wiring connectors. The impression probably came from one of the 1st TB threads I read (which documented Chunger buying batches of SX basses & modding them for young Music students) & Chunger quickly settled into using wiring connectors (I think they’re used in the trucking industry) and threaded inserts for the pickguards & control cavities. So long as Devon is using something that can easily be snipped off/removed if parts become hard to get or if someone doesn’t want to use it, I don’t see the harm done - but I can see labor & time savings, & possibly fewer $ increases. I don’t expect a flood of seasoned bassists buying Devons because it’s easier to change the electronics, but I haven’t heard of Devon marketing it as the next automatic string tuners, either.

I’m tempted to guesstimate that the people who can benefit the most from a modular approach may be the ones most resistant to a break from tradition (I’m avoiding associating market segments of players with brands, & I have no evidence to back up my guess).

 

[tb-player]

I voted “throw carrots at people” because that just really sounds like fun.

Now what were we talking about?

 

[Geri O]

My primary concern would be what happens to the various bits one ends up not using. Reselling bespoke parts like that seems like it would be much more of a chore, no?

The parts section of the TB Classified is quite active and has been for a while. I’ve bought and sold pickups, a preamps or 2, and a bridge on there.
I actually have 2 parts drawers for bass parts, an electronic drawer, and a mechanical drawer. They are both kinda full at the moment, but I haven’t felt motivated to attempt to move anything…. At the moment and for the foreseeable future, I haven’t any plans to mod anything.

No, seriously…I mean it!….

 

[scubaduba]

Wonderful innovation and for that reason alone I like seeing this. For me, I don’t think I’d find it all that useful though. However, if Devon launched a rental program that would be cool. If you have a bass built, rent the preamps and pickups you want to try and then ship them back when finished. Upon receipt, pay Devon for the components you want to keep. To me, the biggest value is being able to easily test and select the pickups and preamp combos you want before buying.

 

[jamro217]

It's an old idea. The Ampeg Dan Armstongs had swappable pickups 55 years ago.

View attachment 5025863

In the 1970s the Electra brand had instruments with interchangeable effects modules you could plug in, leave your pedalboard at home.

View attachment 5025856

Each module had two trim pots. The knobs and switches on the instrument did the rest. Yes, they did make a bass, the Outlaw but the LP style guitars are the most common.

View attachment 5025858

These ideas come back every so often and then fade away due to lack of demand.

Demand could be greater depending on the quality and ease of use of the hardware. The easier and quicker it is to change offers a player the ability to do it onstage. Tapped humbuckers are an example. Flip a switch and go back and forth from humbucker to single coil. Brilliant. Now, if all it took was a flip of a switch to go from fuzz to phaser to envelope filter... without there being too many switches or complicated steps, you could be onto something. The P bass is a favorite due to its simplicity. Being on a dark stage with a P bass is much easier than trying to operate a bass with a control panel more intricate than a 747's. Guitarist usually use more effects than bassists do, so they'd logically be the first to get the newest attempt at this.

 

[bluesblaster]

I have a Devon 5 string with big split man PU's and Nord 3b pre, I cant imagine needing anything else in there tone wise, pretty much has all the bases covered.

 

[bluesblaster]

Wonderful innovation and for that reason alone I like seeing this. For me, I don’t think I’d find it all that useful though. However, if Devon launched a rental program that would be cool. If you have a bass built, rent the preamps and pickups you want to try and then ship them back when finished. Upon receipt, pay Devon for the components you want to keep. To me, the biggest value is being able to easily test and select the pickups and preamp combos you want before buying.

This seems to be a reasonable way to utilize this concept, I mean how would you know how it will actually sound in any particular instrument and continually buying new PU's and pre amps will get expensive and old in a hurry.

 

[TrustRod]

Instead of changing pickups I think I'd find much more use in simply moving them. Another idea that's been done a lot but looks funny.

 

[TonyP-]

Instead of changing pickups I think I'd find much more use in simply moving them. Another idea that's been done a lot but looks funny.

A highly underrated design change that is not mentioned to much.

 

[TonyP-]

I voted “throw carrots at people” because that just really sounds like fun.

Now what were we talking about?

I never judge one’s hobbies

 

[TonyP-]

I think it is, in casesomething does not turn out as the client had hoped it would and does notlike any given component.

That’s an interesting point. I’m sure on occasion someone gets a custom build it was not exactly what they expected.

 

[cnltb]

That’s an interesting point. I’m sure on occasion someone gets a custom build it was not exactly what they expected.

People swapping pickups and preamps seems to happen all the time. no?