Here's the story...long but a good one.
My first bass was an EB-2...I was 15 at the time (1965). I was running my 1965 sunburst EB-2 thru a Standel Super Imperial w/D140's instead of D-130's (which were the stock speakers). I changed them out for the D-140's.
Somewhere along the way the big Gibson humbucker/mudbucker pickup developed a problem. I removed it and found a broken tiny winding wire. I didn't really know anything and with some luck and some solder I got the pickup working but on only one of the two coils.
I thought I had really screwed up the pickup and so had a replacement Gibson humbucker installed in my EB-2. That bass worked like it should. The 'broken' but working-on-one-coil Gibson Mudbucker pickup went into a box.
Ahhh...but now it gets interesting.
I was/am a huge Jack Casady fan. There was a Jefferson Airplane show at the Greek Theater in Berkeley up on the Cal Berkeley campus in 1967. I faked going to bed (my room was downstairs) and snuck out and rode my bike (20 gold Schwinn Stingray) over to the Greek. I got into the show and right up on the edge of the huge concrete stage...placed myself right in front of JC.
The Airplane came on.
I was and am a huge equipment geek...love tubes, knobs, wires, basses, guitars, amps etc. Always checking out what this guy and that guy was using. Jack was using an old sunburst Jazz Bass. His amps were a Standel Super Imperial with JBL's and a Dual Showman. The Dual Showman head was on the ground up ended along the right side of his Standel and the Showman 2X15 (also JBL's...D-140's...I could see the cone ribbing throught the grill cloth on that one) was sitting long ways on top of the Standel.
The odd thing and cool thing was Jack had a P-Bass pickup in that Jazz Bass up by the neck. Three pickups (one P-Bass + stock Jazz config). The other odd thing was he had two cables coming off the bass. I never did figure the routing but my intuition said two different sets of pickups...two cable...two amps...well you get the picture. I figured it was P-Bass into the Showman and Jazz bass into the Standel Imperial. Tone was amazing...playing was more amazing in all Jacks side slung hard hitting glory.
Well...I went home that night and the next morning pulled out my 65 white Jazz bass w/matching peghead...yep,I had one. I pulled out the Gibson humbucker out of the box (the broken...now single coil one from my EB-2) and took a chizel and screw driver and drill and routed out the Jazz Bass body at the neck position to accept the humbucker. Using the 'broken' single coil humbucker was meant to be an experiment...if it worked I was going to get a completely working bug humbucker and install that.
I got the 'broken' pickup in and with some help had it wired to a stereo 1/4 jack (normal jack placement position...just a stereo jack). I had a long stereo cable made (stereo 1/4 to two mono 1/4's). I didn't want to run two cables.
I plugged the bass into the two channels on my Super Imperial with the D-140's (I also ran a Sunn 200s bottom with two D-140's out of the Imperial by y-ing the rca jacks that go from the pre/power amp of the Standel down into the cabinet part of the Imerial. It sounded amazing. The 'broken' pickup was thunderous but not so muddy. Still thick and bassy.
So I was running 4 D-140's with this white on white Jazz bass...the Jazz bass pickups went via one side of the stereo jack to one channel of the Imerial and the 'broken' but-working-as-a-single-coil Gibson pickup went into the other channel.
I could dial in a great chunky gritty Jazz bass sound from one channel and then by turning up the channel with the gibson pickup bring in a controlled huge bottom end. I could EQ them separately and all was right in Bass World.
Your very early basic sub-woofer pickup way up by the neck. Years and years later when I first saw Sheehan's Yamaha thing I smiled...I know exactly how that works.
There you have it...long winded but true. Jack Casady did it first to my knowledge with that P-Bass pickup up by the neck on his Jazz. I followed with the "experiment' with my 'broken' Gibson humbucker.
There is a picture somewhere of me playing that white Jazz Bass at Provo Park in Berkeley one Sunday way back when (1968 I think) they had concerts there every Sunday...I'll try find it.
best to all,
maricopaa
My first bass was an EB-2...I was 15 at the time (1965). I was running my 1965 sunburst EB-2 thru a Standel Super Imperial w/D140's instead of D-130's (which were the stock speakers). I changed them out for the D-140's.
Somewhere along the way the big Gibson humbucker/mudbucker pickup developed a problem. I removed it and found a broken tiny winding wire. I didn't really know anything and with some luck and some solder I got the pickup working but on only one of the two coils.
I thought I had really screwed up the pickup and so had a replacement Gibson humbucker installed in my EB-2. That bass worked like it should. The 'broken' but working-on-one-coil Gibson Mudbucker pickup went into a box.
Ahhh...but now it gets interesting.
I was/am a huge Jack Casady fan. There was a Jefferson Airplane show at the Greek Theater in Berkeley up on the Cal Berkeley campus in 1967. I faked going to bed (my room was downstairs) and snuck out and rode my bike (20 gold Schwinn Stingray) over to the Greek. I got into the show and right up on the edge of the huge concrete stage...placed myself right in front of JC.
The Airplane came on.
I was and am a huge equipment geek...love tubes, knobs, wires, basses, guitars, amps etc. Always checking out what this guy and that guy was using. Jack was using an old sunburst Jazz Bass. His amps were a Standel Super Imperial with JBL's and a Dual Showman. The Dual Showman head was on the ground up ended along the right side of his Standel and the Showman 2X15 (also JBL's...D-140's...I could see the cone ribbing throught the grill cloth on that one) was sitting long ways on top of the Standel.
The odd thing and cool thing was Jack had a P-Bass pickup in that Jazz Bass up by the neck. Three pickups (one P-Bass + stock Jazz config). The other odd thing was he had two cables coming off the bass. I never did figure the routing but my intuition said two different sets of pickups...two cable...two amps...well you get the picture. I figured it was P-Bass into the Showman and Jazz bass into the Standel Imperial. Tone was amazing...playing was more amazing in all Jacks side slung hard hitting glory.
Well...I went home that night and the next morning pulled out my 65 white Jazz bass w/matching peghead...yep,I had one. I pulled out the Gibson humbucker out of the box (the broken...now single coil one from my EB-2) and took a chizel and screw driver and drill and routed out the Jazz Bass body at the neck position to accept the humbucker. Using the 'broken' single coil humbucker was meant to be an experiment...if it worked I was going to get a completely working bug humbucker and install that.
I got the 'broken' pickup in and with some help had it wired to a stereo 1/4 jack (normal jack placement position...just a stereo jack). I had a long stereo cable made (stereo 1/4 to two mono 1/4's). I didn't want to run two cables.
I plugged the bass into the two channels on my Super Imperial with the D-140's (I also ran a Sunn 200s bottom with two D-140's out of the Imperial by y-ing the rca jacks that go from the pre/power amp of the Standel down into the cabinet part of the Imerial. It sounded amazing. The 'broken' pickup was thunderous but not so muddy. Still thick and bassy.
So I was running 4 D-140's with this white on white Jazz bass...the Jazz bass pickups went via one side of the stereo jack to one channel of the Imerial and the 'broken' but-working-as-a-single-coil Gibson pickup went into the other channel.
I could dial in a great chunky gritty Jazz bass sound from one channel and then by turning up the channel with the gibson pickup bring in a controlled huge bottom end. I could EQ them separately and all was right in Bass World.
Your very early basic sub-woofer pickup way up by the neck. Years and years later when I first saw Sheehan's Yamaha thing I smiled...I know exactly how that works.
There you have it...long winded but true. Jack Casady did it first to my knowledge with that P-Bass pickup up by the neck on his Jazz. I followed with the "experiment' with my 'broken' Gibson humbucker.
There is a picture somewhere of me playing that white Jazz Bass at Provo Park in Berkeley one Sunday way back when (1968 I think) they had concerts there every Sunday...I'll try find it.
best to all,
maricopaa
