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Electra/Westone club

#382
Just wanted to tell you all I have added a 1981 Washburn Scavenger to the Herd.
Also made by Matsomuko. Came all original with a great Dimarzio P Pup. It doesn't fit in with the rest of the club but the quality is amazing. I do try to keep an eye on TB but if someone wants to take over the numbers here, you have my blessings. Just let me know in a post. I'm gonna go play now .Enjoy the Moments :-))
 
#383
Partial Westone entry (not for official club status) mid 80's Westone Spectrum LX bass fretless neck.

IMG_9171_zpsht7bdjms.jpg
 
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#384
I have an Electra Weston Bass with a fretted and fretless interchangeble necks with original case. It plays fantastic, but some of the knobs and switches don't seem to do anything. Does anybody know somebody who knows about these basses, and can take a look at it, and fix it, and keep the original circuits intact? I don't want to be putting in a modern pre amp. Replacing pots, and switches is ok, but I want to leave the rest of it as original as I possible can.
 
#385
Ottobasskirk said:
I have an Electra Weston Bass with a fretted and fretless interchangeble necks with original case. It plays fantastic, but some of the knobs and switches don't seem to do anything. Does anybody know somebody who knows about these basses, and can take a look at it, and fix it, and keep the original circuits intact? I don't want to be putting in a modern pre amp. Replacing pots, and switches is ok, but I want to leave the rest of it as original as I possible can.
Click to expand...

Cool that you have the set w/case included. A local guitar-tech is who you need to show it to, but if you post a sharp clear pic of your control cavity & post it here it may uncover something simple like a disconnected wire. I bought a mid 90's Peavey B-Quad with sophisticated electronics and a spaghetti-bowl of thin wiring that de-soldered just looking at it! Early active pre's are now over 25-30 yrs old depending on the year made. New pre's are way better in many ways.
 
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#386
Ottobasskirk said:
I have an Electra Weston Bass with a fretted and fretless interchangeble necks with original case. It plays fantastic, but some of the knobs and switches don't seem to do anything. Does anybody know somebody who knows about these basses, and can take a look at it, and fix it, and keep the original circuits intact? I don't want to be putting in a modern pre amp. Replacing pots, and switches is ok, but I want to leave the rest of it as original as I possible can.
Click to expand...
post a pic! I have found the active circuits on the Westones to be stupid and useless. it's an active one knob thing that doesn't create any useful sounds (for me). You may just have a dead battery. I would not bother fixing the active electronics if they are broken. If you've got the Magnabass pickups then you should get awesome tone and really hot output passively.
Does anyone like the active westone thing? Is it always the weird single knob active circuit like on spectrums, later thunders, and I think it appears the same on genesis and super headless and others?
 
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#391
Back again.I was going to my professional "service man" and he said that the truss rod is dead.he will try to put a lock washer (or something like that if I understand correctly).I hope o fix it cause in other case I will have to find a replacement neck.
 
#392
I have some knowledge of electronics, but before I can even start to do some trouble shooting on this thing, I would need first a schematic of the circuit board, and know what the hell all the knobs and switches do! Does anybody know what the knobs and switches actually do? I have searched for some schematics and have only found some very basic ones that don't match what I have. Here are some photos of my axe
 

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#393
Ottobasskirk said:
I have some knowledge of electronics, but before I can even start to do some trouble shooting on this thing, I would need first a schematic of the circuit board, and know what the hell all the knobs and switches do! Does anybody know what the knobs and switches actually do? I have searched for some schematics and have only found some very basic ones that don't match what I have. Here are some photos of my axe
Click to expand...

No knowledge of the electronics but it's curious that it's a Westone Electra. I knew of Electra basses and also knew they were made in the same factory as Westone but didn't realize they produced a Westone Electra 2 neck combo. Maybe it was an earlier version of the Westone Spectrum LX.

Does anyone know of a link to more extensive background information on Westone? After owning this quality neck I'm thinking these are very underrated instruments.

IMG_9164_zps230ovsgf.jpg


IMG_9336_zpskonl68y3.jpg
 
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#396
JIO said:
No knowledge of the electronics but it's curious that it's a Westone Electra. I knew of Electra basses and also knew they were made in the same factory as Westone but didn't realize they produced a Westone Electra 2 neck combo. Maybe it was an earlier version of the Westone Spectrum LX.

Does anyone know of a link to more extensive background information on Westone? After owning this quality neck I'm thinking these are very underrated instruments.

IMG_9164_zps230ovsgf.jpg


IMG_9336_zpskonl68y3.jpg
Click to expand...

There's also this website: Welcome to www.westone.info :: The resource for Westone guitars :: index

The first digit of the serial number should be the year of manufacture, so in your case 1985.
 
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#397
Ottobasskirk said:
I have some knowledge of electronics, but before I can even start to do some trouble shooting on this thing, I would need first a schematic of the circuit board, and know what the hell all the knobs and switches do! Does anybody know what the knobs and switches actually do? I have searched for some schematics and have only found some very basic ones that don't match what I have. Here are some photos of my axe
Click to expand...

You might try here: Welcome to www.westone.info :: The resource for Westone guitars :: wiring
 
#399
After hours of searching and comparing, I think I have a better idea of how these basses work. Thanks everybody for your input. I am now thinking that I should just forget about all the switches and knobs and just wire it as simply as I can. I think just sticking with the original pickups and a simple preamp and new pots and then going into my Teck21 Sansamp Programmable Bass Driver will do the trick. Maybe I will leave all the switches and have them do something else. Maybe hook one up to a sign that lights up and says, "Bass Player Needs More Beer."
 
#400
Ottobasskirk said:
After hours of searching and comparing, I think I have a better idea of how these basses work. Thanks everybody for your input. I am now thinking that I should just forget about all the switches and knobs and just wire it as simply as I can. I think just sticking with the original pickups and a simple preamp and new pots and then going into my Teck21 Sansamp Programmable Bass Driver will do the trick. Maybe I will leave all the switches and have them do something else. Maybe hook one up to a sign that lights up and says, "Bass Player Needs More Beer."
Click to expand...

Sounds like a 'sound' plan! I ran into similar issues with a Peavey B-Quad with ultra sophisticated electronics, one of their early ventures into 'beyond basic'. It was fragile and prone to issues so I replaced the whole thing with a modern Bartolini set-up. Some 'vintage' details just aren't worth the trouble to fix.

The left over switches could also trigger subliminal LED's that flash for a nanosecond "tip your bass player" ;)
 

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