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Electra/Westone club

#561
Back as a Westone owner after a few years absence :)

Picked up this Thunder III from 1983 yesterday. Combination of grey skies and energy saving bulbs have made for lousy photos. I'll use the seller's photos instead :D

Thuner III (5).jpg
Thuner III (2).jpg
Thuner III (4).jpg
 
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#563
Spectrum said:
Beautiful translucent finish on that puppy.
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Aye,it is that :)
There was a walnut version on ebay I was considering,the walnut is a gorgeous looking bass. Few things put me off.
Replaced tuners,mismatched knobs and priced kinda high.

OK I had a long drive for the black/ash (580 miles all in) but the young lad selling it had recently knocked 22% of his asking price,dropped another 6% when we discussed cash vs Reverb fees. When I started counting out the cash he took a further 10% off :jawdrop: Said I was the right man to own it having driven so far :)

A really nice gesture on his part and a reminder that there's plenty good kids still out there :thumbsup:

Icing on the cake was a good friend lives 20 miles away so he got a long overdue visit on the trip home :D
 
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#564
#565
JIO said:
What is the lower plate/cover on the back for and what do the three toggle switches do? Is it an active bass?
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The lower back plate hides the 2x9v batteries.
I must look into this further but I've a suspicion Rudy Sarzo asked for a similar set up on his Peavey sig bass. Neither of his Matsumoku built Aria Pro or Washburn basses had the battery below the bridge so I'm thinking Westone was the origin. Further refinement is it's a machine screw + threaded insert affair :thumbsup:

2 x 9v batteries of course mean an active bass. Mini switches are series/parallel,in/out phase and active/passive.
The active circuit is odd. Bass boost CW/Treble boost CCW.

man6.png


Gotoh hardware,DiMarzio pickups (or copies),brass nut (very 80's :D),good reliable wood choices. All adds up to a top notch bass design for 1982 :thumbsup:
 
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#566
kodiakblair said:
The lower back plate hides the 2x9v batteries.
I must look into this further but I've a suspicion Rudy Sarzo asked for a similar set up on his Peavey sig bass. Neither of his Matsumoku built Aria Pro or Washburn basses had the battery below the bridge so I'm thinking Westone was the origin. Further refinement is it's a machine screw + threaded insert affair :thumbsup:

2 x 9v batteries of course mean an active bass. Mini switches are series/parallel,in/out phase and active/passive.
The active circuit is odd. Bass boost CW/Treble boost CCW.

View attachment 3666185

Gotoh hardware,DiMarzio pickups (or copies),brass nut (very 80's :D),good reliable wood choices. All adds up to a top notch bass design for 1982 :thumbsup:
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Pretty sophisticated - is it hs heavy? I know a brass nut gets categorized as 'very 80's' but I still use them on builds, sometime laminated to bone or ebony. Some basses don't like a brass nut but the ones that do benefit in clarity and punch.
 
#567
@JIO

Luggage scales say 11 lbs. Threw the 1st strap I laid hands on (3" suede backed) on it, great balance,no neck dive :)

I always put brass nuts in the 80's,along with £40. Seemed every upgrade cost £40 back in the 80's,at least in the UK.
D-tuner was £40,BadAss was £40 and the absolutely bonkers "Fathead" brass plate was also £40 :D

Another cool thing about Westones, no price hike for left handed models :hyper: Shouldn't bother me but the plight of our leftie brothers does irk me.
 
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#572
DanAdams said:
I herby declare the Westone Spectrum series to be the sleeper/most undervalued bass series in history.
and-
All the Westone active circuits are amazingly stupid.
Discuss...
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No idea about active anything, but the Spectrum has been special to me for many years. I missed a chance to get a Spectrum guitar a while back, it was all dark blue with a blue painted fingerboard, a "blue out". Had no need for it, only considered it because it was a match for my bass.
 
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#573
Spectrum said:
I missed a chance to get a Spectrum guitar a while back, it was all dark blue with a blue painted fingerboard, a "blue out". Had no need for it, only considered it because it was a match for my bass.
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I've got a Westone/Electra Spectrum guitar. and it's friggin amazing. both buckers are on push pull coil split knobs, and the middle single coil is switchable on/off via a pull switch, giving it the most flexible possibilities of any guitar I've seen, yet with only three switching knobs... Solid maple body. It's a killer, I highly recommend finding one like this. I got it for less than $200
Screen Shot 2020-04-21 at 6.44.59 PM.png
 
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#575
DanAdams said:
I herby declare the Westone Spectrum series to be the sleeper/most undervalued bass series in history.
Click to expand...

I just sold my Spectrum GT :unsure: I loved the roar of that hot sweet spot pickup, but wasn’t really using the bridge pickup at all, or the instrument itself that much. It will get more love in the hands of the young woman taking this sheltering in place as an opportunity to learn bass from her dad :D I would pick up a single pickup (heh heh) DX if I decided I really missed it, but I would recommend the various Spectra regardless.

DanAdams said:
and-
All the Westone active circuits are amazingly stupid.
Discuss...
Click to expand...
I had hoped to buy an active neck thru something or other from you a couple years ago when I dove back into bass, but may have dodged an electronics bullet, haha. That one had the same pickup configuration as the Spectrum GT, I believe. I haven’t seen anything quite like it since. I wonder how the active models would do with better preamps and wiring :bookworm:
 
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#576
Riff Ranger said:
wasn’t really using the bridge pickup at all,
I had hoped to buy an active neck thru something or other from you a couple years ago
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The electronics are crap. just use the passive Westones. the GT is the pinnacle of the $/value ratio.

In my mind... any bridge pick-up closer to the bridge than a Stingray pickup, is junk in ALL basses.
I don't know what is wrong with all these P-J people. I think they are bonkers.
The only reason to raise the volume on a bridge single coil, is to offset the noise of the good sounding neck position single coil... or better yet, just have a G.D. hum bucking setup in a useful place. (anywhere not too close to the bridge)
Feel free to yell at me you bridge position heathens. :)
Jaco sounds like machine gun farts!!! and yes, forgive me, I've had some wine tonight.

If you liked the GT neck position pickup, that doesn't mean you would love the DX placement. It's not in the same place as the GT neck pickup. It's closer to Stingray than P bass.
I haven't done my homework regarding those feelings ^^^. It's just my vibe at this moment.
 
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#577
DanAdams said:
The electronics are crap. just use the passive Westones. the GT is the pinnacle of the $/value ratio.

In my mind... any bridge pick-up closer to the bridge than a Stingray pickup, is junk in ALL basses.
I don't know what is wrong with all these P-J people. I think they are bonkers.
The only reason to raise the volume on a bridge single coil, is to offset the noise of the good sounding neck position single coil... or better yet, just have a G.D. hum bucking setup in a useful place. (anywhere not too close to the bridge)
Feel free to yell at me you bridge position heathens. :)
Jaco sounds like machine gun farts!!! and yes, forgive me, I've had some wine tonight.

If you liked the GT neck position pickup, that doesn't mean you would love the DX placement. It's not in the same place as the GT neck pickup. It's closer to Stingray than P bass.
I haven't done my homework regarding those feelings ^^^. It's just my vibe at this moment.
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I generally prefer a passive, single pickup set up, and I mostly agree with your general sentiments on bridge pickups. I can dig a P/J here and there, but anything closer to the bridge than a Music Man doesn’t do it for me on its own. If the DX has one of those monstrous pickups somewhere between the P and MM positions, it’s hard to imagine I wouldn’t like it. I very well may like it better than the GT.
 
#578
I agree about the sweet neck pickup on the GT, I use it most of all.

But I like having the bridge pickup there for variety, and sometimes I like them both on at once. The bridge pickup gets a nasal growl that works for some tunes, reminds me of Queensryche's Jet City Woman a bit. And then there is that phase reversal push-pull, which I don't think I ever used with a band but I've definitely used it in home recording doing experimental and electronic stuff.

Funny thing is that was one of the things that made me pick out this bass in the first place back in the 80s. I liked that trebly twangy sound and the fact that you could turn it on and off. I was trying to get a sound close to a Rickenbacker. Turns out that if you want to sound like a Ric, you need to have a Ric (which I do now). But the GT is unique for sure.

ETA: about bridge pickups, one of the things I love about Rickenbackers is that both pickups are pretty far forward, farther away from the bridge than other 2-pickup basses. The bridge pickup is closer to the P position. I always wondered why more makers didn't build them like that. If I were a luthier I'd build a Spectrum clone with pickups in Ric positions.
 
#580
Spectrum said:
But I like having the bridge pickup there for variety, and sometimes I like them both on at once. The bridge pickup gets a nasal growl that works for some tunes, reminds me of Queensryche's Jet City Woman a bit.
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That’s exactly why I don’t write off the P/J sound right there, haha.
 
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