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Yeah I've still got a few bricks laying around. Maybe I can find some fossil fuel to power them along with the pedal board.
- Aug 21, 2003
- 11,619
- 18,702
- Disclosures
- A-Designs Mike Lull GK Tsunami Cables GHS Strings RMI Basswitch Nordstrand Pickups Darkglass
- Aug 21, 2003
- 11,619
- 18,702
- Disclosures
- A-Designs Mike Lull GK Tsunami Cables GHS Strings RMI Basswitch Nordstrand Pickups Darkglass
I'm wondering if my pickups are different in some way on the Tribute I recieved from them.My JB-2 Trib (burst, maple) has pretty weak output and is relatively bottomless—but with a lovely tone otherwise. I've paired it with a Boss bass EQ pedal I had lying around and it's serving me fine. I'm wondering about the wiring and will open it up for a look-see. Pickups are up nice and high so it's not that. Curious...
I A/B-ed mine against 3 others J basses with Dimazios.
The Tribute was just a touch less in output & bottom end and had hair more upper mids.
For most Alnico pickups I prefer to run in series but I found the stock pickups surprisingly good (or at least the way I like to hear them anyways).
If I did not know any better I would swear they where ceramic and ever so slightly underwound.
@bonin in the boneyard omg. thank God i don't use them anymore. They sounded great but the volts and amps were ridiculous... as @Raw N Low was saying.
I'm curious about the Empress Wood models and their body resonance.
I've never played an Empress Wood bass but I did have one Empress body I built as an Esquire type Tele for a friend. It's was light and lively and almost too resonant and it felt like it was gonna fly away.
For those of you who have them how would you compare them to alder or ash bodies of the same model? Any noticeable tonal difference? Any difference in your choice of strings?
All of my current basses go around 9lbs with the ash L2500 being the heaviest at just under 10lbs. With my back aging as it has there's always the thought of getting something much lighter so I'm just filling in the blanks in my pool of knowledge.
I've never played an Empress Wood bass but I did have one Empress body I built as an Esquire type Tele for a friend. It's was light and lively and almost too resonant and it felt like it was gonna fly away.
For those of you who have them how would you compare them to alder or ash bodies of the same model? Any noticeable tonal difference? Any difference in your choice of strings?
All of my current basses go around 9lbs with the ash L2500 being the heaviest at just under 10lbs. With my back aging as it has there's always the thought of getting something much lighter so I'm just filling in the blanks in my pool of knowledge.
I have DR Pure Blues on mine, and they're ordinarily pretty high output with a given pickup.
I can't fathom the difference between what you're experiencing and what I'm experiencing. Mine certainly sound like Alnico. It makes me wonder if I don't have some sort of cancelling phenomenon going on, perhaps due to a miswiring. I'm going to pop the lid over the next couple of days and have a look. I haven't ruled out re-wiring to a series configuration, but I'd prefer to not do that and keep the pickup blending option open. I'm living with the EQ pedal for now.
So the top magnet on my neck pickup is uneven and somewhat pushed under the pickup cover. Anyone know how I can fix this? My OCD is going wild!!
- Aug 21, 2003
- 11,619
- 18,702
- Disclosures
- A-Designs Mike Lull GK Tsunami Cables GHS Strings RMI Basswitch Nordstrand Pickups Darkglass
Curious if there is an issue in your bass.
I know I would not be happy with the tone from the video that I posted (Steve A is not a fan of it either)
My main Gigging J bass is a Early Lull M5 (Lull pickups made by SD and a Bart pre) and it's hard wired in series and it kills...
I almost never favor just a pickup but I do have some basses where I do and when I do it's a %100 towards that one pickup...I have 1 bass that has a 4 way toggle (back pickup-parallel-series-front pickup).
If it's wired funky share your results.
MFDs have steel poles with an outer ring and an inner adjustable polepiece. The outer part is press fit when they create the bobbin and they grind any excess off the bottom of the bobbin so the ceramic magnets fit tightly.
That low pole was ground off at that height, if you push that pole up it will lose contact with the long bar magnet covering all 5 poles for that coil. It could also break the coil windings, killing that coil.
G&L sells MFD pickups through their online store, who knows if a new pickup would have the same problem, though.
What bdgotoh said. I've had MFDs apart a few times. If you try to straighten it you're putting the pickup at some risk of not functioning properly (or at all, if you break a winding- that would suck! Ask me how I know, lol.) I wonder if you send a pic of that to G&L if they would replace it for you.
My JB-2 Trib (burst, maple) has pretty weak output and is relatively bottomless—but with a lovely tone otherwise. I've paired it with a Boss bass EQ pedal I had lying around and it's serving me fine. I'm wondering about the wiring and will open it up for a look-see. Pickups are up nice and high so it's not that. Curious...
Huh. No opinion on the Tribute JB-2, but there are two USA JB-2's here now, and there have been seven before that. Only one had what could be described as having a weaker output than the others, but that one was an employee-built JB-2 with what appeared to be Duncan Antiquity pickups instead of the stock pickups. All others have had good overall output with good low freqs.
One thing I've noticed about JB-2's (at least the ones I've had) is they seem to vary in tone. Not in overall signal output or amount of low end, but some have an additional snap factor, and a more articulate sound. Some apparently just don't have it and sound kinda dull by comparison. I've heard some players refer to that extra snap as "gank". I call it "presence". To me those basses are alive. Compared to my Fender Jazzes and some other jazz type basses here, the JB-2's don't appear to have any less output. If anything, they have more. Go figure. Dunno if there may be a difference in the pickup windings from the factory (never measured any of them), or if some JB-2's have a better neck/body relationship?
Exit Q: Are the Tribute JB-2's equipped with the same pickups as the USA models?
Cheers.
To my knowledge, same pickups but lesser grade electronic components in controls. I've heard some talk that the pickups are in principle identical but assembled in Indonesia. I don't know if that's the case. My bass is very articulate and detailed in its tone, not clanky in any way although the details of fretting are audible. All that's missing is the bottom end.
Update: Just had a look inside my Trib JB-2. Wiring is correct, if a little oddly configured. Both pickups read about 6 kohm: neck 5.95, bridge 6.12. They are hum-cancelling, so oriented correctly. Still, with the pickups up high (but not dampening the strings), the bottom end is just not there. 
Anybody got any idea what else I could check? Poor magnetization?
Anybody got any idea what else I could check? Poor magnetization?
Update: Just had a look inside my Trib JB-2. Wiring is correct, if a little oddly configured. Both pickups read about 6 kohm: neck 5.95, bridge 6.12. They are hum-cancelling, so oriented correctly. Still, with the pickups up high (but not dampening the strings), the bottom end is just not there.
Anybody got any idea what else I could check? Poor magnetization?
My experience has been identical to yours, so I'm not convinced that it isn't some inherent design issue. And yeah, the only way for me to get any low end is to EQ some in there. Not ideal, but the bass plays really well and I like the slap tone, so it's not going anywhere anytime soon.
