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IBANEZ ARTCORE TONE PROBLEM SOLVED !!!

#82
I had the same issue with a AGB-205 5 string. I loved everything about it but the pickups. I had one of my dreams, a short scale semi-hollow 5 string. But the pickups bite royally. I had to make the call to send back or keep. Kept it. I tried different pots, meh. Then I put in a set of J pickups, a reversible experiment. It was promising. I really wanted to put something in that would work in the original cover or ring, nothing but a guitar p-90 was that size. Then the solution dawned on me, it had been under my nose all along. The venerable Peavey Super Ferrite fits inside the gold cover perfectamente. I separated the cover from the original pickups, put them about half full of melted wax and set the Peaveys in there, sort of like potting . It overflowed and made a perfect bedding job. With a little reshaping of the ears on the ferrites, they screwed down into the routs at just the right height. Original covers and rings, new 250 K pots. I'm happy happy. It is not a do everything bass like I fantasized, but like good semi hollows will, it covers a lot of ground. And its a short scale 5, yes the B string (.145) is good, so big A.K. whhooooooooooooooo !!!!!
 
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#83
Hi- Z-Bar - the pots SHOULD be the right value for the Barts as long as they are around the usual 10k Ohms resistance. However - if you don't take them out - How can you remove the old pup wires and solder on the new ones?

Better figure out how the knobs are attached.

ALSO - Super Ferrites on the AGB? That sounds very interesting, Red J! I really like the thought of the short scale 5-er with a good B.
 
#85
I replaced the tone pot with the recomended values and there is a huge difference!

But, I ended up no changing the volume pot as is sounded fine as it is, meaning the volume descreases gradually between 10 and 0. But now I'm beggining to wonder if the volume pot and cap values have any significant effect on tone, even when maxed out. Doe any of the members know if changing the volume pot (not the tone, that has already been changed) has any significant effect on the overal tone, even when the volume is set to 10 (I never touch the volume knob)? I'm really bad at soldering stuff, so if there is no difference, or if it is absolutely minimal, I will probably just leave it alone.

Also, I just finished recording a 5 track album with this bass. Just bass with lots of overdubs, no other instruments. As soon as I get the recordings mixed and mastered I will post them in case anyone wants to know how the artcore sounds like on its own. I used quite a few different modulation and distortion pedals on it, and am quite happy with the results. Should have it mixed in a month or so.
 
#86
You should also change the volume pot, as it is not properly matched to the impedance of the pickup.

Are you sure that the volume pot was still the original value and was not already changed?

The volume pot always affects the tone a little, because it is ALWAYS in the circuit - even at max. That is why (with standard pickups of around 10K impedance) some people use a 500K pot instead of the more common 250K - to get just a little more brightness from the pickup. But s the value of the pot gets high enough, the amount that it affects the tone is less and less. In this case. the pots are 10x the value that they should be - there would be no affect on the highs.
 
#91
Done! It was my first proper soldering project, it took me about 2 hours or such (the first time the pot wasn't working, so I had to re-solder some parts that were a bit loose). The tone knob was done by a luthier who is a friend of mine. Strongly reccomend this for anyone who owns this bass, especially those who's soldering skills are next to none, a great first project.

Geez, had no idea it was so hard to solder on new pots. At one point I wished I had 3 or 4 different hands. Anyway, as for the sound, even with everything maxed out, there is definately a difference in tone. It's subtle, but it is there, and if you know this bass well you will certainly see it. Also, the bass' output is also a little hotter. I recorded a little improvised riff yesterday, and today, after changing the volume pot, i re-recorded it to see if there was any difference (used the same gain value on my sound card. didn't even touch it from yesterday). The mids are a little less honky and a bit more beefy. Not too beefy, this bass does not have a particularly beefy sound, but it sounds a little more beefy than before. Overall, it's almost as if the signal was slightly compressed. The highs ring a little more, especially the A and D string above the 12th fret. Always loved how this bass sounded in the upper parts of the neck. Now I like it even more. Thank you, Bassamatic!
 
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#92
By changing the pots to 50K, do you guys notice a difference in the sound and output or is it just in the effect of the tone control on the sound. Since you are going from 500K to 50K, what if you wired the pickup directly to the jack ? I realize you would have no volume or tone control but how would the sound change from doing that in comparison to 500K pots or 50K pots ?

Also has anyone compared or recorded the sound difference in doing the mod talked about here, using the stock pickup vs 500K pots with an EMG-HZ pickup ?
 
#93
As far as I can remember, there is no difference in the sound - just that the pots now operate properly.

There is no problem wiring the pup directly to the jack if desired - the input impedance of your amp is very high 1 Megohm or more - you can always go from low to high no problem. It may be a little brighter without the loading of the pots - just like any bass will be if wired direct.

If you replace the pickup with one that is the "standard" impedance of around 10 K Ohms (such as an EMG Hz) - you do not need (or want) to change the pots. This loading problem occurs because the stock pickup is VERY low impedance, much less than 10K Ohms. Please see the first post.

Also note that the fix includes changing the cap as well. Changing the pots alone will not fix the problem.

This is NOT the same as changing pots from 250 to 500K to get a little extra brightness. That change applies ONLY to pickups of around 10K Ohms impedance.
 
#96
That is a good question. It would probably help somewhat but would change the way the pots work, as when the pot is full ON, there will still be resistance in line with the pup instead of zero. It will likely cut the output level a lot as the resistor would need to be 4x the pup's impedance. It might also change the sound as it increases the R value of the impedance (impedance is made of R, C and L values) I'll think about this and re-post if there is any other issue other than level.
 
#97
Bassamatic, I'm trying to mod an AGB140 for a friend and I can't recall the exact capacitors I used. I know this thread recommends .22 or .2 microfarad. But the ones I'm finding out there simply say .2mf. To my understanding, "mf" is "millifarad" and "uf" is "microfarad." So which caps should I order? These, 2 in parallel?

1 MFD Capacitors | Allparts.com

or 2 of these in parallel?

Capacitor Ceramic 0.1uF - COM-08375 - SparkFun Electronics

Sorry to be such a pain.
 
#98
No Pain! Since it is AllParts - I would tend to assume that they MEAN Microfarads when they say MFD. They also describe the part as mfd. All very confusing.

There is a box there to ask them if the 0.1 MFD is MicroFarad uF or MilliFarad (MF) Just FYI your 0.1 uF will be 0.0001 MF.

The SparkFun part is correct and yes, you can parallel 2 of them.

Good Luck!
 

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