Yup - that's the Aguilar pickups & flats. Yeah, Aguilar is the one preamp I didn't get around to trying. Now that I'm a dealer and I have all their preamps in stock... I should probably at least give it a try. 
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King Koa - Now With Nordy's!
- Thread starter RocketMusic
- Start date
Yup - that's the Aguilar pickups & flats. Yeah, Aguilar is the one preamp I didn't get around to trying. Now that I'm a dealer and I have all their preamps in stock... I should probably at least give it a try.
Yes, you should....bit of fancy dancing, and you can find away to shoe-horn the active/passive switching and a passive tone control as well, best of both worlds then!
It's funny, I was thinking the same thing....the OBP3 is pretty awesome, and I can only imagine how nicely it fits with their pickups. I'd certainly be interested in this action. Especially with flatwounds. This is only a guess, but I recall your bass being pretty darn, "lively." With rounds, the upper mids and highs might be a bit overbearing. But heck, that's what knobs are for, right? (I type this as I'm 'shedding my koa Roscoe...with the high EQ turned down to ~ 3/10.)
Yeah, everytime I think about going back to rounds I stop and ask myself "why"? I really dig how they sound on my Roscoe fretless and my Lull M5V.
I'm just about to put the Nords back in as we speak. If my ears are correct (and I wouldn't count on that), the Nords were a bit more clear and authoratative. That'd be a neat trick if it's true. The tape (er, the DAW) won't lie.
I'm just about to put the Nords back in as we speak. If my ears are correct (and I wouldn't count on that), the Nords were a bit more clear and authoratative. That'd be a neat trick if it's true. The tape (er, the DAW) won't lie.
So here's King Koa with the Nordstrand NJ5-FS pickups back in. Still passive, still strung with the same TI Jazz Flats, still recorded direct through the REDDI.
Sounds pretty much the same to my ears in these recordings. And I'd go so far as to say the same is true in person, as well. Very minor differences, if any at all...
"King Koa Passive w/ Nordstrand NJ5FS" (Drums & Bass + EQ/FX/etc.)
"King Koa Passive w/ Nordstrand NJ5FS" (Naked Bass Track)
Sounds pretty much the same to my ears in these recordings. And I'd go so far as to say the same is true in person, as well. Very minor differences, if any at all...
"King Koa Passive w/ Nordstrand NJ5FS" (Drums & Bass + EQ/FX/etc.)
"King Koa Passive w/ Nordstrand NJ5FS" (Naked Bass Track)
Shoot - now I'm thinking I prefer the Aguilars. Something about the upper mids and top end. The Aguilars seem to extend just a bit higher, the top end is a little smoother maybe?
Am I imagining things?
Am I imagining things?
Of course, the difference is so small... it could be something as simple as the pickups heights being slightly different. I'm going to lower the neck pickup a hair and see what happens with the Nords...
Obsess much?!?
Obsess much?!?
Of course, the difference is so small... it could be something as simple as the pickups heights being slightly different. I'm going to lower the neck pickup a hair and see what happens with the Nords...
Obsess much?!?
Obsessed, Nah..... Complicated, maybe!
I love to listen to the different tracks in this thread. It's like King Koa has become the Pickup/Preamp test mule for the industry. But it never sounds bad no matter what you put in it.
FWIW... I'm a big fan of the Nordys and it might be time for me to try the flats again. Also it would be interesting to hear the OBP3 with the Aggie PU's in the King.
I'm going to let Greg do the explaining, but lets just say a certain bass of mine that has Aguilar pickups and an OBP-1 really spoke to him and I think the "maybe" above is soon to become a reality.
Yeah, man. The Roscoe PJ that Jeff recently received is a pretty amazing bass. I'd love if at least one of mine sounded half as good...
I think the OBP-1 and I might become really good friends if I can ever find the parts to get it installed... 25K stacked pots w/ no detents are seemingly impossible to find.
I think the OBP-1 and I might become really good friends if I can ever find the parts to get it installed... 25K stacked pots w/ no detents are seemingly impossible to find.
Seemingly impossible, yes, but I think I know someone who has a source
King Koa is already sounding awesome with the passive setup, but I think it will be on another level of awesome with the Aguilar pickups and OBP-1.
After re-reading a post I wrote today in another thread (mildly complaining about how I can't get any of my personal basses to sound like Marcus Miller's), I realized I wasn't really giving King Koa or my Lull a fair shake (what with both of them having flats on them).
Thinking about changing strings got me thinking about the bridge on King Koa... I had changed to a KSM bridge when I was having a warbly B string problem when I first got the bass. It eventually turned out to be the nut slut had been cut a hair too loosely, so I didn't really NEED to change the bridge once I had fixed the nut. But the KSM was on there, so I left it on there...
So this afternoon I dug up the original Hipshot bridge and put it back on King Koa along with a fresh set of my old favorite strings (SIT Power Wound nickel roundwounds). Man, oh, man - I'm pretty tickled! The bass is still passive (Aguilar 5J-HC's), but it's getting where I want it to go. As soon as I'm 100% happy passive, then I'll start futzing with preamps (maybe).
"How King Koa Sounds Today (4/20/13)"
Thinking about changing strings got me thinking about the bridge on King Koa... I had changed to a KSM bridge when I was having a warbly B string problem when I first got the bass. It eventually turned out to be the nut slut had been cut a hair too loosely, so I didn't really NEED to change the bridge once I had fixed the nut. But the KSM was on there, so I left it on there...
So this afternoon I dug up the original Hipshot bridge and put it back on King Koa along with a fresh set of my old favorite strings (SIT Power Wound nickel roundwounds). Man, oh, man - I'm pretty tickled! The bass is still passive (Aguilar 5J-HC's), but it's getting where I want it to go. As soon as I'm 100% happy passive, then I'll start futzing with preamps (maybe).
"How King Koa Sounds Today (4/20/13)"
Very nice slap tone Greg.
I forgot that you had changed the bridge on King Koa.
I really wouldn't expect to hear a difference in the slap tone from changing the bridge but I'm sure that the strings made a huge difference (that and the Aguilar 5J-HC p/u's).
Very nice!
I forgot that you had changed the bridge on King Koa.
I really wouldn't expect to hear a difference in the slap tone from changing the bridge but I'm sure that the strings made a huge difference (that and the Aguilar 5J-HC p/u's).
Very nice!
LOL. I did that about a year ago, too. Must be one of my typing proclivities... I wish I could say I was being clever, but I just typed too fast.
Why is it that this slight typo make me giggle like a school girl?
Maybe I live in the wrong neighborhood, I don't see many of these lately.
Greg,
I may be interested in trying the SIT strings. How did the strings compare to do. D'Adario and DR strings? How is the tone fingerstyle? Thanks man!
I like the SIT strings mainly for the way they feel. They're smoother to the touch than DRs, and feel just a smidge smoother than D'Addarios. I can't really speak to any tonal changes due to strings, I can't say I've ever really paid attention to that... other than something extreme like flats vs. rounds.
One thing to know about SITs - you have to get the extra long scale ones to use on a 35" scale bass.
One thing to know about SITs - you have to get the extra long scale ones to use on a 35" scale bass.
