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Modulus Mob

#9,643
fauxtoe said:
In my quest to tame my Quantum 5 down a bit while having better control over the mids, I think I might have finally found a good setup with the EMG BQC system and EMG 40CS pickups. They are supposed to be a lot smoother in the mids and highs, and so far I'm hearing that. At 18v there is very clean headroom boosting any of the frequencies and it doesn't feel like it gets boomy on the bass side.

The ACG preamp that I had been using and was sold to me by a generous member here, was very nice with lots of tones to be found, but just wasn't going to work for me to make quick changes live. The stock Bart pickups to my ears are also too upper midrange honky sounding with either the ACG or the stock Bart NTMBT preamp that came with the bass. Warm is not in their vocabulary, but they don't have a problem projecting through the mix even if you're trying to not be forward. That works for some people, but not me.

Going from Barts to EMG is a fairly easy, almost solder-less install. I just had to create one connection that turned it from 9v to 18v, which is recommended in their instructions. Overall, time will tell, but it feels a lot more controllable now.
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I had my Bart/Bart setup switched to EMGs (40DCX’s and BQC) and I’m very happy with it. TONS of headroom and clarity. I do like the Bart NTMB pre though, have it in a few other basses (including a Genesis), I think the Bart pickups they use may be the weak link.
 
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#9,645
MattLplaysBass said:
I had my Bart/Bart setup switched to EMGs (40DCX’s and BQC) and I’m very happy with it. TONS of headroom and clarity. I do like the Bart NTMB pre though, have it in a few other basses (including a Genesis), I think the Bart pickups they use may be the weak link.
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I also think the weak link is the pickups. I have the NTMB in my FB5 with a Legacy pickup and I don't have too many complaints with that one. However, the EMG/EMG setup is just sweeeeet sounding. I went with the 40CS pickups instead of the DC's, or a combination of both, and I also think that was the right choice. I listened to as many demos as I could and the DC's I think would have been too much in the opposite direction that I was trying to go, especially in the bridge where it's positioned really close to it and is the source of the upper mid nasally tones I was trying to tame. The biggest thing I've noticed is how well the blend actually works. I can find those in between tones that were much harder to dial in with the Barts, and frankly any other two pickup bass with a blend that I've ever tried. EMG found some kind of secret sauce with that control. The mid sweep is also where it's at when trying to really get it to sit where I want. It goes from modern slaptastic to fat, bold, and punchy without much effort.
 
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#9,647
So I just took delivery of a this Modulus Bassstar Jazz: IMG_0033.JPG

Lovely bass, great form factor, very resonant. But the electronics are not going to work for me (I pretty much figured on that going in). Tonally I might be able to live with them for a bit, but the 60-cycle hum is a no-go. Even when both pickups are full, there's still too much noise.

Here's the electronics cavity: IMG_0037.JPG Does anyone know whether that's supposed to be shielding paint? The toggle switch appears to be a low-cut and/or mid-boost. Does anyone know how these toggle switches were originally described, or what their intended use was?

My likely plan is to swap the Barts for something quieter in a J-Bass format. I'm thinking the bass currently has the correct number of holes for an Aguilar OBP3. I'd prefer not to make new ones, but might do it if the results are awesome.

Here are the upgrades I'd like to do:
  • Ultra light tuners, with a hip-shot d-tuner on the E. Any issues with that? Any trick doing this on a graphite neck, other than getting the tuner route size correct? (Anyone know what the tuner hole size should be, or what compatible ultra-light tuners to use?)
  • Full shielding. I used copper foil on my other Jazz Bass and it's dead-quiet in all circumstances, even though it's got stock single-coil Fenders.
  • Different Pickups. Need to research options here. Aquilar AG 4J-HC's are close in dimensions. I'll definitely be obsessing er, researching options more intensely, both from a sonic qualities standpoint as well as from an external dimensions standpoint
  • Pre-amp. Leaning Aquilar, but open to suggestions.

Lastly, anyone have any clues on dating this bass? No external numbers visible. Headstock does not say "Modulus/Alembic", so it's probably later in the Bassstar era, I'd imagine.

BTW - it's a neck-through: IMG_0043.JPG
 
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#9,649
UpperBout said:
So I just took delivery of a this Modulus Bassstar Jazz:View attachment 3629542

<snip>

Here's the electronics cavity: View attachment 3629535 Does anyone know whether that's supposed to be shielding paint?

<snip>
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Quoting, and answering, my own post: It is definitely some kind of shielding. It actually looks like an aluminum shell under some insulating paint of some kind. There is a ground wire running to it, and the cavity itself is conductive (I tested it with a multi-meter)
 
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#9,653
GeoffGould said:
Well I can’t say 100%, I think probably this is some after sale installation of shielding. I don’t remember any time we would put paint on top of foil. It was rare to even use aluminum foil as a shielding material.
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donk said:
That looks like the copper shielding tape that has been painted over with shielding paint.
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It's odd. The aluminum looks more like a stamped housing that's been installed in the control cavity. It doesn't look like tape or foil - there are no visible wrinkles or overlapping pieces. The paint is not conductive, but touching two bare spots inside the cavity with a multi-meter shows that there's a conductive layer of metal underneath the paint. The back plate covering the electronics cavity is a thick and very well-made slab of aluminum, with nicely beveled screw holes and a perfect fit on the control cavity. The plate is black on the outside and almost appears like plastic. On the inside of the back-plate, it looks like the same black coating was sanded off using a wire brush - presumably to continue the grounding loop.

The way the ground wire is connected makes me think the shielding enclosure was part of the original conception of the bass. Although I hesitate to contradict @GeoffGould on this...
 
#9,655
donk said:
The back plates were aluminum with black back then. That doesn’t look like original wiring. Could have bees shielded when required and the switch addedView attachment 3632279
Click to expand...

Well, you helped me solve one other mystery: Whether that switch was original equipment.

I'm assuming from the pics that you owned one of these at one time, but don't any longer. I also had assumed the center stripe was mahogany, but after looking at your caption and my bass, it seems like it might be purple-heart.

I can't read the year on the handwritten caption... is that 1981?

I'm still trying to collect as many specifics (or concrete facts) about this era of Modulus as I can.

Although at this point it's just curiosity - regardless of when it was made or what it's made out of, it's a lovely, easy-to-play, and resonant bass.
 
#9,657
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