CormacBass
Commercial User
I gave 50 of those out at Namm, they were gone in 30 minites. I just put that shirt for sale on my site.
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NAMM standout - McGrath basses
- Thread starter BGroovy
- Start date
CormacBass
Commercial User
Please post tone comparisions, looking forward to it!
CormacBass
Commercial User
Awesome thank you!
Most of the shirts I brought to Namm went to people who just wanted a free shirt.
My friend Mike Ingold brought shirts too but gave them out sparingly. Live and learn I guess!
Step 1 of my Thunderhorse modding. Today it’s on the bench getting push/pull pots as pickup selectors on the three volume knobs
Push/Pull wiring complete. I reversed the phase of the P and J pickup to get it sounding the most in phase across the pickup combinations.
I used 500K pots so I think there's more of a full range coming through when pickups are solo'd, and without the additional load of the other pickups.
Still not a huge fan of the EMG HZ so I've got a set of DiMarzio Relentless PJs in gold on the way and a Lollar Thunderbird in gold.
I still have the parts and preamp to switch to a 3 band EQ, but I'm going to dial it in passive first (and may leave it).
If I go active the controls will change to 4 push/pull pots with:
- Master Volume / Neck Pickup bypass on pull
- Bass / P Pickup bypass on pull
- Treble / J Pickup bypass on pull
- Mids / Mid Frequency change from 800 to 250 on pull
Sounds good, feels good. Took way longer to wire than I thought but I'm great at underestimating projects.
I used 500K pots so I think there's more of a full range coming through when pickups are solo'd, and without the additional load of the other pickups.
Still not a huge fan of the EMG HZ so I've got a set of DiMarzio Relentless PJs in gold on the way and a Lollar Thunderbird in gold.
I still have the parts and preamp to switch to a 3 band EQ, but I'm going to dial it in passive first (and may leave it).
If I go active the controls will change to 4 push/pull pots with:
- Master Volume / Neck Pickup bypass on pull
- Bass / P Pickup bypass on pull
- Treble / J Pickup bypass on pull
- Mids / Mid Frequency change from 800 to 250 on pull
Sounds good, feels good. Took way longer to wire than I thought but I'm great at underestimating projects.
The Thunder Horse is part way through its conversion to The Golden Stallion.
DiMarzio Relentless PJs installed. These pickups are HOT and sound awesome. So much more output than the EMG HZ.
I have a gold (of course) Lollar Thunderbird neck pickup on the way. Fingers crossed it's a match sonically and visually.
Loving the push/pull pots so far.
So each pickup has its own volume with on/off to disengage from the circuit when not in use and a master tone? Nice!
What are you gaining with the push/pull pots as opposed to just turning the volume all the way down when not in use?
Easy pickup switching while leaving their volume settings where I want them when they are engaged, and taking the load out of the circuit completely. I find rolling the volumes all the way down for the pickups I dont want to use and then rolling them back to a preferred volume to be a lot with 3 knobs/pickups.
I usually go full volume and don't blend a ton, I thought about just a multi way pickup selector, but it would have to be a 7 way switch I think to get all the combos and that seems unwieldy.
This was what I came up with using all the existing knobs.
I see now.
Finally got a couple of picks of the Black n Gold Thunderhorse.
**The camera on my phone takes horrible pictures. That wood grain stands out way more than in these pictures.
Finally got a couple of picks of the Black n Gold Thunderhorse.
**The camera on my phone takes horrible pictures. That wood grain stands out way more than in these pictures.
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so good in black and gold. Jealous of the ebony board.
May be discussing a new short scale model with Cormac that would be tbird + P and I'd definitely get that with an ebony board.
I like it!
Reminds me of something I did about 50 years ago…
Not as nice looking though
Reminds me of something I did about 50 years ago…
Not as nice looking though
I’ve gotta work to record some sound clips. I’m finding all combinations to be very usable now. Been adjusting pickup heights and have it pretty dialed this morning.
The Lollar t bird on its own is super smooth and jazzy. I really like it.
When combining the t bird with either the P or J, I’d best describe it as adding some very pleasing low end warmth to those pickups.
All three pickups is kinda cool now too, that’s a position I wasn’t loving before.
The pickups are very well matched in volume.
Summary - it sounds as good as it looks. Tons of fun.
I played it yesterday
It's fretless and it has v/v/v with in-out phase switches for the J and P pickups. No other tone controls other then blending pickups and phase switches. It was inspired by the 60s-70a bass players I was in to. Phil and Jack as far as modding in general. Alphonse Johnson as far as fretless and phase switches.
Good times
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