NBD: Lakland 55-01

[rojo412]

A bass I've never owned before was Lakland, so I felt I should get one at some point. Well, not long ago, I spotted one here on the classifieds and the price was irresistible. So I snagged it and she arrived yesterday, while I was at work.

One thing I knew off the bat was my inevitable hatred of the Bartolini sound, but that was offset by my desire for a bass to try with Nordstrand Big Splits. So, I bought a set of those before I even got the bass.
I also had an Aguilar OBP-3 sitting here and decided that would also make a fine addition to this beast.

When it arrived yesterday, I plugged it in and recorded a crappy video of it with the Barts and stock pre.

Once that was done, I ripped the bass apart and did what I had to do:
Added copper shielding to the control cavity...

Put the pickups and preamp in...

I think I finished up somewhere about 3:30 am last night (or this morning, I guess), but it was done!
I now have her all wired up custom and wonderful:
Vol-Vol-Tone-Mid-Bass
Push pulls for bypass, series/parallel, and mid frequency.
I did passive tone instead of the treble control for 3 reasons:
1) I never boost my treble on other basses.
2) It works in passive mode.
3) No extra holes needed to be drilled.

Here's it done:

And the difference in tone (Same settings on amp, same strings, same):

Hard to tell from my crappy camera audio, but the new setup is LOUDER, CLEARER, and has insane amounts of bass

 

[Gecko 5]

Nice score, nice mod.
Check out
Link Removed

 

[Chef]

I love their silver.
Nice bass!
I'd have done a treb/bass stacked config; no extra holes.
If you don't need it, that's cool though!

 

[rojo412]

Would have done that if I had one here... but this is working out well so far. I actually have the whole treb pot in the cavity, wrapped up.

 

[drpepper]

Nice!

I wish I had the experience/knowledge to do upgrades myself.

 

[rojo412]

Everything I know, I learned from Talkbass!!!

And I just changed the strings to Ken Smiths and the bass came alive.

 

[rojo412]

I'm going to be brutally honest here...

I had my apprehensions about this bass, even with the upgrades. I wasn't really falling in love with the tone at home. But I definitely had to see how a practice situation would go down, so I brought it with me.

Plugged in, turned down a little (hotter than the last bass I brought, I guess). Got into a good groove with the drummer and BAM! It hit me. The bass and I connected and I found myself LOVING it.
I was beating the crap out of it in a Faith No More / Sabbathy groove and it was great. Then, in a moment of a kind of Clutch groove, it was even better.
The strings broke it, bass and I hit it off and I'm absolutely blown away. This is a wonderful bass and I'm quite happy I pulled the trigger on all of it.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

 

[Luke.Walton]

Please excuse my ignorance, but why is the battery in the preamp compartment?

 

[drpepper]

Please excuse my ignorance, but why is the battery in the preamp compartment?

Guessing 18v

 

[drpepper]

The strings broke it, bass and I hit it off and I'm absolutely blown away.

I have a question too...what do you mean by "the strings broke it?"

 

[rojo412]

Yes, 18v, you are correct!

And I think I meant that the strings broke my apprehensions about the bass, meaning that the new strings won me over.
I don't know now, I was a little tired last night when I typed it.

They didn't break anything on the bass, though.

 

[DWBass]

Nice. I have a stock 55-01 that I need to upgrade as well. Not quite sure I'm going Nordstrand. Just way too expensive but I may have to bite the bullet. As for pre-amp, I'm on the fence with Audere or another. Maybe US Bart pre. I need a more tamer pre with not so much boost in bass and treble. The stock pre is horrible. I like the EMG pre's. Just enough boost without the overkill!

 

[negative theory]

I have had a 55-01 since 2002, inca silver with a rosewood board. I swapped out the pickups for a set of Delanos and I love it. I should swap out the preamp next.

 

[DWBass]

I have had a 55-01 since 2002, inca silver with a rosewood board. I swapped out the pickups for a set of Delanos and I love it. I should swap out the preamp next.

I'm hearing the pickups aren't that bad but it's the preamp is the weak link.

 

[rojo412]

Honestly, the pickups are just awful. I think better pickups and stock pre would make WAY more difference than stock pickups and new pre.

The Big Splits are much hotter and louder and even though they are pricey, they are worth it.

You can get better Barts, SGDs, Delanos, I think Duncans maybe, and of course Nordys.

 

[Mastermold]

I love their silver.
Nice bass!

+1 the silver looks good, haven't seen it in that color before.

 

[madbassplaya]

Honestly, the pickups are just awful. I think better pickups and stock pre would make WAY more difference than stock pickups and new pre.

The Big Splits are much hotter and louder and even though they are pricey, they are worth it.

You can get better Barts, SGDs, Delanos, I think Duncans maybe, and of course Nordys.

the preamp in these basses are weak, but the pickups just suck. i hated the sound of this bass when i owned it. i was going a very similar route with nordies, but decided to go another direction and sell the bass.

 

[rojo412]

... and I thank you for that

Just some notes from my many experiences with numerous basses upgraded:
PICKUPS MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE
PREAMPS ONLY MODIFY THE SOUND OF THE PICKUPS

If you hate low output or poor tonality, do the pickups before the preamp. It's always a better idea, IMO.

I'm actually going to try putting the pre into something else to see how it sounds. The market is flooded with these pres (pickups, too), so I may as well experiment, right? I have it sitting here...