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NBM: Harley Benton Enhanced MP-5EB
- Thread starter And I
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- benton harley harley benton
Yeah, I agree. Mine is superb fit & finish. This is not hype, straight out of the box, it feels and plays better than my Elite (which I had set up by a cert. Fender luthier and he does a great job).
Just placed my order!!! OH YEAH!!! hurry Thomann hurry!
I've been wanting a 5 string PBass style for so long.
I've been wanting a 5 string PBass style for so long.
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BestBassGear FINALLY got the backordered parts in from Hipshot and shipped my order! No beef with BBG, they were communicative and were just waiting on the manufacturer. In any case, new nordstrand preamp and knobs and ultralite tuners on the way!
Yes but not how they fit yet!
I know I am going to have to drill new screw holes...4 Hipshot Ultralite Tuner HB6C 1/2 inch Satin Chrome Bass Side BBG 2675
1 Hipshot Ultralite Tuner HB6C 1/2 inch Satin Chrome Treble Side BBG 3157
Yes but not how they fit yet!
4 Hipshot Ultralite Tuner HB6C 1/2 inch Satin Chrome Bass Side BBG 2675
1 Hipshot Ultralite Tuner HB6C 1/2 inch Satin Chrome Treble Side BBG 3157
Thank you sir!
The tuners are in! Neck dive completely gone, probably a good half pound shaved off. Seriously those stock tuners are good but heavy!
As mentioned, drilling required, and it doesn't look pretty from the back. But get a load of the size difference!
There is a grommet wedged into the post hole. It will need to be tapped out. I used a tiny crowbar and hammer. It does require some force, but I went slow and it all came out fine.
I used the "put a piece of tape around the drill bit" method to mark the depth (and avoid drilling right through the headstock (which is a thing I would do)).
Looks sweet from the front.
As mentioned, drilling required, and it doesn't look pretty from the back. But get a load of the size difference!
There is a grommet wedged into the post hole. It will need to be tapped out. I used a tiny crowbar and hammer. It does require some force, but I went slow and it all came out fine.
I used the "put a piece of tape around the drill bit" method to mark the depth (and avoid drilling right through the headstock (which is a thing I would do)).
Looks sweet from the front.
The preamp, on the other hand, not so simple... I saw the wiring diagram, which looks simple enough, one lead from each pickup, the battery leads, and a ground. Everything else is pre-wired.
The pickups have multiple wires though...
So I need to look up (or get a multimeter and test) the Roswell pickups, and refer to the Nordstrand site (Pickup Wiring Diagrams and Schematics) to figure out what to do with the extra wires.
The pickups have multiple wires though...
So I need to look up (or get a multimeter and test) the Roswell pickups, and refer to the Nordstrand site (Pickup Wiring Diagrams and Schematics) to figure out what to do with the extra wires.
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Seems WSC has well over a dozen different tuners all called JB45, and I see this is the only one they have a picture of. I am going to guess it's just a different flavor of JB45 on there. I'd be interested to know if anyone else who has one of these basses has the smaller tuner shown in that thumbnail...
As for the pickup-to-preamp wiring, thanks very much for that explanation, @kodiakblair! I'm still stumped because the nordstrand preamp wiring diagram just shows one connection from each pickup being soldered to the volume knob. I don't know where to solder all of the different wires. I've got a question in to Nordstrand about it...
As for the pickup-to-preamp wiring, thanks very much for that explanation, @kodiakblair! I'm still stumped because the nordstrand preamp wiring diagram just shows one connection from each pickup being soldered to the volume knob. I don't know where to solder all of the different wires. I've got a question in to Nordstrand about it...
For the P-bass pickup I'd think white goes to centre lug of blend pot,as does the green from MM. Black/red and black/bare are the grounds so need connected to the sleeve lug on the jack socket,this could be done by soldering to back of a pot then running a wire to the socket from it.
In other news, I have a jam session tonight, my only 5 string bass is unwired... looks like i get to choose one of my old 4s to bring... I'm thinking squier PJ special with flats.
sweet! it's a concentric/stacked volume/volume. so grounds to the back will essentially connect them together. that's fine?
Soldering is done. And I would have had it ready for rehearsal but...
I have to widen the pickguard holes to let the stems fit through.
Also, and more significant, the input jack mounting plate on the harley is ever so slightly smaller than the input jack soldered to the preamp assembly. It goes in like half a turn and that's that. I probably need to solder on the stock input jack.
I have to widen the pickguard holes to let the stems fit through.
Also, and more significant, the input jack mounting plate on the harley is ever so slightly smaller than the input jack soldered to the preamp assembly. It goes in like half a turn and that's that. I probably need to solder on the stock input jack.
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Playing a 4 string at rehearsal went pretty well... When I got home I swapped out the input jack and put the original back in and finished widening the pickguard holes. I lost my electrical tape so need to get more to at least somewhat protect the battery leads before i put the pickguard back on and really put it through it's paces... But I did plug it in play for a minute and it works! All the knobs do what they should and there was no buzzing, humming, static, things dropping out when you tap on it, etc that would indicate my soldering wasn't on point. So tomorrow when I close it up and play for a while I'll have some impressions of this thing with the new preamp. Can't wait!
Took a little finagling and a few zip ties to get the wiring and all to fit in the cavity and get the pickguard down flush... aaaaand I have to open it all up again because the preamp signal is too loud and I need to adjust the dial to bring it down. Trying to get the level balanced between preamp and bypass. I also started getting some buzzing on the P pickup, I'll guess I knocked a ground wire loose...
So yeah, tl;dr it works good. My work wasn't the cleanest, but it seems solid, so far... I will definitely be bringing two 5ers to gigs when I get my Brute back next week...
I balanced the bypassed and preamped levels and got it put back together for hopefully the last time. No visible wiring issues. I wiggled every wire and there are no lose connections. The P pickup solo'd has a very slight buzz when the preamp is engaged. Turning up the treble and diming the tone knob makes it worse. The P pickup will definitely be soloed a fair amount, but i imagine usually with the preamp bypassed or with the tone and treble both down a bit. Also, you'd never hear the buzz through a band so I am not going to worry.
I played around with it more, it still sounds huge, but a little brighter with the tone knob all the way up (no tone knob before). And now there's also 2 volumes and a 3 band eq with adjustable mid frequency! So yay. The dual volume thing I think will come in useful to balance the volume of the P soloed vs both full on. There is a very small range where either volume does much to affect the sound when both pickups are on. It's kind of like a 5 way switch, just with two knobs instead of the switch...
It's going to take some time learning the eq in the context of a band to have any real opinions about the nordy pre. The roswell pickups are very big and bulky sounding, tons of girth... so I have a feeling I will end up usually cutting out a bit of bass and mids, and switching a lot between passive and active.
I balanced the bypassed and preamped levels and got it put back together for hopefully the last time. No visible wiring issues. I wiggled every wire and there are no lose connections. The P pickup solo'd has a very slight buzz when the preamp is engaged. Turning up the treble and diming the tone knob makes it worse. The P pickup will definitely be soloed a fair amount, but i imagine usually with the preamp bypassed or with the tone and treble both down a bit. Also, you'd never hear the buzz through a band so I am not going to worry.
I played around with it more, it still sounds huge, but a little brighter with the tone knob all the way up (no tone knob before). And now there's also 2 volumes and a 3 band eq with adjustable mid frequency! So yay. The dual volume thing I think will come in useful to balance the volume of the P soloed vs both full on. There is a very small range where either volume does much to affect the sound when both pickups are on. It's kind of like a 5 way switch, just with two knobs instead of the switch...
It's going to take some time learning the eq in the context of a band to have any real opinions about the nordy pre. The roswell pickups are very big and bulky sounding, tons of girth... so I have a feeling I will end up usually cutting out a bit of bass and mids, and switching a lot between passive and active.
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