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Nordstrand Zen Blade

#141
Cole, I would think carefully about stacking series-parallel options because of the difference in output. On the coil level, the increase in volume when switching into series is useful as a solo boost and can be balanced with the volume knob. But I wouldn't know what to do with an additional jump in volume when both pickups are in series.
 
#142
With the potential change in volume, you just take a sec to nudge your input gain on your amp. one way or the other. No big deal.

IMO, the tone changes are often much more useful than simply a solo boost. It can be like having a different pickup.
 
#143
I’m considering getting a Maruszczyk 30” 5 string built, and I’m considering zen blades for it. I have an NP5 and Big J Blade (W&W) in my 5 string Carvin that I really like, but I’ve wanted to try the soapbar nords for a while. Does anyone have any thoughts on if these would be a good match with a short scale bass with round wounds?

I also have a concern, I find that pretty much every time I have a flat J pickup in a Pj bass, the balance is uneven and the E string is way stronger than the others. The J blade was great for that because it’s curved, but I know the zen isn’t. Has anyone had this issue with the zen blade?

Thanks!
 
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#144
PotsdamBass8 said:
I’m considering getting a Maruszczyk 30” 5 string built, and I’m considering zen blades for it. I have an NP5 and Big J Blade (W&W) in my 5 string Carvin that I really like, but I’ve wanted to try the soapbar nords for a while. Does anyone have any thoughts on if these would be a good match with a short scale bass with round wounds?

I also have a concern, I find that pretty much every time I have a flat J pickup in a Pj bass, the balance is uneven and the E string is way stronger than the others. The J blade was great for that because it’s curved, but I know the zen isn’t. Has anyone had this issue with the zen blade?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Several pages back I explain the difference...
maurilio said:
Different structures behave differently... the big blades have to have a radius to be balanced output wise, but the zen blades, because of the two coils’s phase cancellation, have to be flat to compensate for even output.
Click to expand...
 
#145
Am very close to putting a pair of Zen Blades in my Pedulla Thunderbuzz 6 (fretless) - I've been getting great advice from Stew@Nord and Cesar@BBG, but want to see how folks here have wired them up to take advantage of either series/parallel or coil splitting - what has worked best? I've decided to go passive for now, so just volume/blend/tone, and I have 1 switch hole to play with, what config have you folks liked the best?

thx!

-ts
 
#146
A pair of Zen Blades will be going into a 4-string I'm having built, and I'm wondering if it is possible to have a 3-way switch wired for each pickup with each switch having the following positions: Series/Off/Parallel. This instrument will be totally passive with no other controls or electronics. Does anyone know if this is possible from an electronics point of view? Any ideas on finding a wiring diagram for this? Thanks.
 
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#147
TapyTap said:
A pair of Zen Blades will be going into a 4-string I'm having built, and I'm wondering if it is possible to have a 3-way switch wired for each pickup with each switch having the following positions: Series/Off/Parallel. This instrument will be totally passive with no other controls or electronics. Does anyone know if this is possible from an electronics point of view? Any ideas on finding a wiring diagram for this? Thanks.
Click to expand...
I am also looking into having a toggle for series/parallel switching. I think you need only one DPDT toggle switch. The wiring switches from having the pair of pickups connected in series or parallel, but not series or parallel for each pickup.
 
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#148
I’m having some custom bordwells built, and I’ve been thinking of going Nordstrand DC 4s. I’ve now been sucked down the zen blade rathole, and I’m thinking this is where I might end up.

so, on my Bordwell build, I’ll be doing custom wooden ramp/pickup covers. I’ll be ordering the pickups raw for this purpose. In the event that I want to experiment in the future, will the other raw soap bar pickups fit in the same custom wood housings?

This is definitely something I can’t find any info about.

I’m also thinking Parallel/Series/Single Coil switches for sure regardless of which pickups I go with, An active/passive switch, and the Nordstrand 3 band preamp with a switch for the mid frequencies. 6 knobs 4 switches.

It would be nice to have this built in a way I could pull the Zen Blades and throw in the dual coils and have screw down terminal blocks or a wiring harness to go between them without soldering. (I have bad eyes and shaky hands).

I’d love any thoughts from those who might know about this kind of stuff.
 
#149
LowWay said:
I’m having some custom bordwells built, and I’ve been thinking of going Nordstrand DC 4s. I’ve now been sucked down the zen blade rathole, and I’m thinking this is where I might end up.

so, on my Bordwell build, I’ll be doing custom wooden ramp/pickup covers. I’ll be ordering the pickups raw for this purpose. In the event that I want to experiment in the future, will the other raw soap bar pickups fit in the same custom wood housings?

This is definitely something I can’t find any info about.

I’m also thinking Parallel/Series/Single Coil switches for sure regardless of which pickups I go with, An active/passive switch, and the Nordstrand 3 band preamp with a switch for the mid frequencies. 6 knobs 4 switches.

It would be nice to have this built in a way I could pull the Zen Blades and throw in the dual coils and have screw down terminal blocks or a wiring harness to go between them without soldering. (I have bad eyes and shaky hands).

I’d love any thoughts from those who might know about this kind of stuff.
Click to expand...
Did this project come to fruition?
 
#151
I love these pickups. These are wired with a series/single/parallel switch and sound fantastic.
2DCC2EAC-80DC-4094-94BF-D64B12C71EEF.jpeg
 
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#154
A9X said:
There's 2 coils in each Blade.
Click to expand...
I've seen the pics of the 2 sidewinding coils, I just didn't know if it was purely for noise cancelling (as some pups are) or if it had leads for both coils so you could choose parallel/Series upon installation. I was confused as all the posts I saw here had a *set* of Zens so when they were talking about wirings they could have meant in each individual one or across the pair...

I also have a headache and have done too much thinking for work today... :wacky:
 
#155
MovinTarget said:
I've seen the pics of the 2 sidewinding coils, I just didn't know if it was purely for noise cancelling (as some pups are) or if it had leads for both coils so you could choose parallel/Series upon installation. I was confused as all the posts I saw here had a *set* of Zens so when they were talking about wirings they could have meant in each individual one or across the pair...

I also have a headache and have done too much thinking for work today... :wacky:
Click to expand...

The pickups are four wire, so you can do parallel/serial switching. Maybe even single coil but with much reduced output.
 
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#158
On my bass, series/single/parallel switching is for both pickups (not each pickup individually).

Someone (either in this thread or another) stated rather eloquently that the single coil setting on Zen Blades is not quite the same as a standard single coil bass pickup and I agree.

For what it’s worth, I enjoy having the switching option but tend to keep the bass in series and adjust the tone/preamp on the bass depending on the sound I’m going after.

To hear clips of the Zen Blades I definitely recommend checking out Maruszczyk’s videos on YouTube. Adrian has quite a few videos up of basses equipped with Zen Blades :hyper:
 
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#159
Hi to all,

i reup this thread because i have a question about zen blade pickups.

I decided to swap off the big singles pickups from my Ibanez sr1206 and get zenblades in it.

unfortunely at the moment there is only the neck pu available.

so i installed the New zen blade at neck position and i left the bigsingle at bridge.

i noticed that there is a big volume difference between those pickups. Is it normal?

i mean that the bigsingle has a lot more volume than the blade.

is it normal????
 

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