"Official" Carvin and Kiesel Club - Part 3

This is right next to where I live. Might have to give this a look. Thanks for posting.

 

Shoot, if I had the spare cash, I would buy that.

 

Let us know how that Warwick plays/sounds!

Pffff.... Guitar Center.

5sg.

 

It is missing a couple strings...

 

I misspoke. I thought it was located at the Warwick, RI Guitar Center. Not a collaboration between Kiesel and Warwick It's not near me after all.

 

Doing some preliminary work on pickup replacements. Skip to the TLDR at the bottom if you don't want to read

I have an Osiris 5 string with a P pickup at the neck. When I ordered the bass I ordered passive only but they installed a preamp with no charge. I think it was during the transition period when they quit offering the passive only option.

Anyway I'm hankering for a P bass. I have a Roscoe Classic 4 string P/J that just sounds glorious with just the P pickup and I want that in a 5 string still.

My Osiris sounds nothing like that Roscoe with just the P pickup engaged. Plus it has like twice the output and overdrives some of my pedals. It has the preamp bypass but that doesn't change the tone much. It's just kinda flat and dull and still too high output. Not exciting at all.

So, here are my questions to those who have done this. Would completely removing the preamp and adding fully passive controls change the sound from just the preamp bypass? I plan to try this on a temporary basis soon by just hanging the controls out the back but it might be a while before I get time.

If that does not change the sound I'll be pickup shopping...but Kiesel uses an odd pickup. They use a standard P bass sized pickup instead of the long/short like Roscoe or Fender uses. Which that's fine, lots of builders do...but Kiesel also has it set up to where the top pickup gets the B and E string and the bottom get the A/D/G where most builders who use that size in a 5 string have it B/E/A and then D/G. Again, that's fine as it really picks up the B string nicely the way Kiesel does it.

TLDR version and to sum up:
This bass needs a standard sized P pickup with rails/bars. Have you replaced the P pickup on your 5 string Kiesel? What pickup did you use? Looking for a classic P sound.

 

Speaking of pickups, have any of you replaced your flat-shaped soapbar pickups with the radiused ones? I can eq my current Icon's ceramic soaps to have more oomph on the middle strings, but it is still uneven. I've noticed that the j-style/bar-shaped pickups are actually even across the strings, so no complaints on my B5's pickups. I kind of miss the even feel and response like my old Peaveys' radiused soaps.

Is it a dramatic tone difference? I know there's the factor of going from ceramic to alnico (fan of the former more), so what are your opinions?

 

I'll be curious to hear where you land for a P pickup replacement. I've toyed with replacing the pickups in my PJ Icon, but haven't really wanted to hassle with sourcing custom sized pickups. Although that said, I'm pretty sure I read about someone here contacting Nordstrand for pickups in Carvin-sized covers and being quite happy. So, Carey may already have a template for the odd size/setup. I just haven't gotten around to checking... 2020 was a pretty dry year for gigs.

5sg.

 

Nordstrand is who I had in mind. But the issue is not really the size, as they are the same size as any other P pickup. The issue is that most 5 string P pickups are designed for 3 strings on the top pickup and 2 on the bottom. Kiesel does the opposite...2 strings on the top and 3 on the bottom. That's probably because they use the same pickup for 4 or 5 string basses.

I may have to check with Nordstrand and see if basically they would sell a P pickup set with two 'top' pickups.

So instead of this:




You'd have this:

 

Does anyone know the default string spacing on the B4 basses with the hipshot B bridge? Mine needs a replacement (bought a used one awhile back and had a rusted bridge that I finally want to replace). I know they use hipshot B bridges, but it looks like the screw spacing is different depending on string spacing, so I'm not sure which to get. I'm guessing 19mm, but I'm not positive.

4 String B Style Bass Bridge

 

Yes should be 19mm.

 

I've been thinking of getting a shortscale bass due to having wrist issues in the past. I'm really intrigued by the Vader shortscale. I'd be looking to get a 5 string. Can anyone tell me of their experiences? How does the B-string sound on the Vader? Does it manage not to sound too lose and "flubby"? If anyone has any sound or video clips and any advice I'd greatly appreciate it . Would be awesome if Kiesel did shortscale in the Zeus or Thanos.

 

Kiesel's SCP pickup is/should be the same size as a standard 4 string P bass pickup. However, the SCP is a blade design and the blade goes across basically the entire length of each piece of the pickup. this allows them to use the same pickup for 4, 5, and 6 strings.

Nordstrand's new 5 string version of the power blade pickup is not currently available in a fender size. It may just be a supply issue (none made yet?) and maybe you could actually just call and order one and recieve it whenever its done. or it may be that the physical size of the blades prevents it from fitting? I don't know, you would have to ask.

OR

Nordstrand could probably cram their 5 string pole piece P plckups into a 4 string casing, to fit the Kiesel. Nordstrand's upcharge for a fairly straightforward custom piece like that, is quite small. I would ask about that.



Also, the SCP has a baked-in "active" sort of tone. Running it passive won't change it a lot. However, you could probably gain a little twist on the tone, by using 250k pots and a fender style greasepot tone knob.

 

Nice looking Aries fretless with bevel-delete, misslabled as an Xccelerator:

Kiesel Xccelerator (6 string Fretless) Natural | Laine’s Guitar Vault | Reverb

 

If it was unlined, I'd snag it...

 

My original band recorded this audio on one of our phones, just for simplicity's sake. It still sounds pretty good, especially for live jamming in a basement. Btw, no vox have been written yet.

Bass used is an Icon 5.

 

How about some short scale Vader love

 

Recorded some tracks last night with my guitarist friend, starting with the STP tune, Interstate Love Song. My B5 went direct to the board, from my bass, with no DI. I went active, and got a really clear and growly tone, so hopefully I'll be getting a copy of my mix to show you all. That old 9-volt preamp is pretty nice!

 

This is a vid of a different tune...original one, actually. Like I've said before, we build the instrumental halves, then put down vocals afterwards, so this tune was written with vocals to arrive in time. Anyway, this is with my Icon: