Official Zon Club Part 3

[ehque]

I'd put a $20 down on goncalo still, and would probably give away my Zons if it's zebrawood.

I'd say you're in no danger of losing your Zons, but if it was some magic zebrawood, how many Zons do you have to give away?

 

[impact_bass]

So, not trying to start a flame war about pickups. I have a fretless Sonus with J-style pickups which I love, but all of the fretted Sonus basses I am seeing lately have humbuckers. My Warwick thumb has J's, and that is what I am trying to replace, preferably with another lightweight Zon. Can someone enlighten me as to why the Zon basses with frets seem to be carrying humbuckers instead of J's? I am trying to make a buying decision and I cannot seem to find a place with both styles in stock, so it is hard to make a side by side comparison. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

[Vic]

So, not trying to start a flame war about pickups. I have a fretless Sonus with J-style pickups which I love, but all of the fretted Sonus basses I am seeing lately have humbuckers. My Warwick thumb has J's, and that is what I am trying to replace, preferably with another lightweight Zon. Can someone enlighten me as to why the Zon basses with frets seem to be carrying humbuckers instead of J's? I am trying to make a buying decision and I cannot seem to find a place with both styles in stock, so it is hard to make a side by side comparison. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

The Sonus I just ordered has the J style pickups. Those are my faves too because they are the ones installed in my older Sonus 5 which I really love.

And as far as I know, they are also at least mostly humbucking... I believe they are split coils, so in the case of 4 or 6 strings, they should be fully humbucking... in the case of a 5, they should still be mostly humbucking.

The point is, maybe a lot of current production may be coming out with the larger picukps, but the J style pickups are still available.

 

[ialma]

Zon suggested me (since looks like there is a delay in getting Polyfusion circuits) to install a Bartolini, 3-band system in place of the old Polyfusion.
Any hint/suggestion? I've been browsing the TB, and I've read it depends on the nature of the instrument. Polyfusion should go on darker sounding basses and Bartolini on bright ones, but...
Thank you everyone.

 

[rulyongo]

That's a tough decision. I absolutely love Bartolini preamps but haven't tried them in a Zon. Maybe part of the "Zon sound" is the Polyfusion preamp. Let's see what the Zon experts have to say...

 

[Angus]

It really just depends on what your tonal preference is- the Bartolini will be a much warmer, darker, colored sound, and the Polyfusion tends to be a bit clearer, more transparent.

I'd imagine that the comment to "put a Bartolini in the bright basses and the Polyfusion in the darker sounding basses" is just respectively offset the general characteristics of the bass. Since the Bartolini is naturally a bit bassier, a bit warmer, it will help offset the brightness in a, say, all maple-bodied bass. Putting the Bartolini in a naturally dark/warm instrument will accentuate that, and that may not be to everybody's needs. And vice versa with the clearer, brighter Polyfusion pre.

I personally don't think you really gain much by trying to move every bass towards some neutral reference point (because it doesn't necessarily mean it will be "balanced"), so I personally I don't find that particular piece of advice that useful.

What I would say is that if you have tried a Bartolini-pickup/Bartolini preamp bass in the past and liked it, then you are likely to like almost any permutation of bass that has that combination. I find that basses with all Bartolini electronics tend to more or less sound similar, with exception to oddball instruments like a Modulus. Take a particular basses underlying characteristics, add that on to the Bartolini "sound", and you have the expected recipe. It is pretty predictable, I've found.

If you prefer a much brighter, sharper, raspier, treble-heavy, ultra hi-fi tone, then Polyfusion is probably going to work better for you, especially against the warmer Bartolini pickups that your bass has, ialma.

Personally, though, the Polyfusion preamp really doesn't do much for me because I find that I can't tweak the low end in quite the way I want to. The Bartolini isn't my favorite either, but because I'm substantially more familiar with the sound, I tend to prefer that preamp in Zons.

I'm finding the same issue with the Pope preamp.

 

[Vic]

Personally, though, the Polyfusion preamp really doesn't do much for me because I find that I can't tweak the low end in quite the way I want to. The Bartolini isn't my favorite either, but because I'm substantially more familiar with the sound, I tend to prefer that preamp in Zons.

I'm finding the same issue with the Pope preamp.

The same as which, bart or poly?

I agree with your comments on the poly preamp, and at least for my tastes, with the wood combos I like and that composite neck, I'm not lacking for ANY highs in a Zon, so the bart is actually a very good solution for me. That's the one I have in my older Sonus 5 and it sounds really great to me.

 

[Angus]

Sorry- the construction was vague. I'm finding that I have the same issue in the Pope preamp of needing a bit more oomph in the bass/low-mids as I had with the Polyfusion. It's just a personal thing, as most everyone else finds the Pope to be about perfect...it's just a littttle bit too reigned-in/tasteful for me!

 

[ialma]

Maybe I'm preaching to the choir, but how can a medium sized instrument factory have PERMANENT issues with their suppliers and CONSTANTLY be out of stock parts and still be in business ?

 

[sps500]

IMHO they have a really great product. CS and delivery times....not so!

 

[bucephylus]

Personally, though, the Polyfusion preamp really doesn't do much for me because I find that I can't tweak the low end in quite the way I want to. The Bartolini isn't my favorite either, but because I'm substantially more familiar with the sound, I tend to prefer that preamp in Zons.

I'm finding the same issue with the Pope preamp.

I think when I get around to it, I will replace the Polyfusion in my Sonus Special with a Sadowsky preamp. The Polyfusion sounds OK, but it is just missing something. I say that after messing with the mid adjust quite a lot to get the circuit about as close as I can to where it needs to be. Still missing something. Pretty sure the Sadowsky will deliver the goods and should make the instrument dead center to what I want from it. YMMV

 

[Mulebagger]

I had a Zon Sonus fretless with the polyfusion circuit. I changed it out for a Bart pre with midrange and really liked the ability to control the mids on my fretless. I also had one with barts and a Uretro which I think was an amazing combination.

The Bart humbuckers on my Sonus Custom with the polyfusion pre sounds very similar to the Barts with the 3 band bart pre on my Modulus Q6. So I tend to agree with Angus that Barts tend to sound similar regardless of bass construction.

The exception for me was the all Bartolini electronics I had in my Elric hybrid platinum bass sounded completely different than the ones I had in my Genesis basses. Same circuit, but in that case, I believe the carbon fiber neck components of the Modulus sounded amazing while the Elrick seemed to be a dead sounding instrument. (same strings, same pickups, same pre, way different sound)

 

[Angus]

I think when I get around to it, I will replace the Polyfusion in my Sonus Special with a Sadowsky preamp. The Polyfusion sounds OK, but it is just missing something. I say that after messing with the mid adjust quite a lot to get the circuit about as close as I can to where it needs to be. Still missing something. Pretty sure the Sadowsky will deliver the goods and should make the instrument dead center to what I want from it. YMMV

I've tried the Sadowsky pre in my 4 string (I have it set up with two preamps at all times, so I've swapped them around to test different ones out). It sounded better than the old old Polyfusion the bass had, but was not a significant improvement for my taste.

The preamp I've had the most luck with is a U-Retro. I have it in all of my Zons now- it is just an insane combination with a Zon, and the range of sounds you can get makes tweaking for venue or for a producer's taste very easy. My 6 string can go from dub to upright to ultra modern hi-fi in a few seconds. I'd recommend it to anyone.

 

[bucephylus]

I've tried the Sadowsky pre in my 4 string (I have it set up with two preamps at all times, so I've swapped them around to test different ones out). It sounded better than the old old Polyfusion the bass had, but was not a significant improvement for my taste.

The preamp I've had the most luck with is a U-Retro. I have it in all of my Zons now- it is just an insane combination with a Zon, and the range of sounds you can get makes tweaking for venue or for a producer's taste very easy. My 6 string can go from dub to upright to ultra modern hi-fi in a few seconds. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Thanks very much. Certainly two different circuit designs. I don't really know which would be better for me, particularly since this is a fretless. The Sadowsky is more or less engineered to produce a tone palette that sits well in a mix. I suspect the East circuit is designed to a wider tonal palette. On a fretted instrument, I would know how to think about it; but, with the fretless, I may need to try both.

 

[bassjigga]

Is it fairly easy to change bridges? I'm looking at an older Zon with the Wilkinson bridge... only i hate that thing. Is it just a matter of drilling a few holes to install one of the current bridges?

 

[Mulebagger]

I took off my Wilkinson bridge from my old Sonus and put on a Hipshot A. I don't recall it being too much of a problem. Might have to drill and fill, but it's easy enough.

 

[Angus]

Yup, drill a few holes, that's it. I think with a Wilkinson to a Hipshot A/B there are no visible holes...but it's been a while since I've done it.

 

[onewebfoot]

Maybe I'm preaching to the choir, but how can a medium sized instrument factory have PERMANENT issues with their suppliers and CONSTANTLY be out of stock parts and still be in business ?

You ARE preaching to the choir, but that doesn't mean we don't agree with the music. It's *painful.*

I've even taken the *radical* step of making my Sonus more portable (given the wait on the Vinny) by ordering a Cronkhite case for it (the Sonus). Might even get one for my Genz-Benz micro-combo/stack. Backpack style for being fully mobilized on a bicycle. Then, once I get all that ramped up around the Sonus, voila, the Vinny will appear like magic to make all harmonious and good... (sarcasm)

 

[ppal]

Hey what do you guys use to polish up your "Satin" finish Zon's?
I noticed that Fodera uses the Minwax Finishing Paste for their satin finishes to get that "high glossy look", has anyone tried it on their own Zon?

 

[AndroWal]

Ken Smith Guitar Polish