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Official Zon Club Part 3

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#723
ppal said:
Anyone ever try a different preamp on their Zon bass other than Polyfusion? I'm real curious about the East, Aguilar, and Audere pre's...or are you happy with the Polyfusion?
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I have a custom Mosaic Pro with a Bartolini 3 band pre and I love it. It's got a push/pull midrange boost/cut at 800hz and 250hz. I boost the 800hz just slightly and it helps cut through the band mix.
 
#727
The Mike Pope Flexcore has my interest as well, but it may be very similar to the Polyfusion in tone. Barts seem to be the most trusted alternative to the PF. I talked with a local luthier and he said he has installed quite a few different pre's but really thought the Audere preamp was killer, he said if you go that way they can custom build one to your specs....has me thinking. I remember playing a Roscoe with an Audere pre in it and it was incredible, much more punch than the Bart or Aguilar.
 
#728
ppal said:
The Mike Pope Flexcore has my interest as well, but it may be very similar to the Polyfusion in tone.
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This wasn't my experience. IMHO, the FlexCore is a lot cleaner and more natural sounding, while the PolyFusion is much more processed sounding, and IME much noisier, too. Not a fan of the PolyFusion (no offense, to Joe or PolyFusion fans, of course).

Barts seem to be the most trusted alternative to the PF. I talked with a local luthier and he said he has installed quite a few different pre's but really thought the Audere preamp was killer, he said if you go that way they can custom build one to your specs....has me thinking. I remember playing a Roscoe with an Audere pre in it and it was incredible, much more punch than the Bart or Aguilar.
Click to expand...
I was never really that impressed with the Audere's tone, though its construction and the design ideas are great. Aguilar is kinda' good sounding, but I still like the Bart better, and I think the Bart is also more flexible.

That said, I have limited experience with the Audere, and it could have been I didn't have the right caps installed for the pickups I was using it with. I'm told this is the key to that preamp, and when I got mine, the cap sets were sold separately, so I didn't get them to experiment with. I figured no other preamp needs tweaking like this, so I'd just go with what Dave shipped stock and see how it fared. I ended up flipping it pretty quickly. Also, if he's revised his design since then, all bets are off. FWIW.

Honestly, I'd also recommend considering a fourth option, however. Carey Nordstrand's 2B and 3B preamps are REALLY nice IMHO, and can be configured in some nice ways.
 
#730
Opportunity to post a better pic of the top of my baby.
customzon1.jpg
 
#732
Thanks. That's the bass in the recording I posted in post #720
Satin bubinga (mmm, feels so nice), Bart pre with 3-way switchable mids.
Sounds and feels like a dream. It's been my main bass since I got it a year and a half ago, and has totally killed my GAS for any other fretless.
 
#734
ppal said:
Thats valuable info for me Vic, I was wondering about the comparisions with the Aguilar and the Bart. Could you explain more about the flexibility of the Bart vs. the Aguilar?
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Just more wiring options, more you can do with mids, and I think the Aggie can't be wired with a gain adjuster, which I find very useful. Plus, I've always felt like, especially the bass control, was just way over the top too powerful... you can't hardly turn the knob or you get "too much". Finally, I have to verify, but I think I hear an odd interaction with the lows and highs on the Aggie... like if you boost lows, you lose highs somehow? Anyway, just a pref thing. Aggies are used in many products, including a couple of mine, so I don't "dislike" them, I just like other stuff better.

FWIW.
 
#736
Thanks, Vic. I sure think so. With the satin finish the grain doesn't "pop" visually as much, so it doesn't come through in a lot of photos.
Sure sounds lovely, too.
 
#737
kesslari said:
Thanks, Vic. I sure think so. With the satin finish the grain doesn't "pop" visually as much, so it doesn't come through in a lot of photos.
Sure sounds lovely, too.
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Well, IMHO, there's very definitely something to be said for a more natural wood look (and to an extent) feel, as well.

My older Zon is the "under glass" type gloss finish, and it's great, but my newer Zon is the satin finish, and I like it every bit as much (despite it's a flame/quilt koa, which would REALLY pop "under glass").
 
#739
Sleepwalker42 said:
Anybody knows when Zon introduced the Phenowood fretboard or it's always been there since the beginning? Is there a cut off year?
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Angus might know best on this, but I thought it was there since the beginning along with their particular proprietary flavor of composite material for the neck itself.
 
#740
My best guess is that you are right, Vic- it has probably always been roughly the same material. The visual change is the only obvious difference- when they went from the smooth black, almost textureless stuff to the faux-grain black/white stuff. I'd guess that was somewhere in the 2004/5-ish range?

Edit: Some of the material called phenowood and/or phenolic is birch impregnanted with a phenolic resin under pressure, and older stuff is often a cellulose composite with a similar phenolic resin. I don't know which they used back in the day.
 
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