Peavey G Bass Mod: Ya or Nay

[non]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I think I will leave the bass as is.

 

[MattZilla]

This guy with Scandinavian ears starts at post #39 really liking his in stock form.

Some of the other reviews dusted more cobwebs off my memories of it being weird… bright neck+damped body+bright pickup+damped pre= balanced but definitely not the Flea/Tim Commerford sound us teenage millennial skate punks wanted to hear from a bass guitar ~Y2K.

It does look like it would take a Lane Poor MM pickup, so I suppose you could do a full pickup & pre swap and turn it into a Modulus Flea Bass if that's of any interest…

 

[FatOwlBass]

I wonder if a G&L humbucker would fit. It would be a nice upgrade.

 

[kgbeast]

As a last blurb about VFL pickups paired to Cirrus preamp, like in this G-bass, since it was brought up. It does work on a single 9v battery. I did a bit of an extensive evaluation in the past and found that the tone and tone control is not audibly affected using record and blind listen as solo. Neither this affects the tone adjustment range nor the bg noise level (basically non existent in these basses). However, with two 9v batteries, it is expected to last about 90% longer since the Cirrus bass with 2 pickups pulls about 4uA from a single battery and about 4.5uA from two batteries.
I also compared single use Energizers to rechargeable EBL Li-Ion from Amazon, and once again, the tone is the same, range is the same, and battery life is similar. Also works fine with a single rechargeable battery. To use a single battery, you need either to short either of the two batteries terminals or connect a single battery to both terminals as shown in the attached. Note that only one of the two possible combinations will work, the other combination will short the battery (totally safe for the bass, but will shorten the battery life). So if you at a gig with only one good battery, you can just connect it as shown while it is connected to something like a tuner at least. If you got the right terminals, you will see a note, if not, the bass will be silent. If you have a multimeter, you can measure which terminals are wrong, they will show a short.

 

[non]

As a last blurb about VFL pickups paired to Cirrus preamp, like in this G-bass, since it was brought up. It does work on a single 9v battery. I did a bit of an extensive evaluation in the past and found that the tone and tone control is not audibly affected using record and blind listen as solo. Neither this affects the tone adjustment range nor the bg noise level (basically non existent in these basses). However, with two 9v batteries, it is expected to last about 90% longer since the Cirrus bass with 2 pickups pulls about 4uA from a single battery and about 4.5uA from two batteries.
I also compared single use Energizers to rechargeable EBL Li-Ion from Amazon, and once again, the tone is the same, range is the same, and battery life is similar. Also works fine with a single rechargeable battery. To use a single battery, you need either to short either of the two batteries terminals or connect a single battery to both terminals as shown in the attached. Note that only one of the two possible combinations will work, the other combination will short the battery (totally safe for the bass, but will shorten the battery life). So if you at a gig with only one good battery, you can just connect it as shown while it is connected to something like a tuner at least. If you got the right terminals, you will see a note, if not, the bass will be silent. If you have a multimeter, you can measure which terminals are wrong, they will show a short.

View attachment 5380943

Thanks for the battery tip.
I just tried it and it works great on one battery. Tone sounds the same

 

[Tayler7]

My GBass. It has the sparkles, but you can hardly see them unless it's in the sunlight. Bought this one from a guy who was going to sell me the neck for $100. When he opened the case to remove the neck, I asked him how much for the bass intact. He said $150 and I obviously paid the price….very quickly….
This one has the Modulus made carbon fiber / graphite neck that shows the cross-ply fiber look & also says "Cirrus" on the preamp circuit board. The later models had a solid dark gray looking carbon fiber shell made by Peavey. I never bought a pickup, so it's still all stock.
View attachment 5380805

Hey Tim, is there anyway you could take a picture of your battery wiring so I could see it? My Gbass 9volt wiring came apart when I was switching batteries, and I think I know how to put it back together but want to make sure I wire it properly. Thank you!

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I have a Peavey G bass that I am considering modding a little.
I love how light the bass is and the neck feels just like my jazz bass and it is
35" scale. it plays great with the low action.
It's the first and only bass I have ever bought for a collector bass.

The thing is, I don't like the way it sounds. I am thinking of wiring the pickup straight to the
output jack to bypass the 18v preamp and use an off board eq. This is assuming the preamp is coloring the sound with all eq knobs set to center or flat.
What typically happens to the sound when the pickup is wired directly to the output jack?
If this mod could change the sound of the bass for the better (to my ear) it would be worth it and it could be easily undone.
Thanks!

Got a question, do you think someone in the future would be willing to a collector's price for a bass that doesn't sound up to scratch?
If you mod this bass, it's likely not going to be a collector's type bass commanding top dollar.

Now if this bass is for your personal collection that is going to the grave with you, mod the heck out of it.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

Hey Tim, is there anyway you could take a picture of your battery wiring so I could see it? My Gbass 9volt wiring came apart when I was switching batteries, and I think I know how to put it back together but want to make sure I wire it properly. Thank you!

I can. You want to see the clips that snap on the battery or where the wiring attaches to the circuit board or? By the way, mine has two batteries / is an 18v preamp.