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Potential Gibson EB-0 mod: Am I crazy?

#21
I saw that bass for sale before you wound up buying it and, being a big fan of Guilds, short-scales and BiSonics, gave it long look.

I tweak the output of my BiSonic-loaded Starfires through an MXR M108S Bass Compressor, a Hartke "Bass Attack-Toneshaper" DI/PreAmp and an MXR M87 10-band graphic equalizer on the pedal board and find that that greatly expands tonal options and enhances articulation, really "waking up" those basses. My suggestion is that you try something similar before tearing into your new acquisition.

Not being personally familiar with G&Ls and their sound, I can't comment on the feasibility of making your SG sound similar. I only know that what I did with my basses loaded with the same pups made me happy.
 
#22
MotorCityMinion said:
It's nice looking now and cool as is. IMO, 3 pups would mess it up. 2 Tone Stylers seem like overkill. If you have the cash and will power, start another bass from scratch, or using a batwing style pickgard to cover up the old cavities, re route for MFD's. String spacing may limit your pick-up options. Nordy Big Blades are worth looking into. I'm not sure that a EB0 has a sweet spot but I'd pick that bass up real fast and give it a run thru.
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I'm wondering about the Tone Stylers. They seem like a cool product (according to sonme video demos I watched), but I'm wondering if mine are not wired quite right. The bridge tone control, for example, doesn't seem to change the tone very much at all.
 
#23
Thanks all for the great suggestions! I played it today through my Phil Jones Bass Cub and it does sound very nice. I think this will grow on me, and I'm leaning toward NOT adding another pickup. I will look into different wiring options that some of you mentioned and report back.
I'm in love with the looks and playability (plus it barely weighs 7 lbs); I think it's worth a few tweaks to make sure it's a keeper.
 
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#24
sonicblue62 said:
Thanks all for the great suggestions! I played it today through my Phil Jones Bass Cub and it does sound very nice. I think this will grow on me, and I'm leaning toward NOT adding another pickup. I will look into different wiring options that some of you mentioned and report back.
I'm in love with the looks and playability (plus it barely weighs 7 lbs); I think it's worth a few tweaks to make sure it's a keeper.
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Im curious why you landed with an EB0? Youve already got a bass far from an EB0, is it the neck or look (or weight) that attracted you?

It looks cool and probably sounds good.....that said, im a diehard 'mudbucker' neck only with modern amps and omigosh, actually adjusting the EQ (ok some amps dont have enough or the right EQ section) and use of different OD and comps.

That said, i would probably stop at wiring mods and consider different string options as well....good luck!
 
#25
DavidEdenAria said:
Im curious why you landed with an EB0? Youve already got a bass far from an EB0, is it the neck or look (or weight) that attracted you?
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I've been looking for the right short scale for a while. I've had a Mustang, Musicmaster, an old EB-2, and others, but this just called to me. I didn't realize how light it would be when I bought it; that was just a bonus. :) Also, I just put some La Bella low tension flats on it. Loving them so far!
 
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#28
I would not hack that bass up.

Those pickups have a following (as you can see in some of the replies) and if it's just way off what you usually like, sell it off as-is. Whoever modded that knew what they were doing, it's a huge improvement over the crap Gibson installs, and wedging another pickup in there is going to guarantee you're going to have if for a long time.

If anything, trade out the tone network for a different preamp.
 
#30
A little ashamed to ask a stupid question here, but are all "preamps" active? If it doesn't need a battery, is it still a preamp, or a wiring harness? Teach me, oh great ones. :)
I'm hoping to keep this passive, and I kind of like the VVT or VBT setup. I still want 4 knobs, so I'm not sure what to do with the other hole. I want a toggle switch there, but not sure what it could do: series/parallel? coil tap? V/V/T/3-way pickup selector? It's apparent I need to do some thread searches to understand all these options.
 
#32
Sounds like you don’t know if you want a preamp. If you don’t know, you should borrow a preamp pedal to see if that’s a thing you like. Some people feel like they get that kind of control with their amp. I’m always playing different rigs and in different places, so I like to have an onboard because I always know how to control it.

And yes, preamps are active and require a battery. They aren’t as big as you’d think and it may not require routing.

People like the Aguilar tonehammer, Nordy, MXR, BBE, and more. Plenty out there.

Your bass is fine, I’d enjoy it as is before tearing it up.
 
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#33
sonicblue62 said:
Not totally opposed to an active preamp, but it would be nice to not have to rout for the battery. The control cavity looks pretty tight already.
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I don't like battery-powered, on board pre-amps, so I put mine on the pedal board and run it (and the rest of my pedals) with a Strymon "Ojai" power brick: no mods to the bass or worry about batteries getting low/going dead at inopportune moments. You also end up with a pre-amp for any bass you plug into the pedal board, rather than having to install a separate one in each bass.
 
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#34
As your're not sure about the preamp i'd suggest Noll, Richter or Delano as they're neutral when in passive mode. So you can always go back to current tone if you like, i'd generally suggest one with active passive switch as you can play without battery when you need to. Putting a 9v block on a clip at the inside of the e-cavity cover should work. At least on my SG style guitar it would fit there.
 
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#35
sonicblue62 said:
This may be totally unnecessary, but I am struck with the urge to modify my newly-acquired (and already heavily modified) EB-0. I preface this by saying I'm not ready to dig under the hood myself, and would want to have any work done by a competent professional. Whoever did the previous work, they sure made it look pretty.

I'm new to Darkstars. These particular ones don't seem to have quite as much "oomph" as I imagined, and I have nothing to compare them with to know if that's normal or not.
I have read that the design is drastically different from your typical, run-of-the mill single coil or humbucking pickup, but my knowledge ends there. They look freaking cool, but I guess I imagined they would be closer to G&L MFD's in sound?

The controls on this bass are volume, blend, and 2 ten-position passive Tonestyler controls; 1 for each for each pickup.

Would the installation of a series/parallel switch work with these pickups? I am hoping for the similar effect of what the G&L "OMG" mode does for my L1K.

I also had the crazy idea of just sticking a G&L or a P-bass pickup in the sweet spot between the two Darkstars. is it even possible? Sacrilegious and totally superfluous? Perhaps. What crazy mods could or should be attempted with this bass, or should I leave well enough alone? Thanks for your suggestions, or warnings against any extreme and foolish course of action.
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Beautiful bass - looks almost brand new.
 
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