Sei Owner's Club (Part 2)

[Mike Flynn]

Hi Matt

- I know what you mean about this thread - it's going to get alot busier this autumn! Thanks for posting those pics - I'll be very happy if my bass looks like that - is the body core of your bass ash? I'm going black hardware which will contrast nicely with the blonde/yellow-ish colour.

Bass will be getting all glossed up which will take a month or so - then about three weeks for routing and wiring - then home!!!!

m

 

[matthewfoote]

Hi Matt

- I know what you mean about this thread - it's going to get alot busier this autumn! Thanks for posting those pics - I'll be very happy if my bass looks like that - is the body core of your bass ash? I'm going black hardware which will contrast nicely with the blonde/yellow-ish colour.

Bass will be getting all glossed up which will take a month or so - then about three weeks for routing and wiring - then home!!!!

m

Hi Mike, yes it is an ash body with a flame maple and wenge stringers neck. From the colour of your buckeye I think it will be stunning. It is suprising how the finish brings out every nuance of pattern and grain and totally transforms the bass.

Regards

Matthew

 

[Mike Flynn]

Hi Mike, yes it is an ash body with a flame maple and wenge stringers neck. From the colour of your buckeye I think it will be stunning. It is suprising how the finish brings out every nuance of pattern and grain and totally transforms the bass.

Regards

Matthew

Cool Matthew - that's exactly the same spec as mine - maple/wenge neck as well - and yes I think this burl is going to come up great - thanks for the positive thoughts!! It's gonna rock...

M

 

[velvetkevorkian]

Hey thanks guys - looking forward too a damn holiday - I haven't had one this year NYC in April wasn't exactly relaxing) - erm, dunno if any of you have seen this but there are a couple of great shots of the offset Flamboyant that was 'born' recently:

Who's the proud owner of this beast? I can't remember...

Oh yeah, and here's to the next 1000 posts...!

Excuse me while I go change my underwear. That's simply stunning.

 

[notrt]

Good morning to all:

After two weeks and four gigs, I am ready to talk about this bass.

First off, her name is Patricia.

Second, she looks even better in person than the photos indicate, and under lights? I'll leave it to your imagination...

Third, while I am still learning all of her sonic and timbral nuances, it's easy to see at this point that she's allowed me to consistently hit the tones and timbres I have wanted to have all of my 35+ years as a gigging bassist. I've retired my Roscoes, even "Dr. Phat". She's really that good, no foolin'.

Fourth, there are a few electronic issues which I am still working through, but I can live with them.

Bottom line? Well worth the wait...

I'll answer anyone's specific questions. My signal chain for the secular band rig is below.

later...

Richard Collins a/k/a "notrt"

Sei > Pedalboard > BBE > Rane DC 24 > Ashdown RC500
EVO II > Bergie HT/EX112 "mini stack" or HT322

 

[matthewfoote]

Good morning to all:

After two weeks and four gigs, I am ready to talk about this bass.

First off, her name is Patricia.

Second, she looks even better in person than the photos indicate, and under lights? I'll leave it to your imagination...

Third, while I am still learning all of her sonic and timbral nuances, it's easy to see at this point that she's allowed me to consistently hit the tones and timbres I have wanted to have all of my 35+ years as a gigging bassist. I've retired my Roscoes, even "Dr. Phat". She's really that good, no foolin'.

Fourth, there are a few electronic issues which I am still working through, but I can live with them.

Bottom line? Well worth the wait...

I'll answer anyone's specific questions. My signal chain for the secular band rig is below.

later...

Richard Collins a/k/a "notrt"

Sei > Pedalboard > BBE > Rane DC 24 > Ashdown RC500
EVO II > Bergie HT/EX112 "mini stack" or HT322

Richard,

She looks totally stunning and I smile every time I see a photo of her, any chance of some more? Also i am really glad that she has turned out well. Along wait, but as you say worth it.

Two specific questions, firstly what electronics have you got in Patricia and what problems are you finding?

Secondly if you can't fix the problems, can I have her?

Regards

Matthew

 

[notrt]

"Two specific questions, firstly what electronics have you got in Patricia and what problems are you finding?"

The good: She's got the Schack 18 volt preamp, and custom Bartolini's. I believe the P4's were the starting point for the pickups, but I am not sure. I can't say enough good about the preamp --- very sensitive, very hot, has a plethora of dip-switchable frequency centers for bass/mids/treble, and, if you're inclined, you can throw some odd-order harmonics into the mix...it's great!

Single coil/series/parallel toggle switches, front and back, which in a word, offer a g r e a t palette of timbres and sonic colors to work with. Between these and the way-hot bass/mid/treble controls, I can get everything from a standup sound through whatever electric bass tones and timbres that I can think of. It's totally out of hand!

The bad: She was supposed to have an active/passive switch, seperate volume controls for each pickup, stacked bass-treble controls. What I got had a pan pot, no active/passive switch, and a master volume control. I have absolutely no idea, zero, why this happened, given the many communications I had with Alex and Martin about the electronics layout, but "there it is" as we used to say in the Army. Given the pickup placement, seperate volume controls for each pickup would have completed the picture; that's what I wanted. Pan pots really don't cut it IMHO. To compound things on this bass, when I sweep the "pan pot" more that 1/3 turn from the center detent, the signal gets progressively gutted, on both pickups --- literally sonically squashed, with the "top" and a good deal of the "bottom" of the sound gone --- go figure that one out!

* * * * * * * * * *

Even with those issues, she's pretty amazing in the live music setting. As I was writing this, I realized that I had five different gigs in on her at this point, three of which were outdoor gigs in truly sonically challenging settings. I am more than merely pleased about how she works in the performance context.

As to the craftsmanship, she looks even better in person than the photos show - believe it!

Your thoughts?

RC

 

[Mistahbenn]

"To compound things on this bass, when I sweep the "pan pot" more that 1/3 turn from the center detent, the signal gets progressively gutted, on both pickups --- literally sonically squashed, with the "top" and a good deal of the "bottom" of the sound gone --- go figure that one out!

Hi there, I have the Schack circuit with kent armstrong punps, and I to get this thing happening. With panpot in the centre I have a really hot output, but if just on front or back, the output is much less powerful. very strange....why is this?

Cheers, B

 

[notrt]

...so if anyone knows about the ins and outs of this problem, PLEASE clue us in, would you?

Short of rewiring the entire suite of electronics, I have the feeling that I am going to have to learn to live with it.

later...

RC

 

[Mike Flynn]

Hi there, I have the Schack circuit with kent armstrong punps, and I to get this thing happening. With panpot in the centre I have a really hot output, but if just on front or back, the output is much less powerful. very strange....why is this?

Cheers, B

Same here - no idea why it happens though. I have a Schack circuit in my Warwick thumb - I usually blend it one part bridge pickup to two parts front pickup - so it's not too boomy - but the signal is really hot all the same - I'm getting a Demeter on the Sei single cut - so I'll see how I go with it - it''s one of the easiest things to change so if it's not right I may experiment.

M

 

[sei24bass]

Notrt, good to hear that you are as pleased as you are with Patricia though I'm not sure what happened re the mix up with controls.

As for pan pots, they can be funny things. What does Martin say / suggest? It sounds either an issue with the Schack circuit or probably more likely an issue with the pan pot itself. There are a couple of different types of potentiometers available that can be wired a couple of different ways and I suspect changing the pot and/or the way it is wired might just fix the problem. Let me know if you want me more details and I will try my best. I do not have this issue with the SEI 8 (uses a Glockenklang circuit and controls).

By the way Mike, your bass looked fantastic in The Gallery the other week and seemed nice and light in weight!

 

[notrt]

Good afternoon:

Seperate volume controls for each pickup would have been the ticket given the location and placement of the pickups on this bass. Pan-pots are bogus in the first place IMHO, but seriously, assuming that a complete re-wiring of the electronics which I have is not in the picture, I would like to fix this issue if at all possible, and any insight would be appreciated.

I gather at least two others have encountered this specific problem with the Schack preamp, so I expect others would appreciate the info.

As to the "mix up" regarding the electronics suite, there wasn't any, period. I have a whole series of confirmatory emails about the layout and wiring of the electronics. AFAIK, they just dropped the ball on their end, but I do not have a clue why.

later...

RC

 

[Mike Flynn]

By the way Mike, your bass looked fantastic in The Gallery the other week and seemed nice and light in weight!

Aye - she's a looker and the perfect weight for what I was after - my custom fretless 5 is so light - but still has amazing tone - that I wanted something equivalent and asked Martin for his best recommendation for woods - ash, maple - and the bass is about the same weight as my fretless - or it will be with hardware and electronics. One of the big issue with my Warwick Thumb - despite its playability and tone - is how much the damn thing weighs, after a long jazz gig my shoulder is sore, back starting to ache etc - and it's no fun on the tube either with a gig bag that is just so heavy I'm knackered before I've even started playing! So the Sei is the answer - to SO MANY things bass-wise - it's going to be the perfect bass for ME!

All the latest build pics are here on my website:

Invalid Link Removed

M

 

[7string]

Seperate volume controls for each pickup would have been the ticket given the location and placement of the pickups on this bass. Pan-pots are bogus in the first place IMHO, but seriously, assuming that a complete re- I would like to fix this issue if at all possible, and any insight would be appreciated.

I gather at least two others have encountered this specific problem with the Schack preamp, so I expect others would appreciate the info.


RC

Isn't the Shack pre the one with the dip switches in the cavity?? Maybe adjusting these would help.. (I apologise if I'm just clutching at straws).

 

[notrt]

...pan pot doesn't.:scowl:

This odd-sounding situation has got to be some simple sort of issue to resolve, but electronics is most definitely NOT my strong suit, and never was...

later...

RC a/k/a "notrt"

 

[matthewfoote]

I have the Schack 18v 3 band pre in my fretless, originally with Barts but now with Kent Armstrongs.

Having checked it out as a result of this thread, I can say it works prefectly with not lumps or holes when at the centre indent giving both pickups on.

I think that 7 might have hit on something when he mentioned the dip switches. I think that we ought to all check and see where they are set and report back. This could give us an idea if certain settings are giving the problem or if it is something else.

I will be checking mine tomorrow so will post my settings then.

Reagrds

Matthew

 

[Mistahbenn]

I have tried different freq settings with the dip switches, but the same thing is happening, weak signal from each pickup on their own, but great in the centre...

 

[kevin_lindsay]

Well, I have the Deneter 3 band EQ system in my Singlecut fretted 5 and it sounds great - uses a pan pot, and sounds really cool wherever the pot is set.

Seems there us a lot of comment on something here that could be rectified by the installation of 2 vol pots to replace the master vol and pan pot - half an hour job - why not just have it done? Seems to me that the time taken to write the replies and comments, the job could be complete by now? hahahaha

 

[notrt]

Seems there us a lot of comment on something here that could be rectified by the installation of 2 vol pots to replace the master vol and pan pot - half an hour job - why not just have it done? Seems to me that the time taken to write the replies and comments, the job could be complete by now? hahahaha

I hope you're speaking with tongue firmly planted in cheek, because this sort of electronic issue is what you'd expect to encounter in some el cheapo offshore fender clone, not a hand built, top of the line boutique bass. I am considerably less than amused...

*************************************************

As to the DIP switches, I have tried three or four different settings, and they have nothing to do with this issue at all, at least as your ears hear the effect when you sweep from front pickup to the back one. It's bogus.

RC

 

[7string]

Strange that there's two of you (Mistahbenn and yourself Notrt) that have the same problem.

Mistahbenn - Have you approached Martin about this problem ?? If you haven't, I would encourage you to do so. I can't see Martin objecting to running an eye over the electronics and then testing the circuits somehow...

(Electronics aren't my strong point either..).

Notrt - I do (and I'm sure everyone who's a member on this thread), really do sympathise with your problem. At least I'm in the same country, albeit 400 miles away, and can travel down to London if I had a similar problem with my Sei, 'Jezebel'.

In fact, as I've said here before, the coil-tap button on 'Jezebel' has come lose and dives into the cavity when I try to use it. As with yourself, it's annoying and the kind of problem I would expect on a cheapo instrument and not on a something on the level of a Sei. I've set the button on series and now just leave it alone until I next go down to London, when it'll be rectified by Martin.

Being in the USA, makes it doubly difficult firstly because of the mix-up with the controls and secondly with the annoying problem you're having with the pot.

No doubt if anyone has some more ideas about what the problem could be they'll post it here.

Until a solution is found, (and until I get 'down south' next), I hope you enjoy playing your Sei as much as I enjoy mine...

Here's hoping for a swift end to our gripes.....