Smith sound - make it thicker!

[mcgraham]

Hi people,

I mostly lurk and occasionally post but i could do with some direct input this time.

I've got a Ken Smith BSR B 5 string, maple neck, maple body, rosewood fingerboard, bolt on, 2 KS humbucking jazz pickups. It has a woody tone that has an even bass and low mid response, slightly scooped upper mids and average treble (not snarling but not muted). Beautifully expressive and defined.

I also have (workhorse til I purchased the above) a Geddy Lee with Model J's. I'm sure you all know about them. Deep, thick, mid rich with slight snarl. Sits great in a mix.

I want to meet somewhere in the middle with the Smith and my opinion is that pickups and electronics will hold the key. I am wanting to achieve a thicker quality to the woodiness of the Smith akin to the model J's without sacrificing it's clarity and definition.

I have to go passive, offboard eq is where it's at for me. Also the Smith has a blend whilst my GL I fitted a selector switch. Am I right in thinking that the output of my bass will 'increase' if a selector switch rather than a blend pot is responsible for pickup control? I think that's right but I'd rather ask.

Now the pickups... those of you thinking 'if you like Model J's, get something similar for the Ken Smith', that is somewhat my thinking.
Because of the housing size of the Smith and tight spacing (16mm) I'm thinking custom winds may be the only option.

If any of you have tried to achieve such a change or have any thoughts on anything regarding the above i.e. pickup choices, wiring etc (as it's still early stages) please chime in.

Mark

P.S. Also I'm contemplating (if it's going to be custom) getting dual coils or as close as I can get to them, so I can go between a thick humbucker sound and a (potentially humfree) single coil sound. Again, any thoughts or experiences would be much appreciated!

 

[Chasarms]

Is the Smith curently all-stock with the KS preamp?

 

[mcgraham]

It is indeed. The preamp barely affects the tone but it's enough for me to prefer running it passive.

 

[allexcosta]

I'd look for some Nordstrands that would fit your bass and completely remove the active pre, having it replace by a traditional vol+vol+tone circuit.

 

[billbern]

I've got a BSR5 and I love the electronics in the Smiths. But for variety I would suggest adding Series/Parallel or Series/Single Coil/Parallel switches. The Series mode will add quit a bit of beef to the tone. There is an old thread on here where someone added Series/Single Coil/Parallel to his Smith.
Bill

 

[mcgraham]

that makes a lot of sense. when i wired in the model J's i initially had the bridge in parallel and the neck in the series, but I found it lacked big time and changed it before the day was out. Series brought some serious oomph to the sound.

Bill, is yours one with the large typical humbuckers or the jazz size humbuckers?

Mark

 

[billbern]

Mark
Mine has the "Standard" large Smith humbucks and the 9 volt pre.
Bill

 

[mcgraham]

I'm afraid that was slightly redundant question there bill, i incorrectly got the idea that you'd done the mod on yours.

Mark

 

[billbern]

Mark, you're right. I have NOT been brave enough to add the mod to mine. Although I would like to have the additional options, I'm happy enough with the way the BSR sounds now. I do have coil selection on my Nordy Dual Coil equiped 55-01 and find all the coil selection settings very useful.
Here's a link to the Smith mod thread.
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=146428&highlight=SMITH+SWITCH
Bill

 

[mcgraham]

I don't blame you, messing with instruments of that value can potentially lead to a lot of trouble.

Thanks for looking that link up man, tis much appreciated! Just finished work now so will have a browse soonish. I live not far from Sheffield which is where the popular British luthier Jon Shuker lives, may give him the task once I decide what that task will entail!

Mark

 

[DaveAceofBass]

For a really big passive sound with great tone shaping, you can't go wrong with Villex pickups. I suggest the linear humbuckers for a quiet operation. They will give you a big woody tone, tons of lows, with a mid control that works passively. You'll have no need for the preamp...

 

[mcgraham]

I was having a look in the cavity tonight and couldn't find the extra 2 wires from each pickup that make each pickup a 4 conductor. They could be wired together and tucked into the pickup route but my ramp prohibits easy access.

Yes I've heard great things about villex, unfortunately this is a 5 string with 16mm spacing and as such would need to check with the manufacturer of any stock pickup I was interested in to see if it's suitable.

As said above I'd like to try wiring them in series, if possible, and installing a selector switch instead of a blend knob in order to thicken the sound and increase the output, before resorting to replacement pickups.

Mark