SPECTOR® Club - Part 72

[dukeisdog]

Can't stop drooling over that green euro 5 on ebay. It's priced a little too high, but if I didn't just get a new amp I'd probably jump on it.

Oh well, someday I'll own a green spector!

 

[djaxup]

I noticed the old TP did give a different tone than the new trim TP.

Ouch man, I guess so, too. So: never change a winning team... oh well. Back to soldering

@Grendle: this may well be possible. I will check that. I changed all the pots because the pins to hold the knobs all fell off basically. Maybe it's just the pots, I hope so tbh because I'd love to tame the very high output of the bass a bit via the trim pot. But I absolutely loved the brittle and gritty tone with tons of bite that it had before.

 

[yeldarb69 (Brad)]

Thanks, I considered that for a second but i'd rather get schallers and an appropriate sized hipshot to keep it as close to original as possible…
anyone get a hipshot that will work with the schaller sized holes?

You can get schallers that will fit in your peg hole that you have now but,the screw holes on the back of the peg will not line up correctly unless you can find out where to get the ones spector uses.I have found that they are very very difficult to locate,almost as difficult as finding a 9v u.s. preamp.I have inquired several times as to where to find their tuners and everytime i was told i could get them from all parts,well all parts carries black schaller tuners,but not ones with the screw holes pointing in the right direction.I am not saying they cannot be found or you couldn't obtain this information,but my efforts to do so have been fruitless.

 

[yeldarb69 (Brad)]

Can't stop drooling over that green euro 5 on ebay. It's priced a little too high, but if I didn't just get a new amp I'd probably jump on it.

Oh well, someday I'll own a green spector!

I have been looking at that too.

 

[Torn Bassist]

New Strap Day

A friend of mine makes these great custom leather bass straps.
He's on here with the handle of Gecko5.
If anyone is interested, he can do almost anything you have in mind.

Nice leather work....Looks fantastic!

 

[Torn Bassist]

Agreed! An already-finished peghead is not where you want to be messing around with power tools.

I have a really good old-school hand reamer from stewmac if you want/need to borrow it. The GB7s are superb tuners, and are /way/ easier to source than the Schaller M4s. PM me if you're interested. Always happy to help out another Spector brother.

How much material is removed to fit the GB7 tuners, do you use the same screw hole?

Thanks! Last resort but if it comes to it...

A lot of guys have to do the reamer when switching to black, maybe a couple of pictures showing the steps might settle the nerves....I would be scared to try this myself but it can be done!

 

[connected2aj]

I wonder how many fretless were made back then? Bet not many.

I spoke to PJ about this a while back when I was trying to sell my fretless Kramer. He said that they didn't keep specific records in the Brooklyn days, so he doesn't know how many fretless models they made then, but he did say that Kramer made 38. I can't imagine there were a whole lot of Brooklyn fretless NS-2s made, but what do I know. Here's mine.

 

[Rickenbass]

OK, I ordered the USA locking bridge in black from JoAnn @ Spector and I purchased the black Gotoh GB7's from an online dealer as PJ had suggested. I also picked up a Hipshot de-tuner.

Has anyone had any luck in removing the Spector logo back plates from the Gotoh's??

Also, How is the ground wire attached to the bridge?? Solder or sandwiched?

Joe

 

[e.rich]

How much material is removed to fit the GB7 tuners, do you use the same screw hole?

A lot of guys have to do the reamer when switching to black, maybe a couple of pictures showing the steps might settle the nerves....I would be scared to try this myself but it can be done!

I agree that it's an unnerving, ass-puckering experience but it's completely doable if you just take your time and go slowly. That's why I probably wouldn't recommend the drill press. Some things are just easier to do by hand when you need to be precise. You need to take a decent enough out to widen the hole. I'm not sure of the exact amount but it's probably a good 15-20 rotations with the reamer.

It also helped to get familiar with the reamer using some scrap wood first. The GB7s use the same screw hole as the M4s turned down at 6:00.

I can walk anyone through the steps over the phone if you're interested. If I can do it, anyone can. haha. And if you are local to the Boston area, just come over. It's definitely at least a two beer project.

 

[Torn Bassist]

I spoke to PJ about this a while back when I was trying to sell my fretless Kramer. He said that they didn't keep specific records in the Brooklyn days, so he doesn't know how many fretless models they made then, but he did say that Kramer made 38. I can't imagine there were a whole lot of Brooklyn fretless NS-2s made, but what do I know. Here's mine. View attachment 380715

Very nice looking color, what year is this bass?

 

[worshiprocker]

OK, I ordered the USA locking bridge in black from JoAnn @ Spector and I purchased the black Gotoh GB7's from an online dealer as PJ had suggested. I also picked up a Hipshot de-tuner.

Has anyone had any luck in removing the Spector logo back plates from the Gotoh's??

Also, How is the ground wire attached to the bridge?? Solder or sandwiched?

Joe

There is no ground wire to the bridge on these basses.

 

[Torn Bassist]

OK, I ordered the USA locking bridge in black from JoAnn @ Spector and I purchased the black Gotoh GB7's from an online dealer as PJ had suggested. I also picked up a Hipshot de-tuner.

Has anyone had any luck in removing the Spector logo back plates from the Gotoh's??

Also, How is the ground wire attached to the bridge?? Solder or sandwiched?

Joe

WOW...That is a very nice looking NS2, how are you liking the BEM? I like mine a lot but the Pau board is getting all of the attention right now!

 

[D.A.R.K.]

You can get schallers that will fit in your peg hole that you have now but,the screw holes on the back of the peg will not line up correctly unless you can find out where to get the ones spector uses.I have found that they are very very difficult to locate,almost as difficult as finding a 9v u.s. preamp.I have inquired several times as to where to find their tuners and everytime i was told i could get them from all parts,well all parts carries black schaller tuners,but not ones with the screw holes pointing in the right direction.I am not saying they cannot be found or you couldn't obtain this information,but my efforts to do so have been fruitless.

Thanks, I have a replacement on the way for the de-tuner that is supposed to work, maybe i'll ask PJ directly about this if I can't find a solution on my own… i'll post my findings...

 

[djaxup]

It might be from the signal level ( try cranking the trim pot). Pickup height ( if you moved it, closer will get more bite) or the value of the pots. Emg's generally like 25k pots, non actives usually use 500k's. Emg's will work with 500k 's but are usually overly bright ( they'll make dead strings sound almost new cranked). I'm willing to bet there were 500k pots in there some where. If you like it keep em. No harm to the pups and its what you like.

It's definitely not the trim, the tone stays about the same, no matter what volume. Pot value, well it's not so easy. They are not both labeled. The first in the chain is not labeled, the second one reads 25K Ohm. So I can only guess the second one's capacity.

Mh. I guess I will need to test it out.

 

[puremetal33]

Had a chance to mess around with amp/cab pairings with the Euro a little yesterday.

One thing that's been a consistent theme with my BT500H - even with bright bass like the Euro, this amp needs to be paired with a bright cab unless you're into the old school, giant marshmallow tone. Ran it at the rehearsal space through several different cabs and it sounded best with an Ampeg PR410HLF cab with the tweeter cranked. Sounds OK through a fridge, but no tweeter means not enough high end definition. Through any of the various Carvin cabs, just not feeling the sound. Thinking it might be time to move on and get the MB Fusion finally.

 

[Rickenbass]

WOW...That is a very nice looking NS2, how are you liking the BEM? I like mine a lot but the Pau board is getting all of the attention right now!

Wow man, that is gorgeous!! I'm loving everything about my NS2! Adjusting to the Spector from my Rickenbacker has been seamless. There is a ton of head scratching when I pull it out of it's case since I normally pull one of my 6 Rickenbackers out. This Spector is quite a departure from what I normally play in both looks and tone. I am sort of wondering what a double J with Aguilar circuit would sound like!! Is there another Spector with that set up in my future?? Maybe!

The bridge and tuners arrived today. Man, the bridge is substantial!!

Joe

 

[grendle]

It's definitely not the trim, the tone stays about the same, no matter what volume. Pot value, well it's not so easy. They are not both labeled. The first in the chain is not labeled, the second one reads 25K Ohm. So I can only guess the second one's capacity.

Mh. I guess I will need to test it out.

what bass is this? what pups were in there originally? when you switched to the TP tone pump, did you get all new pots as well or just the pre?

you can always change to value of the treble pot with a resistor to get you what you like as well.

 

[iceboxbass]

We have an old Mexican treatment down here that always works for me. It's a special formula invented a long time ago. It's called... MEZCAL (watch out for the worm!)

LOL Take care Amigo!

LMBO!!! Good one Jeff

 

[iceboxbass]

New Strap Day

A friend of mine makes these great custom leather bass straps.
He's on here with the handle of Gecko5.
If anyone is interested, he can do almost anything you have in mind.

That's beautiful!

 

[iceboxbass]

Ouch man, I guess so, too. So: never change a winning team... oh well. Back to soldering

@Grendle: this may well be possible. I will check that. I changed all the pots because the pins to hold the knobs all fell off basically. Maybe it's just the pots, I hope so tbh because I'd love to tame the very high output of the bass a bit via the trim pot. But I absolutely loved the brittle and gritty tone with tons of bite that it had before.

Sorry...I just meant when I had 2 Spector ReBops with non-trim TP vs a Euro with a TP that I noticed quite the difference in tone. But with some tweaking I know you can get that tone back that you're looking for.

I spoke to PJ about this a while back when I was trying to sell my fretless Kramer. He said that they didn't keep specific records in the Brooklyn days, so he doesn't know how many fretless models they made then, but he did say that Kramer made 38. I can't imagine there were a whole lot of Brooklyn fretless NS-2s made, but what do I know. Here's mine. View attachment 380715

That's a gorgeous fretless Brooklyn!

WOW...That is a very nice looking NS2, how are you liking the BEM? I like mine a lot but the Pau board is getting all of the attention right now!

Are you noticing much tone difference between your BEM & Pau Ferro? I know "They" say that Pau Ferro is warmer sounding and BEM is brighter but...what do you say?