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SPECTOR® Owners Club

Hello lovely low riders,

Just got a 2016 40th anniversary limited Spector with EMG P/J configuration.

I am fully aware of the tone pump, with the trim pot, I have already packed it off to 50%. It is still wildly aggressive and as some of you may know at full volume even with the bass and treble knobs about halfway up it still distorts.

Before I go down the route of trying to find a very sought after (god help me if I was to ever get because they get snapped up so quickly) Haz, And then re-boring the holes for the knobs which I honestly don't want to do, or if anyone would know a much better suited preamp to retain as much of the Spector tone as possible, or simply lowering the pick up height by however many millimetres will keep me happy with the tone pump circuit?

Many thanks in return.

I recently installed an EMG BQC in my euro 5. I would say that the Aggie OPB-2 would also be good. Both retain that spector tone with a slightly different flavor.
 
New strings?
Check pick up height.
EMG BQC is a great option.


Pics? And congrats!! :D
2A7A18FC-0E57-430A-8F64-693A85761AF1.jpeg


There ya go
 
New strings sir, pickup height is kinda close but never touch's when hit hard. How easy is that to install, (never touched a soldering gun in my life, unless it's the clip together ones?)

the EMG with the EMG pick ups should be a clipped together plug and play. Check the control cavity though and see what's happening as is with soldered connections etc. perhaps share a photo.
You'll probably still need soldering for the Jackie guessing at the least. The EMG system is probably the easiest swappable systems out there thou.
Personally I'd drop the pick ups down a bit giving at least 1/8" from the string when depressed at the 24th fret to the pick up.
I play fairly aggressively with fingers and a bit of slap and need my pick ups down some what to keep from overdriving the signal.

IME it's easier to overdrive pick ups if they are too close to the strings then people think or perhaps initially hear. I'd play with that height before spending any dollars.
 
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the EMG with the EMG pick ups should be a clipped together plug and play. Check the control cavity though and see what's happening as is with soldered connections etc. perhaps share a photo.
You'll probably still need soldering for the Jackie guessing at the least. The EMG system is probably the easiest swappable systems out there thou.
Personally I'd drop the pick ups down a bit giving at least 1/8" from the string when depressed at the 24th fret to the pick up.
I play fairly aggressively with fingers and a bit of slap and need my pick ups down some what to keep from overdriving the signal.

IME it's easier to overdrive pick ups if they are too close to the strings then people think or perhaps initially hear. I'd play with that height before spending any dollars.
I think it would be your regular tone pump with the two band EQ circuit board, Because I don't have a picture to show right now.

So about one eighth of an inch at a time, before I part with any British pounds? :D

I do have a local music shop in my town, if I went down the route of preamp but I will try the first option first
 
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Really? Which one would you say is closer to the Rex Brown tone? Or are they very similar?

Rex used the Haz circuit and also the Tonepump.

This is straight from an email conversation I had with PJ recently:


Rex had some Euro basses with TonePump circuits inside. he liked them so yes we put TonePumps in a few of his later USA basses near the end of his time playing Spector.
a lot of his other USA basses had 18v circuits inside.
 
Rex used the Haz circuit and also the Tonepump.

This is straight from an email conversation I had with PJ recently:


Rex had some Euro basses with TonePump circuits inside. he liked them so yes we put TonePumps in a few of his later USA basses near the end of his time playing Spector.
a lot of his other USA basses had 18v circuits inside.

Now that I didn't know! Interesting.
Also unless unless I'm totally wrong, I've seen a few threads on here where the tonepump can be 18 V instead of nine thought, am I talking complete trash or is this true?
 
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I think it would be your regular tone pump with the two band EQ circuit board, Because I don't have a picture to show right now.

So about one eighth of an inch at a time, before I part with any British pounds? :D

I do have a local music shop in my town, if I went down the route of preamp but I will try the first option first
Not an 1/8" at a time but try with that "total distance" from string to pick up. Pressing the string to the fret at the end of the board is important when measuring this.

if you find it still overdriven then lower the pick ups a couple screw driver turns at a time. I recommend doing this with headphones as you can really hear the difference this way.
 
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Not an 1/8" at a time but try with that "total distance" from string to pick up. Pressing the string to the fret at the end of the board is important when measuring this.

if you find it still overdriven then lower the pick ups a couple screw driver turns at a time. I recommend doing this with headphones as you can really hear the difference this way.
You are a diamond matey, I see, been playing bass for 21 years I'm still learning things. I honestly didn't know you had to push down on the 24th fret to measure, but I can see that as you would measure string height with the whole 1st fret, 15th fret, tap on the 9th one thing.
Anyway, thank you & to you all so far.
 
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You are a diamond matey, I see, been playing bass for 21 years I'm still learning things. I honestly didn't know you had to push down on the 24th fret to measure, but I can see that as you would measure string height with the whole 1st fret, 15th fret, tap on the 9th one thing.
Anyway, thank you & to you all so far. It's my first ever Spector, so I'm new to them. I own two Fenders, a Sandberg, & a 5 string Sadowsky so this is a very different beast! I had a Warwick thumb wayyyyy back in 2006 as but yeah, there you go.
 
You are a diamond matey, I see, been playing bass for 21 years I'm still learning things. I honestly didn't know you had to push down on the 24th fret to measure, but I can see that as you would measure string height with the whole 1st fret, 15th fret, tap on the 9th one thing.
Anyway, thank you & to you all so far.

it's my first ever Spector as supposed to the two Fenders I own, the Sandberg & Sadowsky so….
 
well, for those curious on how everything ended.. it works! I guess I just really needed some rest, and it worked on my first attempt also:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

thanks to everyone that helped! I really appreciate it
great too hear, have fun! By the way, check if the tightening screw for the lever is loose. Looks like it could be fastened. Not tight, but a bit. Not necessary that it swings around like this and when playing could be annoying.
115644ED-CA94-4AFF-92CB-31A361036869.jpeg

Hello lovely low riders,

Just got a 2016 40th anniversary limited Spector with EMG P/J configuration.

I am fully aware of the tone pump, with the trim pot, I have already packed it off to 50%. It is still wildly aggressive and as some of you may know at full volume even with the bass and treble knobs about halfway up it still distorts.

Before I go down the route of trying to find a very sought after (god help me if I was to ever get because they get snapped up so quickly) Haz, And then re-boring the holes for the knobs which I honestly don't want to do, or if anyone would know a much better suited preamp to retain as much of the Spector tone as possible, or simply lowering the pick up height by however many millimetres will keep me happy with the tone pump circuit?

Many thanks in return.
Some blue ones had Bartolini. My red has EMGs, yours too?
Really? Which one would you say is closer to the Rex Brown tone? Or are they very similar?

Now that I didn't know! Interesting.
Also unless unless I'm totally wrong, I've seen a few threads on here where the tonepump can be 18 V instead of nine thought, am I talking complete trash or is this true?
No, leave it 9V. This isn't necessary and not recommended by Petr Michalik (Tonepump manufacturer).

I've set my Tonepumps on roughly 1/3 which is quite enough. No modification on pickup height.
I did put my 40th through various preamps. If your 40th is growling like mine the difference between the preamps is rather slim as this (maybe selected?) wood sounds great.
Also, I find the BTS much better than the BQC, no fiddling around with the mid frequency sweeper, set the dip switches and there's a great sound. But I think many here wilm recommend the BQC which is fine.
Here are by the way some samples of my red Euro 40Th:
 
Hello lovely low riders,

Just got a 2016 40th anniversary limited Spector with EMG P/J configuration.

I am fully aware of the tone pump, with the trim pot, I have already packed it off to 50%. It is still wildly aggressive and as some of you may know at full volume even with the bass and treble knobs about halfway up it still distorts.

Before I go down the route of trying to find a very sought after (god help me if I was to ever get because they get snapped up so quickly) Haz, And then re-boring the holes for the knobs which I honestly don't want to do, or if anyone would know a much better suited preamp to retain as much of the Spector tone as possible, or simply lowering the pick up height by however many millimetres will keep me happy with the tone pump circuit?

Many thanks in return.
Aside from lowering the pickups a little, you can also bring the trim pot lower. I think I have mine at like 30%. It really is a powerful pre. I don't know what they were thinking shipping them out at 100%!
 
Hello lovely low riders,

Just got a 2016 40th anniversary limited Spector with EMG P/J configuration.

I am fully aware of the tone pump, with the trim pot, I have already packed it off to 50%. It is still wildly aggressive and as some of you may know at full volume even with the bass and treble knobs about halfway up it still distorts.

Before I go down the route of trying to find a very sought after (god help me if I was to ever get because they get snapped up so quickly) Haz, And then re-boring the holes for the knobs which I honestly don't want to do, or if anyone would know a much better suited preamp to retain as much of the Spector tone as possible, or simply lowering the pick up height by however many millimetres will keep me happy with the tone pump circuit?

Many thanks in return.
To add another response that is similar. When I had the Tonepump on my Euro LX I had to set it literally at 10-15% so it didn't drive my overdrive pedals into mud. I eventually replaced the preamp and pickups with a SNC haz (easy to bore the holes with the right tool from harbor freight) and swapped the EMG TW's with a 40P5/J set of pickups. It's much better now as I personally hated the character of the Tonepump and didn't care for the dual volume knobs setup.

I'd assume everything is soldered into place on your bass. With replacing the TW pickups with the P/J setup it was all plug and play for me.
 
Probably have blown a few crate amps!!! :laugh:

just had the tonepump installed in my euro 5 solid maple winged bass. Geez I love this preamp so much more than the EMG preamp that was in the bass.

Speaking of crate, I'll annihilate my practice amp with this thing cranked. Lol! I'll try to get some new recordings\video of this thing soon! So happy with it!!!

I gotta throw a new set of blue steels on this bass first though.