SPECTOR® Owners Club

[scuzzy]

So I got to take advantage of the fact that my wife and son are away visiting family out of the country and I finished building my project NS2000/5 today. Thanks to @avi and @Thundar for supplying some of the parts.

Pickups: 40P5 in the neck and 40DC at the bridge.

Preamp: KHaz courtesy of @avi, gutted and refreshed with @SNCpre refurbishing kit. Op amp swapped out to LF442 from USA Haz. I soldered leads from the board to EMG quick disconnect kits so that (hopefully) I never break a battery lead off the board again while changing batteries. Seriously... posts for everything but the battery leads, which are placed within microns of the battery itself? What were they thinking?

Bridge: Euro5 bridge courtesy of @Thundar. I had to Dremel out 3/16" on the top and sides of the original bridge rout. Once I put it in I realized the bridge was reflecting the bare wood from inside the rout and it looked awful. So I took a blue sharpie to the inside edge and now you can't tell a thing.

Tuners: Gotoh GB707's I picked up on the 'Verb. Easiest part of this build by far. I have a black set on my other NS2000/5 simply because the plastic bushings on the stock tuners crack over time. These are far superior to the originals.

I debated putting on the crown inlay stickers, but given that this bass has a 1998 serial number, I thought the dots were more period correct for an NS5CR. So there you have it... Project NS5KR plays the part, sounds the part, and now she looks the part. View attachment 5061888View attachment 5061889 View attachment 5061890 View attachment 5061887

Classic Spector on a budget! I wanna do the same with a REX5 signature.

 

[VeryTallBassist]

Classic Spector on a budget! I wanna do the same with a REX5 signature.

Total budget on this was about $800 including the bass with shipping and all the upgrades. You can't touch anything that comes close for the money.

 

[avi]

So I got to take advantage of the fact that my wife and son are away visiting family out of the country and I finished building my project NS2000/5 today. Thanks to @avi and @Thundar for supplying some of the parts.

Pickups: 40P5 in the neck and 40DC at the bridge.

Preamp: KHaz courtesy of @avi, gutted and refreshed with @SNCpre refurbishing kit. Op amp swapped out to LF442 from USA Haz. I soldered leads from the board to EMG quick disconnect kits so that (hopefully) I never break a battery lead off the board again while changing batteries. Seriously... posts for everything but the battery leads, which are placed within microns of the battery itself? What were they thinking?

Bridge: Euro5 bridge courtesy of @Thundar. I had to Dremel out 3/16" on the top and sides of the original bridge rout. Once I put it in I realized the bridge was reflecting the bare wood from inside the rout and it looked awful. So I took a blue sharpie to the inside edge and now you can't tell a thing.

Tuners: Gotoh GB707's I picked up on the 'Verb. Easiest part of this build by far. I have a black set on my other NS2000/5 simply because the plastic bushings on the stock tuners crack over time. These are far superior to the originals.

I debated putting on the crown inlay stickers, but given that this bass has a 1998 serial number, I thought the dots were more period correct for an NS5CR. So there you have it... Project NS5KR plays the part, sounds the part, and now she looks the part. View attachment 5061888View attachment 5061889 View attachment 5061890 View attachment 5061887

 

[avi]

Sorry. Couldn't help it.

 

[SteveBassJr]

 

[Katoosie]

The blue one is killer Love that rich, deep blue.

 

[MasterBrianD]

Has anyone ever noticed how "hollow" the necks are on Euro Spectors?

I feel like it attributes to the thumpy sound you get when slapping.

I'm curious as to whether this is a design feature or not as it's never advertised. It must also be be partly why the Euro necks are so thick front to back.

I have a Euro Doug Wimbish and it's 0.88 inch on the first fret, most P basses are about 0.82 I think.

I attached a pic below trying to capture what I mean.

There seems to be quite a bit of space above the truss rod, most basses have zero room around the truss rod, is everyone else Spector Euro the same?

I'm wondering if this might make the neck less stable than if it was just full wood surrounding the truss rod. You can see there is a considerable gap between the top of the truss rod and the fretboard.

Maybe that's just the truss rod nut that has space and the rest of the neck inside is more "filled out" for lack of a better term, where the truss rod sits?

 

[scuzzy]

anyone in the club have information on this one?

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

pretty crazy deal, but I feel like it's bounced around a bit. what are the pickups?

 

[Reedt2000]

anyone in the club have information on this one?

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

pretty crazy deal, but I feel like it's bounced around a bit. what are the pickups?

Doesn't look like any of the Helium basses I can see online. Are those 2 MM pickups? Something seems off about it. Gotta love GC, list it for $3200... with no info and one $#!% photo.

 

[Katoosie]

Has anyone ever noticed how "hollow" the necks are on Euro Spectors?

I feel like it attributes to the thumpy sound you get when slapping.

I'm curious as to whether this is a design feature or not as it's never advertised. It must also be be partly why the Euro necks are so thick front to back.

I have a Euro Doug Wimbish and it's 0.88 inch on the first fret, most P basses are about 0.82 I think.

I attached a pic below trying to capture what I mean.

There seems to be quite a bit of space above the truss rod, most basses have zero room around the truss rod, is everyone else Spector Euro the same?

I'm wondering if this might make the neck less stable than if it was just full wood surrounding the truss rod. You can see there is a considerable gap between the top of the truss rod and the fretboard.

Maybe that's just the truss rod nut that has space and the rest of the neck inside is more "filled out" for lack of a better term, where the truss rod sits?

View attachment 5063042

I do not know if it was you or someone else that I have talked about this with but yeah - that "empty" or "thumpy" quality is definitely a thing with the euros. At least, the one that I had. I am not going to go into more detail right now but know that you are not alone and definitely not crazy

My new bass is maple on maple with a thinner neck but it feels way "chunkier" than my euro did. It's more of a feeling thing, with some sound quality that is always there in a small way.

 

[SteveBassJr]

The blue one is killer Love that rich, deep blue.

My favorite

 

[dpaul]

anyone in the club have information on this one?

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

pretty crazy deal, but I feel like it's bounced around a bit. what are the pickups?

This bass has been on GC's used website 3 times now, all in different locations. Seems like people are buying and returning the bass, so it makes one wonder if there's something wrong with it…

 

[mattwear]

My new Euro LX Doug Wimbish just arrived. Wow, what incredible tone and playability. I really dig this bass.

 

[poochiecheeks]

Does anyone prefer the EMG HZ over the DCs especially for a fretless? Is there any reason to use the HZs aside from cost or are the DCs just a straight upgrade in every way? Not sure which to go with along with a BTS pre

 

[AB Nate]

Does anyone prefer the EMG HZ over the DCs especially for a fretless? Is there any reason to use the HZs aside from cost or are the DCs just a straight upgrade in every way? Not sure which to go with along with a BTS pre

Mike Krueger prefers the HZ… I don't know why. I strongly found them inferior in every way to DCs. They are on my list of never again

 

[Relayer71]

Does anyone prefer the EMG HZ over the DCs especially for a fretless? Is there any reason to use the HZs aside from cost or are the DCs just a straight upgrade in every way? Not sure which to go with along with a BTS pre

I guess the HZ are there for those who prefer passive pickups (since they cost about the same).

I don't mind passives (I really like the Agi P/J and DiMarzio P on my Euros), but still didn't care for the HZ on a Rebop I had. I felt like they sounded a tiny bit lifeless and bland.

 

[Ryan L.]

anyone in the club have information on this one?

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

pretty crazy deal, but I feel like it's bounced around a bit. what are the pickups?

It was in Fargo for a while. I played it a couple times, and my advice is to avoid it at all costs. The neck seemed to have a hump (can't remember exactly where now) that caused major fret buzz and some lower notes to be completely unintelligible.

Also, there was nothing "helium" about it. It was quite heavy.

I went there wanting to buy it (twice), and both times walked away without it.

 

[dpaul]

It was in Fargo for a while. I played it a couple times, and my advice is to avoid it at all costs. The neck seemed to have a hump (can't remember exactly where now) that caused major fret buzz and some lower notes to be completely unintelligible.

Also, there was nothing "helium" about it. It was quite heavy.

I went there wanting to buy it (twice), and both times walked away without it.

That's a shame, sounds like somebody didn't take care of it. I love my Forte 5, not only is it a rock solid bass, it is an instrument that has made me a better player overall.

 

[Relayer71]

That's a shame, sounds like somebody didn't take care of it. I love my Forte 5, not only is it a rock solid bass, it is an instrument that has made me a better player overall.

Or it was a lemon. There was one Forte that kept getting sold and resold some years ago. Price was great when I came across it on Reverb (was sold here, too, if I recall correctly), but I was suspicious as it had been resold something like 3 times in a few months and like 5 or 6 times total. Managed to get some info from one of the former owners who told me it sounded fine but the neck was a real baseball bat of a neck, too fat to be played comfortably.

 

[VeryTallBassist]

Since I now have 5 Spectors in my collection and all have been modded to some degree or another, I finally put together a sound clip of each of them so if anyone is thinking of making any changes to pickups or preamps they can get an idea here. Rather than making 5 different clips, I stitched them together into a single two and a half minute clip. I played the riff from Tool's 46 and 2 twice with each bass. Pickups are both full on and the tone controls are at dead center. I also made sure my right hand was in the same position for all takes. This is about as apples to apples as I can get it. Also did two takes for the 40TW so both humbucker and single coil modes are represented.

Spector Tone Comparison

0:00 - NS2000/5 - Neck: EMG 40P5X Bridge: EMG 40DC Preamp: SNC
0:24 - NS2000/5 - Neck: EMG 40P5 Bridge: EMG 40DC Preamp: KHaz with SNC refresh kit and LF442 op amp
0:48 - NSJH5 - Neck: EMG J Bridge: EMG 40DC Preamp: SNC 2 board
1:12 - NSJH5 - Neck: EMG J Bridge: EMG 40TW (Humbucker) Preamp: USA 18V Haz
1:36 - NSJH5 - Neck: EMG J Bridge: EMG 40TW (Single Coil) Preamp: USA 18V Haz
2:00 - Coda 5 Pro - Neck: EMG J5 Bridge: EMG J5 Preamp: EMG BTS w/passive tone control in line

 

[SteveBassJr]

Since I now have 5 Spectors in my collection and all have been modded to some degree or another, I finally put together a sound clip of each of them so if anyone is thinking of making any changes to pickups or preamps they can get an idea here. Rather than making 5 different clips, I stitched them together into a single two and a half minute clip. I played the riff from Tool's 46 and 2 twice with each bass. Pickups are both full on and the tone controls are at dead center. I also made sure my right hand was in the same position for all takes. This is about as apples to apples as I can get it. Also did two takes for the 40TW so both humbucker and single coil modes are represented.

Spector Tone Comparison

0:00 - NS2000/5 - Neck: EMG 40P5X Bridge: EMG 40DC Preamp: SNC
0:24 - NS2000/5 - Neck: EMG 40P5 Bridge: EMG 40DC Preamp: KHaz with SNC refresh kit and LF442 op amp
0:48 - NSJH5 - Neck: EMG J Bridge: EMG 40DC Preamp: SNC 2 board
1:12 - NSJH5 - Neck: EMG J Bridge: EMG 40TW (Humbucker) Preamp: USA 18V Haz
1:36 - NSJH5 - Neck: EMG J Bridge: EMG 40TW (Single Coil) Preamp: USA 18V Haz
2:00 - Coda 5 Pro - Neck: EMG J5 Bridge: EMG J5 Preamp: EMG BTS w/passive tone control in line

Thanks! I love this stuff!