Spector Club - Part 11

[lowfreqgeek]

Hey Patrick,
Do you know what Rex Brown uses in his basses? I know at one point i saw him using the 18v USA circuit, but i am mainly just curious if he uses the Tonepump or USA preamps.

Will the TonePump go to 18V, or is it 9V only?

 

[stjohn1299]

I know my Euro4 from 02/03 does not have the trim pot.....unfortunately. It could stand to be dialed back a bit.

 

[mmbongo]

Sup!

I wanted to share a sound clip I did with my NS-5H2 (the one with the EMG MM pickup).

Sometimes to break my practice routine, I like to take stuff that has no bass part and add a bass part to it. So, here is my bass part added to Your Touch by The Black Keys. It's quick and dirty, but I just wanted to share it! I know the bass is loud in the mix, but I want to hear it

Nothing fancy, my NS-5 to my GK 1001RBII, then to my computer.
Invalid Link Removed

 

[JPSBassist]

Will the TonePump go to 18V, or is it 9V only?

9v... I've heard that it doesn't handle 18v well. I think Phat tried it once and it was not good. But I might be mistaken.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

9v... I've heard that it doesn't handle 18v well. I think Phat tried it once and it was not good. But I might be mistaken.

That's what I suspected. I think I won't try it...

Thanks.

 

[peledog]

Sup!

I wanted to share a sound clip I did with my NS-5H2 (the one with the EMG MM pickup).

Sometimes to break my practice routine, I like to take stuff that has no bass part and add a bass part to it. So, here is my bass part added to Your Touch by The Black Keys. It's quick and dirty, but I just wanted to share it! I know the bass is loud in the mix, but I want to hear it

Nothing fancy, my NS-5 to my GK 1001RBII, then to my computer.
Invalid Link Removed

Nice!

 

[LimaGuy]

Basically, all you need is a resistor between the pickup and the volume pot. It can be sized such that at full rotation on the pot, you cut the voltage in half (so a 25k pot gets a 25k series resistor for 1/2). A 10k resistor would give you an attenuation of ~30%.

Being that the EMG pickups have a low impedance output and the TonePump presumably has a high impedance input, there shouldn't be any issues doing that as long as you don't make the resistor too big. I may try it on my Euro. I've thought about doing it before...

Since my ReBop has the HiZs would a 100k resistor work or could I change the 500k vol pot to a 250k pot?

 

[bdplaid]

SpectorCore5 - Used but new to me, Loving it. Interesting tone. and at 7lbs, need I say more?

I'm not new to Spectors, but new to the hollow thing. It's interesting. Like the tone much but it's a bit of a different animal, especially with the Fishman, about which I have questions (later). Not really loving 2 things about the bass tho -

1. Neck dive - have put on Hipshot ultralights and it makes a difference, but the fulcrum of the bass - where the top horn ends - is just too short considering the neck length. It's workable, but not ideal.

2. The Mag pickup. It's an EMG HZ, and in this bass it's not bad, but let's face it, HZs are muddy and indistinct. I think it's a real shame to put on this bass because, even though the SpectorCore is a relative cheapie, the hollow body deserves better to bring out the tone. I changed the wiring of the HZ to parallel and also single coil; single coil sounds better, the output of both of those rewires is super low. I also put in a Bart xxm45m that's like P-bass config in a soapbar. sounds better, barks more, but still not quite right.

To those who also have the Spectorcore, I have questions:
The Fishman EQ: is there a center detent on yours? Mine only sweeps. I think it does a high-end boost to a highcut/low end boost, with flat in the middle, but not sure about that. and with no center detent, it's hard to find the pass-through point.

If you were changing the Mag pickup, what would you change to? I'm thinking some flavor of dual coil, parallel. Nordy is 1st choice, maybe Bart, maybe Duncan.

But to be sure, I'm very much digging this bass. plays great and sound good overall.

Fire away!

hd

 

[lowfreqgeek]

Since my ReBop has the HiZs would a 100k resistor work or could I change the 500k vol pot to a 250k pot?

With the Hi-Z pickups, putting a resistor in line would have a similar effect to just rolling back the volume. So, if you normally run the volume controls @ 50%, you'd get roughly the same tonal effects by swapping in 250k pots and putting 250k resistors in line with the pickup, before the pot. This WILL load down the pickups, but there's no other way to cut the output of the pickups without loading them, unless you put in a buffer circuit. But then you might as well put some new pickups in and/or change the TonePump to a new one with adjustable gain.

This method is less desirable than an adjustable gain because the fixed gain will still boost noise by that amount. By lowering the input signal, you also decrease the signal-noise ratio. With an adjustable gain, you're actually changing how much the signal is amplified, which means you can put in a hotter signal and keep the SNR higher.

Personally, I'd rather put in a different preamp that meets some other needs, so I'll run the volume controls @ 50% or so till I get around to the preamp.

 

[Versatek6]

SpectorCore5 - Used but new to me, Loving it. Interesting tone. and at 7lbs, need I say more?

The Fishman EQ: is there a center detent on yours?

No detent on mine. The thing is so bright, I almost always run it all the way to the bass end.

If you were changing the Mag pickup, what would you change to?

I mentioned a couple pages back that I really like the SGD Neo3 I put in mine (post #890). It really opened up the tone.

 

[Lammchop93]

Thought I'd share this beat that just hit the classifieds today
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f126/...or-nsjh5-se-special-edition-0-shipped-792614/

 

[PhatBasstard]

9v... I've heard that it doesn't handle 18v well. I think Phat tried it once and it was not good. But I might be mistaken.

Two versions.
The short lived voltage doubled version didn't like it for obvious reasons. The non-trim pot version in my 6 is just fine at 18 volts.

Tone pumps didn't start to appear at all until about 2002.
I believe the trim was incorporated in 2008, not 1998.

 

[Trailight]

A couple of tunes with my FORTE-4!
(please pay no mind to the mix... and my guitar playing)

VIGILANCE (rough mix) by T I D E M A R K on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

HUMANITY (rough mix) by T I D E M A R K on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

 

[lowfreqgeek]

Two versions.
The short lived voltage doubled version didn't like it for obvious reasons. The non-trim pot version in my 6 is just fine at 18 volts.

Hmm... Well, isn't that interesting?

 

[StereoPlayer]

Be like Jaco and use roundwounds on your fretless!

+100!

nothin but rounds

 

[Tracebassplayer]

I know my Euro4 from 02/03 does not have the trim pot.....unfortunately. It could stand to be dialed back a bit.

Most people lower the pups tad.

 

[FunkySpoo]

Most people lower the pups tad.

How do you know if your pups are too high? Can these EMG pups be too high? On the MM SR5 if my pups where closer than 1/4 inch they started to sound a bit weird. Like the magnets where choking the string vibration or something.

 

[iceboxbass]

Not gonna hate on you JPS, but I just looked.... don't look ICE. just dont look......

I looked & couldn't even find the Dogals on that site!

HOLY CRAP!!! REALLY? $120??? I'm gonna stock up on these puppies at NAMM again this year. Heck with buying them!

Nah... Hate on me. I deserve it. I should have looked. :0

Ha! Choke! I'm resuscitating my wife...upon awakening she mumbled something like, no way in hell... lol I'd sure would love to try them sometime but...at $120.00 I'll stick with my GHS Precision SS FW @$25.00.

BTW... those are the D'Addario Chomes on my NS-2A in those photos.

Thought those looked familiar...had them on my BEAD NS-2A. Good sound but IMHO I like the feel & sound from GHS better.

But honestly I look at the different pups and stuff to decide what I want and what I'm getting. I really don't want any two of my basses to sound the same. Each one I'd like to have a unique sonic profile. So in studio I have maximum tonal flexibility.

JPS...I totally agree with ya! That's why I buy a different Spector... for the individualized sonic tones! Right on!!!

A little SPECTOR dirty porn.... and a little Trace Elliot V8 tube porn in there for a teaser...

WHAT??? No bottom end shot?! What's Spector porn W/O some bottom???

SPECTOR CATS!!!!

COOL Cats! Lol

SELL SELL SELL!!!!!
BUY SPECTOR!!
You can make a SPECTOR sound like any other bass...
but You can't make any other bass sound as good as a SPECTOR.

That sounds like a "NEW" slogan for SPECTOR!!!!

**COUGH COUGH**


I have been enjoying my Forte-4 SO very much! It's amazing how this bass makes me feel. Something about the craftsmanship and the sound frequency that resonates at the right place in us all I guess...
It's just transcending.

Ya know...you said the RIGHT word that I've been looking for since I've received my Ian Hill sig...It's truly TRANSCENDING!!! WOW!!!!
A Forte4/5 is in my future...soon!

 

[iceboxbass]

The TonePump in my Euro5LX doesn't have a trim, either. It's WAY hotter than even my G&L L2500s. I've found myself dialing back the pickup volumes to about 50% or less to keep the circuit from over driving.

That's what I had to do with my former ReBop also.

 

[iceboxbass]

Basically, all you need is a resistor between the pickup and the volume pot. It can be sized such that at full rotation on the pot, you cut the voltage in half (so a 25k pot gets a 25k series resistor for 1/2). A 10k resistor would give you an attenuation of ~30%.

Being that the EMG pickups have a low impedance output and the TonePump presumably has a high impedance input, there shouldn't be any issues doing that as long as you don't make the resistor too big. I may try it on my Euro. I've thought about doing it before...

I would think a restate would be a better solution than a resister. Then you could control the output.