Spector Club (Part 2)

[*tash]

thats some nice wood

I love the pre-Kramers. Beautiful instrument.

 

[Bongolation]

Hands down, I have to have the cheapest Spector on TalkBass. What do I win?

Obviously, the icy, silent disdain of the assembled.

 

[MisterMagician]

I have a question for you Spector-ites...


What is a good hard-case for a 4-string ReBop that isn't the PoS Spector-made one?

 

[Spector_Ray]

Hands down, I have to have the cheapest Spector on TalkBass. What do I win?

An amazing "Stupid Deal" from MF, it was a B-Stock with alignment and doomsday setup problems that I was eventually able to correct. It cost me $168, delivered.

The cheapest bass I own (of many), it's possibly my favorite. I gave it a serious cleanup and polish last night and thought I'd take Link Removed.

Cute, unpretentious little thing, isn't it?

Links to pics are a no-no here. We have to see the porn!

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[Bongolation]

Links to pics are a no-no here. We have to see the porn!

Strangely, it darkened during reduction. It was originally an almost decent photo. Gotta start over.

 

[atoni]

Hands down, I have to have the cheapest Spector on TalkBass. What do I win?

An amazing "Stupid Deal" from MF, it was a B-Stock with alignment and doomsday setup problems that I was eventually able to correct. It cost me $168, delivered.

The cheapest bass I own (of many), it's possibly my favorite. I gave it a serious cleanup and polish last night and thought I'd take Link Removed.

Cute, unpretentious little thing, isn't it?

Nice

 

[benjonesonbass]

here's my offering...euro 6 LX, natural oil finish, emg cs-tw pickups w/ spector tone pump preamp and single/dual coil push/pull pots.

 

[bassmanc]

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By bassmanc, shot with [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] at 2009-02-17

Pix of my XL5 being born!

 

[Captain_Arrrg]

Pix of my XL5 being born!

The miracle of craftsmaship!

 

[hoseheadjohnson]

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By bassmanc, shot with [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] at 2009-02-17

Pix of my XL5 being born!

That's awesome that you get to watch it come to life! haha

 

[Bongolation]

Strangely, it darkened during reduction. It was originally an almost decent photo. Gotta start over.

Linked shot is now better than the one above. Behold, Link Removed

[On a $3 carpet!]

 

[Bongolation]

Pix of my XL5 being born!

Very nice! I just sent a link to your post w/photos to my Nigerois neighbor, an exotic woods/woodworking fan.

 

[dean owens]

1 if you have the long enclosed style jack i don't think you can tighten it. probably best just to replace it.

1. It's the elongated metal part to the jack the "clicks" into the indentation right before the tip of the plug. I may have been bent out of shape. Like jbrew said, if it's enclosed, you'll probably need a new one.

it's inclosed. guess i'll be on the lookout for a new one. i'm guessing it's simply an enclosed shorting jack. anything special i need to look for?

2 you just need thicker foam. i have heard of guys cutting mouse pads into the shape needed and using them as a "shim".

2. Pick-up foam from Stew-Mac or a similar site.

i looked at stew-mac and didn't see any. i think i'll just pick up a mouse pad at the local thrift store and use that for the time being. i didn't know if there was some sort of tubing i could use around the screw that would do the same.

3 no experience with those pickups.

3. Getting your TW closer will make it louder. Get it as close as possible without it hindering your playing. Is it set up vol/vol or vol/blend?

it's set up as a vol/vol.
this is how close they are now (before getting some shims)

as you can see, the tw is much closer already... but still not as loud as the 40p5. hence my wondering if i had something wrong.

4 i've heard about the j vs. cs volume issue so i think its somewhat normal but i would verify your wiring just to be sure there isn't some kind of phase issue.

4. Perfectly normal for when you switch off half of a pup.

i expected some difference in volume but not as much as i'm getting. guess i was expecting too much. the emg site seems to explain it as being two pups in one housing... not shutting off half the pup. since i thought the two were in there, i thought they would do a better job making the volumes match. oh well.

I've found with active pups, it better to not have your volume cranked. I usually keep my knobs half way up, and then get my amp to the right volume. Then, if I switch out a coil I can add volume to that pup, and if I switch in a coil I can lower the volume to that pup. Or whatever is needed.

Remember, these pups are allot hotter than your old HZs.

this is going to take me a little while to get used to. i generally don't need to get multiple tones. i just need to get one tone i like. and i've had passives for 20 years. i normally just crank everything on my bass and go to my amp to get it all set. passive pups don't sound good to me unless they are full up. it's going to be a hard habit to break. but i guess i could get it at least set so that the "J" pup is pretty close to equal to the P pup and go from there. i'm entering a whole new world.

Edit: I think pictures are in order as well.

well, this reply is getting a little long. i do another post with some pics. thanks for the help guys.

 

[dean owens]

I think pictures are in order as well.

well, here ya go.
here's a nice blurry pic of the whole system installed. this has the batteries stacked.

yet another blurry pic with the batteries set sideways.

this is after i discovered the "macro" setting on the camera.

this is what i finally ended up doing with the batteries.

my amp building taught me that i should have the shortest runs of wire i can get. but i didn't want to cut the wires so short that things are worthless to others if i decide i don't like what i have in there. i'm not sure i'll worry about trying to go in and clean up any wiring at this point. it all does what it should do. just ain't as pretty as it could be.


as a side note... for my enjoyment (and the enjoyment of anyone else that has kids)...
my youngest daughter (8 months) is at a stage that she really likes my bass and likes to hear me play (my 2 year old just likes when i play guitar and sing curious george songs or praise songs - doesn't really care for the bass). so today ivy (my youngest) got her first chance to play a spector. she was so excited she was shaking. i had to take it away from her. she never lost interest. maybe we have a future bassist on our hands?

 

[Kwesi]

here's my offering...euro 6 LX, natural oil finish, emg cs-tw pickups w/ spector tone pump preamp and single/dual coil push/pull pots.

Nice to see some more Euro 6 LX owners. Your electronics setup sounds pretty sweet too! I want to get another and have in made into a lined fretless and get it epoxied but that wont be for a while.

 

[Jasonger]

Cute kid Dean! My 3 yr old daughter just likes to watch the strings vibrate.

 

[Captain_Arrrg]

http://bestbassgear.com/pickup-screws.htm

Or a mouse pad will work.

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All I had was a yardstick so it's not too accurate. The B is a little above 1/8" away, but that's a setup thing. The G is really close- About 1/16" away.

It took me while to get used to active too. I sounded like crap until I turned down the volume knobs, and then the playing was effortless and more dynamic.

 

[Captain_Arrrg]

...maybe we have a future bassist on our hands?...

Hopefully!

I have the same look on my face when I play too! I drool more though...

 

[Versatek6]

i expected some difference in volume but not as much as i'm getting. guess i was expecting too much. the emg site seems to explain it as being two pups in one housing... not shutting off half the pup. since i thought the two were in there, i thought they would do a better job making the volumes match. oh well.

I was considering the TW for my Spectorcore, and came across this as I was digging for info about it:

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It is an EMG document showing a mod to balance the output by bleeding some voltage to ground.

I hope this is helpful.

 

[iScott]

Hey fellow Spector-ites. I've never messed with electronics and I don't much about them but I really want to explore different sounds and tones. I was wanting to know what kind/size pickups and preamps will fit in my bass (Legend 6 Classic) or anything along those lines.

Sorry for being such a n00b.