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SX Ursa 6-string Jazz bass

#321
Jester's Fury said:
@ DJ Bebop, I asked him on youtube (under Purpleslime) what he was going to do to it and all he said was the preamp. This was his full response

"The 'AUDERE' pre-amp certainly brought a fatter, more distinctive sound! The maple neck is equipt with not only one, but two truss-rods. They evenly balances the 'action'. I customized it a little with a brown tortise-shell pickguard.

I'll soon put up a vid' on how it looks. "

I'm guessing that he's either gigging with "BODDUM LYGNE" or just quite busy. The guy is very honest and would be an asset to TB, especially on the Essex Forum.
Click to expand...

I take it in that video he doesn't have the preamp in yet? I'm eagerly waiting to see his mods. I'm thinking about a tort guard myself. Who is good around here at making pickguards?
 
#324
Maxproud's review video is what got me off the fence regarding the bass. Looked like a Jazz, sounded like a Jazz, even with the stock strings.
I am a happy guy, the bass is fantastic for the money.
I'm diggin' the black pickguard. Gives it a vintage look. I'm thinking a tort pickguard would put the bass solidly into Noel Redding, 60's vintage territory.
Looks like Twang is da' man to contact on a custom guard...
 
#328
DJ Bebop said:
dabbler, is it Twanguard the maker of guards?

bassbenj, have you thought anymore about putting in the carvin pickups?

Or did I get this backwards?
Click to expand...

I backed off on the pickup mod idea because:

1. New strings really brought the bass to life! Got GHS flats for old school tone. Huge thump! I'm really digging the idea of an old school 6 string! Hence I'm not really looking for a new preamp or pickups now that it has the sound.

2. The odd ear spacing on the SX pickups creates a whole raft of problems if you tried to change the pickups.

3. The SX pickups are potted and thus impossible (or at least very difficult at best) to pry out of their plastic housings which was the plan to just switch innards to Carvin to deal with mounting ear spacing.

4. Adding my usual Neck, series, parallel, bridge switch in place of the second volume control was the icing on the cake. The Series tone is SO fat, and of course louder than parallel which tends to deal with the lower output issue.

So I've decided it's good to go for what I want as is!

Final tweak will be a new pickguard probably in tort or maybe a deep brown or amber MOP. (not decided yet). Talked to local pickguard maker, pickguardian.com ... just have to give the word once I decide.

All my 6 stringers are modern bright-sounding basses and the idea of an old school 6 string is fascinating me. I LOVE this thing!

And then, of course, comes the defretting project on SX 6 string # 2.
 
#330
bassbenj said:
I backed off on the pickup mod idea because:

1. New strings really brought the bass to life! Got GHS flats for old school tone. Huge thump! I'm really digging the idea of an old school 6 string! Hence I'm not really looking for a new preamp or pickups now that it has the sound.

2. The odd ear spacing on the SX pickups creates a whole raft of problems if you tried to change the pickups.

3. The SX pickups are potted and thus impossible (or at least very difficult at best) to pry out of their plastic housings which was the plan to just switch innards to Carvin to deal with mounting ear spacing.

4. Adding my usual Neck, series, parallel, bridge switch in place of the second volume control was the icing on the cake. The Series tone is SO fat, and of course louder than parallel which tends to deal with the lower output issue.

So I've decided it's good to go for what I want as is!

Final tweak will be a new pickguard probably in tort or maybe a deep brown or amber MOP. (not decided yet). Talked to local pickguard maker, pickguardian.com ... just have to give the word once I decide.

All my 6 stringers are modern bright-sounding basses and the idea of an old school 6 string is fascinating me. I LOVE this thing!

And then, of course, comes the defretting project on SX 6 string # 2.
Click to expand...

Did any of your wiring changes affect the slightly quieter C string issue that most of us seem to have found?
 
#331
DJ Bebop said:
Bassbenj, does it look like if one was to pry the sx pickup guts out da <(oops) housing, does it look like the Carvins would span the strings?
Click to expand...

Don't know. My original plan was based on what Carvin SAID was the maximum string width for their pickups. For how it really works I guess it has to be tried to be sure.

With my GHS flats I seem to have no problem with the C string. If anything I have to tone it down just a bit with the tone control. Very punchy and keeps the same tone as lower strings. If you are going for a more modern 6 string sound with rounds, I can't say how that works. It's not what I'm trying to do.
 
#332
bassbenj said:
Don't know. My original plan was based on what Carvin SAID was the maximum string width for their pickups. For how it really works I guess it has to be tried to be sure.

With my GHS flats I seem to have no problem with the C string. If anything I have to tone it down just a bit with the tone control. Very punchy and keeps the same tone as lower strings. If you are going for a more modern 6 string sound with rounds, I can't say how that works. It's not what I'm trying to do.
Click to expand...
I may try. First I'll try new strings, then preamp, then pickups. The last time I got string for a 6 they were ROTOSOUNDS SWINGBASS, any recommendations? I want to go rounds.
 
#333
I love my SX 6'er and its not like I don't have others to choose from like a Tobias Signature, Warwick Streame,r 2 Warmoth Jazz 6'ers, a couple of Cavins. The SX is just such a friendly bass to play and what it lacks in refinment is made up for in user friendly dig in. Such a cool bass. If you check ebay and search for 6 string bass pickups there is a store in Australia that sells 6 string bass pickups under the Hippo name brand. They are jazz pickups with big magnet lugs for each string. They are a direct replacement take about 15 minutes to install and will make a really nice difference in the sound you can get. Alncos, you will like them. I checked ebay out to post a link but currently they are not on there but they always advertize them and I bought the first one a year ago for another project and just ordered the other one 2 weeks ago and recieved it a couple of days ago.
 
#334
yogadork said:
I love my SX 6'er ... If you check ebay and search for 6 string bass pickups there is a store in Australia that sells 6 string bass pickups under the Hippo name brand. They are jazz pickups with big magnet lugs for each string. They are a direct replacement take about 15 minutes to install and will make a really nice difference in the sound you can get. Alncos, you will like them. I checked ebay out to post a link but currently they are not on there but they always advertize them and I bought the first one a year ago for another project and just ordered the other one 2 weeks ago and recieved it a couple of days ago.
Click to expand...

I found the website: http://www.pure-tone.com/catalog/index.php

Look under bass parts and then pickups...

You can go to Ebay store through this website. (bottom of left column on home page)

They look killer though the idea of paying as much for two pickups as I did for the whole bass bothers me...but I do love killer tone too...
 
#338
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