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The Official Brice Club

#221
bassically_eli said:
I just purchased a used Brice 5-string fretless. I'm really impressed! However, I need to do some electronics repairs and mod(s). First, the bass came with volume, volume, blend, and tone controls, which is pretty weird. I've always preferred V-B-T over V-V-T, but I could definitely be convinced to try a different configuration since I have four knobs to play with. Maybe V-V-T plus master volume? Or else two tone controls with different cap values?

Anyway, here's the current status of the bass. The pots were scratchy when the bass arrived, the blend knob is wired backwards, and the tone control was very loose and wiggly. I damaged a couple of pots while trying to remove the knobs for cleaning (I did use a rag to apply even pressure, but they were wedged on really tight), so I am planning on replacing all of the pots. The pickups are active (humbuckers?) with passive tone controls, which is new to me. I know that passive basses typically use 250K or 500K pots, and basses with active pre-amps use much lower values, so which do I use here? Can I just treat the pickups like any other passive bass? The battery is wired between the jack and the pickups, so I don't need to mess with it in order to replace the pots. One more thing that is weird to me: the bridge pickup volume uses an A25K pot, whereas both the neck pickup and the tone control use B100K pots. Not sure why this is. Did someone previously replace the bridge pickup pot?

I am not looking to replace the pickups or to put in an expensive pre-amp, at least not just yet. I would consider a pre-amp if I can find something pretty affordable, say under $50. Simple active bass and treble controls might be nice.... I don't think there is room in the cavity for another battery, though, so anything active would need to use the same battery. Speaking of the battery, this one is locked up with four screws, so that is one more thing I'd like to address at some point. One option would be an active/passive switch, but I'm not sure how to install that.

I emailed Rondo to ask for specs and/or a wiring diagram. In the meantime, any other advice, recommendations, or information will be greatly appreciated.
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This wiring you have described is VERY unusual. What model Brice is this!?
 
#222
dabbler said:
This wiring you have described is VERY unusual. What model Brice is this!?
Click to expand...
Other than the redundant volume/blend controls, what is unusual about this? Based on searching TB, Brice used this 4 knob configuration for some time. I don't actually know what model it is. It's not marked anywhere. I've also only seen a couple of other Brice basses with the same body shape. The upper and lower horns are more curved than on otherwise similar basses. Here are some picks. Maybe that will help identify the model.
Brice Bass Front.jpg
Brice Headstock.jpg
Brice Bass Body.jpg
Brice Bass Body Back.jpg
 
#224
bassically_eli said:
Other than the redundant volume/blend controls, what is unusual about this? Based on searching TB, Brice used this 4 knob configuration for some time. I don't actually know what model it is. ...
Click to expand...

You are right that rondo described the controls just as you have, and Elias has correctly identified it as a V2. I have 5 Brices, none of them a V2, but they all have more conventional controls.

Forgive me for sounding so incredulous, but I am. Why would anyone put VVTB controls on an instrument?!?!?

So humor me for just a minute. What happens if you turn the bridge pup volume all the way down, the neck pup volume all the way up and vary the position of the balance control?
 
#225
dabbler said:
You are right that rondo described the controls just as you have, and Elias has correctly identified it as a V2. I have 5 Brices, none of them a V2, but they all have more conventional controls.

Forgive me for sounding so incredulous, but I am. Why would anyone put VVTB controls on an instrument?!?!?

So humor me for just a minute. What happens if you turn the bridge pup volume all the way down, the neck pup volume all the way up and vary the position of the balance control?
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By all means, sound incredulous! ;) It is pretty darn silly to me, too. To answer your question, if you turn the balance to the bridge pup with bridge volume at 0, sure enough, no sound. As you turn the balance back towards the neck pickup, the output increases. What's more, is that it doesn't max out at the center detente; it continues to increase between center and full on neck pickup. I am not sure if this is the intended/original operation or the result of a damaged pot. The blend pot is scratchy, and the sound kind of cuts in and out if you wiggle it.

I've done a lot of research, and I think I know pretty much what my options are now. But I'm still not sure what pot values to use, just that they should be in the 25k to 100k range. In another thread, the pickups were compared to EMG, and EMG seems to include 25k pots. I leaning towards splitting the difference and going with 50k. I think I'll start with a VBT configuration, and down the road consider adding either a Bill Lawrence Q-filter or putting in an Audere 3 or 4 band preamp. Then again, maybe I should just spring for the Audere and be done with it. Decisions decisions....
 
#226
If you decide to buy a brice, go ahead and replace the pickups!! I replaced mine with seymour duncans and it made me love the instrument even more!
But as the post above, replace the blend pot! I have the same issue with the bridge turning down with the blend pot.
 
#228
Got EMGs in mine. They are J bass pickups in a soapbar housing.They are mounted on the edge inside the housing so by turning the pickups around you can play with the spacing. I moved my neck pickup forward about an 1'1/2 routing a new place for it. Now I have the exact spacing of a mid 70s Jazz bass. 4" distance center to center. Made a huge difference
 
#229
gimmeagig said:
Got EMGs in mine. They are J bass pickups in a soapbar housing.They are mounted on the edge inside the housing so by turning the pickups around you can play with the spacing. I moved my neck pickup forward about an 1'1/2 routing a new place for it. Now I have the exact spacing of a mid 70s Jazz bass. 4" distance center to center. Made a huge difference
Click to expand...

How do you like the emgs? I was gonna place some 40dc in mine but found out that emgs sound the same in every instrument so I went with sd blackouts.
 
#234
DoYouChop said:
I meant can you favor one or the other? I've never owned a j bass before so I'm curious.
Click to expand...
Yes you can. That's what the blend pot is for. That is the beauty of having two pickups. With both of them on
( center click) you get a rich round clear tone , great for everything including slapping. When you favor the bridge pickup more you get a brighter sound , more definition, some people like the sound of the neck pickup alone, saying it sounds like a P bass. You got a lot more choices on a J compared to a single pickup bass.
 
#235
gimmeagig said:
Yes you can. That's what the blend pot is for. That is the beauty of having two pickups. With both of them on
( center click) you get a rich round clear tone , great for everything including slapping. When you favor the bridge pickup more you get a brighter sound , more definition, some people like the sound of the neck pickup alone, saying it sounds like a P bass. You got a lot more choices on a J compared to a single pickup bass.
Click to expand...


That's what I was looking for, the blend pot in my active bass sounds horrible and doesn't really blend like it's supposed to so I might ditch the 3 band eq and go vvt.
 
#238
I am really liking the HXB2 short scale 5 strings. The short scale and the narrow string spacing keep my shoulder and hands happy. :)

I have an older model that I modified (Kent Armstrong pickups, wired passive), but so far the newer ones are stock other than strings and a set up. (BTW, LaBella medium scale strings fit perfectly. I have black tapes on the fretless and white tapes on the oceanburst.)

I’ll see how they do at the next rehearsal and go from there. They sound fine just practicing by myself. We’ll see how they do in the mix with the band. These are the first basses I plan to gig that I’m keeping active... so new stuff to learn!
3A386CE0-62DC-48D1-9267-E9B7C8F914CB.jpeg
 
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#239
Mekana said:
I am really liking the HXB2 short scale 5 strings. The short scale and the narrow string spacing keep my shoulder and hands happy. :)

I have an older model that I modified (Kent Armstrong pickups, wired passive), but so far the newer ones are stock other than strings and a set up. (BTW, LaBella medium scale strings fit perfectly. I have black tapes on the fretless and white tapes on the oceanburst.)

I’ll see how they do at the next rehearsal and go from there. They sound fine just practicing by myself. We’ll see how they do in the mix with the band. These are the first basses I plan to gig that I’m keeping active... so new stuff to learn! View attachment 3659996
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Nice collection man! I would get another if they headless came in different colors. You'll see that the bass will barely cut through the mix, depends on the genre you play. I play melodic metalcore and had trouble since I use lots of distortion. But to each their own. Passive is ok but I like using the preamp for different songs.
 
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#240
DoYouChop said:
Nice collection man! I would get another if they headless came in different colors. You'll see that the bass will barely cut through the mix, depends on the genre you play. I play melodic metalcore and had trouble since I use lots of distortion. But to each their own. Passive is ok but I like using the preamp for different songs.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Yeah, I am afraid I will probably have to replace the electronics depending on how it goes... I play my passive Brice through a bass fly rig pedal before the amp, so maybe I can get by playing the new ones through that for now...? My band does 70’s-current covers with an emphasis on 80’s rock/pop... so some songs are really bass forward, and some less so.

I hear ya on the headless and hear ya on the color choices! If they ever offer a 5 string short scale headless, I would be so tempted. And I’m in the process of sending a bass to Marty Bell to get it refinished in a color that Kurt says Brice is unlikely to offer in a short scale 5... (purple)
 

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