• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

The Pedulla Club!

#4,301
Hey there Pedulla people,

I need so new strings for my Thunderbuzz fretless. I’ve been using the strings that came from Pedulla for the Buzz basses, but of course those are no longer available. Can someone make a recommendation? I prefer something taper-core that will get me lots of sweet “mwah.”

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Pedulla Club #45 Unique Arrangements of Hymns, P&W Standards, and Original Tunes
Administrator, Official Tobias Club #133
Administrator, Fretless Club #943
Big Cabs Club #23
My Basses
My Rig: Stage and FOH Friendly
Pedulla Club #45
 
#4,303
Sweet, love the sound in the recording (not to mention the stellar playing)!

However - the “bite” from the Optima Golds intrigues me. Would the that translate to a better option for playing live, e.g. cutting through the mix? I wouldn’t be doing any recording, only live.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Pedulla Club #45 Unique Arrangements of Hymns, P&W Standards, and Original Tunes
Administrator, Official Tobias Club #133
Administrator, Fretless Club #943
Big Cabs Club #23
My Basses
My Rig: Stage and FOH Friendly
Pedulla Club #45
 
#4,304
Fellow Pedulla(rs),

I own a 1989 MVP 4 signature. It has 3 knobs and a mini toggle switch (which never worked). First bass I ever bought many moons ago. It was not until recently that I found out Pedulla basses were active. I thought it was a passive bass that had a phase switch (the mini toggle) that I just never bothered to fix.

Looking on the interwebs, I am yet to find an MVP 4 signature with 3 knobs and a mini toggle switch. In did figure out that the knobs are Volume, pan and tone and have no idea what the mini toggle switch does.

I opened the control cavity recently, (yes it was the first time) and noticed that there was no pre-amp or battery etc. I got this 2nd hand from my buddy and he got it from the original owner but does not if he had taken out the pre-amp or if it came like that.


I've looked online and am trying to figure out what pre-amp I would need to make it active but Like I said before, I can't find one that hsa the same schematics of mine. I emailed Bartolini and am waiting for them to advise.

Can any of you give me some guidance/insight on this? I've attached the images of the bass and control cavity.

Thanks in advance.

IMG_1473.jpg IMG_1474.jpg
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1471.jpg
    IMG_1471.jpg
    1.5 MB · Views: 73
  • Control Cavity Pedulla.jpg
    Control Cavity Pedulla.jpg
    363.6 KB · Views: 79
  • Like
Reactions: JEDI BASS
#4,305
rawdge said:
Fellow Pedulla(rs),

I own a 1989 MVP 4 signature. It has 3 knobs and a mini toggle switch (which never worked). First bass I ever bought many moons ago. It was not until recently that I found out Pedulla basses were active. I thought it was a passive bass that had a phase switch (the mini toggle) that I just never bothered to fix.

Looking on the interwebs, I am yet to find an MVP 4 signature with 3 knobs and a mini toggle switch. In did figure out that the knobs are Volume, pan and tone and have no idea what the mini toggle switch does.

I opened the control cavity recently, (yes it was the first time) and noticed that there was no pre-amp or battery etc. I got this 2nd hand from my buddy and he got it from the original owner but does not if he had taken out the pre-amp or if it came like that.


I've looked online and am trying to figure out what pre-amp I would need to make it active but Like I said before, I can't find one that hsa the same schematics of mine. I emailed Bartolini and am waiting for them to advise.

Can any of you give me some guidance/insight on this? I've attached the images of the bass and control cavity.

Thanks in advance.

View attachment 4968310 View attachment 4968311
Click to expand...
My ‘89 MVP looks very similar, except mine still has the battery hookup, which yours most likely came with. Mine has the same controls, minus the switch.
I’m guessing someone mod’d yours to be ran as passive and that the switch was another mod that was abandoned…. Possibly an active/passive switch??
 
  • Like
Reactions: thumbslapper and rawdge
#4,306
JEDI BASS said:
My ‘89 MVP looks very similar, except mine still has the battery hookup, which yours most likely came with. Mine has the same controls, minus the switch.
I’m guessing someone mod’d yours to be ran as passive and that the switch was another mod that was abandoned…. Possibly an active/passive switch??
Click to expand...

Yep, someone removed the battery. I think it is an active pickup switch too. Seeing old owners manuals online, they said it was a mid boost switch. I belive this was an option they may have offered. As I stated previously I have seen one Pedulla with the same set-up as mine, and it was an MVP-%.
 
#4,307
IIRC - I think the earlier '80s MVP/Buzz basses that had an LED, 4 or 5 pots & a toggle had active/bypass switching.
I could be wrong but the 3 knob + switch may have had a preamp similar to the original ThunderGuts used in the Thunder series, where the switch controlled the frequency of a mid boost/cut. This setup had a dual purpose treble control (< 50% = passive, > 50% = active presence). That was the setup on my '90s ThunderBolt 6, I definitely preferred the more standard vol/balance/bass/treble setup on my Rapture J-2000-5.

I talked to Mike P. a couple times when Pedulla was still in business, he said the later "always active" setup gave him the sound that best fit the basses.

See here for a manual with Pedulla electronics before the final iteration where vol/blend/treble/bass + mid switch became standard.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rawdge and JEDI BASS
#4,308
WayneP said:
Hey there Pedulla people,

I need so new strings for my Thunderbuzz fretless. I’ve been using the strings that came from Pedulla for the Buzz basses, but of course those are no longer available. Can someone make a recommendation? I prefer something taper-core that will get me lots of sweet “mwah.”

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Pedulla Club #45 Unique Arrangements of Hymns, P&W Standards, and Original Tunes
Administrator, Official Tobias Club #133
Administrator, Fretless Club #943
Big Cabs Club #23
My Basses
My Rig: Stage and FOH Friendly
Pedulla Club #45
Click to expand...

I've been using rounds on my Buzz. I don't think they are taper core, but I get a lot of Mwah from this bass with pretty much any strings. Presently using DR Sunbeams. I turn the tone knob down a little bit to take just a touch of zing off. I suppose for roundwounds, Pure Blues might be a better choice, but I like to have a bit of bite on
rawdge said:
Fellow Pedulla(rs),

I own a 1989 MVP 4 signature. It has 3 knobs and a mini toggle switch (which never worked). First bass I ever bought many moons ago. It was not until recently that I found out Pedulla basses were active. I thought it was a passive bass that had a phase switch (the mini toggle) that I just never bothered to fix.

Looking on the interwebs, I am yet to find an MVP 4 signature with 3 knobs and a mini toggle switch. In did figure out that the knobs are Volume, pan and tone and have no idea what the mini toggle switch does.

I opened the control cavity recently, (yes it was the first time) and noticed that there was no pre-amp or battery etc. I got this 2nd hand from my buddy and he got it from the original owner but does not if he had taken out the pre-amp or if it came like that.


I've looked online and am trying to figure out what pre-amp I would need to make it active but Like I said before, I can't find one that hsa the same schematics of mine. I emailed Bartolini and am waiting for them to advise.

Can any of you give me some guidance/insight on this? I've attached the images of the bass and control cavity.

Thanks in advance.

View attachment 4968310 View attachment 4968311
Click to expand...
You should contact Doug Somervelle at Bartolini. Really nice and helpful guy. He just helped me to reproduce the oem tone circuit for my 1982 Buzz. You can reach Doug at this address: [email protected]
Be prepared to send current pictures of your instrument. They need proof that you actually own a Pedulla of the sort in question.
Cheers!
 
  • Like
Reactions: WayneP, JEDI BASS and rawdge
#4,311
Pedullist said:
La Bella Copper White Nylon Tape is my fave. Feels very very very smooth (did I emphasize it enough?) and mwahs very sweetly. Made me so happy I recorded a video with it.



However in my prog rock band I needed more bite (cuz guitars) so I switched to Optima Golds.
Click to expand...

Can you compare the copper white to the black labella tapewounds which I've been using for years?
 
#4,312
winston said:
IIRC - I think the earlier '80s MVP/Buzz basses that had an LED, 4 or 5 pots & a toggle had active/bypass switching.
I could be wrong but the 3 knob + switch may have had a preamp similar to the original ThunderGuts used in the Thunder series, where the switch controlled the frequency of a mid boost/cut. This setup had a dual purpose treble control (< 50% = passive, > 50% = active presence). That was the setup on my '90s ThunderBolt 6, I definitely preferred the more standard vol/balance/bass/treble setup on my Rapture J-2000-5.

I talked to Mike P. a couple times when Pedulla was still in business, he said the later "always active" setup gave him the sound that best fit the basses.

See here for a manual with Pedulla electronics before the final iteration where vol/blend/treble/bass + mid switch became standard.
Click to expand...

Correct. The owners manual I had from when I bought the truss rod wrench (yeah they included one in there) mentioned the mid boost/cut.

How do you like the mid/boost cut on your thunderbolt?

I am guessing that it may not have been too popular on the MVP 4 string because I would have seen others that had it. The ones that had a mini toggle switch more often than not had the LED light right next to it, which now we know was an active/passive switch.
 
#4,313
Artman said:
He might take a couple of days, but he will reply. He's quite busy with old Pedulla recently.
Click to expand...

Yeah he got back to me and said he needed an image serial number on the headstock to confirm I was the owner. Let's see what he says.

Honestly, I've used this as a passive bass for so many years and love the sound. Am wondering if I even need to upgrade to active.
 
#4,315
WayneP said:
Sweet, love the sound in the recording (not to mention the stellar playing)!

However - the “bite” from the Optima Golds intrigues me. Would the that translate to a better option for playing live, e.g. cutting through the mix? I wouldn’t be doing any recording, only live.
Click to expand...

Thanks! :) It's just the Pedulla straight into the Avalon with a bit of opto compression (la2a), if I remember well.

I've played Pedulla nickels for 20 years (4 sets in other words), but after Michael quit and the availability of that type of strings decreased, I decided to experiment a bit for a while. Mostly other brands of nickel strings. The La Bella's were one of my favorites but the sound is a bit thumpy (like all flat wounds). Which is great for some styles of music, but when you need to cut through a mix with loud guitars you need something punchy ánd direct. It's mostly a faster attack I need. The attack is a bit slow with the La Bella's. Also there is a (natural) roll off of high frequencies. A friend of mine took my set after I did the video and it's still on his Pentabuzz. When I visit him I'm always surprised how good they still sound and how lovely they feel. Silky smooth, and it sounds incredible. I bet it sounds great in most pop/jazz/laid back settings.

I tried the Optima's because I had been curious for years and I'm Dutch, so these German strings are expensive but not ridiculously expensive. Especially considering I only change strings on my fretless once every 5 years. First I tried a set on my Thunderbass and I was surprised how easy it was to cut through a very dense rock mix with it. My bandmates even thought I used a different bass. So I needed to hear them on the Pentabuzz too. They are nothing like the La Bella's, close to the Pedulla nickels but deeper and much more high frequencies. They're something else for sure.

BlacksHole said:
Can you compare the copper white to the black labella tapewounds which I've been using for years?
Click to expand...

It's mostly the feel. My experience with tapewounds is that you usually slightly feel the windings. You feel a very smooth string with the coppers, it's like there is no winding at all. Soundwise the coppers seem to be a bit thicker, more low end and low mids, no finger noise at all.[/QUOTE]
 
  • Like
Reactions: WayneP

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back