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The Reverend Club (part 7)

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#321
Question for XL owners - I love mine, "The XL formally known as The Dawgfish", but I have noticed it is starting to get noisier in parallel and series settings (single coil is always noisy, of course).

I am thinking that perhaps there might be a cold solder joint but all connections look solid. Does anyone have a wiring diagram for the XL's so that I can compare to make sure that mine is correct? Assuming that it is wired correctly (all electronics function as they should except for the humming), any ideas as to what else it could be??

Thanks in advance!

Stephen
 
#322
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Last night I took it out to a couple of jam sessions where I trust the musicians to give honest opinions (and where I know the quality/setup of the backline). Put in a total of around 2 playing hours. Here are some thoughts on my Dub King, the Orange Crush:
  • Gotta be said first: Monster tone. Huge bottom end, not a bit of muddiness. Plenty of punch.
  • Lots of tonal variation panning the pickups.
  • The tone control seems to be wider range than on most (non-Reverend) passive 4's.
  • There is a VERY exaggerated difference in tone depending on where you hit the strings with your right hand. Because the bridge is just behind where the PUP would be on a Precision, (eg, a 34" scale bass), there's a tendency to play over the MM bridge PUP. You will get plenty of bark doing this, and it is a great sound, but play closer to the neck, even over the P-pickup on the neck, and you get one of the widest, deepest, phattest and fattest low end tones ever, and it is completely articulate, with no bloat, muddiness or boominess. I am head-over-heels in love with that sound.
  • The neck is wide. It is not uncomfortable, but it made a bigger difference than I thought it would. It is something I'm going to have to adjust to.
  • Same for the high string tension. Again, not uncomfortable, but different than on my RF PJ. and something to be adjusted to.
  • Every person who saw it thought it was drop-dead gorgeous. People said I looked better playing it, too, lol.
  • I can't talk about the factory setup - I never played it that way, I changed the strings to Chromes first thing. I can say that the fit and finish (oh, yeah, you have to see one of these things in person to appreciate the finish) are excellent. Period.
 
#324
kenkell said:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Last night I took it out to a couple of jam sessions where I trust the musicians to give honest opinions (and where I know the quality/setup of the backline). Put in a total of around 2 playing hours. Here are some thoughts on my Dub King, the Orange Crush:
  • Gotta be said first: Monster tone. Huge bottom end, not a bit of muddiness. Plenty of punch.
  • Lots of tonal variation panning the pickups.
  • The tone control seems to be wider range than on most (non-Reverend) passive 4's.
  • There is a VERY exaggerated difference in tone depending on where you hit the strings with your right hand. Because the bridge is just behind where the PUP would be on a Precision, (eg, a 34" scale bass), there's a tendency to play over the MM bridge PUP. You will get plenty of bark doing this, and it is a great sound, but play closer to the neck, even over the P-pickup on the neck, and you get one of the widest, deepest, phattest and fattest low end tones ever, and it is completely articulate, with no bloat, muddiness or boominess. I am head-over-heels in love with that sound.
  • The neck is wide. It is not uncomfortable, but it made a bigger difference than I thought it would. It is something I'm going to have to adjust to.
  • Same for the high string tension. Again, not uncomfortable, but different than on my RF PJ. and something to be adjusted to.
  • Every person who saw it thought it was drop-dead gorgeous. People said I looked better playing it, too, lol.
  • I can't talk about the factory setup - I never played it that way, I changed the strings to Chromes first thing. I can say that the fit and finish (oh, yeah, you have to see one of these things in person to appreciate the finish) are excellent. Period.
Click to expand...

'Reverend' Ken

Great to hear your live feedback...no surprises about peoples visual reactions...Judging by your gushing review, you may have to add another "for the bass I play: Reverend Rumblefish PJ & Dub King".

Thanks,

Alan
 
#327
'Rev' Ken.... Glad to hear you love the bass! The guys at McNeils are good friends of mine, and I was hoping to get out of work to check out your bass. I'm going back again today to check out the chronic blue Justice bass. Great feel and tone...
 
#328
smitcat said:
'Rev' Ken.... Glad to hear you love the bass! The guys at McNeils are good friends of mine, and I was hoping to get out of work to check out your bass. I'm going back again today to check out the chronic blue Justice bass. Great feel and tone...
Click to expand...

It does sound great. - and other bass players have checked it out, giving me a chance to hear it from the house side of things - but it isn't an unqualified success.

The string spacing is too wide for my taste. It is the widest 4 I have ever played, and, IMHO, out of proportion with the bass and neck shape. This could also be seen as me bitching because until I adjust my right and left hands to this bass, I'm not as fast and facile as usual. Maybe the old dog, new trick dilemma.

So not perfect but excellent.
 
#330
matrok said:
That's a bummer as the thing I love about my PJ is the slim neck profile. Wonder if the other basses are similar?
Click to expand...

All the 4s have the same 21/32" string spacing.

But (and there's always a big but, right?) The neck is very, very nice. The string spacing will become a nonissue when the Orange Crush and I have gotten past the honeymoon phase of our relationship
 
#333
OK, so I got the Red 5L that was on ebay. It got here Monday. First impressions were that it's in excellent condition. The only real issue was neglect; the strings were rusty, as were some of the frets, and the fretboard looked really dry. So I masked off the FB and lightly polished the frets with extra fine steel wool (yes, I masked the pickups). Then I put on a coat of Planet Waves Hydrate (what Roger Sadowsky sells -- I love it -- it conditions without darkening the FB). I couldn't believe how much better it looked after the fret polish and the Hydrate! Strung it up with some HiBeams and it looks and plays like new. Nice looking FB.

IMG_2038.jpg


I love the oldest 5Ls -- I think they had different (KA?) pickups, and the single coil setting is the bridge (not the neck, as on later 5Ls I think??) pickup, which is right in the sweet spot. KILLER tone! It's fantastic having a hot single coil pickup in that spot because it's further away from the bridge than a Jazz bridge pickup so it's not too nasal but isn't too bassy like the neck pickup soloed on a Jazz. Instead it's right in the middle. The slant also balances the tone across the strings as with all Revs (but the BH).

IMG_2041.jpg


I have a B/W/B pickguard on order. :D


TheLarch: Sorry I can't be more help. In about a week or so my new B/W/B pickguard will arrive and I will take the one off my 5L. I'll take pics of what the wiring looks like. Should be broadly similar to the XL. As for the noise issue, IIRC Reverends have a shielding under the PG. I'd make sure all the shielding and grounding connections are solid.
 
#338
matrok said:
Nice collection Bart
Click to expand...

Thanks, everybody!!

I can't get over how good the 5L looks now that the frets are polished and the board is oiled. Other than a very slight yellowing of the edge, it looks brand spanking new. Not a scratch on it.

There's some slight damage to the case, but that's pretty minor. It sounds the same as I remember Thumpy sounding. Even though it won't get much gigging time (I'm mainly a four-string guy in a classic rock cover band), I'm thrilled with it.
 
#339
Play it. Play it. Play it.
Shoot, now I may have to take my 5L out. Haven't done that much since I went all J5...


I've heard the Mr Clean Magic Eraser works on the yellowed side, but haven't tried it.
 
#340
BartmanPDX said:
TheLarch: Sorry I can't be more help. In about a week or so my new B/W/B pickguard will arrive and I will take the one off my 5L. I'll take pics of what the wiring looks like. Should be broadly similar to the XL. As for the noise issue, IIRC Reverends have a shielding under the PG. I'd make sure all the shielding and grounding connections are solid.
Click to expand...

Bart - Congrats on the snag of that sweet 5L and thanks on helping me out on my noise issue. Best that I can tell, all grounding looks good (and I resoldered a couple of connections to be sure). I am starting to suspect that the tone-pot might have some issues as the wiper has a definite "hump" in its internal travel path and sometimes can be noisy, inspite of a recent shot of contact cleaner. I picked up a new CTS pot and will put that in to be on the safe side as I have a big show coming up this Wednesday and the Dawgfish is my go-to.

Speaking with Joe Naylor via email, he confirmed that the stock capacitor was a 0.047 uf "green chicklet" type so clearly the 0.022uf All-Parts Vitamin Q that is in mine was added later. I'll be keeping it in place as this bass just sounds too good and has the bite and growl that works perfectly with Chromes. Notwithstanding the tone pot that will be going,.....if it ain't broke.....
 
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