The Soundgear Club

[GTHintz]

Here's a question someone might be able to answer. So am I imagining things or would the neck joint and nut width be different on say a sr400 vs SR405 or any other 5 string neck? I have the crazy idea of picking up a 4 string SR neck and modding it to have a 5 string nut and tuner key and bolting it on a 5 string body. Asking because I found a dirt cheap 4 string neck but it would be going on a 5er body.

 

[Snert]

I'll measure later but both heel and nut dimensions are different on the 4s and 5s. Ibanez website gives nut and 24F widths for all models.

 

[GTHintz]

I'll measure later but both heel and nut dimensions are different on the 4s and 5s. Ibanez website gives nut and 24F widths for all models.

I have a feeling that the width at the nut will be narrower and make it too cramped for a 5th string to fit in there. It also appears that if you had like a sr505 and you were going to try and fit a premium or prestige neck on there you'd have to do some modding. But anyway thanks for checking for me.

 

[ardgedee]

Here's a question someone might be able to answer. So am I imagining things or would the neck joint and nut width be different on say a sr400 vs SR405 or any other 5 string neck? I have the crazy idea of picking up a 4 string SR neck and modding it to have a 5 string nut and tuner key and bolting it on a 5 string body. Asking because I found a dirt cheap 4 string neck but it would be going on a 5er body.

SR necks are some of the skinniest made, you might find it hard to play. You sure you wouldn't rather do that with a Fender-style neck? A classic Precision 4-string neck is 1.75 inches at the nut, which is almost exactly what an SR 5-string is at the nut.

 

[GTHintz]

SR necks are some of the skinniest made, you might find it hard to play. You sure you wouldn't rather do that with a Fender-style neck? A classic Precision 4-string neck is 1.75 inches at the nut, which is almost exactly what an SR 5-string is at the nut.

Well personally either a btb neck or a Warwick neck would be ideal for me due to how much I like my chunky neck Warwick. I never thought about a precicion bass neck but if it lines up it might be another good option. The main thing for my taste is the 16.5 or 17mm string spacing on the bridge. It's become my sweet spot and what got me interested in Soundgear basses aside from the body shape and how beefy they sound for how slim they are generally.

 

[akolbe]

Hey all. I've been searching around for this and haven't yet seen an answer. For the powerspan pickups on the 305, are they Bartolini P2 size, or their own proprietary size? thanks!

 

[Snert]

For the powerspan pickups on the 305, are they Bartolini P2 size, or their own proprietary size?

107.1 x 33.4mm. Looks MK to me. P2 is the same length and 2mm narrower. I measured the pickups not the rout as they're still in the bass.

 

[nikojii]

If I compare the two voicings to the passive sound the VM3 is farest away from neutral and the BQ3 is nearer, but not neutral either. See my sample below...


I'd love to hear the different results from your bass - all neutral, PU middle, VM3, BQ3 and passive with open tone blend.


I compiled this small audio file with the results of my tests: What you hear is the SR1345 with D'addario XL Nickel Wounds - first Active VM3 Output, then Active BQ3 Output, the Passive Tone Blend fully open. All EQs at noon (neutral) in active modes, PU 50/50. All segments are level-adjusted to allow them to be compered.
Active-VM3_Active-BQ3_Passive-Comparison_Ibanez-SR1345.mp3

What I don't really get is why both active modes seam to steal so much top end from the signal - they are both far away from being neutral. Maybe I can manage somehow to make a measurement of the voicing by feeding a sweep into the preamp and recording the output.

I have an SR305, and although it's not the same bass, it also has the preamp module with VM3 and BQ3 outputs. The SR305 has bass, middle (450 Hz) and treble controls, but I do not know whether they control exactly the same frequencies as yours. The SR305 has no active/passive switch. I'm normally using the BQ3 output with the +6dB input.

However, I did some testing with the recordings you made and compared them with my bass. It seems that the passive sample sounds and looks alot like mine with the eq flat (at center detent), whereas the BQ3 sample sounds like mine with bass control on full and middle and treble flat. I don't mean it sounds like the same bass but for the sake of comparing the preamp functions, it's in the ballpark.

I did try to run some pink noise through the preamp and was able to capture differences between the VM3 and BQ3 with my bass. The graphic was the 3 dB downward slope compensated so that it shows the difference between the reference signal and the preamp output. On the graphs the BQ3 is always on the left and VM3 on the right. With the eq flat, the BQ3 shows a flat curve and the VM3 rolls off highs after 2 kHz:



The treble roll off on VM3 is visible throughout different settings. Bass and treble boosted, middle centered:



All controls boosted:



Bass and treble cut, middle centered:



All cut:



Also in my tests the +6dB input does in fact give exactly 6dB more output. +6dB input on the left and 0dB input on the right:



Hope this helps.

 

[Oliver Stein]

Very interesting! If it's the same preamp it should not sound so different. It's obvious that my preamp pushes the lows when set to flat. I'll run some measurements through the preamp to measure the frequency response.

 

[TheArchitect]

Quick question for those who have SR models with the Power Span pickups & Power-Tap system - what do you think of them? Most comments I see here on TB seem very positive.

I might be considering picking up an SR405 in mint condition, so I'm curious to hear others take on these. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated & thank you ahead of time!

The 'Tap system really works for me. I very much prefer the both the tap and power tap modes over the full humbucker mode in most cases. as such, you could argue the point either way as to if the pickups are "good"

All that said, string choice makes a much larger difference on bass than it would on say guitar. I went from stainless Rotosounds to LaBella flats on mine. Suffice to say that will make a far greater difference than any pickup swap.

While I enjoy playing bass its not my primary instrument. As such I still hear things from an "outsider" perspective. With P and J basses being predominantly what you hear over the decades I tend to gravitate to those sounds which makes modern design like an SR300 challenging to adapt to. I love how it plays, but my ears are much slower to adapt to a different sound

 

[TheArchitect]

Has anyone replaced or removed the preamp?

Are there pickups on the market that are drop in replacements?

 

[stingray69]

Are there pickups on the market that are drop in replacements?

I believe Aguilar and Nordstrand have pickups that would be a direct fit.

 

[Snert]

Has anyone replaced or removed the preamp?

Not yet, but I have some of my own design coming.

Are there pickups on the market that are drop in replacements?

They're MK sized, so P2 will fit with a 1mm gap on each long side.

I like the PS, but I'd also like to try some Nordy BS or ZB in there. Cost is the limiting factor.

 

[Ach]

Has anyone replaced or removed the preamp?

Are there pickups on the market that are drop in replacements?

There are, for the most of SR basses.

Most of the SR basses use the Bartolini MK shaped pickups. Compatible drop in sizes are Bartolini MK and Bartolini P2. Many vendors make the P2 sized pickups: Bartolini, Nordstrand, Delano, MEC, Seymour Duncan just to name a few.

 

[TerribleTim68]

If I recall, the EMG pickups have a smaller radius at the corners, so they don't fit without a bit of mod, right?

 

[Snert]

If I recall, the EMG pickups have a smaller radius at the corners, so they don't fit without a bit of mod, right?

You need to rout to fit EMGs as they're a different size, 4mm wider on the long axis, and the MK are 6mm longer than the EMG40, 108x32 (MK) vs 102x38 (EMG40).

 

[TheArchitect]

I originally got a used SR800 for a very nice price back in the 90's. I really didn't know what I had. I just thought it played well and now I could put bass parts onto things I was recording. It was a P/J 4 knobber and I don't recall any marking on the pickups. I ran it through the Sansamp classic because I had it for guitar and the sound was glorious. Lost it in a fire.

Fast forward to 2018. I bought the SR300 for the neck and hoping to recapture that sound. So far that has not happened. Not surprising as it has different pickups, pre's, woods etc. However, in listening to a variety of preamps and DI's I have discovered that the Sansamp stuff seems to have a very different sound than the others. I am starting to wonder if that is what I was hearing. The irony being that I don't care for the Sansamp stuff but I have not tried the Sansamp Classic.

Being 30 plus years down the road I don't think I want to chase all that again. Just need to find my sound now

 

[Outbush]

I originally got a used SR800 for a very nice price back in the 90's. I really didn't know what I had. I just thought it played well and now I could put bass parts onto things I was recording. It was a P/J 4 knobber and I don't recall any marking on the pickups. I ran it through the Sansamp classic because I had it for guitar and the sound was glorious. Lost it in a fire.

Fast forward to 2018. I bought the SR300 for the neck and hoping to recapture that sound. So far that has not happened. Not surprising as it has different pickups, pre's, woods etc. However, in listening to a variety of preamps and DI's I have discovered that the Sansamp stuff seems to have a very different sound than the others. I am starting to wonder if that is what I was hearing. The irony being that I don't care for the Sansamp stuff but I have not tried the Sansamp Classic.

Being 30 plus years down the road I don't think I want to chase all that again. Just need to find my sound now

I have a Sansamp BDDI which can be very uncoloured but can also produce lots of other sounds. I suppose that is what they were aiming for with that particular circuitry. Might be worth having a listen if that isn't the model you have? Also have to say, here in Australia there seem to be the odd bargains turning up in older Japanese and Korean Soundgears - perhaps worth keeping an eye out…

 

[hypercarrots]

I originally got a used SR800 for a very nice price back in the 90's. I really didn't know what I had. I just thought it played well and now I could put bass parts onto things I was recording. It was a P/J 4 knobber and I don't recall any marking on the pickups. I ran it through the Sansamp classic because I had it for guitar and the sound was glorious. Lost it in a fire.

Fast forward to 2018. I bought the SR300 for the neck and hoping to recapture that sound. So far that has not happened. Not surprising as it has different pickups, pre's, woods etc. However, in listening to a variety of preamps and DI's I have discovered that the Sansamp stuff seems to have a very different sound than the others. I am starting to wonder if that is what I was hearing. The irony being that I don't care for the Sansamp stuff but I have not tried the Sansamp Classic.

Being 30 plus years down the road I don't think I want to chase all that again. Just need to find my sound now

SR300 sounds very different from SR800.

 

[TerribleTim68]

Yeah, I have a 300, I picked it up for $80. I love it, but I also know its limitations.