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Tobias Growler electronics question...

#2
Ok..

1. Volume
2. Balance (to pan between the 2 coil sets)
3. Stacked bass/treble knob for the first set of coils
4. Stacked bass/treble knob for the second set of coils
5. 3-way switch for first set of coils
6. 3-way switch for the second set of coils

I don't remember what each switch position does. All I remember is that the "down" position is dubbed as the "ultimate slap tone"

Hope that helps :)

*EDIT* Ok I think I just remembered. In the "down" position, its a "bassier" tone, like I said "ultimate slap tone", the "up" position is more trebly I'd say and the "middle" position I think is "neutral" meaning no difference.

But don't quote me on this :)
 
#4
Hey Pilot & Tobias4,

Thanks for the info!

I had already found that page on the Gibson site when this bass came into my shop for a quick setup and fret dressing. The guy bought it used and didn't know what all the knobs and switches were for (he is a guitar player who recently switched to bass for his band...), and neither did I so I was looking to get the info for him.

:^)~
 
#5
Setup and fret dressing...sounds like what I had to do when I got my Growler last year. Hopefully his isn't a disaster like mine was.

Go on Harmony Central, the lousy review is mine *lol* Great tonal variety, I can say that though.
 
#6
Nah, this one is pretty decent. It is the swamp ash version with the wenge fingerboard, exactly like the one in the pic on the Gibson page.

The neck has a bit more forward relief than what is optimal, but the frets are in really great shape overall. So I've just got to straighten out the neck, check the nut grooves and height, lightly shave and dress the frets, set the string action and intonation, and check over the electronics, as he gets a bunch of popping and snapping when he moves the input jack around, which goes away if he hangs the cord over the end of the strap. So just a loose connection there.

:^)~
 
#7
I had the same one on the page as well. Most of the frets needed to be leveled. The neck was just all screwed up. Even after a fret leveling, it still had major problems. And it wasn't warped either. It just wasn't very stable.

I traded it and some guy bought it a few months later. I lit a candle and said a prayer for him *lol* :)
 
#8
Hopefully this one will be okay! I have heard others here and there mention that some Growlers had neck stability problems. Although you would think that with dual truss rods on a 4 string neck it would be okay.....

On that note, the stinkin' truss rod nuts are extremely hard to get to.... I've been to 3 local music stores/repair shops looking to find a tool that will get in there with no freakin' luck whatsoever. So, tonight I'm going to make one out of a 1/4" socket... SHEESH!

:^)~
 
#9
Stew Mac sells some socket wrenches that should fit in there well. Also Carvin sells them as well. Oh wait a minute, you should know that, you're a rabid Carvin fan if my memory serves me correctly :) I've hung around the Carvin board a bit. Would that wrench work or is it too big?

Yea they are a pain though. And I thought the same thing. You would think, with a 3 piece neck, and 2 truss rods it'd be stable. But as I put it in my review, it was like trying to balance a coconut and and SUV on a seesaw made of toothpicks :)
 
#10
i bought a 4 string growler a few years back and returned it the next day
the electronics were the bomb but it didnt cut thru a band (prabably due to the light ash which was very mid shy
if i remember correctly the middle position on the 2 switches was flat, one position was a bump in a certain bass and treble frequncy for a smiley slap tone, and the other position was a bump somewhere in the low mids for a jaco-ish tone
i'd love to find out if i could get that pickup and electronics from gibson or bartolini so i could drop it in a good bass
lots and lots of growlers had neck problems
 
#14
I've never heard of Bartolini selling the dual EQ except to Gibson... but maybe they would. It would be cool. Or maybe its just two independent 2-band EQs and a blender?

Oh, wait a minute. I forgot about those two contours available on the switches. That sounds like something custom for Gibson, kind of like the "thunderguts" contour that Bart makes for Pedulla.
 
#16
Well,

I was actually able to reach the truss rod nuts quite nicely with a small 1/4" open end wrench. The neck straightened up nicely, I lightly shaved down the top of the frets and redressed them. The nut didn't need any filing at all, the grooves are just the right depth. Now tonight if the neck is still where it should be I'll replace the strings and set the action and intonation.

I then have to replace the input jack. Thankfully I have one of those type of jacks laying around already, and a stereo one two, whew!

In working with this thing, it seems to me that the neck is very, VERY dry. It almost feels like bare wood that was never finished, but I'm assuming at one point it had a thin coat of tung oil or something similar on it. This could easily contribute to the neck not being stable. I have highly recommended to the owner that we get a few good coats of tung oil on the neck, and that seeing as the climate here is high desert with the humidity usually below 30% and often into the middle teen percentages, I've advised him that a new coat of tung oil and/or warwick wax should be put on it once a year.

All in all, it's not a bad little bass, but I find it to be about the same as the new Toby Pro's from Korea. Granted, the electronics on this one might be a bit "better", but the overall feel, fit and finish gives off a "$500-Guitar-Center-Mass-Produced" vibe.

The current Bartolini catalog shows the "MM" pickup as available, but only in a dual coil, not a quad coil.

:^)~
 
#19
Tobias (USA Gibson made, at least) used a 1/4" truss rod wrench. These are the same as pre-Fender Guild instrumemts use. (I have no idea if Fender made Guilds use the same as they used to, or not...) You can get these from Stewart Macdonald Supply Shop.

Steve
 
#20
Hi everyone

Latecomer to this thread but I just picked up one of these off TB a few weeks ago and really like it. I checked the electronics cavity and was wondering if anyone had or knew where to find info on the four internal trimpots that are part of the electronics. I have looked everywhere and come up empty.

Thanks in advance
 

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