Well, I'm pretty sure my GAS is in remission. Everything I play at the local GC makes me want to go home and play what I have. I have not found an acoustic guitar, at any price, that really blows my $99 Takamine Jasmine out of the water (though the Jasmine could use some better tuners and a new bridge). In the case of bass, any high-end Sadowsky, Tobias, Music Man, Warwick, Zon or Modulus you hand me simply does not compare in sound or feel to my Yamaha TRB-1005. Low action, great sound, good weight, very playable neck, and of course the aesthetics are beautiful. And, it cost me less than a quarter the price of some of the aforementioned.
The only problem I have with that bass, and I have heard similar complaints from others, is that when you solo a pickup you start getting a significant amount of static hiss. How much exactly is dependant on whether you use a power conditioner, compact flourescents, your orientation to your amp and other noisemakers, etc. It's almost as if soloing a pickup also makes it single-coil, but if that were the case the bass would buzz like a beehive with all the noise sources I have in my practice space.
The short of all this is I'm looking at swapping the stock preamp board for the comparable Bartolini setup. I'll keep the pickups. The only change to the control layout would be the push-pull mid frequency. The question is this; how drastically will the EQ center frequencies, and the general sound of the bass, change with this swap? The last thing I want to do is spend $150 and end up miserable because I've lost the tone I've come to love. I know a couple other TBers have made this mod and been very happy with the results, but AFAICT the people who have done this wanted a tone change, not just an upgrade in electronics quality.
The other half is, will this change do what I want, or should I be looking at swapping pickups instead of (or in addition to) the board? Again, I don't want to spend $150 and get no improvement on the noise issue. I guess I can figure that one out on the cheap; all I have to do is rig a patch cable with a plug that matches the plugs on the board, and then I can isolate the raw pickup output (and noise floor).
So, let's hear it; If you've got recordings of your Bartolini-equipped TRB I'd love to hear them, along with any anecdotes of how the tone changed. Oh, and were you able to use the stock knobs? They have a notch so they only work on posts with a flat side. No biggie if you couldn't; it gives me an excuse to spend a little extra and get some gunmetal knurled knobs to match the rest of the hardware.
The only problem I have with that bass, and I have heard similar complaints from others, is that when you solo a pickup you start getting a significant amount of static hiss. How much exactly is dependant on whether you use a power conditioner, compact flourescents, your orientation to your amp and other noisemakers, etc. It's almost as if soloing a pickup also makes it single-coil, but if that were the case the bass would buzz like a beehive with all the noise sources I have in my practice space.
The short of all this is I'm looking at swapping the stock preamp board for the comparable Bartolini setup. I'll keep the pickups. The only change to the control layout would be the push-pull mid frequency. The question is this; how drastically will the EQ center frequencies, and the general sound of the bass, change with this swap? The last thing I want to do is spend $150 and end up miserable because I've lost the tone I've come to love. I know a couple other TBers have made this mod and been very happy with the results, but AFAICT the people who have done this wanted a tone change, not just an upgrade in electronics quality.
The other half is, will this change do what I want, or should I be looking at swapping pickups instead of (or in addition to) the board? Again, I don't want to spend $150 and get no improvement on the noise issue. I guess I can figure that one out on the cheap; all I have to do is rig a patch cable with a plug that matches the plugs on the board, and then I can isolate the raw pickup output (and noise floor).
So, let's hear it; If you've got recordings of your Bartolini-equipped TRB I'd love to hear them, along with any anecdotes of how the tone changed. Oh, and were you able to use the stock knobs? They have a notch so they only work on posts with a flat side. No biggie if you couldn't; it gives me an excuse to spend a little extra and get some gunmetal knurled knobs to match the rest of the hardware.
