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Warrior Club Part 2

#266
So I picked up my new to me Warrior 7 stringer. Love the feel, weight, balance, playability. I'm not quite happy with the tone though. I've gone back through this thread and it looks like I have the "sparkle circuit" in mine, two trim pots on the bart pre. Can anyone tell me more about this? I was surprised that I'm not hearing the usual "thick" bart tone from this bass. Neck through, bart soaps and ntmb pre. Is the general consensus still to have the dual trim pots removed and go back to stock bart wiring with this? Or can anyone suggest a good setting for the trims? They both look to be set at what I would call 12:00 o'clock in relation to the module they sit on. Thanks in advance for any help with this.
 
#267
voodoobassist said:
So I picked up my new to me Warrior 7 stringer. Love the feel, weight, balance, playability. I'm not quite happy with the tone though. I've gone back through this thread and it looks like I have the "sparkle circuit" in mine, two trim pots on the bart pre. Can anyone tell me more about this? I was surprised that I'm not hearing the usual "thick" bart tone from this bass. Neck through, bart soaps and ntmb pre. Is the general consensus still to have the dual trim pots removed and go back to stock bart wiring with this? Or can anyone suggest a good setting for the trims? They both look to be set at what I would call 12:00 o'clock in relation to the module they sit on. Thanks in advance for any help with this.
Click to expand...

A lot of people are a fan of removing that circuit. I haven't done that to mine yet, and I love the tone, but I have a different pickup configuration than you do.
 
#268
Yeah, I don't hate the tone by any means, it just seems a bit thin to me. Usually bart systems seem a bit low end heavy to my ears. With this config, it sounds like some of the low end fundamental is missing. It can get very "bassy", but still seems a bit hollow. Sorry for the poor description, but thats about as close as i can come to describing the tone.

Curious as to how you have your trims set. Did you just open the back and tweak until you got something you liked, or is it set from the factory. Also, am I correct in assuming that one pot is gain and the other is "sparkle", whatever that is. Thanks.
 
#269
voodoobassist said:
Yeah, I don't hate the tone by any means, it just seems a bit thin to me. Usually bart systems seem a bit low end heavy to my ears. With this config, it sounds like some of the low end fundamental is missing. It can get very "bassy", but still seems a bit hollow. Sorry for the poor description, but thats about as close as i can come to describing the tone.
Click to expand...
I'm probably the primary instigator for removing that circuit. The short story is my bass got to me with a bad connection in that circuit's wiring. The net result was stock bart pre tone, and a great sounding bass, but no ability to trim the gain, so it was really hot at the output. So I "fixed it". Everything worked at that point, but IMHO the tone suffered in a very noticeable way. Sounded kinda "choked" to me no matter how I had that circuit set. So I ripped it out and just wired it to standard bart spec from the bart web site. IMHO, major tonal improvement, and the ability to trim gain. I wouldn't even consider putting that circuit back in ever.
 
#270
Thanks Vic. I opened up the control plate and tweaked the trims a bit today thru my aggy 500sc and mesa 115. Got closer to hearing what I wanted, but still not quite happy with it. Going to do some more experimenting with the trims and my 4x10 cab, but have a feeling I'll wind up taking it back to stock bart wiring as well. Just ordered some new strings for her, maybe I'll get lucky and a fresh set of wires will help out in the tone department, the ones on it are pretty dead. I'm always ever hopeful for the "easy fix"! ;)
 
#271
Vic said:
I'm probably the primary instigator for removing that circuit. The short story is my bass got to me with a bad connection in that circuit's wiring. The net result was stock bart pre tone, and a great sounding bass, but no ability to trim the gain, so it was really hot at the output. So I "fixed it". Everything worked at that point, but IMHO the tone suffered in a very noticeable way. Sounded kinda "choked" to me no matter how I had that circuit set. So I ripped it out and just wired it to standard bart spec from the bart web site. IMHO, major tonal improvement, and the ability to trim gain. I wouldn't even consider putting that circuit back in ever.
Click to expand...

How difficult is that process?
 
#272
GrooveWarrior said:
How difficult is that process?
Click to expand...
Depends on how good you are with soldering small wires and using a little bit of shrink wrap. You'll need a resistor (I think a 1.5k) and a 5K trim pot, because you probably won't be able to salvage those, or in my case, I preserved them just in case I'd ever resell the bass, but honestly, I eventually chucked it because JD doesn't even document this circuit anywhere anyway (at least that I've found) and I wouldn't recommend anyone install it, either. Pure personal taste on this of course, but I absolutely hate what it does.

In my case, it was trivial, and very well worth it.
 
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#274
Vic said:
Depends on how good you are with soldering small wires and using a little bit of shrink wrap. You'll need a resistor (I think a 1.5k) and a 5K trim pot, because you probably won't be able to salvage those, or in my case, I preserved them just in case I'd ever resell the bass, but honestly, I eventually chucked it because JD doesn't even document this circuit anywhere anyway (at least that I've found) and I wouldn't recommend anyone install it, either. Pure personal taste on this of course, but I absolutely hate what it does.

In my case, it was trivial, and very well worth it.
Click to expand...

I may have to get some more information about how to do this. I'd love to hear what it does to the tone.
 
#275
GrooveWarrior said:
I may have to get some more information about how to do this. I'd love to hear what it does to the tone.
Click to expand...
It's actually simple. Just download the ntmb wiring diagram from bart and have at it.

As far as the tone goes, again, I can't scientifically quantify it for you, but it really "opened up" for me. Just seemed fuller, richer, and clearer. With the circuit in there, it seemed like I was really limited to either a choked duller sound or a overly-crispy and brittle fuller sound. Just sucked either way for me.

Plus, keep in mind, you can always put that circuit back if you want. Just be careful to preserve the wire length. I think he cuts of of the wires kinda' short.
 
#276
After some more experimenting with the trim pots, I was able to get the tone closer to what i wanted by turning the gain up. It seemed to open up the low end and brought back some of the fundamental I wasn't hearing. The problem now though, is that with the gain cranked, the signal is too hot. :rollno: Pedals are distorting and bypassing them, the pre on my Aggy is not too happy with the hot signal being delivered to it. Looks like the "sparkle" is gonna be gone soon.

And by the way,....here's a quick shot of the bass. Haven't had the time to do a proper pic yet. Despite not being quite there tonewise yet, the bass does play beautifully. The neck, which you could land a small plane on, ;) plays effortlessly.

warriorfront.jpg
[/IMG]
 
#278
voodoobassist said:
After some more experimenting with the trim pots, I was able to get the tone closer to what i wanted by turning the gain up. It seemed to open up the low end and brought back some of the fundamental I wasn't hearing. The problem now though, is that with the gain cranked, the signal is too hot. :rollno: Pedals are distorting and bypassing them, the pre on my Aggy is not too happy with the hot signal being delivered to it. Looks like the "sparkle" is gonna be gone soon.

And by the way,....here's a quick shot of the bass. Haven't had the time to do a proper pic yet. Despite not being quite there tonewise yet, the bass does play beautifully. The neck, which you could land a small plane on, ;) plays effortlessly.

warriorfront.jpg
[/IMG]
Click to expand...

First time I saw this photo my jaw dropped. To me it looks like the neck dwarfs the body a little but it could be the angle of the photo. Nice inlays btw.
 

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