Plans for my bass mods.

[IPolkaLikeThis!]

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y126/imaginaryjoe/Bassmodplans.jpg

two of the switches set the pickup to go to either the passive side, or go to the preamp


140 for single coil P pup
299 for u retro if i choose that
150 if i go bart preamp
129 for nordstrand sterling pup
130 for bart sterling pup

+ whatever for pots and stuff. pick guard material, wire, stuff like that.

so 400+ if i go cheap
or 600+ if i choose the expensive stuff.


My bass is a MusicMan SUB, and hopefuly, it will pwn after the mods i do to it.


i dont know if this makes sense, or will even work, but i'l deal with that later.

[Radiobass81]

A P pickup in an SUB would make it TOO bassy.

[Az_Holl]

Yeah im going to go with Jorge.

I'd just put in a J for the neck.

[Radiobass81]

You know what I regret not getting on the 'Ray? Piezos.

Maybe you can go with that? It'll add tonal possibilities, for sure.

[muthafunkabass]

Thats alot of work. He'll need 18 volts just for the piezo's. Then he'll need another 9 volt if he goes with the bart preamp. If he gets the U-retro and the piezos, he'll have to have 36 volt electronics, 4 batteries in the back of his bass.

[Radiobass81]

Piezos are 18V? That I never heard.

And why 36? 18V for the piezos, and 9 for the pre. That's 27V.

[muthafunkabass]

Piezos are 18V? That I never heard.

And why 36? 18V for the piezos, and 9 for the pre. That's 27V.
The U-retro is very powerful, I think it would burn a single 9 volt. I read the 18 volt statement about Piezo's in a bass player magazine article made by Rick Turner, the famous bass luthier.

[Radiobass81]

The J-Retro is just as powerful, and that's only one 9-volt.

[Polyamarous]

Either way, he's gonna end up very poor.

[LewsTherin]

The J-Retro is just as powerful, and that's only one 9-volt.

J-Retro = U-Retro

The only difference is that the J-Retro is ready to drop into a Jazz bass.

[thelowsoundofbass]

Looks like a kickass set up yo have planed there. But I do agree that you should look into something besides a P pup, maybe a Jazz or another MM style one.

lowsound

[Radiobass81]

J-Retro = U-Retro

The only difference is that the J-Retro is ready to drop into a Jazz bass.
Alright, so that reinforces my point.

Thanks man <3.

[PaulSimonon]

Thats alot of work. He'll need 18 volts just for the piezo's. Then he'll need another 9 volt if he goes with the bart preamp. If he gets the U-retro and the piezos, he'll have to have 36 volt electronics, 4 batteries in the back of his bass.
You're crazy. I've seen/played many basses run pres and piezos and pres for the piezos off of a single 9 volt.

[nopicks4me]

if you do end up running 36V or what ever you should come up with a way to plug your bass into the wall when your just practicing. Dont Piezo's just eat through the batteries?

[FunkMetalBass]

if you do end up running 36V or what ever you should come up with a way to plug your bass into the wall when your just practicing. Dont Piezo's just eat through the batteries?

I can get a good 75 hours out of my ibanez with active electronics AND a piezo.

One 9V battery.

Isn't there a wiring setup you can use where the pups and whatnot actually draw power from the amp, eliminating the need for so many batteries?

I think JP or SoM will know.

You might talk to them about it.

[PaulSimonon]

You have to use a different sort of cord for that, but it's used quite a bit. Alembic and Jaydee come to mind first, but there's a bunch of others that do.

[LewsTherin]

I can get a good 75 hours out of my ibanez with active electronics AND a piezo.

One 9V battery.

Isn't there a wiring setup you can use where the pups and whatnot actually draw power from the amp, eliminating the need for so many batteries?

I think JP or SoM will know.

You might talk to them about it.

its called "phantom power", its usually 48v, and its used for condenser and ribbon microphones.

Line6 also has a phantom power setup for their variax instruments.

[FunkMetalBass]

Does it have to utilize 48V, or can you mod it to compensate for 18V?

[LewsTherin]

im sure you could get an 18V system built.

its just that most mics need 48V, so every mic pre that comes with a phantom power option has it in 48v.

[Tryxx]

Bah! P/MM is the way to go! Sandberg, check them out. There's a review in the April Bass Player mag of one.

Just make your you REALLY know what you're doing and whatnot. That's a lot of money to screw up with. :p

(And I thought this topic was for me...:()

[IPolkaLikeThis!]

most of it is going to be just connect the right wires together, and route out space for it all.

i have put together a few guitars, and a few pasive basses, but i have never worked with preamps yet, so idk.

I need to read more about switches, i like how i can find some that will either send the signal straight to the preamp then the output, to to the passive volume and tone.

the SUB already has a battery box, so i just need to hook that up to the preamp.

and i need to find out about getting a sterling 3 way switch. or if i want to go with a 4 coil one, like Tryxx sugested the other day.


and i havent decided if i want to go P or J neck pup yet either, but the P was my original plan.

[NavyBass]

Looks like when it goes through the preamp it bypasses the volume controls. Is there going to be a volume control on the preamp?

Second thing, if you run one pickup through the preamp and the other one as passive, the one going through the preamp will probably drown out the passive ran one. Most preamps add gain to the signal.

[IPolkaLikeThis!]

Looks like when it goes through the preamp it bypasses the volume controls. Is there going to be a volume control on the preamp?

Second thing, if you run one pickup through the preamp and the other one as passive, the one going through the preamp will probably drown out the passive ran one. Most preamps add gain to the signal.

Thanks for replying JP.

I did plan on having volume control with the preamp, but I forgot about preamps adding gain...

I originally just wanted to flip the switch, and basically turn it into a 51 P, with just volume and tone, and then switch it back, and then have it so that both pups go into the preamp, but then I thought I should give the Sterling a passive bypass switch thing too.