Low pass filter in warwick? help, please

[yooloo]

hiya!
i've got an alembic low pass filter that i'd like to add to my warwick infinity 5 (one j neck and one twin j bridge delano, noll 2B preamp).
i'd love to be able to go for the whole set, but that TJ... oh, well.
it has black and red wires on one (trimpot), and black, yellow and red / white wires on the other side...
does anybody know if this would work, and how to do it?
any help / diags much appreciated,
happy new year,
cheers,
zoran

[yooloo]

anybody?

[David Houck]

Hi Zoran, welcome to the board.
 
I don't know anything about Warwicks, and I'm not an electronics expert.  I have read just about every post to the board, and though my memory is not very good, I don't recall seeing anything about people wiring Alembic low pass filters into electronics packages from other manufacturers.
 
I just Googled warwick infinity 5 and it appears to me that this is an expensive bass.  My guess, and again I know nothing about the market in used Warwicks, is that if you were to make this kind of modification to the electronics package as a do-it-yourself project, you would decrease the market value of your bass.
 
Personally, I would discourage any Alembic owner from making a non-Alembic modification to an Alembic.  But I don't know anything about Warwicks and I'm not an electronics expert, so I'm really not much help.
 
My wild guess is that to make such a mod work well would require some significant knowledge of electronic circuits and testing equipment as it would be my guess that at least one or two resisters of appropriate values will be needed in the modified circuit to match up the components and get the output level where it needs to be.  Perhaps your local amp expert will have the necessary skills to do this for you.

[mele_aloha]

Hi yooloo,
 
I'll through a little conversation in with ya. First of all how is that Warwick Infinity? Of all the other brands that I have heard of I thought that Warwick could stand up closer to an Alembic than most of the other stamped out (musiciansfriend type brands). Is that true?
 
Is the Warwick as much as I have heard about them? This is just a friendly question that I don't have a clue about as I don't have any place to go to try them.
 
Anyway if it is true that they are as good as I have heard, then I would agree with Dave above that I would if anything resell the Warwick while it holds it stock value and purchase another Alembic rather than take a chance. That is unless you are in the position (which some of us are) that you have the finacial liberty to experiment in which you might come up with a pretty healthy transplant!
 
That's my 2 pesos worth.
 
Aloha, Paul

[yooloo]

dave, paul,
thanks for your warm welcome!
let's forget for the moment the market value of the bass, 'cause you would not beleive how much have i paid for it. let's just say that i have a pickupless, bridgeless, tunerless piece of great woodwork in hands, and that i would like to bring some life to it?
warwicks are not alembics in the same way Fenders  are not LPs or PRSs, they have their own public, qualities and feel.  
what i'd love to be able to do is bring two favorites together: great attack and (at least for me) perfect neck, chambered body initial sound with the tweaking powers of alembic filter.  
i'd be more than happy with a simple signal path diagram, something that goes from pickup to jack... hope that i'd even be able to go without the preamp? there are three pot holes  and a plenty of room to play with, so i thought that vol / bal / filter combo would work just fine.
dave, thanks for your input. i kind of guessed that alembic pickups are quieter than others, and have no idea how hot or not delanos are. thanks for reminding me to take readings first.
paul, yes, Ws are fine instruments, although i was never in love with electronics / pups. too harsh and sharp for my taste...
i do appreciate your suggestion, but this one was too cheap to be sold, if you know what i mean. can't think of a good reason to sell something i wanted for a long time, and got for 1/10 of the price... i'd be thrilled to find an alembic with the same deal!!!  
the real thing is still - at least financially - way out of my league, and that's why i came here, to see if i could get a little taste of alembicised sound with what i have at hand. as i said before, id be more than happy to go for the whole pup set, but the given size and the shape of pickups involved would make it too expensive.
thanks again to both of you for your time and effort, hope to hear more from you soon,
cheers,
zoran

[lbpesq]

Zoran:
 
If your bass is wood only, why not go all the way and add Alembic electronics, including pickups, pre-amp, filter and Q?  I have now put Alembic guts in 3 non-Alembic instruments with wonderful results.
 
Bill, the guitar one

[yooloo]

bill, that was exactly what i wanted to do, but infinity has one j at the neck, and one twin-j pickup at the bridge position. j's are no prob, but twin-j with it's 95mm x 48mm footprint doesn't give much options without rerouting the body - something i'd like to avoid if possible. here's the shape

i've been thinking about AXYs but can't find their dimensions in 5 str. version. any thoughts?
thanks,  
best,
zoran

[lbpesq]

Talk to Mica or Valentino.  They might be able to cast a set custom to your size.  If you have a set that fit, it shouldn't be too difficult to make a mold off of them, I would think.
 
Bill, tgo

[bassjigga]

Yeah they can probably do custom pickups. It will just take time and money. I'd imagine it wouldn't be as high on their list as the custom instruments. But it can be done. Then you could get the whole package.

[bassjigga]

Since mele aloha asked about the quality of Warwicks I though I'd comment. I have owned a few in the past and they are definitely not on the level with Alembic. The construction is actually pretty good, though inconsistent (I've seen twisted necks). I don't care for some of their wood choices. Ovangkol necks and ovangkol or bubinga bodies on most models contribute to a dark merky sound in my opinion. The electronics are also nothing to write home about, so it's a good thing yooloo is looking to replace them with Alembic. They're pretty popular in the rock scene here in the U.S. but for their price there are a lot of other options out there, of course one of which is Alembic - a much better option if you ask me.

[yooloo]

bassjigga, thanks for your input.  
you're right about the inconsistency with warwicks. my favorites are those made before 1990 (these were hand made by few enthusiasts, one can really see and feel the difference between those and anything made at W after that). those days aged wenge and AAA maple were used for necks, and bodies were made of maple, afzelia (!?) or bubinga. being an happy owner of one of the first 100 thumbs and streamers i can but say that these were their own class. electroniscs were still nothing to write home about, but other options like barts, duncans and emgs were (and still are) offered.
which brings us here - world would be a very sad and boring place if everybody was driving bentleys and  lamborginis. my thought is that every tool has it's place in the shop. me, i've never seen a heavy metal gig with an alembic on stage. nor have  i seen a jazz concert with something like BC Rich Warlock involved. that doesn't mean that they wouldn't sound right there, it's just the choice of weapons that counts. i've found one more that i'm happy with, but think that i could make it better.
i think that ordering a custom set of already expensive pups would be such an extravaganza that i could not look at the mirror for many years after placing the order without feeling guilty or plain stupid.
JJ set is 900$, add another J, and we're close to 1200$, make a cast to make it double J and we're over 1700$. shipping to france another 80$, customs fees 100$...call me stupid, but i've seen whole alembics for a few bucks more than that!
jigga, this one is not about buying one or the other, we both know what i'd go for :-) (why did i came here?), it's really and only about whether i can or can not put something i already have into the other thing that i already have. if not, i can always put it on evilbay and save the $ for the ultimate upgrade!
thanks for your feedback, makes me think about what to keep and what has to go...
cheers,
zoran
 
@ all - please ignore my bad english, it's my third language, and i'm getting old.
 
ps. about the price - global market is a b...h. Ws are much cheaper (30%) here in europe. by the same rule i'd have to pay at least as much more for let's say Sadowsky or even a plain Fender... sucks, but true. W = A is not the true case on this side of the pond, to my great regret.

[David Houck]

Your English is pretty good.  A lot of the members of this board are folks for whom English is not their first language; so don't worry about it.  There are also a lot of members, like me, who wish they could speak more than one language.
 
I don't know much about heavy metal, but isn't Metallica considered heavy metal?

[bassjigga]

I didn't mean to suggest that Warwicks don't have their place or that you shouldn't get one if you like them. There are certainly plenty of people who play them. I was only comparing them to Alembics for melo aloha who asked about it.
 
And your English is pretty good.

[yooloo]

bassjiga, mate,
i'm with you about all you've said about both As and Ws.  
please don't get me wrong, it's just me trying to convince myself that i should be happy with what i have, and that i don't need an alembic. and having hard time doing it.  
my apologies if what i have said sounded like i didn't appreciate your input.
dave, thanks for pointing that out. i learn something  new every day :-).