Author Topic: 3 way electronics and 2 way electronics (question) (Read 487 times)

hieronymous · « **Reply #15 on:** May 07, 2010, 10:36:46 AM »

I don't have anything to add RE: the controls, but your bass looks awesome! Love those knobs, and I've always been a fan of black basses with maple necks...

keith_h · « **Reply #16 on:** May 07, 2010, 10:57:14 AM »

I would say your controls are the typical Volume, Pan and Filter. Like Bill said, I also suspect you have damaged the pan pot. This could result in any number of symptoms. The 12 o'clock detent on the Pan should be full signal from both pickups.

At this point I think your best option is to call Alembic and have them walk through the problems with over the phone. This way you can verify which parts are not functioning properly and know which parts to order (or look for on the used market).

Keith

keith_h · « **Reply #17 on:** May 07, 2010, 11:01:37 AM »

I also want to add what you are calling 2 way and 3 way is more likely 2 control and 3 control. Your Spoiler would be 2 control electronics where the current Activators are 3 control electronics.

Keith

fdeeptone · « **Reply #18 on:** May 07, 2010, 11:02:31 AM »

Thanks everyone, Alembics resolve to this issue is to replace the module because they no longer carry parts for this setup.Thus their current setup as opossed to the one I have here.
Im just not sure what the differences are.

fdeeptone · « **Reply #19 on:** May 07, 2010, 11:06:56 AM »

haha keith answered my question as i was posting my last comment. Thanks everyone and thanks for the compliment on my bass hieronymous
I always liked the look of it as well.
Ill call Alembic to see what the difference in their old setup ad the new setup is and go from there I guess as i know thay dont carry a replacement pot for these controls.

mike1762 · « **Reply #20 on:** May 07, 2010, 11:25:47 AM »

Another possible issue: Do you have the Alembic pre-amp in addition to the PUPs or did you just hook-up Alembic PUPs to the stock pre-amp?

fdeeptone · « **Reply #21 on:** May 07, 2010, 11:28:43 AM »

well the original PUps for the G&L are passive so I can only assume that the preamp is Alembic
as the bass is active now.

elwoodblue · « **Reply #22 on:** May 07, 2010, 11:32:04 AM »

I'm glad your finding answers.

I had a thought,and I might be off base because it does sound like the panpot has been through a bit;
Could it be that the polarity of one of the pickups has been somehow reversed so when the panpot is in the middle the pickups are cancelling parts of the signal?
Probably a long shot but I thought I'd speak up anyway.

By the way, I really dig the G&L/Alembic combination.

fdeeptone · « **Reply #23 on:** May 07, 2010, 11:37:19 AM »

guess i better go play with it some more, my main bass is my spoiler so the G&L is for just mixing it up abit. Ill play with the pan a bit and see what comes from that. Thanks for the compliment on the bass I cant take pics of the electronics in fear ill pull that shaft out during knob removal.But all the answers everyone has been so helpful with have definatley steered me in the right direction.

pace · « **Reply #24 on:** May 07, 2010, 02:12:29 PM »

Although I do not see any Q switches on the G&L, perhaps the conversation involved the 2-way toggle (standard activators) vs. 3-way toggle (series I) variations of the Q switch?!?

tbrannon · « **Reply #25 on:** May 07, 2010, 02:22:00 PM »

One other random bit of input- the pickups aren't mounted the way Alembic intended when they designed the pickups. You've got all 4 screws on top. Two screws (set diagonally from each other) should be underneath the pickups and used as height adjustment screws and the other two screws sit diagonally across from each other on top to help secure the pickup against those 'height setter' screws underneath. Having it set that way makes it easy to set the height and eliminates the need for springs, cushioning, etc behind the pickup.

I too dig the G&L/Alembic combo. I have a L2000 that I love.. You may have convinced me to pick up a used G&L and scrap the electronics and find a set of electronics to drop in.....

mike1762 · « **Reply #26 on:** May 07, 2010, 04:12:15 PM »

I'm a HUGE Music Man fan, but I've never had a G&L. I just assumed the G&Ls were active.

fdeeptone · « **Reply #27 on:** May 07, 2010, 05:24:58 PM »

Well IM glad my post may have helped someone but me! (picture anyway:P)Pace brings up an interesting point. I dont think the electronics on this bass have any type of q-switch but if i were to buy a new updated module i wonder if
it would have a q switch? Ans Tbrannon brings up something I had just noticed today. My spoiler has the pickup mounts that he is speaking of and the G&L doesnt.Ill pull the PU's to see if they needed mounting differently. although look at this link. It describes adjusting PU by loosening 2 top screws then adjusting the heighth
with the 2 bottom screws.http://www.alembic.com/support/care.html
Thanks again for all the help everyone!

tbrannon · « **Reply #28 on:** May 07, 2010, 05:40:27 PM »

Mike,

I've owned 3 G&L's and all of them have been active... of Leo's 3 creations (Fender, Musicman, G&L), I prefer the G&L's. They're the least popular of the three, but that makes them far more affordable, which is fine by me!

mica · « **Reply #29 on:** May 07, 2010, 07:25:06 PM »

OK, I think I can clear up some confusion about the timeline for Alembic Activators. If I can see under that pickgaurd sometime, I can be of more specific assistance.

Anyway, we stopped making 2-volume Activators some 20 years ago. Spares were exhausted 10-12 years ago for the volume pots. Now, we suggest replacing the original 2-volume harness with a volume and pan.

The volume pan arrangement is actually an improvement when it comes to noise. The 2-volume setup had the filter gain at 100% all the time, so even if the volumes were turned low, the filter gain was at max, so low volume settings were noisy. With the volume pan setup, the filter gain is proportional to the volume, so the noise doesn't increase as the volume turns down.