[continued from:] Series I on Reverb

[jwright9]

I just got the bass a few hours ago.

Very interesting...


First thing I noticed is that instead of the Alembic DS-5 power supply, it came with the Boogieman clone power supply. Hmmm. Not a huge deal but not what I expected.

Second thing... IT HAS LEDS!! Cool!


I plug it in to test it out. 1/4" jack seems to be fine. Neck PU works fine as do the volume, switch and filter.

Next, I plug in the 5pin cable and the boogieman power supply. PROBLEMS. Noisy. The cable connection at the bass seems loose and makes noise. I fiddled with this for a while and tried both mono and stereo on the boogieman power supply. I decided to check it with an actual DS-5 instead. Fortunately, I have a spare DS-5 and a 5pin cable that I know works so I moved on and away from the boogieman power supply.

Here is where it gets weird.
Both pickups are working and I am getting signal BUT, I get signal from both pickups regardless of the position of the pickup selector switch.

Even when in what should be the OFF position, I am still getting signal from both pickups. EVEN if I turn both volume knobs all the way down, and the 4 way switch is off, I still get signal.

??

So, I took a look inside the control cavity. Everything seems to look fine. But it does look like it has been upgraded.
I believe it has been to Alembic in the recent past though because some of the newer connections in the control cavity.
Here is another thing... The pickups both look to be pretty new.

See pictures below. There are several photos of the control cavity. Preamp card looks to have had upgrades?
Pickups look to be relatively new.

Thoughts?
I am still waiting to hear back from Mica about the history of this bass but I am willing to bet that it has been back to Alembic at least once during it's lifetime.
I wouldn't be surprised if was back twice.

Oh yeah, the headstock repair... It is incredible. Best repair I have ever seen. I would definitely guess that this was done at Alembic as well. IF not, then whoever did it is a master luthier!


Thanks for reading and please chime in if you have any thoughts.

[FC Bass]

Congrats! :-)

Assuming the pickups are on the right connectors, I would suspect the output wiring... http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=266.0  http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=270.0
That indeed looks like an upgraded board :-)

[jwright9]

Congrats! :-)

Assuming the pickups are on the right connectors, I would suspect the output wiring... http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=266.0  http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=270.0
That indeed looks like an upgraded board :-)

Thank you!
Yes, I just verified that the output wiring on the 5pin jack is correct. It looks just like the photo in the link above.

[jwright9]

Another thing I just noticed is that the lead from the neck PU was pinched and partially severed.
As you can clearly see, the green plastic is cut and as you may not be able to see, several of the wires are broken as well.
Could this be causing a problem?

[tx196059]

Hey Jon, that could be an issue. Another thing to check, is the control board. Boogieman also makes a replacement board for Series I. Something looks a little different there, but the pickups are legit. Here is a picture of one of my Series I, which I think was upgraded. You can see "Alembic" upside-down through the right side of the control panel, and is missing the blue trim pots. Or maybe this is the new upgrade.

[jwright9]

Hey Jon, that could be an issue. Another thing to check, is the control board. Boogieman also makes a replacement board for Series I. Something looks a little different there, but the pickups are legit. Here is a picture of one of my Series I, which I think was upgraded. You can see "Alembic" upside-down through the right side of the control panel, and is missing the blue trim pots. Or maybe this is the new upgrade.

Thanks!!

Yes, I can see that mine also says Alembic PF-6 on the underside. Y

[tx196059]

I just found a link for the Boogieman board, and looks like your board is Alembic now.

[FC Bass]

The blue trimpots with the blue sticker (Do not remove!) indicate upgraded electronics.

You can use a multimeter to see if the wires are crossed, would definitely put some tape over it if its ok.
What's the result if you disconnect the neck pickup?

[Zut8083]

Hey, Jon,

Outta curiosity, did you resolve the pick up selector bypass issue?  Also, sorry to hear your neck pickup lead is partly sheared.  Are you going to send it back to Santa Rosa for repairs or leave it as is?  I guess this is like me staring at a waiter handing plates off to another table at a nice restaurant.  Sorry...but not that sorry.  Congrats.

Cheers,
John

[JimmyJ]

Nice bass!  That appears to be the original preamp board with the flat-pack op-amps mounted underneath. And it has had Ron's magic upgrade which likely included the new pickups and hum coil - thus the adaptors from new pickup connectors to the mini-coax connectors that were used in '78.


The pinched pickup wire is no big deal as long as the pickup is passing audio.  (IMO).

I can't think of what would cause the audio "leakage" issue unless the pickup selector switch has failed.  But even when the volumes are all the way down?  That's odd.

How does it play?  Do you like the way it feels?

Mica has all the answers, be patient!

Jimmy J

[mica]

Weird stuff! So mangled wire under the pickup isn't likely causing any of the issues you describe, but you could mechanically protect it (tape is easy, shrink tube is harder (you have to pop off the modular housings).

If you could email me a new photo of the output jack wiring for both the 1/4" and 5-pin that would be helpful - please send me a nice big file, my eyes are getting old!

Also, can you clarify when you use the 1/4" output that it's wired in stereo, and also what the 4 positions of the pickup selector are doing with the 1/4" output. Thanks!

[mica]

Ha! Jimmy posted while I was busy getting interrupted a dozen times while trying to get you this answer.

[jwright9]

FC Bass,
Thanks for the tip on the multimeter. Not sure on the results of disconnecting neck PU. I will try that.

Zut,
I have not yet resolved the bypass issue. Signal still comes through from both pickups in the off/bypass position.


JimmyJ,
thanks for the info and pointers! To answer your question; I love the bass. It plays very well and sounds great (through the 1/4 jack)


Mica,
thanks for your response. I will email you large closeup photos of both the 1/4" and 5-pin jacks.
I can tell that the 5pin jack looks fine but I can not discern if the 1/4 jack looks right or not as there are just so many wires.

When the 1/4 jack is engaged the 4 position switch works as expected.

The pickup selector switch also POPS when switched from one position to the next. It is a strong enough pop to cause concern about possible amp/speaker damage after continued exposure. The pop sounds is akin to the sound when plugging in or unplugging while the amp is still on.

Thanks to everyone who has replied. I really appreciate it!

[jwright9]

Also, can you clarify when you use the 1/4" output that it's wired in stereo, and also what the 4 positions of the pickup selector are doing with the 1/4" output. Thanks!

The 1/4 out does not seem to be wired in stereo. Just getting signal from the neck/bass pickup.
Pickup selector switch =
position 1 -on
position2 -on
position 3 - off
position 4 - off


With the DS-5.
OK, so both pickups are actually coming through in ALL positions when using the DS-5:.

Position 1 = Neck(bass) pickup strong and a very faint signal from the bridge pu.
Position 2 = Both pickups, strong signal from both.
Position 3 = Bridge(Treble) pickup strong output and very faint signal from Neck pu.
Position 4 = Faint signal from both pickups.
Loud popping sound when switching positions.

I am sending treble and bass signals out from DS-5 into my Allen & Heath mixer to channels 1 and 2 and panning treble pickup (CH1) hard left and bass pickup (Ch2) hard right to help isolate signals and differentiate.

[StephenR]

If you are using a mono cable in the 1/4" jack then all you are going to hear is the neck pickup unless the jack was re-wired to send both pickups out using a mono cable. You would need a stereo 1/4" cable to confirm that the jack is wired properly for stereo.

You most likely already know this and have tried but just in case...  try "exercising" the pickup selector switch to clean it by cycling through the positions about 50 times. Cool that it has LEDs! Going to be a nice instrument to own after you get through the initial glitches.