Optimistically priced Exploiter on Reverb

[KR]

Fretting at the 20th fret, my neck pickup is set at 3.5mm on the E string side, with bridge pickup set at 3mm on the E string side. The G string side of both pickups are set a little bit closer to balance it out.

[BeenDown139]

yeah, i'm not sure of the protocol for this, i just winged it. i guess i shoulda looked it up, looking back on it.  i did my measurements open string (unfretted), bass lying on kitchen table, neck supported with napkin holder.  YMMV

[KR]

I find that 3mm is also a good action height at the 12th fret, and 3mm works well as a pickup height when fretted at the 20th fret. I have all my basses set this way. 

[adriaan]

yeah, i'm not sure of the protocol for this, i just winged it. i guess i shoulda looked it up, looking back on it.  i did my measurements open string (unfretted), bass lying on kitchen table, neck supported with napkin holder.  YMMV

Protocol is that you do all measurements in playing position, to take gravity out of the equation.

[KR]

I agree.

[rv_bass]

The rule of three, I will have to check it out

[BeenDown139]

ok one last footnote on this subject. seriously.  i swear.

i had pretty much fixed all the glitches and dialed the sound of this bass in, and then with all the excitement of a '76 series I arriving at the BeenDown estate, it kind of got put off to the side while i dealt with other issues.

so this sunday morning i got good and baked, pulled the exploiter off the wall and did this clip in one take after a quick finger warm-up.  it's a little bassy because of how it was recorded (tablet in selfie mode set up next to the amp) but i think i've got the pointy bass sound out of it that i was hearing in my head.  got a Who music project shaping up for the winter, i think this will work out.  i was still wrestling with the 4-string-medium-scale issue with this bass and was thinking of maybe using it for trade bait but after listening to how it played, i think i'm over that now.  plus it's a freaking knock-out to look at.  did i mention that?

so at the risk of ridicule from the masses, here's "this is the way we greet teh dawn", pointy bass version:

[gearhed289]

Sounds as good as it looks.

[rv_bass]

Sounds great! 

[bigredbass]

It's worth what someone is willing to step up and put down green money for.  That . . . . . always sets the value, as it will for this.  But then I often find that often a mis-informed buyer may indeed meet up with a mis-informed seller.  So it will get reset next time.

I will say it's a lot of coin and the logo is still crusty !

[paulman]

ok one last footnote on this subject. seriously.  i swear.

i had pretty much fixed all the glitches and dialed the sound of this bass in, and then with all the excitement of a '76 series I arriving at the BeenDown estate, it kind of got put off to the side while i dealt with other issues.

so this sunday morning i got good and baked, pulled the exploiter off the wall and did this clip in one take after a quick finger warm-up.  it's a little bassy because of how it was recorded (tablet in selfie mode set up next to the amp) but i think i've got the pointy bass sound out of it that i was hearing in my head.  got a Who music project shaping up for the winter, i think this will work out.  i was still wrestling with the 4-string-medium-scale issue with this bass and was thinking of maybe using it for trade bait but after listening to how it played, i think i'm over that now.  plus it's a freaking knock-out to look at.  did i mention that?

so at the risk of ridicule from the masses, here's "this is the way we greet teh dawn", pointy bass version:

Real nice!  I enjoy watching your finger s flip around the strings, great technique!

[BeenDown139]

ok i'm gonna hafta resurrect this one from the dead one more last time.

apparently the input jack has more problems than i initially thought and so it's gotta go.  before i order a replacement, i wanna run this idea up the flagpole:

i'm getting ready to set my amp rig up for stereo to accommodate my series I.  i've got a switchover / patch box designed to pass separated stereo signals from the DS-5 into both amps and mono to both when i'm using the mono output basses.

my question is this: is it possible to easily extract a stereo signal from this bass?  it has a blend and volume control.  Does the signal from both pickups go into a buffer before they get to the volume control?  Is there a relatively easy way to tie onto them,  put a stereo TRS 1/4"  jack on the bass and use a stereo cable to send the separated signals to the amps? I'm pretty handy with a scope, soldering iron and analog circuits, and so i suppose i could make a science project outta this by reverse engineering the breadboard pre-amp board but i'd rather not do that if someone has a ready solution.

i realize it may be impossible or impractical, but since i've already got the instrument opened up and i'm gonna hafta do some cutting and hacking to replace the input jack anyway, might as well see if i can't take this to the next level.

any thoughts/comments are appreciated.

[rv_bass]

I’m not sure how all the wiring and buffering works, but how about a mono-stereo 1/4” jack with a toggle switch to choose the mono or stereo output?  These are common with the anniversary electronics.  Maybe Alembic can provide just the jack and switch with wiring instructions. That way you have the option of mono or stereo output.

[JimmyJ]

I'm gonna take a wild guess that Distillate electronics can't simply be made stereo by changing the output jack.  I don't know the circuit ... but I presume there is only one output opamp onboard.  That said, I'm sure Mica and crew have a way of modding it to do that - because they can do anything! 

But before you get into totally rebuilding this fine looking bass you should probably see how much you like running your Series bass in stereo and think about whether it would be worth perusing on this axe.  Know what I mean?

Jimmy J

[BeenDown139]

i do
i've run all my other series basses in stereo and it's teh bomb.  i've just finally gotten around to it with this bass.  the exploiter jack crapping out at the same time was just happy ( i hope) circumstance.  so i'm gonna poke around while ive got the electronics lab set up.  ive got 3 other killer basses to play and my winter music project to get started in the meantime. still gotta deal with the jack anyway.  we'll see where it goes from there.