Adding a Pan to a Spoiler Bass?

[sethd]

Hi All,


Hopefully this is in the right section of the forum. How easy is it to swap a Spoiler 4-position pickup selector for an Elan-style pickup pan? Will Alembic support this without having to send the bass back to the factory?


Thanks!
Seth

[edwardofhuncote]

I had a Distillate (relative to the Spoiler, electronically) which had its 4-position pickup selector switch exchanged for a pan pot from Alembic. I think it's possible. Might even be easier, given the location within the control cluster rather than the lower horn.

[adriaan]

Assuming you have the right size hex drivers to remove the knobs from the pots and the pick-up selector, once you carefully detach the connectors with the pick-up leads from the preamp board, it should be pretty easy to detach the whole electronics assembly from the bass and send that to the Mothership. (Mine took considerably more time as it seemed like the owner before me had used permanent Loctite on the set screws for two knobs, so I ended up having to saw through them.)

I would recommend having the Q switch replaced with a 3-way, in addition to the pan control.

[StephenR]

Agree that if you have a two-position Q switch the 3-position is a nice upgrade if you are modifying the electronics.

[BeenDown139]

Agree that if you have a two-position Q switch the 3-position is a nice upgrade if you are modifying the electronics.

this is also a mod you can make to the LED switch if you have them. i've found the factory setting is much too much for a dark room but it's great for a daylight levels. replacing the two position switch with an on-off-on from allparts and putting a 47k resistor in series for the low setting makes for LEDs that are just bare visible in a dark room with the other on position full brightness.

i did this mod to my anniversary bass and is a huge improvement.

[sethd]

Thank you for the responses! 3-way Q sounds like the way to go, in addition to a pan, assuming I'm able to get my hands on the bass.

[gearhed289]

I asked about this recently for my Distillate, and apparently the Distillate and Spoiler electronics are a little complicated to do this on, but it is doable. I would love a pan instead of the switch. It's like having an additional type of tone control.