Author Topic: Essence Electronics Upgrade (Read 153 times)

drjenney · « **on:** February 21, 2005, 05:59:00 PM »

Hi all!

I've got a '92 Essence 5 I really like, but I have wondered about the possibility of upgrading the electronics. Anyone got any suggestions? Anyone ever actually do this themselves?

David Houck · « **Reply #1 on:** February 21, 2005, 06:50:31 PM »

Congrats Tim! There is a do-it-yourself upgrade for the Essence. You can add a Q switch. It doesn't cost much and it really opens up the tonal pallet. Go here and read a thead on this very subject.

drjenney · « **Reply #2 on:** February 22, 2005, 11:49:33 AM »

Thanks Dave,

This helps. What about adding a pickup selector switch or better preamp [I'd like to have the option of making the bass sound warmer/thicker.]. I also really need the ability to quickly change sounds. Prefer to do it on the bass, not the bass amp.

bsee · « **Reply #3 on:** February 22, 2005, 12:28:23 PM »

I think you may be in a grass-is-greener scenario here. You have a pan control that should give you more flexibility to change the tone than a pickup selector switch. If you read the various threads on the topic, you'll find that many players who are using basses with pickup selectors leave them on the both setting and use the volume controls to adjust on the fly.

You will be limited on an Essence because of the small body and electronics cavity. The custom configurator says that they won't put anything more than regular Essence electronics plus a Q switch in that bass. That said, I have seen a custom Essence with Signature electronics (that I should have bought!).

Signature electronics also uses a pan control. Recently, there has been an improvement made to the pan control so that the volume remains more constant as you pan than it did in the past. I am not sure if this upgrade is applicable to your bass, but I would ask Alembic about it.

Also, rather than going the pickup selector route, you might look into either upgrading to Europa electronics (adds a boost/cut toggle for bass and treble to get you that quick tone change), or the East Meets West package (similar to Europa, but uses flexible pots to control the amount of boost/cut instead of fixed switches). Those two packages seem to be pretty flexible and convenient for quick adjustments during live performances.

Finally, when you look into the cost of these upgrades in cash and time away from your bass, you may find that it isn't worth doing. Unless you've got a special attachment to your instrument, you might do better to seek out a used Mark King or Rogue/Europa five string that already has more versatile electronics and then sell your Essence.

Good luck!!!

drjenney · « **Reply #4 on:** February 22, 2005, 08:11:10 PM »

bsee,

I'm looking for an MK Deluxe 5 or 6 in the used market--at a reasonable price [I'm a player, not a collector.].

That said, my thought on the Essence was to add a DPDT switch, one side connected to the pan output, the other to just the neck pickup. The common would be the new output. This would give me one variable setting and one neck-only setting [which I use quite a lot]. Boost/cut switches would be would be nice, but I'm not sure I could fit three switches in there w/o a considerable amount of routing [I'm a do it yourselfer, as you might have guessed.]. The back of the Essence isn't pretty like an MK Deluxe, but I am still reluctant to mess with it too much.

David Houck · « **Reply #5 on:** February 23, 2005, 04:29:46 AM »

I don't understand what the DPDT switch would do. If the pan control is turned all the way to the neck side, doesn't that achieve the same goal?

drjenney · « **Reply #6 on:** February 23, 2005, 08:29:54 AM »

Yes, it does. The only real advantage would be being able to switch back and forth quickly [verse, chorus, verse, bridge, etc.] w/o disturbing the pan control for the other setting. It comes down to convenience. Electronically, it is the same--assuming the pan to neck setting gives 100% neck, 0% bridge [which I suspect it does].

David Houck · « **Reply #7 on:** February 23, 2005, 12:01:41 PM »

Ok, that makes sense. One thing you might want to consider is that if you do something like that yourself, it may significantly reduce the value of the bass should you decide to resell it at some point. So you might want to email Mica or Val and tell that what you want to do. Perhaps they could come up with a switch that you could install yourself. A number of people have done the Q switch upgrade. But generally, anything more extensive requires sending the bass back to Alembic or, in some cases, at least the electronics. But perhaps for something like this, maybe the shop could send you what you need.