Time Factor on your First Series Bass

[slawie]

I've just got this rig together and I am going through a whole new learning curve!

[flpete1uw]

Nice Slawie!,
  I'm not to far off from an SF-2 as well. Happy and fruitful playing with that Sister 75 Series.  
~Pete

[flpete1uw]

I was just rereading this post and realized how far off I and my Bass was last year! A lot of lessons were learned the hard way.  
1-   I underestimated the effects of 2 filters and 2 Q?s and how they interact.
2-   A Series Bass that has setup issues and an incorrectly replaced Q switch hurts the learning curve.
3-   The effects of pickup height on the low end, distortion (magnetic coupling?) and overall timbre.  
 
  In this past year I gave up on this Bass probably 10 times and almost (Gasp!) sold her!  
Also owning a Distillate I would sit there and say there is no reason a Series shouldn?t sound just as good or better. So I refused to give up. I took what I think is the Alembic approach which is slow and deliberate. After sending the electronics back the Mother Ship getting the Q switch replaced and receiving a clean bill of health, I started scowering the Club for clues (You guys have no idea the value of your input).
   The last piece of the puzzle was the pickup height. The Pickups were warped from 40 years of over tightening causing them to sit high in the Bass cavity way to close to the strings. So I took the plunge and grinded them down to flat.  Walla!  Bella She sounds so a Beautiful now.
 
  I defiantly took a chance in buying a 1975 Bass sight un seen and I paid a price for that in frustration but I do now have an amazing Bass that I got for a good price. The value of the lessons learned will always be with me.
Peace my Alembic Brethren, and thank you all for your help in this adventure.
Pete

[jazzyvee]

I've just re-read this whole thread again and I'd just like some clarity on a thought I have. Do the controls also have a placebo effect?
 
Sometimes when i've been practicing at home and changing sounds I've been fine tuning both volumes and filters and Q find I have found an incredible tone and think MAN...... this bass is awesome, only to realise that I had the pickup selector on one pickup only!!!! So I then turn both pickups on and the sound becomes heaven?
 
So my first question is, is there some interaction between the controls that are supposedly off when only one pickup is selected? I have wondered about this because even when the standby switches are off, there is still a very low level output from the bass.  
 
Second query relates to the fullness of the sound. I don't practice too loud at home just at a volume where I can feel the sound as well as hear it.  :-)
 
There are times where the sound I'm getting is slightly muffled but then i turn the bass volumes right up and bang there is the  great sound or I turn the input or master gain  up on the walkabout bass amp and the sound is there clear and strong.  
 
On advice gained from this forum, when I use my rack system I set the QSC power amp output level to max when using my own cabs and that gives me everything I want at all volume levels of my bass. But when I try that using the mesa amp, I just get a great sound but at the expense of also getting a lot of hiss in the signal.  
 
So I?d like to find out if there is an optimum level I need to set the input gain and master volume on my walkabout so that I get the best and cleanest bass sound from it. I?m assuming that the alembic should give me all the dynamics in it?s output regardless of the position of the volume controls.
 
Jazzyvee
 
(Message edited by jazzyvee on March 26, 2014)

[flpete1uw]

Hello Jazzy,
  I can only answer from my experience with my setups but when I first started to play my Series I was getting weird phasing effects with both pickups on, even individually something wasn?t right. In fact for a short time having the filters all the way one way or the other sounded better? Go figure?  
Note: all stated issues have been dealt with.  
 
  I play through a Walkabout Scout and at least to my ?Learning ear? I haven?t felt a need to have the Bass all the way up. I feel it introduces noise. This could be an incorrect philosophy with Alembics but as a general rule I like to run all amplifiers at ? to ? and this includes the amplifiers in the Bass.  
 
  Has far as low volume high volume (AKA Loudness) the way the ear perceives frequencies at different levels could have something to do with practicing at home and at stage level. (Fletcher Munson Curve) And of course all the zillion other factors of each location.
 
   The Journey continues,
Peace
Pete

[jazzyvee]

http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/what_really_defines_good_bass_in_sound_reinforcement1/

[flpete1uw]

Informative article, thanks Jazzy
It's kind of nice to have such problems