San Dimas Concert Bass--I've got one!

[Metal Mitch]

Re: San Dimas Concert Bass--I\'ve got one!

Originally posted by Newc:
What pickups did Steve Harris use? I thought they were Fenders?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Fender P-Bass loaded with a Duncan Quarter Pounder. [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img] He also uses flatwound strings, but sets the action so low he gets fret clank with every note.

[peabuddy]

Re: San Dimas Concert Bass--I\'ve got one!

i know exactly what you mean profusion. i recently got an 84 concert bass from charvel750( thanks again joe!) and it's got the same pups.it is really hot.i do turn down both vol and IMO it doesn't really effect the tone. i'm using a peavey max bass preamp and an audio centron 1600 with a jbl 15 scoop.i'm jumping in here now because all my other basses have only 1 vol and would like to change this bass to that. btw, mine doesn't have a 3 way only vol tone tone. one more thing, how does it play?

[pro-fusion]

Re: San Dimas Concert Bass--I\'ve got one!

Ok, problem solved!! Mitch you called it--I didn't have enough headroom on the low-end. I wired it up for 18V operation tonight, and that instantly solved the problem. And wow, talk about deep and luscious low-end...this sucker will shake the room now, even through my M-Audio studio monitors w/8" woofers--and no audio grunge. Also, the sound is much crisper. Thanks for the help on this! [img]graemlins/toast.gif[/img]

Peabuddy, I HIGHLY recommend the 18V option on your Concert(assuming yours isn't already set up that way)--it makes a huge difference. You probably won't have to turn down anymore after that. And there is just enough room in the control cavity for the second battery.

I really like the way mine plays. I will say that it doesn't play quite as easy as my Spector, mainly because it has a somewhat thicker neck and wider string spacing. But the neck shape is classic San Dimas D-profile and very friendly to the hands. And the damn thing really puts out a metal-friendly tone. I've tuned mine down to C# (1.5 steps down), and there's no flabbiness or dullness in the sound at all. The worst thing I can say about the Concert is that it is somewhat neck-heavy, but I guess that can be expected from a P-Bass shaped instrument--Fender P-Basses always seem neck heavy to me, as well.

A few minutes ago, I was doing my worst Steve Harris imitation using the "rock" bass amp simulation on my J-Station, which is very full and throaty, like classic Harris. He seems to have gone a bit more 'clinical' sounding on recent albums.

Maybe the best $375 I've ever spent. I wonder what bassists have against pointy headstocks?? There were really crappy basses that were selling for a lot more than that at the same store. Oh well, all the better for me.

[pro-fusion]

Re: San Dimas Concert Bass--I\'ve got one!

By the way, Peabuddy, it wouldn't be that difficult to change your system over to a master volume. The EMG BTC system that Mitch mentioned would fit right into the Concert with no body modifications necessary. It's a pre-wired setup that includes balance control, master volume, and separate bass and treble tone controls on a single concentric pot. Basically, you'd remove all the existing pots and replace them with the BTC system. I'm strongly thinking about doing this myself, since I also would like a master volume, plus a more useful tone control.

[Metal Mitch]

Re: San Dimas Concert Bass--I\'ve got one!

Yay! My 3.5 second edit window elapsed...

What does your single tone knob do? Just cut the highs like a passive tone? If you can't roll off the lows then just cut the volume, yep.

Instead of going passive you could add the EMG active tone circuits. That would give you a lot more control.

http://www.emginc.com/displayproduct...&catalogid=137

BTC System uses 3 control holes. Having a mid control is nice, but those systems take 4 or 5 holes.

[Metal Mitch]

Re: San Dimas Concert Bass--I\'ve got one!

Wow, cool!!! But I was actually talking about headroom on the amp, thinking the amp was distorting. This problem is kind of strange, but then again using active pups with passive controls is an odd configuration. My best guess is some of your voltage was being bled off to ground through the passive controls, giving you the low battery sound. Kicking it up to 18v provided the extra voltage to get the EMGs sounding the way they should. Glad you got it solved!

[pro-fusion]

Re: San Dimas Concert Bass--I\'ve got one!

EMG's installation instructions say that the 18V option increases headroom (I assume within the built-in preamps in the pickups), and they are definitely correct about that. I can't imagine why anyone would prefer 9V over 18V using EMG bass pickups.

[peabuddy]

Re: San Dimas Concert Bass--I\'ve got one!

how do you change it to 18v?do you just wire two batterys in series?pro-fusion is yours neck thru on bolt on?at 375 you got a killer deal(imo)basses don't seem to command prices like guitars except to afew of us bass nuts!i'm curious about yours being neck heavy. all my basses that are p-shaped feel pretty balanced on me. had a few bc riches now that's neck heavy if you let go the neck would dive to the floor.

[peabuddy]

Re: San Dimas Concert Bass--I\'ve got one!

after rereading this thread, i saw that yours has a circuit board. mine is just pups and pots no board. so maybe mine has different pups than yours. # j0135 is the serial number and it's listed on robert witte's site on the logs as p and hb

[Metal Mitch]

Re: San Dimas Concert Bass--I\'ve got one!

Hi Peabuddy,

If you don't feel like springing for an active EQ system, there's an old Jazz bass mod to rewire passive controls for vol-blend-tone. This setup is known to have some loading problems because a blend pot is basically 2 stacked volume pots. So including the master you wind up with 3 volume pots bleeding off your tone. Then you also have the pickup loading which actually decreases the output when both pups are full on. This was a big problem on both the KB1's I tried, which were factory wired like this. But I'm not sure if active pups would load each other the same way passives do, so you may get better results.

Here's a wiring diagram -

Jazz bass blend pot mod

Note EMG supplies 25K pots with their active pups due to the low impedance. Guitar Electronics has a 25K blend pot available. Good luck!

[peabuddy]

Re: San Dimas Concert Bass--I\'ve got one!

thanks MM and P-F.let me know if you do add the active circuit from emg. i'm interested in how it sounds. personally, i prefer the jackson active electronics to the emgs i've had. the emgs don't seem to be as "crisp"(for lack of a better word) to me. might be my rig though.the 18v mod may be better for me cause this bass's emg's sound more like my custom shop bass than other sets of emgs i've had. (in fact, i traded newc a set for his jackson pups and electronics from his concert v.) could the hb at the bridge position instead of a j pup be the reason? pro-fusion, you know the rules, POST PICS!basses are rare on this forum! mitch, thanks for the link but i really don't need a blend control or three way as i always leave both pickups on anyway(that way i can change the tone just by playing at a different spot. i never change my amp, just use the master vol and where i play to change the tone/vol during playing(no effects or pedals!) [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[ January 14, 2004, 06:59 PM: Message edited by: peabuddy ]

[Metal Mitch]

Re: San Dimas Concert Bass--I\'ve got one!

Hell, if that's all you want you could just wire both pups in parallel to the same volume pot!

Not for nothin, but changing where you play still affects your tone the same way with either pickup selected or blended [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[peabuddy]

Re: San Dimas Concert Bass--I\'ve got one!

you know, i just assumed that the vol would change if you moved around with only 1 pup on.i guess that does sound kinda stupid now that i said it.

[pro-fusion]

Re: San Dimas Concert Bass--I\'ve got one!

I'll post a pic here in a day or two. I've got a crappy digital pen camera and I've got to get the right light conditions for it to work.

[pro-fusion]

Re: San Dimas Concert Bass--I\'ve got one!

You can change the EMGs to 18V just by wiring another battery plug in series between the existing one and the jack. EMG's site has a diagram on the bass pickup installation instruction page. Took me about 10 minutes, mostly due to the small size of the San Dima-era control cavity making it hard to get to everything.

Mine is a neckthru bass, but it doesn't have a circuit board--I think that was Newc's question whether mine does--it just has the EMG pickups and volume/volume/tone pots. Pretty much the same as yours, except that mine also has a pickup switch that has been disconnected. I'm considering adding the EMG BTC system to mine, which would replace the existing passive pots with active master volume, balance, and tone circuits.

As far as being neck-heavy, mine is not radically so--in other words, the neck doesn't dive to the floor, but it sort droops a bit low if you aren't holding it. More so than my Spector, but not like a neckthru Kelly or anything like that.