ok, here we are again with some brandnew samples (Chromium will handle the samples again):
What I did is hook the big green wire up (without soldering). I left the little green/blue wire as it is.
Here is how you hear the samples:
1) varitone 1: hooked (original)
2) varitone 1: unhooked (mod)
3) varitone 4: hooked
4) varitone 4: unhooked
as you can hear the change from varitone 1 (hooked) to varitone 1 (unhooked) isn't as huge as on your bass. Also my varitone 4 (hooked) sounds more full and bassy than yours.....I still think it is very strange.
Here is Barend's latest soundclip - comparing the before-and-after effects of his "choke bypass" modification:
What I don't understand is how the little green wire will change the sound if I would remove it? any idea how it will affect the sound?
I knew I left the back cover off my bass for a reason!
I rigged up my bass temporarily with a wire to approximate the one your tech added to your bass (thus bypassing that 220K resistor in the filter), and recorded before and after samples so you can hear the effect of it. I will call this the "bluewire" mod from here forward.
The samples are in this order:
1) Position 1 - Stock
2) Position 1 - The "bluewire" mod
3) Position 4 - Stock
4) Position 4 - The "bluewire" mod
You can hear how leaving that wire in place will sort of "open up" position one - giving you a broader frequency response and less attenuation of the mudbucker's signal. Position four still sounds weedy and thin on my bass, but you can hear how the choke filter's frequency shifts a bit with that filter resistor bypassed.
So now we have the bluewire mod! Thank your tech for that one. Pretty sure he put that in your bass to make positions one and four behave equally with the "choke bypass" mod in place. But it certainly has a cool effect all of its own on a stock EB-3! I like the sound of my bass with that mod, so I might end up making that a permanent fixture.
Once again, this is the "bluewire" mod:
Also you told me to hook the big green wire it to two lugs (?)...see quote below. I hooked it to only one. It didn't matter to which of the two that you have pointed out. In both cases the (hooked) sound was the same.
In reference to your question about the choke's green wire spanning both pins on the varitone: you can connect it to just one pin, but make sure there is some other wire connecting those two pins on the switch if that is the case. The schematic calls for that, and it makes it so the choke engages on positions 3 *and* 4.
None of this really serves to clear up the issue concerning the sound differences between our apparently similarly-wired basses, but I wouldn't discount lots of potential factors that might contribute to subtle variations in sound:
- Differing setups of our basses
- String brands/types/gauge
- Subtle variations in our pickups (?)
- Subtle variations in construction (your's has the later neck joint, mine the earlier)
- Slight differences in electronic component values/tolerances (choke, resistor, cap, etc..)
- I've been recording thru an ancient Alembic F-2B preamp (presumably set flat) into an M-Audio 1814, and you have recorded direct into your sound card
- ?? other stuff ??
Each of these factors on their own may not account for much, but in aggregate they might have a marked effect on the sounds of our basses!
