Calling Gibson EB-0 Experts....

[Pilgrim]

Here's a 70's slothead (which i have always thought very cool) with a Dimarzio pickup and BadAss bridge at $799 buy it now...seems realistic in terms of the feedback you folks are giving me.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Circa-1970s-Used-Gibson-EB-0-Bass-guitar-/200367980168?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Guitar&hash=item2ea6dcbe88

Ebay has clean EB-0s from this era up to $3400 - obviously too much.

Frankly, the Model One's aesthetics don't bother me - and it was a reasonably good effort in getting some variety out of the EBs, tonally, without having to hack away at the body.

I admit I'm a big chrome fan...always have been!  

But I'm not sure how routing the sinkhole required for a second mudbucker-size pickup isn't "hacking away at the body"...

OH!  Something cool here....I found a page with sound samples of a Gibson Mudbucker and an Artec pickup.
http://www.lindersson.se/BASS/jazz_mudbucker.htm  

Check sound samples 1 and 5...there's not enough difference that I could tell them apart. Maybe you guys can...but I can't.  I suspect that I don't hear some of the nuances of differences between pickups, but those sound like a match to me.

[Dave W]

The slothead (70-71) is not a good one to compare price with a much earlier model.

By comparison, about 6 months ago I saw a 62 in a retail shop for $795, it had a broken/repaired headstock and had been stripped and refinned clear but the hardware and electronics were all original. A 62 has the black plastic mudbucker which usually brings a higher price just because it's rarer.

[dadagoboi]

The slothead (70-71) is not a good one to compare price with a much earlier model.

 A 62 has the black plastic mudbucker which usually brings a higher price just because it's rarer.

I've had my '60 for a long time and can remember lusting after a chrome cover to replace the plastic one.  Luckily I never found one.

[lowend1]

But I'm not sure how routing the sinkhole required for a second mudbucker-size pickup isn't "hacking away at the body"...

I was speaking of the suitability of a Model One as a viable drop-in alternative to the original mudbucker. Looking at its use in a bridge application in the subject bass, I am strangely enamored with the look. I have a really sweet Epi EB-0 from the first year re-issue that has a Model One in it already. I was thinking of adding a bridge pup - hmmm...

[dadagoboi]

I was speaking of the suitability of a Model One as a viable drop-in alternative to the original mudbucker. Looking at its use in a bridge application in the subject bass, I am strangely enamored with the look. I have a really sweet Epi EB-0 from the first year re-issue that has a Model One in it already. I was thinking of adding a bridge pup - hmmm...

I figured that's what you meant.  I also like the look of the Model One.  I think it's pretty funny that the Artec is considered a suitable mudbucker replacement  even though most people haven't heard one but DiMarzio gets dissed on his gall to actually DESIGN something that might be an alternative.  I guess the most famous adapter was Billy Sheehan.  He used one as a neck pup in his "wife" stereo P bass.  Or did I take the wrong drugs today?

With an instrument I've got my blood, sweat and tears in I generally like my pups to cost more than my strings...unless the pup is free.  Some cheap pups DO sound great no question about it and buying an Artec won't break the bank.  Presently all 3 of my EBO's have the original mudbucker, if one died I'd give an Artec a shot.  But I'd probably paint it black.

[patman]

you never can tell...I hate the sound of the "professional" EMG's, but I have a P-bass (currently used by one of my sons) with a $29 select P-bass pickup in it, and it is one of my favorite basses

[lowend1]

you never can tell...I hate the sound of the "professional" EMG's, but I have a P-bass (currently used by one of my sons) with a $29 select P-bass pickup in it, and it is one of my favorite basses

The Select P-Bass pickup is a winner. I have one in my P-Bird (P-Bass with a TB+ at the bridge).

[lowend1]

I guess the most famous adapter was Billy Sheehan.  He used one as a neck pup in his "wife" stereo P bass.  Or did I take the wrong drugs today?

Sheehan's "wife" used a mudbucker. The Dimarzio didn't show up until he started playing the Yamaha basses. Gene Simmons was a big Model One user back in the late 1970s - he even had one on his Thunderbird.

[dadagoboi]

The Select P-Bass pickup is a winner. I have one in my P-Bird (P-Bass with a TB+ at the bridge).

IMO w/EMGs it's not the pup, it's the player.  Getting great tone from them is not difficult, you don't HAVE to get hyperactive with EQing and destroy the natural sound.  I'm pretty sure JAE'e first Warwick's used EMGs.  I don't think he would have used them that late in his career if he thought they were lacking.  I don't know why Warwick went to MECs but I suspect it might have had more to do with marketing than tone.

Lowend, thanks for the correction, I knew I was a little hazy on Sheehan.  On the other hand I'd be surprised if Gene paid for his Model Ones.

[Pilgrim]

Some good news - after removing the cover place and scrubbing the jack contacts with an eraser and then applying Deoxit and scrubbing more, I have the bass making sound.

That Model One pickup is pretty hot, and has just a bit of the "woofiness" associated with the mudbucker.  All in all, not a bad sound.  Might make a good pair with an Artec in the original neck position.  Looking at the Model One from the side, the installation doesn't impress me; it looks like it's not fully recessed into the body by about 1/16".  That can be fixed.

I had the chance to compare it with my recently built Epi EB-0 and there definitely is more high end in the Epi sound.  Also, the Epi is more of a slab body and the Gibson has contours all around the edges.  I see that they put the same emblem below the Epi name as they used on the original Gibson.

Here's the wiring...4 leads from the pickup...





Here are the bodies and headstocks...Gibson on the right in both pix.  You can see that the Gibson body has more contour around all the edges than the Epi body.

[Dave W]

The Model One isn't a bad sound, it just isn't a Gibson sound. It may be hotter than the modern Epi imitation, and it is hotter than a stock P or J, but not remotely near the output of an original Gibson mudbucker, and more important, nothing like the sound. It may work for you if you're not going for originality. But if you're not, then why buy the bass?

[Highlander]

I had one in the (mahogany) Peter Cook for some years - it had quite a raunchy sound, but was horribly microphonic... it might have just been bad luck... gone some years back now, but all the studio stuff I have is with the MB1 and I gigged with it for some years so I must have liked it to some degree...

[eb2]

I like the Model One.  Until a few years ago there was no real viable option to get your EB working if someone decided mudbuckers were bad - which was 99% of the bass playing world, and almost every guy who owned an old EB that isn't registered here.  So, they have way less ooomph.  They can sound good, just not like a mudbucker.

As a project, with some sweat and knuckle-busting, that thing can be pretty cool.  I just wish they hadn't chopped a block out of it.  There is a way to fix that of course so that you would never tell, but for me the thing has to be cheap to dive into that end of the pool.

[sniper]

find a mudbucker, stack some pots, glue that head and play it! just like driving a Mack truck = nothing wrong with it, just don't let anybody see you getting behind the wheel!

[Pilgrim]

find a mudbucker, stack some pots, glue that head and play it! just like driving a Mack truck = nothing wrong with it, just don't let anybody see you getting behind the wheel!

That's a good summary...and I'm starting to think the same way.