The Last Bass Outpost

Quote from: chromium on September 24, 2012, 03:07:23 PM
Welcome to the forum!

If it helps at all, I describe the settings like this:

The early EB-3s up thru late-1971 used a circuit design that would result in:
Position 1 - Neck pickup with lowpass filtering (heavy lows, not much in the way of mids or highs)
Position 2 - Bridge pickup (wide open, no filtering)
Position 3 - Bridge pickup, and neck pickup with "choke" circuit applied (thin nasal sound)
Position 4 - Neck pickup with "choke" circuit applied (thin nasal sound)

The late-1971 and up basses used a different variation of that circuit:
Position 1 - Neck pickup (wide open, no filtering)
Position 2 - Bridge pickup (wide open, no filtering)
Position 3 - Bridge pickup, and neck pickup (wide open, no filtering)
Position 4 - Neck pickup with "choke" circuit applied (thin nasal sound)

Thanks for your reply Chromium!! As you have described position 4 (thin / nasal), that is certainly consistent with what I head when I play tested the EB3 in the store.

Please clarify one thing for me though.  In the description of the 1978 model by Gibson (as posted by Fly Guitars), position 4 is described as a "midrange notch".  Perhaps it is just semantics, but I would expect a midrange notch to dip midrange frequencies only, and leave the highs and lows in tact.

Here is the link to Fly Guitars I was referring to:  http://www.flyguitars.com/gibson/bass/EB3_controls.php

Thanks!

Quote from: Basvarken on September 24, 2012, 04:00:11 AM
Welcome. You may find this useful

http://www.flyguitars.com/gibson/bass/1961gibsonEB3soundclips.php

Ahh, thanks for the link.  So it seems as if the 70's is most different than the 60's layout.

According to your link above, position 1 is the neck pickup with the choke, while position 4 is the neck pickup alone.

However, using this other link here of 1978 wiring: http://www.flyguitars.com/gibson/bass/EB3_controls.php

It seems the opposite.  Position 4 is the neck pickup with the choke (midrange notch), nad position is neck pickup alone.

Thanks!

I tried out a 70's EB3 bass in a local music store today and I didn't like what I heard in position 4.  Position 4 sounded awfully thin and trebly with a bit lower output to my ears.  The 1st 3 positions sound great, with position 1 being by far the beefiest and best sounding.  Is that the way position 4 is supposed to sound?

Thank you.