The Last Bass Outpost

Quote from: Alanko on January 28, 2025, 01:36:44 PMI don't think magnet type matters unless you know a whole raft of other specs about a pickup. Ceramic magnets don't give a pickup a faster attack and colder tone. Alnico III isn't spongier, etc. if you don't know the magnet and coil geometries then you're in the dark.

Ceramic is perceived as a cheaper magnet and ceramic pickups are perceived as ersatz. I think people hear 'ceramic' and think of cookware, as criticisms tend to be that they are cold/harsh/brittle-sounding pickups. A Dimarzio Model P isn't that cheap (a Tonerider alnico P Bass pickup is far cheaper) and it isn't a bright pickup either.

Well, as much as I dislike 'mystique' around vintage materials, and work more with speaker design than pickups nowdays, you can still have very audible differences between alnico 5 pickups vs a ceramic ones when all other parts are the same. Back when I did pickup repairs in my shop, the most common pickup request (after rewinding broken fender custom shop pickups) was to replace ceramic magnets with alnico 5 in mexican strat pickups. Probably some forum hype firing up this trend, but lots of guitar players were happy with this mod. And quite audible difference.
One can argue that the pickup in question was probably designed for alnico from the beginning, of course.

But obviously the biggest difference between the two materials is the price 

I had a few PF350's in for repair over the years, but no PF500's, so maybe they are more reliable.
Now that Yamaha owns Ampeg, service is no problem anyway.

I did end up with one PF350 as a customer would rather buy a new one than pay for a new main PCB,
but only use it as a spare/backup that fit's into most glove compartments. I found it too underwhelming though,
as any 100W valve bass top I have is louder on 1 than the PF350 on 10. If weight was an issue and Ampeg tone was my preference, at least I'd look at the PF500 rather than the PF350. That was probably not very helpful, but I can recommend buying Ampeg any day because Yamaha is the best in the business at supporting their products!

Quote from: uwe on July 01, 2024, 07:32:14 PM
No pickup on earth will make an EB3 sound like a Precision or a Ric 4001 like a Höfner.

Pups are important but they can't change wood and construction tonality.

The pickups can't change wood tonality, but they do have an impact on tone?
Not as important as wood and construction of course, but a pickup with special characteristics will certainly add flavour to the tone.
I have put a few mudbuckers in neck position of non Gibson basses (Fender P included) and although none of them sounded like an EB-3,
they certainly got in the ballpark more than a P or J pickup could take them.

Quote from: Dave W on June 03, 2024, 11:50:34 PM
Mike Dirnt, fiftysomething fake punk in a fake punk band.

His only saving grace is that he's not quite as big an asshole as Billie Joe.

I stopped using my Grabber because of him 
Too many 'so you're a Greenday fan..' comments.

Thanks guys, and sorry Carlo for crashing your thread :-)
I was always puzzeled by the lack of candy orange options when I grew up, always liked it on 70's japanese motorcycles.

Quote from: senmen on May 28, 2024, 09:05:42 AM
Oh and Amptech:
Your build really nails the originality!
Great!

Greetz
Oliver (Spyderman)

Thanks, but I must admit I used a four in line headstock design. I did put metal knob banjo tuners on it for the look,
but that means using it in studio and rehearsal only. There is no way I enter a stage with a banjo tuner loaded bass! 

Good luck, gotta love a rescue project!
Worst I had was a Hofner shaped by some acid head in Sweden:

Worst part was getting hold of old abachi wood from Germany. Took the liberty of making a Spanish 'S'
Höfner shape and doing a candy orange finish that I'm sure someone here hates as much as antigua

An appropriate moment to repost the one I built some years ago:

That's funny.. My Epi ET-280 came with a 'FENDER' Dymo logo. Kind of regret I took it off

Quote from: Alanko on April 22, 2024, 03:28:57 PM
Is it unethical to want to track down a vintage toaster and make it a 4001S?

It would be even better with a P in the neck position 

Soooo nice. And White! Always wanted one, this doesn't help 

It's good to see that new products are coming. I am aware people think Yamaha have been to laidback after aquiring Ampeg, but from a service perspective it was a huge leap from day one. I wanted to stop servicing Ampeg because of poor support years back, all that changed after the takeover. Noone stands behind their products like Yamaha, be it a warranty repair or a vintage product. They have helped when I have repaired 50 year old organs or even minidisc decks! So I believe they have put in a lot of work after the takeover, and customers can enjoy both old and new products. What's not to like🙂

Quote from: Dave W on October 04, 2023, 05:12:28 PM
True. In the early 90s I was reading that tube amps were on their way out and would be gone soon. They sure seem to be taking their time.

It will never happen, electrons travelling in vacuum is too fundamentally important to go away. It is currently used and researched in medical, military and computer applications, although it's importance in audio will always be influenced by trends. I accept that some people remembers golden eras in music and buy amps accordingly, but as generations age stuff fall out of fashion. Time alone is not always a strong enough factor to recruit kids to tubes. Maybe in the golden future amp modelling is obsolete and laughed at, and straight tube amps is hip again🙂

The 90's were rough for tube worshippers, but my old mentor in the tube business worked with development in the Mullard factory in the lste 60's to early 70's. There was at the time frantic activity with science panels discussing the dark future for tubes, the dutch (philips) leading the way. Some of the conclusions were interresting, but the fact in retrospect is that the technology never went away.

I've been waiting for years for minidisc to come back😄💽

Remarkable!