New Les Paul Bass Copy

wellREDman · September 16, 2016, 02:02:34 PM

Quote from: Granny Gremlin on September 16, 2016, 09:07:31 AM
The one thing I don't like about the 12 string is the Strat style trem. Just put a hard tail on it cause it's already a bear to set up properly. ... also it just looks so damn wrong.

yeah I went nowhere near it, the owner and I had a conversation about it and both agreed that we couldn't imagine any song that called for a 12 string requiring whammying

Basvarken · December 01, 2018, 09:53:07 AM

Scored one of these last week. Although I had been downsizing my collection I just couldn't let this one slip when it popped up.

And it's much better quality than I had expected. I have owned a Japanese Les Paul Bass copy before and it was no comparison to the real Gibson Les Paul Bass. It had a plywood neck (bolt on), semi hollow body and a crap bridge.

This Revelation bass is much closer to the real thing.
But still different

The bass feels as heavy as the original. Mahogany (solid) body and mahogany set neck.
The finish is flawless and a bit shiny (like the other pics in this thread already showed)

It has only 22 frets (as opposed to the Gibson which has 24)
The neck has cream colored binding and trapezoid inlays (pearloid)
The headstock has a Guild shape rather than Gibson.

But the main difference is in the electronics.
It has four potentiometers instead of three.
Two say volume and two say tone.
But that's not exactly what they do.

I couldn't quite figure it out myself, so I googled it:

QuoteStandard 3 way pickup toggle selector.
3 way Tone Lever Switch.
Phase Switch.
Volume 1 Neck.
Volume 2 Bridge.
Smooth Control.
Density Control.

The Pickup selector switch is just that, it selects the two "Entwistle NeoTron" Numbuckers in the normal fashion ie: Up: Neck Centre: Neck and Bridge. Down: Bridge.

The 3 way lever tone switch selects the the various coils within the two humbuckers.

Pos 3: is the the full humbuckers (varied by the pickup selector toggle switch)

Pos 2: Is the neck outer single, the neck single and bridge inner coil, and the bridge inner coil. (note: the above is the case when the phase switch in on the "IN" position, when it is on the "OUT" position we get: Neck single, Neck and bridge outer coil out of phase, and Bridge outer single.)

Pos 1: is: Neck inner single coil. Neck inner single and Bridge outer single, bridge outer single. (note: the above is the case when the phase switch is on the "IN" position, when it is on the "OUT" position we get: Neck inner single, Neck and Bridge inner single, Bridge inner single.)

This last selection (position 1 on the lever switch, and phase selector set at "OUT" with the pickup selector at centre, is quite a useful setting if it is used in conjunction with the two volume controls, if one of the volumes is lowered slightly you get a partial "out of phase effect" which mimics the sound of a 3 pickup guitar when set on positions 2 and 4 of a 5 way switch.

Phase switch: This puts the two Entwistle NeoTron pickups in or out phase with each other, this works when both pickups are combined, but it also changes the coil section on the bridge pickup from outer to inner coil, giving two quite different single coils

The Smooth Control: This does what it says it says, when the control is rolled back the pickup or pickups selected sound smoother, this is not a normal tone control it does not go muddy, it kind of goes "more vintage".

The Density Control: This is a very useful control as it changes the DC resistance of the pickups. The full bridge Humbucker measures 15Kohms, which is a modern high gain pickup like the Entwistle Dark Star, but start to roll back this control and it changes all the way down to 5K ohms, which is similar to a Country Rock type pickup such as the Entwistle Nashville Star. Of course the beauty of the Density control is that as you turn it you go through the DCR specs of almost every pickup ever made!

Couple this with the coil selecting options and Smooth Control and you get what amounts to loads of different pickups sounds.

Quite clever!

As you can see the control cavity looks rather neat. Well shielded. There's a big black plastic thing that looks like a pickup. It is the transformer.
It had been taped to the side of the cavity, but the double sided tape had dried out and it had come loose. So I taped it back in place with new tape.

This little hobbit gives a lot of bang for the buck!

Dave W · December 01, 2018, 04:46:33 PM

That doesn't surprise me. The original Revelations were said to be very good quality, although I've never played one that I can recall. Looks like the current company makes much less expensive copies.

Basvarken · December 02, 2018, 12:33:50 AM

What do you mean Dave? Is Revelation an older brand?
I bought this bass second hand. It's probably two years old. I'm not aware of a previous series.

Dave W · December 02, 2018, 07:57:15 AM

Early 90s brand, IIRC made in Korea, rarely seen in the US. I wrongly assumed yours must be one of those since I haven't seen any LP Bass copies in years.

Just looked at their website, one bass is sort of EB-2 styled, the rest are Fender styled solid bodies made of okoume.

Basvarken · December 02, 2018, 08:14:19 AM

The Les Paul Bass that Revelation made seems to be a rather shortlived affair. They were introduced some two and a half years ago. And disappeared rather quickly. I suspect they received a cease & desist letter from Henry J's sharks...

The name of Alan Entwistle popped up earlier with a different - but very similar - brand called Alden Guitars. I think it was around 2006 since I first saw that name.
Maybe Revelation is the same as Alden? I don't think I saw the brand Revelation any earlier than three years ago.

Dave W · December 02, 2018, 10:26:33 AM

There's this on their site https://www.revelationguitars.co.uk/our-heritage/

Looks like it was originally a Hohner related company.

Granny Gremlin · December 19, 2018, 07:45:12 AM

I think I need one of those LP copies. If the pups are HiZ any idea what the tranny is for?

The Offset EB2 thing looks sweet as well.

Basvarken · December 19, 2018, 03:04:13 PM

Quote from: Granny Gremlin on December 19, 2018, 07:45:12 AM
If the pups are HiZ any idea what the tranny is for?

It is for lowering the impedance.

QuoteThe Density Control: This is a very useful control as it changes the DC resistance of the pickups. The full bridge Humbucker measures 15Kohms, which is a modern high gain pickup like the Entwistle Dark Star, but start to roll back this control and it changes all the way down to 5K ohms, which is similar to a Country Rock type pickup such as the Entwistle Nashville Star. Of course the beauty of the Density control is that as you turn it you go through the DCR specs of almost every pickup ever made!

Grog · December 20, 2018, 08:13:57 AM

Quote from: Basvarken on December 19, 2018, 03:04:13 PM
It is for lowering the impedance.

Same thing Gibson did on their Les Paul Recording reissue, built about the same time as this bass.

Granny Gremlin · December 20, 2018, 04:50:40 PM

Quote from: Grog on December 20, 2018, 08:13:57 AM
Same thing Gibson did on their Les Paul Recording reissue, built about the same time as this bass.

Not the same thing - on the Gibby it was essentially a built in Jensen transformer DI (which yes, lowers the impedance but to a different range and not connected to a continuously variable control - this LP copy is still HiZ on all settings)