Modding Gibson LPB-1

pjm · December 22, 2016, 05:53:35 AM

I'm currently stripping all the black finish off and getting rid of the active Bartolini preamp and go passive, VTVT. It's has Tbird pickups. My guess is 4 x 500k pots and 2 x caps.

patman · December 22, 2016, 06:07:54 AM

what was wrong with the finish?

dadagoboi · December 22, 2016, 07:08:31 AM

Quote from: pjm on December 22, 2016, 05:53:35 AM
I'm currently stripping all the black finish off and getting rid of the active Bartolini preamp and go passive, VTVT. It's has Tbird pickups. My guess is 4 x 500k pots and 2 x caps.

Tone pots for vintage TBird pickups are 250k. YMMV.

4stringer77 · December 22, 2016, 10:25:21 AM

If he's keeping the pickups, they're TB+.

Dave W · December 22, 2016, 11:46:13 AM

Gibson's online diagrams for the modern passive LP Bass aren't schematics and don't show pot or capacitor values. Most post-1973 Les Paul guitars use 300K linear volume pots, which you can buy direct from the Gibson store and elsewhere.

According to Cadfael's wiring diagrams, the 1997-2006 passive LP Bass used 500K pots for all. Those used the same TB-Plus pckups as in your bass. But he shows the modern (1987 and later) T-Bird (also TB-Plus) as having 300K linear volume pots, and likewise with the recent passive LP Standard Oversized Bass. Caps are .047uF in all cases.

ramone57 · December 22, 2016, 12:03:18 PM

I bought an LPB-1 (TB+ pups) for my son years ago and the preamp was shot, so we converted to passive, 2V2T. iirc, we used 500k pots and .047 caps. sounds as expected.

pjm · December 22, 2016, 04:57:58 PM

Do you guys think i should just keep the Bart pre? There's nothing wrong with it, just though I'd get more of a classic Gibby tone without it.

pjm · December 22, 2016, 08:59:18 PM

Stripping pic

Dave W · December 22, 2016, 09:33:24 PM

Quote from: pjm on December 22, 2016, 04:57:58 PM
Do you guys think i should just keep the Bart pre? There's nothing wrong with it, just though I'd get more of a classic Gibby tone without it.
...

Depends on what you mean by classic Gibby tone. Passive, with an all mahogany body, it ought to sound a lot like a modern T-Bird. I did play a passive NOS '92 in a store back in the late '90s but I can''t remember what it sounded like. OTOH the Bart pre version sonds fine to me, if I had one I wouldn't remove it. YYMV of course.

Basvarken · December 23, 2016, 08:44:49 AM

Classic Gibby Tone is most present in black gloss finished basses.
Too bad...

Rob · December 23, 2016, 02:40:50 PM

Quote from: Basvarken on December 23, 2016, 08:44:49 AM
Classic Gibby Tone is most present in black gloss finished basses.
Too bad...

pjm · December 27, 2016, 02:03:44 AM

First coat of Danish oil

Hope to get it to this..

Basvarken · December 27, 2016, 07:43:01 AM

You'll need some yellow to achieve that.

gearHed289 · December 28, 2016, 09:28:57 AM

Quote from: pjm on December 22, 2016, 04:57:58 PMDo you guys think i should just keep the Bart pre? There's nothing wrong with it, just though I'd get more of a classic Gibby tone without it.

I got rid of mine years ago during my "no more active stuff" phase. I like it without, but there was nothing really wrong "with" either. Bright and snarly.

slinkp · December 28, 2016, 10:57:26 AM

Out of curiosity, is there a setting on the pre that sounds close to the passive tone?