New to Gibson basses: '69 Les Paul content

[LanEvo]

It's a great NBD for me!

I've wanted a Les Paul Bass since I was 13 years old. I was in the middle-school band and they had a mid-'70s Triumph locked in the closet. I remember it being heavy and thuddy (dead strings) but there was something about it that was just so cool.

Finally found one in Brooklyn: a first-generation model. The short scale (30.5") will take some getting used to, but it's not as bad as I thought. It's a beautiful thing IMNSHO...









Electronics are weird and wonderful. Two low-impedance humbuckers with coil taps at 3 different levels and phase switch for the middle position. The low-impedance pickups don't have enough output to drive an amp; designed to plug directly into a recording console. Luckily, my Phil Jones Bass Cub has a mic input on Channel A.





Based on my initial serial number search, it seems to be a 1969.

[Granny Gremlin]

Welcome to the club - she's a beaut.  These girls (original LP bass and the Triumph) have a dedicated following here.  Mine is a formerly white (currently deep pee pee yellow) 75 Triumph.

If you search you will find some interesting info about those pups (note there are 2 versions of the schematic floating around; one has the pup leads wired wrong).  Way back when they were auctioning off Les Paul's estate a few neat things came up.

[uwe]

Welcome to the club! A large enough rig can for once be set at gain and master volume levels otherwise impossible if you feed it low impedance. That is one of the beauties of this beast, you can venture in unchartered regions with it.

Have you tried it with your Phil Jones all the way up over the regular input?

[Basvarken]

Welcome to the club. Simply the best bass (Gibson) ever built.
If the low output keeps bugging you could always buy an impedance transformer.
Such as the Shure A95U. Basicly the same thing as the transformerplug that came with the cord back in the day.

[Grog]

Congrats & welcome to the LBO! I don't think you'll find more love for these Les Paul Basses anywhere else on the planet......... This is a photo of the original chord that was shipped with these guitars & a modern replacement that you can go to most music stores & purchase.

[TBird1958]

Beautiful bass!
Congratulations and welcome here 

[OldManC]

You picked the right bass and the right website to show it off. Welcome, and congratulations on a beautiful "new" bass!

[LanEvo]

Thanks for the warm welcome, guys!

I have read about the lo-z/hi-z transformer, but it seems to me you can get the same effect with a mic preamp (such as an ART Tube MP). Since my PJB Bass Cub has a mic input on one channel, it's not an issue for me.

Still trying to get a feel for the various tones. Very different sound and feel from the Fender-style basses I'm used to. Lots more low-end weight, but not as much midrange punch.

[Granny Gremlin]

Yes, the LoZ pups are very even across the spectrum response wise - one reason the guitar versions weren't very successful, and one reason Les decided to go LoZ in the first place.

You can, however, carve out a nice midrange bump by virtue of rolling off both the treble and bass tone knobs to taste (and turn up your preamp gain to compensate).  When it comes to EQ Les understood audio engineering best practice: don't add if you can take away in order to achieve the same effect. You won't get that growly bite (you would from some other Gibsons, even some shorties) - these things are about smoothness not aggression. 

I strongly recommend against the ART TubeMP for bass use.  I tested that out vs a few other preamps with a bud a number of years back and it was very lean and brittle sounding compared to every other one we tried.  He went home with a Bellari instead.  The pre on the PJB should be much better still.

[Nocturnal]

Nice bass!! Welcome to the Outpost!!

[66Atlas]

I love the checking on the finish, I have one of those "pee-yellow" Triumphs myself and absolutely love it.  Congrats on the '69!

[Chris P.]

Beautiful bass and I love the crackled finish!!! Welcome to the club:)

[gearHed289]

Very cool bass! I'm a big Les Paul bass fan, old and new (pre-OSB  )

I'm not familiar with the difference in sound of an original versus a Triumph, but here's a Triumph sounding very aggressive and Ric-like. He switches off on keys, so the bass guitar drops out here and there, but you get the idea...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9G9Q_TXBdc&index=7&list=PLSGVVEAakzy4M4RjvlIJF7mK4AHwo4hzn

[Basvarken]

Doesn't sound like a Les Paul Bass /Triumph at all if you ask me... 


Here's how I hear a Les Paul Bass:

This one has the bass pretty much up front in the mix

[Highlander]

I'll just add a welcome as pretty much all the LP users have added their weight to the conversation...

Beautiful instrument...