What kinda pots/caps/wires do you use?

mavuser

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here's a shot from a 1970 JS-II ("Jetstar") bass with a Hagstrom Bisonic in the neck and Hagstrom mini-humbucker in the bridge. all original parts/electronics etc.

wATtqJ.jpg
 

lungimsam

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Haven't seen mine either but I was thinking of upgrading the electronics to see if I could get the bass more punchy and bright in tone.

Was wondering what everyone here has in their Starfires.
 

mavuser

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what kind of amp do u have? thats more likely to need an upgrade than your pots and caps.
 

GAD

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Though I haven't torn open any basses, I have opened more than a few Guild electrics and I can tell you that they didn't seem to believe the "some caps are special" argument at all.

Most looked like this:

Guild-1977-S60-Electronics.jpg
 

lungimsam

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Thanks for the pics! Fun to see!

I have a Rumble 200 silverface.
Sounds really good.

At church, we play direct to board and use in-ear monitors through our LiveMix-es. I also play through headphones through the Rumble at night in the house. So I have to get the tone I like through the in ears as well as the amp. So I thought I would beef up the electronics to get it more punchy.
 

mavuser

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what are you playing a Newark Street SF bass? You should always have the volume pot all the way on (at "10"), and try starting with the tone pot all the way off (at "0"), that should sound pretty good! then add a little tone maybe around 2-3, that should sound real nice as well. maybe a little more or a little less. I find tone pots on guitars and bases to have less of a useful "taper effect" across the spectrum, and more of a "sweet spot," in a "set it and forget it" approach... not necassarilly in the same exact sweet spot on even 2 identical guitars with identical wiring/pots/caps etc. its just a wierd pot thing, er something :nevreness: i find the same thing on amps...2 Fender vibro champs for example- to get the same tremolo effect on both of them- one has speed at 6 and intesity at 4, the other has speed at 4 and intensity 6. each pot just has that sweet spot. or thats my take on it at least. your bass is probably the same way.

also do you have flat wound strings?
 

fronobulax

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what are you playing a Newark Street SF bass? You should always have the volume pot all the way on (at "10"), and try starting with the tone pot all the way off (at "0"), that should sound pretty good! then add a little tone maybe around 2-3, that should sound real nice as well. maybe a little more or a little less. I find tone pots on guitars and bases to have less of a useful "taper effect" across the spectrum, and more of a "sweet spot," in a "set it and forget it" approach... not necassarilly in the same exact sweet spot on even 2 identical guitars with identical wiring/pots/caps etc. its just a wierd pot thing, er something :nevreness: i find the same thing on amps...2 Fender vibro champs for example- to get the same tremolo effect on both of them- one has speed at 6 and intesity at 4, the other has speed at 4 and intensity 6. each pot just has that sweet spot. or thats my take on it at least. your bass is probably the same way.

also do you have flat wound strings?

FWIW on all my Bisonics I find the tone sufficiently different between full on volume and rolled back to about 7 that I use both. At 7 they are somewhat less cluttered and more focused if those words suggest a sound. When I am playing melodic lines, such as cello transcriptions, I find the individual notes are much better defined and it is easier to diagnose my mistakes.
 

mavuser

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FWIW on all my Bisonics I find the tone sufficiently different between full on volume and rolled back to about 7 that I use both. At 7 they are somewhat less cluttered and more focused if those words suggest a sound. When I am playing melodic lines, such as cello transcriptions, I find the individual notes are much better defined and it is easier to diagnose my mistakes.

where is your tone knob during all of this?

also turning the vol down is cutting the string signal that the pickup is "picking up." I do not personally play bass loud enough to mess around with that. the tone pot tapers the high/low frequencies, but you are working with the entire string signal, so that part is a constant.

Derek Trucks uses the vol knob on his guitar as an effect, he can only do that and sound that way because his amps are on full blast. some older Allman shows u can really hear how loud his guitar is at the top end of those volume swells and solos. people don't understand how they can't get someone else's tone...just because they have the same guitar and rig...well, try turning it up until the walls of your house shake...then it should sound right.

other players use a volume pedal to achive a similar effect to Trucks, but they are never cutting the string signal, they are just tapering the output (volume) of the singnal coming out of the electronics of the guitar, into the amp.

also back to the original point of this thread, im not familliar with the OP amp (Rumble 200) but it seems to have raving reviews. im not really an electronics guy but i got my Thunderbass head tuned up by someone that knew what they were doing (Jay at Ant Farm) and now bass sounds unreal thru that! i've also played an Ampeg tube bass amp, at GC a while ago, and had an Orange Terror 500 with a pre amp tube- all sounded super warm and punchy. u may want to explore demoing an old bass tube amp like a Thunderbass. u might be able to somehow use it as a pre amp or something. that would warm things up/round things out for sure. your current amp does have great reviews though. how does it sound with a Fender (solid body) bass?

i dont think caps and pots/wiring make any real noticable difference, just in themselves. it may somehow "sound a little better," which could mean a lot of things, but the tone will be the same. the Newark Street basses sound pretty good/fantastic (whatever the spectrum of opinions are) right out of the box.
 

wisconsindead

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I sold all of the original electronics inside my 67 Starfire. My bass is only wired up with one pickup and one volume knob so there isn't much too it. It was some cheapo volume pot that's already scratchy after two months use :topsy_turvy:
 

lungimsam

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NS Starfire bass
Chromes ECB82 Flatwounds.

My tone knob works well.
But my vol knob won't swell the whole way:
-.5-0 swells
0-3 swells
3-9 full volume every number.
These knobs only go 1-9, no "10".
 

mavuser

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NS Starfire bass
Chromes ECB82 Flatwounds.

My tone knob works well.
But my vol knob won't swell the whole way:
-.5-0 swells
0-3 swells
3-9 full volume every number.
These knobs only go 1-9, no "10".

again I would not personally be messing with the vol knob i'd just leave it wide open at "9."
so the rest of that shouldnt matter (and it sounds like it is functioning properly)
 
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