It's getting kind of crowded in here...

mellowgerman

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2008
Messages
4,098
Reaction score
1,501
Location
Orlando, FL
As stated in the title...
06250922161-1.jpg

Not sure about the knobs yet... those were just what I had laying around. The sound possibilities are ridiculous though. Best part is, it's all passive :mrgreen:

layout:
"chicken head" knob is a HAS varitone
the next one is the blend/push-pull pot for the varitone
the next is a master volume
then the pickup selector
and lastly the bass contour knob
 

mellowgerman

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2008
Messages
4,098
Reaction score
1,501
Location
Orlando, FL
It's what is called a "bass varitone plus"
I'm not sure about all of the details, but it's a 5 position switch. The push/pull knob that goes with it shifts the tone (of each respective position) slightly, giving you 10 different tones alltogether, and it allows you to blend your bypassed signal and the varitoned signal. A couple of the darker settings actually get a really cool gritty overdrive sound to them too. Really excellent little gizmo :D
 

h60

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2008
Messages
54
Reaction score
0
Location
Mobile, AL
Nice mello!
I'm going a little bit different direction. My big problem being shielding the entire lower bout. So I'm wiring mine in stereo and sending each pickup separately to a box in which resides a variable low pass filter with variable Q for each channel then blended into a buffered mono output to my amp. The only undoable mod to the bass will be a stereo/mono mini toggle and possibly a master vol (dual ganged pot).
 

mellowgerman

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2008
Messages
4,098
Reaction score
1,501
Location
Orlando, FL
h60 said:
Nice mello!
I'm going a little bit different direction. My big problem being shielding the entire lower bout. So I'm wiring mine in stereo and sending each pickup separately to a box in which resides a variable low pass filter with variable Q for each channel then blended into a buffered mono output to my amp. The only undoable mod to the bass will be a stereo/mono mini toggle and possibly a master vol (dual ganged pot).

That's really interesting. Can't wait to check it out. My mods were quite simple... it was just a matter of connecting them to the end of the signal chain right before the output. It did however take me a good 2 hours to get all of the controls and their wires in place. Totally worth it though :mrgreen:
 

chazmo

Super Moderator
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
Messages
25,443
Reaction score
7,105
Location
Central Massachusetts
Reminds me of the girl at the deli counter with about a dozen earrings completely around her ear. Did I mention, she's cute as hell?

:)

Cool stuff, guys. I'm trying hard to imagine what all those tone controls sound like.
 

mellowgerman

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2008
Messages
4,098
Reaction score
1,501
Location
Orlando, FL
Chazmo said:
Reminds me of the girl at the deli counter with about a dozen earrings completely around her ear. Did I mention, she's cute as hell?

:)

Cool stuff, guys. I'm trying hard to imagine what all those tone controls sound like.

Sounds like one of my friends... lots of piercings, check.... works at grocery store, check... cute as hell, check... yup might be the one you're talking about :mrgreen:
Anywho, I'll try to get a video up at some point in which I use some of the controls. I'll let y'all know.
 

fronobulax

Bassist, GAD and the Hot Mess Mods
Joined
May 3, 2007
Messages
24,708
Reaction score
8,836
Location
Central Virginia, USA
Guild Total
5
Nice, although you need to get a shaker of salt to go with that compliment because one of the reasons I like the SF I is I only have two controls to mess with :wink:
 

mellowgerman

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2008
Messages
4,098
Reaction score
1,501
Location
Orlando, FL
fronobulax said:
Nice, although you need to get a shaker of salt to go with that compliment because one of the reasons I like the SF I is I only have two controls to mess with :wink:

thanks herr frono, but i think this bass would provide days of fun for you :wink:
I've been messing around with it all day myself; the neighbors must be getting pretty sick of random notes and the occasional other side of this life riff, but I'm just trying to play with the tone. Between the 10 different/blendable settings of the varitone, the master volume, the high pass control, and all the other knobs that were already on this thing... i feel like i could find a sonic cure for cancer if I tweak it long enough! :lol:
the versatility is mind boggling.

something that i've been focusing on is rolling back the individual and master volumes and compensating with the pregain on my amp. this adds some really intriguing warmth to the sound. i plan on recording some stuff eventually once I'm more familiar with the set up.
 

h60

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2008
Messages
54
Reaction score
0
Location
Mobile, AL
Love the Norse Mythology tie in with Bragi by the way.
When I started planning my project I referred to it as the "stepson", but since have changed.
 

mellowgerman

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2008
Messages
4,098
Reaction score
1,501
Location
Orlando, FL
h60 said:
Love the Norse Mythology tie in with Bragi by the way.
When I started planning my project I referred to it as the "stepson", but since have changed.

Thanks! Glad somebody picked up on that :D
What's yours called now?

Also, I noticed you have clover leaf style tuners on yours; did you have to make the peg holes larger? I'm planning on replacing mine (for visual reasons but mainly functional, since the stock ones really aren't that great). Haven't done any measuring yet, but it seems like the replacement rickenbacker tuners would fit and perhaps ultralites would too... any suggestions?

Lastly, here's a picture with the new knobs I just picked up:
07060915001.jpg
 

h60

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2008
Messages
54
Reaction score
0
Location
Mobile, AL
mellowgerman said:
What's yours called now?

Daghdha. Hey, I'm Irish :lol:

mellowgerman said:
Also, I noticed you have clover leaf style tuners on yours; did you have to make the peg holes larger? I'm planning on replacing mine (for visual reasons but mainly functional, since the stock ones really aren't that great). Haven't done any measuring yet, but it seems like the replacement rickenbacker tuners would fit and perhaps ultralites would too... any suggestions?

Yep, I replaced the stock tuners with Hipshot Ultralites. Music123 has the best price i've seen. They are alot smoother and keep the bass in tune better than the stock ones. I also think they look better. I didn't have to drill anything. I think it was the 1/2 ones I put in... just take 1 peg out and measure the hole. the screw holes even lined up for me perfectly.
 

mellowgerman

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2008
Messages
4,098
Reaction score
1,501
Location
Orlando, FL
h60 said:
Daghdha. Hey, I'm Irish :lol:

mellowgerman said:
Also, I noticed you have clover leaf style tuners on yours; did you have to make the peg holes larger? I'm planning on replacing mine (for visual reasons but mainly functional, since the stock ones really aren't that great). Haven't done any measuring yet, but it seems like the replacement rickenbacker tuners would fit and perhaps ultralites would too... any suggestions?

Yep, I replaced the stock tuners with Hipshot Ultralites. Music123 has the best price i've seen. They are alot smoother and keep the bass in tune better than the stock ones. I also think they look better. I didn't have to drill anything. I think it was the 1/2 ones I put in... just take 1 peg out and measure the hole. the screw holes even lined up for me perfectly.

well that name certainly works :D

it looks like those tuners cost the same at musiciansfriend and they have free shipping there... I may have to pounce on a set
 

h60

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2008
Messages
54
Reaction score
0
Location
Mobile, AL
Do it. You won't be dissappointed.

Btw I got my Turner wired D-tar circuit working. Holy $&@#!
this is why Rick said I wanted a bipolar (+\-9 volt) buffer... Wow. Should have it all in the bass tomorrow. Not so concerned with mixing filtered and un filtered any more... Stand by for audio.
 

matsickma

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2005
Messages
4,280
Reaction score
1,028
Location
Coopersburg, PA
I think one of the positions of the Varitone has a pair of zero-bias diode that clip very easily resulting in a passive fuzz or distortion tone.

Pretty cool!
 

mellowgerman

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2008
Messages
4,098
Reaction score
1,501
Location
Orlando, FL
On the varitone plus, i think there are 3 (of the 10) if i'm not mistaken. It's an amazing control :mrgreen:
the normal varitone control has one such setting, but it's soo bassy that it's really nice to have the blend control that comes with the varitone plus. then you can dial it in however you dig it

matsickma said:
I think one of the positions of the Varitone has a pair of zero-bias diode that clip very easily resulting in a passive fuzz or distortion tone.

Pretty cool!
 
Top