Series/Parallel/Split 3 way toggle for bass

[Inflames626]

Yeah I’m wrong, it’s some kind of Alnico. So you reckon Original over the PATB2? That Carvin reminds me of a hi-fi unit I used to have. I have the earlier Mosfet Transient Attack Hartke made. Apparently they’re more sought after. It’s got both tube and solid state pres. I also have this really rare, obscure head called an Abbey I was able to track down someone known to the maker by phone because it’s local from the 70s who could tell me more about it. I posted about that in another thread.

I run either of them through a 4x10 with Eminence Deltas, plus a 1x15 with a Kappa pro of I want to rattle the fillings out of heads (or combinations if I’m feeling crazy in the studio, for one album, I had our bassist split into three amps and the resulting tone was noticed in the reviews which is nice). Then I’ve got this little Overton Flyweight 200 that’s decently loud, clean and compact for convenience like filling in on bass for a band on short notice.

These days I tend to like less hot pickups. They're clearer and less scratchy. I make up for pickup output loss with preamp gain.

As an example I used a Distortion in my Jackson DK2S for Judas Priest's "Beyond the Realms of Death." There's a sustained feedback part or two in that song that require it or standing near a cranked amp. I liked how the Distortion cut through and compressed but hearing that shrill sound 24/7 would hurt my ears.

I have some 90s In Flames and other stuff too.

https://soundcloud.com/devolve1980

I used it through a Sansamp and I think a Bogner Uberschall cab in Guitar Rig 4 and loved it. But I used Amplitube and POD Farm Platinum for the rhythms. Whatever works. I am not brand loyal. This was maybe 2014ish. A lot more players in the DAW software amp sim game now, and more free ones. Anyway I was trying to emulate a late 70s kind of Plexi Marshall sound and I think I got close.

When Markbass came over here from Italy they had their plugin. I have a friend of mine who is a big tech death bass guy (Obscura, Beyond Creation, etc.) and he had a Markbass rig that I complimented him on (I guess that's musicians' way of hitting on each other and striking up friendships).

I did business with a guy back around 2002, Tony Snape of Mastertone pickups, who built his own EMG killer prior to the Blackout coming out in 2008. Mastertones used to be popular on the Harmony Central forums. I have them in an LTD F-200 I use in Bb standard and really like it. I recommend him to you since he's in Australia and apparently starting to build pickups again after a long retirement. He's in Adelaide.

https://www.facebook.com/MastertonePickups/

I live in Arkansas northeast of Texas and a few hours from Memphis, TN, 5-6 hours south of St. Louis, maybe 7-9 north of New Orleans, so it's fairly rural here and a lot like South and West Australia, I suppose. In terms of climate, think 40C hot, humid, wet, rice and soybean weather. Lots of doom metal sludge stuff here like Crowbar in the local scene.

Most of what we got back in the day was new Peavey (Peavey being next door in Meridian, MS in the 80s and 90s and doing most of their manufacturing there until the 10s or so), used Fender, etc. Marshall and Mesa were too expensive for most people here and I didn't see them a lot until I attended GIT in L.A. from 99-00 (the Paul Gilbert school). Pre-Kiesel Carvin had a great shop there too in Hollywood. I miss that company.

I wish I had more knowledge about what you guys use down there but Australia uses different voltages, parts suppliers, etc., than we do here in North America. Kind of like British stuff. Other than Vox and Marshall I don't know a lot about Aussie gear other than Holden being Australia's General Motors.

That said, I love Mad Max and heartily thank you and all Australians for making those films (some people call them rather objective documentaries on Australian society) possible. Tom Hardy one was great but I grew up with Mel Gibson.

You're a cool guy, El Dunco. You certainly deserved meeting Seymour, the man himself. You're always welcome on my threads.

[Inflames626]

Fun fact: some years ago we used to build the last of Ampeg's vintage spec all tube heads in Yellville, Arkansas, in the north central part of the state.

We also used to get a lot of Crate stuff (their being part of St. Louis Music and based out of St. Louis) and Washburn stuff (they were a St. Louis Music brand too I think) for a while back when Dime had the endorsement.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampeg

In 2005, LOUD Technologies Inc. purchased St. Louis Music and its brands, including Ampeg^[17] and Crate amplifiers, ending their production at the Yellville, Arkansas facility in March 2007, outsourcing amplifier manufacture to contract manufacturers in Asia.^[18]

[Inflames626]

To clear up on the PA Distortion v. Original, I haven't tried the PATB Distortion yet. I will replace the regular Duncan Distortion in my Jackson DK2S when I have time to install it, along with a PA single coil. I am expecting similar but clearer tone.

There's a lot more wiring going on in that guitar with the Sustainiac so I am careful to just work with wires that need to be altered.

You can also try the Duncan Distortion neck in the bridge. In the 70s the neck version was a bridge pickup called the "Seymourizer."

I have been switching pickup positions a lot, especially trying lower output bridge pups in the neck. Sometimes it works well as in the case of the Custom 5/Custom. It also worked with a Gibson 57 Classic Plus and 498t. I will soon be trying a 498t/Dirty Fingers build.

[El Dunco]

You're a cool guy, You certainly deserved meeting Seymour, the man himself. You're always welcome on my threads.

Thanks mate. I do my best.