Pete's Boatload O' Basses Sale

[Milo]

seems like lefty players don't get thought of very often in the design phase do they?

No, and I'm becoming a cranky old man cuz of it! LOL. "Hey you friggin kids, go play in somebody elses yard!!" Sorry man. Maybe being old and cranky isn't such a bad thing, I get good meds!

[pjmuck]

I bought an ACG EQ-01 from Danomite. It's now installed in the Buzz... two words: HOLY CRAP! What an incredibly versatile tone machine.

Still getting used to it and discovered something mildly annoying after installing: of course, since the pots are surface mounted there's no way to make them left handed. Apparently, when Alan builds a lefty bass for somebody even the pickup pan pot is backwards physically so when you turn it towards the neck pickup you're actually getting the bridge pickup and vice versa.

So, I noodled with it a bit and after looking at it and thinking about it, the individual low pass filter boards which each have a stacked pot on them for each pickup, have ribbon cable connections to the main board. I thought, hmmmm... what if I reverse the connections on the main board from the pickup boards?

Lo and behold it worked! So now the pickup blend pot at least works properly.

Apparently, even Alan Cringean himself hadn't thought of that. So if any of you want to try one of these give that a shot for less confusion.

That looks awesome, Mark! I'm jealous now. I'm loving my Wal, but in a perfect world I'd want the Wal sounds in that bass. So regarding the lefty wiring, was it just a simple matter of just flipping the pin connection or was it more involved?

[markcv]

You guys wouldn't believe the bottom end out of this thing if you turn the neck lowpass filter frequency down to the lowest frequency and then boost it. It is the roundest, hugest, sub dubby chubby thing you can imagine. Then start doing some fretless slides and slurs and things and it sounds VERY synthy.

So, pj, on to your question... it's still not truly left handed as all the connectors are ribbon cables and I didn't know if simply twisting them 180º would do the trick of reversing the orientation of the pots as we're talking connections to PC boards, not directly to the pot. (see pic) The large board is the main board which contains the master volume and blend pot and the guts of the high pass filter; the smallest PC board with pot attached is the controls for the high pass filter; the other two mid size boards are the low pass filters, one per pickup. Those are the connections that I simply reversed at the main board side to correct the direction of the pickup blend. It may be possible to twist the ribbon cables 180º and get the desired reversal of pot direction. Don't know yet and not sure I want to mess with it any more as it's working perfectly right now as it is, aside from the remaining right handed orientation pots.

If it aggravates me too much I may get in there with my meter and see if I can trace the feeds. Any other electronics gurus out there care to chime in or have experience with the ACG EQ-01?

[crabby]

I have a $4500 custom shop Les Paul and it has right handed pots! Unreal.

[markcv]

@crabby: wow! and I think that's a VERY easy fix. Just reverse the wiring on the lugs.

[mcs1822]

Hey Pete! Looking to step up to an electric and the 06' Eastwood looks like the perfect instrument!

Is it still available? What form of payment do you accept?

I'm located in Silver Spring MD.

Have a nice day,

mike

wake_skator@hotmail.com

[pjmuck]

Hey Pete! Looking to step up to an electric and the 06' Eastwood looks like the perfect instrument!

Is it still available? What form of payment do you accept?

I'm located in Silver Spring MD.

Have a nice day,

mike

wake_skator@hotmail.com

Both Eastwoods are still available. Which one were you interested in? Please PM me and I'll give you details. Thanks

[Addison]

@crabby: wow! and I think that's a VERY easy fix. Just reverse the wiring on the lugs.

You'll get bad results if they're audio taper (logarithmic) pots.

The tone control will be especially shitty... an audio taper pot used as a tone control wired in reverse basically works as an on/off switch. There will be no taper at all.

[markcv]

Hey PJ, I hope we're not going too far off topic here. Please let me know if we should be taking the technical stuff over to Blueprinting and Bondo. That being said, I emailed John East at the suggestion of Alan Cringean, as he designed the ACG EQ-01. Here's his reply to my comparing the OBP-3 pots to the ones on the EQ-01 and the idea of flipping the ribbon cable:

"The OBP-3 pots are linear so reversing is of no consequence.

Filters require a C taper or reverse log in order to make the frequency changes feel even with rotation.

So reversing them will bunch all the changes to one end of the pot.

A further issue is that the connectors, as well as carrying the filter signals, also carry the signals to the peak control on the upper knobs. So reversing the connectors would cause it to go completely screwy as the wrong signals would be on the wrong controls or spread across both upper and lower knobs. No possibility of it working.

You would need dual pots with an A or log taper on the lower section, the upper is linear, but all the connections would need to be re-configured. "

So any of us here considering an ACG EQ-01 for anything will have to be content with just the one solution I came up with to improve functionality on that pre. I'm not 100% happy but I'm definitely happiER.

[markcv]

@Addison: thanks for the clarification on that.

[mcs1822]

Hey Pete,

Interested in the 2007 Eastwood EEB-1!!!

Thank you and let "Janus" be an easy one.

best,

mike

[pjmuck]

The BC Rich Mockingbird is SOLD.

[screambasses]

The BC Rich Mockingbird is SOLD.

dammit (wishful thinking)

[MetalMilitia]

Thanks for the mockingbird peter! It's my favorite bass and the best I've used for sure. was a pleasure doing business with. And thanks for letting me try the Spector too!

Bump for an awesome seller.

[pjmuck]

Thank you, George. Pleasure meeting you too.

[MetalMilitia]

You're welcome peter it was great. You have the best arsenal of lefty basses I've ever seen.

[pjmuck]

The 2001 Danelectro DC Bass has been sold. Thanks Juan!

[Tommy]

Hi,

How does the 2008 Galveston Acrylic play and sound?

Thanks

Tom

[pjmuck]

Hi,

How does the 2008 Galveston Acrylic play and sound?

Thanks

Tom

Hello Tommy:

Glaveston plays like a Jazz bass and has a similar tones, though beefier/rounder, IMO. Hope that helps.

[pjmuck]

The 2009 Squier Vintage Modified Jazz is sold. Thanks Jennifer!