| Author | Message | ||
| gale barchus (gbarchus)
Junior Username: gbarchus Post Number: 24 Registered: 6-2002 |
Is there an "ideal" pick-up height? I'd like to know the distance and angle in relation to the strings; neck and bridge differences. What's your preference? Should the volume of the pick-up be controlled by the height or the trim pot? Is there a factory setting of both that is considered optimum? | ||
| Joey Wilson (bigredbass)
Junior Username: bigredbass Post Number: 40 Registered: 9-2002 |
Gale: I'll assume your setup is done; the string heights in your setup also affect their height over the pickups. After you're done, you might want to store the pickup clearances if your ears can hear small differences a new setup may introduce. As the 20th Anniversary's have the rotary pickup selector, start with either pickup, but not both, after you've set the trim pots to identical gain postions. I usually set mine to 12 or 1 o'clock to do this. You'll need a small Phillips screwdriver and a small ruler, and a small blade screwdriver for the trim pots. Also, be sure you understand the Alembic mounting system for mounting the AXYs. Back off the 2 screws you can't see first( screw them IN a litlle), then loosen the two that you can (screw them OUT a little). I use the two hidden ones for height, and the two visible ones to fine tune the angle and lock them down. BE CAREFUL, just get 'em snug when you're through. Then raise or lower the pickup to suit the tone that you are looking for. As you close in on this sound, try several tone/Q settings to confirm your choice. At this point we're not worried about volume or the relative balance between the two, only the sound of each pickup soloed one at a time. I use a ruler to match the 'lay' of the pickup to the strings: the bass side is the same clearance under the B-string as the high side is under the G-string, and the face of the pickup is parallel to the strings. Of course, you can tilt each pickup to fine tune the tone as well, but I don't do that as I'm trying to reduce a few extra variables for myself. Run the low side high for more bottom, the high side higher for bigger Gs and Ds, etc. Once each pickup's sound suits you, NOW turn you rotary selector to both pickups. This is where the trim pots come in to build your tone for the 'both pickups' setting. Boost the back pickup for more twang,the front for more fundamental. You may find you must compromise a bit here as the back pickup is naturally softer than the neck pickup: The string just vibrates at smaller amplitudes that close to the bridge. You'll have to find a blend that also makes your bridge pickup loud enough if you use it separately in your playing. This is a very subjective process that you may repeat several times to get it exactly right for you. I generally run mine at about 1/4" clearance. In my conversations with the Help Desk at Alembic, I was told basically what I've just told you. The trim pots full-on are a LOT of output for some amps. Again, you'll hear this pushing if it's too much. I believe I remember you use an Alembic preamp, so you've got lots of headroom. This design including the trim pots, that allows each pickup to be toned exactly with out worry of high pickup heights boosting output is just one more ot the gems the Wickershams build into these basses. I marvel at the genius involved in these basses that lets me be the final judge for my very own tone. Learning to do my own setups (child's play with two truss rods and an adjustable nut) and fine tuning my tone in the above process have added tremendous pleasure and pride to my playing the BigRedBass. I hope it does the same for your 20th Anniversary. Best Wishes, Joey Wilson | ||
| Bob Novy (bob)
Junior Username: bob Post Number: 12 Registered: 11-2002 |
Joey, that's a great explanation - thanks for taking the time. I'd like to just reinforce or elaborate on a few things. Pickup height adjustment is definitely critical to getting the best sound, and most fun, out of your bass. It seems that while lots of people know they should adjust their truss rods and such but are a bit nervous about doing it themselves (until they try it once), even more people never even think about pickup height, which is a shame because it's a really important part of setup. You should absolutely go through the exercise any time you change string gauges or brands, or make a significant change to your setup - or even over time, as you learn more about how it affects tone (and perhaps your playing style becomes more refined as a result). Even though you have volume(s), pan, and maybe trim pot controls, I'm still convinced there's something special about pickup height. I wish I understood more about the physics here, but it seems to me that lower pickups with more volume clearly sound different than higher pickups with less volume. And even if I'm just imagining that, you can certainly even out the volume of different strings by adjusting the pickup angle. 1/4" clearance, at both outer strings, is a fine place to start, but I wouldn't be too stuck on the idea of keeping the pickups "parallel" to the strings (unless, like Joey, you have a good reason). Personally, mine never seem to end up that way. My bridge pickup is usually angled to be a little closer on the fat string side, while the neck is more parallel or possibly favoring the skinny strings. You should be able to hear the difference from changing the height of one side of a pickup by 1/2 of a screw turn, maybe just a 1/4. So I play with both the height and the angle, one pickup at a time of course, and listen for two things: even volume and tone across the strings, and reasonably consistent tone up and down as much of the neck as possible. If you don't normally play much up the neck, then you can skip the second part. But if you do, then this is pretty important. As you fret higher and the string gets shorter, the pickup is effectively listening to a different mix of harmonics - and the relative differences in position between the neck and bridge pickups becomes much more significant. I usually play something like a simple pentatonic scale, from low string to high and back down, and do this in about three different positions (centered around frets 3, 9, and 15 or so). There seem to be more compromises in higher positions, and eventually you have to make some tradeoffs on what tones you want to keep from each pickup to end up with a good balance when using both. One important little reminder: think about your plucking position. It's easy to get distracted such that (for example) while you're working on the neck pickup, you start playing right over the pickup - but if that's not your normal playing position, then you're wasting your time. And yeah, the trim pots are a really nice touch. Even though I'm not getting Series electronics, I'm having these included on mine. -Bob | ||
| Paul Lindemans (palembic)
Intermediate Member Username: palembic Post Number: 178 Registered: 9-2002 |
Bob and Joey, it's dangerous to put you together on a thread: both long but very useful text were immediately printed out and brought to my ALembic-case (I keep a fodler with all info and usefull things on my guitar along with ist)! Thanks again brothers! Paul |
