Bass wiring direct to output

travis1976

As per the title. I've a bass I bought in pieces, not a kit and I want to have a play with it before I do the serious work. Can I wire a bass humbucker direct to the output jack, or will it sound woeful?

The Master

It will work but will sound VERY sharp/spiky
Often gets called an icepick tone because the tone/volume controls aren't there to tame the treble

EDIT: make sure to ground it!

travis1976

The Master wrote: »

It will work but will sound VERY sharp/spiky
Often gets called an icepick tone because the tone/volume controls aren't there to tame the treble

EDIT: make sure to ground it!

I'll give it a go. Thanks

martinedwards

never had the spiky experience, but then I very rarely have the tone anywhere other than full up anyway..... aint personal taste great!!

one wire straight to tip of jack socket, one to sleeve and bridge earth wire.

Dord

I did it before with split precision pickup. Sounded great.

travis1976

So I wired it up. I didn't solder it yet, mostly because I've no idea where my iron is. It sounds grand not sharp at all. It will get me going. Thanks for the info lads.

aziz

Afaik the bass player with Iron Maiden has the controls on his precision basses bypassed.His reason was that when he was playing live he would often get close to the crowd and punters used to always turn the pots on the bass.;)

travis1976

aziz wrote: »

Afaik the bass player with Iron Maiden has the controls on his precision basses bypassed.His reason was that when he was playing live he would often get close to the crowd and punters used to always turn the pots on the bass.;)

That's why I love boards. Always something interesting.

martinedwards

tone bypassed, not volume.......

I had a picture from Kevin Shirley's diary of Steve's recording and touring rig from Brave New World through to A Matter of Life and Death. as I'm a Steve Harris geek/nut/stalker, I've got details of pretty much all his rigs.

I'll do an era by era breakdown for you -

Soundhouse tapes - Killers: Peavey Mark III bass head, Marshall JCM 800 4x12 bass cabinets x2

Number of the Beast: Hiwatt 100 bass head, DBX 106VU compressor, Marshall JCM 800 4x12 bass cabinets x4

Piece of Mind - Powerslave: Electron HiWatt clone pre amp x2, Hiwatt Model 109 pre amp x2, DBX 106VU compressor x2, Pete Cornish switching system, Marshall JCM 800 4x12 bass cabinets with Electro Voice M12L speakers

Somewhere in Time - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son: Nady wireless system, DBX 106VU compressor x2, Pete Cornish switching system, Electron HiWatt clone pre amp x2, Carvin power amp x2, a couple of Korg DT-10 tuners, Marshall JCM 800 4x12 bass cabinets with Electro Voice M12L speakers x8

No Prayer for the Dying - Fear of the Dark (inc. Live at Donnington): Nady wireless system, DBX 106VU compressor x2, Aphex Aural Exciter 204 with Big Bottom, Pete Cornish switching system, Trace Elliot GP12SMX pre amp, Carvin power amp x2, a couple of Korg DT-10 tuners, Marshall JCM 800 4x12 bass cabinets with Electro Voice M12L speakers x8

Virtual XI - X Factor: Nady wireless system, DBX 106VU compressor x2, Aphex Aural Exciter 204 with Big Bottom, Trace Elliot GP12SMX pre amp, Pete Cornish switching system, C-Audio SR707 power amps x2, a couple of Korg DT-10 tuners, Marshall JCM 800 4x12 bass cabinets with Electro Voice M12L speakers x8 (MXR phaser was used on "Blood on the Worlds Hands" intro)

Brave New World - Nady wireless system, A Matter of Life and Death: Sony E100 SRP 31 band equaliser, Aphex Aural Exciter 106A, DBX 106VU x2 (side chained), Pete Cornish switching system, Electron HiWatt clone pre amp, C-Audio SR707 power amp x2, a couple of Korg DT-10 tuners, Marshall JCM 800 4x12 cabinets with Electro Voice M12L speakers x8

Final Frontier onwards: Nady wireless system, Electron HiWatt clone pre amp x2, Hiwatt Model 109 pre amp x2, Aphex Aural Exciter 106A, DBX 106VU x2, RSD power amp x6, a couple of Korg DT-10 tuners (2 custom 1u units I haven't identified yet but I'll update in a few minutes when I have dug out the magazine it has it in, from what I know, one of them is a noise gate though but i'll update as said), Marshall JCM 800 4x12 bass cabinets with Electro Voice M12L speakers x8

For the "Steve Harris British Lion" stuff, he used a slightly different rig but this was only for the SHBL album/tour, he went back to the Final Frontier rig for the Maiden tours (eg Maiden England revisited). The SHBL studio and live rig was: Nady wireless system, Electron HiWatt clone pre amp x2, Hiwatt Model 109 pre amp x2, DBX 164 compressor, Ampeg SVT4-Pro head, a couple of Korg DT-10 tuners, Ampeg SVT810 cabinets.

Basses: Mainly his 1972 Fender P bass which has seen 5 paint jobs (currently the West Ham colours but originally white, then black, then metallic blue, then black and white chequerboard but now West Ham colours), 1959 P bass in sparkle metallic red, Fender Signature P Bass, Another Fender signature P Bass with West Ham colours as a replica of the 72. Other basses he has used are a couple of Ibanez Roadsters (one was used on Run To the Hills), a couple of Lado basses (the Falcon and the Unicorn with the Unicorn being his signature Lado bass and was seen on the Aces High/2 Minutes to Midnight videos) then for acoustic basses he uses an Ovation Electro Acoustic (this is the bass used on the intro to Blood on the Worlds Hands, Clansman, Journey Man etc). A couple of other un-noted basses have been used over the years.

All his Precision Basses are loaded with Seymour Duncan pick ups, Badass II bridges, chrome brass pickguards and 250k pots. All basses have been loaded with his signature Rotosound Monel Flatwound strings (SH77 model number, 50-110 gauge) and have super low action to get that clanky sound. The tone pots on all his P basses are bypassed and he taps his nose to Michael Kenney (Iron Maiden's keyboardist and Steve's long time tech) to turn the treble up or down. This is mainly seen on "Maiden England 88".

He never warms up, just powders his fingers. His monitor mix on stage is just (and to quote Steve himself) "a smatterin' of toms with a smidge of me own vocals and bass".

travis1976

So, I found my Iron, and soldered it up...................
It actually sounds quite good. It's a cort action jr short scale bass. It plays well, could prob use a small setup, but I'm enjoying it. Thanks lads....:D