Apophenia Savant

3 hours ago, Prostheta said:

The varitone is a stack of RC values that are used by the preamp to form an active LPF with a reasonable mid bump before the cutoff, hence why it changes the "character" of the sound differently to a passive LPF like the tone knob. I've played around with the idea of making an alternative varitone that is continuously variable as opposed to a selection of six RC values, partly because of the control but mostly because the rotary and fourteen components fabricobbled around it was just another example of Aria Pro II being slightly mad in the head. I didn't go too far down that rabbithole.

Does the subsequent 80's varitone differ in terms of function, or just construction?

Thanks!

On 5/24/2021 at 7:56 PM, Prostheta said:

Sure thing. PM me here for my email.

The 80s circuit in the SB-1000 (passive/active) is problematic in that it requires dual value pots which are not really available commercially. I've always preferred the 70s active-only circuit. To my ears it sounds better, even though the only real difference is in the varitone filter.

How are the varitone filters different?

I have a Batwing in a black refinish, and I've finally started getting on with it. The first four settings seem to completely change the sound of my fret noise more than anything else; which is actually pretty cool if any fret clatter is part of your sound. (I feel like it's an underrated tonal element of a good bass sound personally)

I forget what the 5th setting sounds like, but the 6th is the dub monster when you roll off your treble. 

My re-attraction to the bass is mostly because I had a new nut cut and had it strung up as a B-E-A-D flatwound bass for about ten years. A couple weeks ago I decided to string it back up E-A-D-G, since I still had the G string from the 5string set that I bought, so they are the same identical strings. The weird thing is, the defined fret sound goes away when I string it back up as B-E-A-D, regardless of how I adjust the action or truss rod. Not that it doesn't have fret sound as a B-E-A-D bass, but for some reason when it's strung up proper the it feels like it there is a tonal pocket that it falls into now. I imagine it handles roundwound strings differently, but the flats are really underrated on this bass.

Are the pole pieces all identical? Or did they do something to finesse the sound of the individual strings?

On 6/12/2022 at 6:46 AM, Scar said:

Here are more photos showing how everything went.

I found that the original cavity had been filled with Styrofoam (?!) and the threaded inserts were removed so I replaced them with small nuts.

the wiring went right together based on your diagram once the faulty battery box was replaced.

The led light is held in place with a small amount of hot melt glue and works properly.

the finish that the previous owner put on seems to be a bit fragile and chipped at the edges of the route so unfortunately I had to put a ring around the pickup,but that’s a small concession.

thank you very much for your input and assistance with this !

Ah, Styrofoam. My favorite tonewood.