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View Full Version : MMB-4 Bass fitted with GFS MM Pro Plus Alnico pickup & Belcat 2 band EQ Preamp



wazkelly
13-09-2018, 06:43 PM
http://youtu.be/fbjI0MssJtc

Stock pickup that comes with this kit looks similar and is 5 wire where 5th is actually the shield. Tried to wire it up to the Belcat 2 Band EQ Preamp but the wires were so thin they kept breaking off soldered joints so never got the chance to hear how good or bad it might have been, let alone how it may have sounded when using the preamp blend pot.

GFS unit installed here is 3 wires plus shield and tried many different combinations on the preamp blend pot but couldn't get it to isolate front and rear coils, it only seemed to allow for series (normal humbucker mode) and one split of either forward or rear coil, not both. Simplest solution was to remove blend pot and substitute with a mini DPDT on-off-on switch where forward position has just the front (Bass/Neck) coil, middle is normal series humbucker, rear has just the rear (Treble/Bridge) coil. Clearly there is more output in the middle humbucking position but with more volume at the amp that helps to bring out the subtle tonal differences the front & rear coil splits can provide.

Belcat preamp is fun to play with and has a centre detent where everything is supposed to be 'flat' and then it acts as a boost/cut for each of the separate Bass & Treble tone pots. It also comes with a master volume and if left in place it would also have had the blend pot which probably works best on a 2 pickup Bass acting as the pickup selector where IB-5, EX-5, TB-4, etc all spring to mind as possibly benefiting from this relatively inexpensive modification. The standard kit pickups on those seem to be low on output and could do with boost at a cost in the vicinity of $20 - $30 bucks vs $200 or more for a decent set of soapbar pickups to fit those 40 mm wide cavities.

To find out more details on this build click on the hyperlink in my signature below.