Hotter signal?

[Tim Bishop]

Originally Posted by Jim Gorman

I have an '86 BT5, 3 knobber with lots of miles on it. It plays like a Smith should, all 'buttery' and such. It's made a better player out of me and I love it. Finger runs, slapping and tapping are a breeze but I want a hotter, more 'responsive to touch' kind of signal. Could this be age- related electronics and/or pickups? Any suggestions?

Jim, if that bass in fact does have a "mid-sweep" as you stated in another post, a modification occurred to your bass. Do you know if the pre-amp is the original Smith pre-amp? Does it have a battery? If it does have a battery, you have the active circuit. If it does have a battery, make sure it is fresh.

Also, whether the bass is active or passive, I would suggest to ensure your strings are fresh (I would use Smith TCRM's), set-up is correct for you, then adjust your individual string pole pieces on each p/u such that you are getting the maximum pull from the p/u's without getting distortion. If you are not sure how to do this, find someone who is. It's not hard, you just need to know what you are doing. Or, send it in to Ken and have him look at it for you.