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Hi Sheldon,
I recently bought a used Super J4 P/J (Serial 3757 with batteries under a Baltic Amber pickguard) and it plays great! The Aguilar preamp is so much more musical than either the preamp on my G&L L-2000 or the one on my Fender Jazz Plus V. The controls, however, are not exactly what I expected. From left to right, they are:
A) Master Volume
B) Rotary Selector
C) Bass Control?
D) Treble
I think that the treble control may be a hybrid treble. It's got a centre detent that sounds pretty musical, and it sounds like active boost/passive cut to me. I should make it clear: I don't pretend to be an expert on preamps at all. I've always preferred passive to active, until now, that is, that I have a smokin' Dingwall SJ. (Even my Afterburner I was passive.)
I have two questions:
1) I think that the Aguilar is an OBP-1. (Please correct me if I'm wrong!). Aren't the controls for this usually volume, selector, treble, bass? [b:296dh93n]Does my SJ4 have the factory layout, or has this bass been modded?[/b:296dh93n]
2) What is control C) (third from the left)? It must be a bass control, but it behaves unlike anything I've experienced before in active mode. It doesn't alter the bass as much as I would expect. My other preamps take the bass frequencies from meek to in-your-face, but the response of this control through my Mesa Walkabout was rather even.
When all is said and done, the mysterious control didn't stop me from getting a great sound (thanks, Sheldon!), but I am just curious.
I feel funny signing G&L-Forever. I love my SJ P/J, and I'm still lusting after a Super P.
GLF (for now)
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Ah, that makes sense now.
All that boost is a double edged sword. If you find you're not cutting through the mix, reduce the boost to as little as possible and turn up you volume. This will bring out the mids.
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Hi,
Thanks, Sheldon! I was testing the Super J in passive mode when I was prompted to write my initial message, and the bass control in this mode doesn't seem to do anything. Tonight, I tested this control in the active mode, and yes, I have a TONNE of bass boost. At above halfway, I noticed that the cuffs of my pants were waving. At full blast, the whole house was shaking!
Thanks,
GLF
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Thanks for the input guys. We switched the bass and treble controls when we switched to Glockenklang due to the size constraints.
There's 18 dB of boost on the Aguilar bass control. Turning the control should make a huge difference. If you're not hearing it I'd have it checked out. Once it is working I recommend using it judiciously.
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My SJ5 (first batch) has the bass and hybrid treble control reversed from the above diagram. Otherwise, it is the same.
Here is a bad photo of the Super J's control diagram circa 2006. This is from the pamphlet that came with my Super J. It was already out of date in 2007 because it says the batteries are under the pick guard, but it is correct for your bass.
[img:2qetdgia]http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk224/pomoro/SuperJdiagram.jpg[/img:2qetdgia]
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Thanks, Dingbat! Bass boost only in active mode makes a lot of sense. That's why I couldn't get my expected response from the control in the lower bass end! Yes, my bass has a toggle switch. Although I've always been a passive bass kind of guy up until now, I think I'm going to have a hard time turning active mode off on my SJ, so I better learn how to master the controls in active.
GLF
I have a slightly later Super PJ4 (2007 serial #3953), with the magnetic battery access panel.
Your pre-amp is most likely the Aguilar OBP-1. Do you also have an active/passive toggle switch? (The new basses have a push/pull volume control instead of the toggle switch.)
Your controls are in the standard layout. The 3rd knob from left is the bass control (boost only in active mode only). All active Dingwalls are arranged like this. Left to right (from the player's perspective): bass > (mid) > treble –– like a typical graphic EQ or a piano keyboard.
You do have the hybrid treble control, which boosts in active mode only, but cuts passively in both modes. I don't remember if that was always standard on Super J's. I know I installed it myself as mod for my 2005 Afterburner II but it was already standard in the 2007 Super PJ. It is now a standard feature.
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