I apologize to T Series Peavey and Ibanez Roadstar II Standard purists, graphic content inside.
I also hope this doesn't raise a conflict of interest in my memberships in the Ibanez Roadstar/Blazer and US Peavey clubs. The black and maple club is all the same.
Behold the Ibanez RB45!
This 1984 RB630 has spent the last couple decades with an 80s EMG P and Schaller bridge. I had a custom B/R/B pickguard made and routed the control cavity to accommodate 3 knobs when I put the BTS system in it a couple years ago. Since getting my 1999 Fender US Deluxe P over a year ago, I haven't really been playing the Ibanez, but I like it too much to sell. It's neck, balance and playability is killer.
I have wanted a Peavey T-45, but the market has shot them up in price enough to keep me from pulling the trigger. It then occurred to me that some shopping and chopping can get me a similar result for much less. Plus, it's less of a gamble with my Ibanez platform, I know I love that bass and everything is solid and stable.
Had some Peavey parts, found the rest for well under current market value: a T-40 neck pickup, some knobs, and a triangle string tree. Did a small tweak to the T-45 recipe as I couldn't find a 6 henry coil small enough to fit in the cavity, so a 3 henry Bill Lawrence bass Q filter was purchased. Some routing of the body, cutting of the pickguard and tuning of the RLC circuit later and I'm really happy with the results!
Switchcraft jack, 250K CTS solid-shaft log pots for the volume (.0002uF treble bleed cap) and Q filter, Bourns 500K log push-pull tone (.022uF cheap cap) that splits the pickup. Couldn't get the Peavey style spin-a-split to play well with the Q filter, but the push pull allows me to get full use of the tone control in split and humbucking modes. Experimented with the tuning of the Q filter and landed on it cutting around 350Hz by using a .033uF cap and 4.7K resistor. This was also my first foray into the Q filter and I really like it. It really cleans up the tone, giving an almost active hype with a shallow cut, then goes into a scooped, dubby tone with deep cuts. I may install a small switch or another push-pull to bypass all the tone modifiers and go volume straight to the jack. Will see how it sounds and go from there.
It's fat and loud when humbucking and it grinds kind of like a Ric bridge in split mode and plays just like a familiar bass I have had for years. Best part is having a uniquely toned bass in my coffer that is getting played again!
I also hope this doesn't raise a conflict of interest in my memberships in the Ibanez Roadstar/Blazer and US Peavey clubs. The black and maple club is all the same.
Behold the Ibanez RB45!
This 1984 RB630 has spent the last couple decades with an 80s EMG P and Schaller bridge. I had a custom B/R/B pickguard made and routed the control cavity to accommodate 3 knobs when I put the BTS system in it a couple years ago. Since getting my 1999 Fender US Deluxe P over a year ago, I haven't really been playing the Ibanez, but I like it too much to sell. It's neck, balance and playability is killer.
I have wanted a Peavey T-45, but the market has shot them up in price enough to keep me from pulling the trigger. It then occurred to me that some shopping and chopping can get me a similar result for much less. Plus, it's less of a gamble with my Ibanez platform, I know I love that bass and everything is solid and stable.
Had some Peavey parts, found the rest for well under current market value: a T-40 neck pickup, some knobs, and a triangle string tree. Did a small tweak to the T-45 recipe as I couldn't find a 6 henry coil small enough to fit in the cavity, so a 3 henry Bill Lawrence bass Q filter was purchased. Some routing of the body, cutting of the pickguard and tuning of the RLC circuit later and I'm really happy with the results!
Switchcraft jack, 250K CTS solid-shaft log pots for the volume (.0002uF treble bleed cap) and Q filter, Bourns 500K log push-pull tone (.022uF cheap cap) that splits the pickup. Couldn't get the Peavey style spin-a-split to play well with the Q filter, but the push pull allows me to get full use of the tone control in split and humbucking modes. Experimented with the tuning of the Q filter and landed on it cutting around 350Hz by using a .033uF cap and 4.7K resistor. This was also my first foray into the Q filter and I really like it. It really cleans up the tone, giving an almost active hype with a shallow cut, then goes into a scooped, dubby tone with deep cuts. I may install a small switch or another push-pull to bypass all the tone modifiers and go volume straight to the jack. Will see how it sounds and go from there.
It's fat and loud when humbucking and it grinds kind of like a Ric bridge in split mode and plays just like a familiar bass I have had for years. Best part is having a uniquely toned bass in my coffer that is getting played again!
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