Show us your DIY modifications!

I don’t know the Motu M2, but wouldn’t it be possible to remove the mixer and use the gain settings on the Motu to even out the bass and mic tone. A DAI should be able to work as an audio in/out.
Not sure I got everything right though… :thinking:

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You are right and for most cases it works just fine. However when my microphone is directly connected to the DAI XLR I have only one gain knob. On the mixer I can control the Gain, level of the channel AND the master output knob. I need all this because I did not buy a good condenser microphone with phantom power back in the day…

Further more there is another benefit of mixer that I can connect a third sound source to play videos from youtube or spotify. Motu M2 has a native Loopback Mix Input where it mixes the system sounds back in but that freaks out the Zoom Original Sound setting and other people start hearing themselves because of it… Super messy that way. So I do this ridiculous thing where I set Laptop Audio Jack for system sound and get it back into the mix through the mixer and DAI…

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Did you try leaving the Zoom out of the chain and going directly into the DAI with your bass? Go old-school, no fancy effects, just the bass straight into the console :grin:

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I was worried that name would be a big confusion. In my story(ies) above there are two Zoom Characters in play. Zoom Meeting App and the Zoom B1 Four.

For my normal chain I am not using Zoom B1 Four in series anymore. I keep it on the Return/Send effects jack in parallel to my amp now…

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Indeed :sweat_smile:

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In these kind moments I wish I can take back time and preventing myself from “derailing” this thread into yet another ampless setup conversations that I already caused so many of!

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Well, it’s an interesting discussion. In the wrong thread, but interesting nevertheless :wink:

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Picking it up tomorrow am!
Figure I can debut it on the 50s100c Highway to Hell
Gotta go get a black/red strap now.

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Due to steep difficulty of making an acceptable cover to the JB pickups I decided that my experiment is over…

It took me about 1 hour to put back the old pickups fill the unwanted hole in the back and set the bass up!

I decided to benefit from this and made a full Active - Passive comparison on the same bass (which are rare to be honest)

Whatever EQ there is it is all at 12 o’clock
In both cases the both the pickups are at full volume.
MK1 is with the MK1 preamp in active mode (with EQ all at middle)
JB Pickups are missing the tone knob (I would put it in full on anyway)
When directly connected to DAI the gain is at %40 when through AMP it is at %0

Sorry for my rushing and a bit careless playing…

My favorite is the last one. Minimum intervention from the MK1 preamp and the roundness of the Markbass CMD121P must be the sound for me…

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The M2 has input gain on each input, right? +57dB is pretty solid boost. Can you not dial it up to acceptable levels? Or are you saying that even when dialed up to clipping on the MOTU it is still quiet on the PC?

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Yeah, I like the full round sound from the markbass too.

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In this last video I posted when I go direct in I can only dial the gain %40 for the TRS input otherwise it’s clipping and introduces distursion… I have registered this video using the camera app of windows choosing Motu M2 In 1-2 as the input…

I think the problem here is using the DAI without the DAW really. Similar thing was happening with Focusrite Scarlett as well… Without the DAW and ASIO drivers the output was very low…

Motu M2 has the advantage of a more powerful headphone amp so I can monitor it as high as I like however it does not change the fact that the registered sound is low in the end…

@howard would you do me a favor and play this doing the same thing? Bb734 into the DAI directly dial the max gain without clipping, select your DAI as the mic input from windows sound control panel and use the camera app to register…

Would that be possible?

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Sure! I can try it later - if I don’t post back by tomorrow, please remind me.

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Hey Kids!

On a FriDIY, I have aquestion for yez. I’m cutting out the routing templates for my EMG-clone active soapbars tonight. I want to do the project bass without a pickguard, so I was just wondering: What should the clearance around the pickup housing be? I need it to be functional, but also to look good in a no-pickguard shitiation.

Any hints greatly appreciated.

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The thickest feeler gauge I can jam here is 0.40mm…

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Thank you. That’s 16 thou in other words. Great! That’s what I’m going to shoot for.

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My first ever major mod coming soon (well, as soon as I have plucked up the courage to gut my already decent sounding Warwick Rockbass):


Will (eventually) post the results here, good or otherwise. :sunglasses:

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Wow looking forward to hear that!

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+1 :+1:

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I built this bass years ago to satiate my want for a long scale bass with a lipstick pickup. Being a strat neck pickup from GFS it needed a pickguard to raise and lower away from so I made this little Kay-esque surround for it. Brilliant! Eeeeeeexcept there was no place to rest my thumb of any substance. Fast forward the better part of three years and a lot of playing with a pick, and I remembered seeing on a forum somewhere that a furniture foot could do the trick. Less than 5 bucks later I had my solution and three more feet I have no use for. :rofl: We did try it in both positions but where it sits is where it lives. My son plays it more than I do and it gets used on the daily now.

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