Description
Designed hand-in-hand with fretless bass virtuoso Steve Bailey, the ASB-3 is a complete electronics overhaul for 6-string fretless basses that need to cover a lot of musical ground without swapping tones between gigs. Bailey needed one pickup system that could go from slap harmonics to jazz walking lines to full-band rock without compromise, and the neck/bridge active soapbar pair here delivers exactly that: detailed, articulate output with a ceramic magnet foundation that stays clear under pressure rather than getting mushy on the low strings.
The onboard preamp is where the real voicing happens. It’s a 3-band active circuit with bass and treble controls, master volume, a blend knob, and a frequency contour switch Bailey specifically dialed in to pull fretless harmonics forward and add a mid-range lift when you pull up on the volume knob. Two small trim pots on the circuit board let you fine-tune that contour EQ to your own taste, so it’s not a one-size-fits-all setting.
- Ceramic magnet active soapbar pickups, neck and bridge
- 2-conductor shielded cable
- 3-band Tone Circuit: bass, treble, volume, blend, pull-up frequency contour switch
- Runs on a single 9V battery (two batteries can be wired in series for extra headroom)
- Roughly 1,000 hours of continuous battery life
- Pre-wired harness with high-quality pots, battery clip, and black anodized knurled dome knobs included
- Hand-built in Santa Barbara, CA
Fits any fretless bass with cavity space for three control knobs and a 9V battery. If your fretless tone needs to be a chameleon on demand, this is the system built by a player who needed the same thing.
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