Bass with Onboard Nobellium

[Alex Xander]

Hi Folks,

First post here.
I recently bought an assembled Nobelium from @SamuelG and am in love with it. I have found the secret sauce for “my” tone.

I build my own basses (Booka Bass on the socials) and am now dead set determined to build a basses with a onboard Nobelium (and maybe a JTEX one knob compressor). I gig with in ears, so the intention would be to run with an XLR from the bass, straight to the desk.


I do not posses the electronic mastery of people on this board, and would this be most likely to buy an assembled Nobelium and dissect it.

My thoughts thus far are as follows

1. It’s a big pedal, and the likely best place for all the electronics is under the strings. Any issues with this placement?
2. I can run wires from the PCB to pots in the normal location
3. I would power it with 9.4v NiMH battery packs
4. I will need some kind of low voltage cutout to prevent over-discharging batteries
5. High voltage is not to be messed with (it needs to be as isolated as it would be in a pedal box)
6. The DI trim pot would need to be replaced with a proper pot, or maybe an on/off switch (which is basically what I use a volume knob as anyway).

Questions for the braisntrust

1. What’s have I forgotten?
2. Would having magnetic pickups either side of the Nobelium circuit cause any issues? I am currently think two jazz style pickups in more extreme locations to accommodate the Nobelium in between them.
3. If space becomes an issue, I can run a piezo bridge (I have several high quality ones in inventory). Is the input impedance of the Nobelium suitable for piezos, or would I need a buffer?

In short, I have no doubt I can build a bass that fits a Nobelium and a battery big enough to last a gig. Can anyone tell me what is wrong with my plan? Is anyone interested is helping me on a slightly wild ride?

Comments, suggestions etc etc are most welcome.