Does anyone besides me think that the difference between the neck pickup and bridge pickup sound on an NS is significantly more subtle than it is on a guitar, such as a telecaster? I can hear the difference, but in my experience it is not pronounced.

Given this, I'm actually considering the following experiment. I might try putting one of these sustainers into the neck pickup position for the melody strings. I haven't done the analysis to see if it would fit, etc, but I was looking for some opinions on how good/bad this idea is. I'm assuming that this would be the first - but that isn't hard to achieve on this instrument. http://www.sustainiac.com/st-pro.htm

thoughts?

Curious what your setup is - amp, cabinets, cable used. I used to have a bass cab that made some funny things happen in the melody side until I upgraded. I recently upgraded my cables and now have a much better response in the low and upper registers. I haven't noticed a weak neck pickup.

I'm using the stereo cable from SE routed into a Line 6 Tone Port UX2. I can try either guitar or bass amp models, and it is the same. It isn't that the neck pickup is weak in output. It is that the tonal difference between the neck and bridge are very subtle. I'd usually expect a neck pickup to be mellower / darker and the bridge to be brighter. They are here, but only very very subtly.

I've not tried the Line 6 item you have, but I have had a couple of Line 6 effects in the past and was not too happy with them. I would recommend checking with Emmett before making modifications if they are not easy to reverse.

Striclty speaking of myself, I would not do this. As I've played 4-string bass for so many years, altering the melody side would annoy me because that's where the G-string is; the thinnist string of a four string bass. Alter the tone of that string from the rest of the bass side, and my NS would be useless to me. The shorter battery life of the sustainer also turns me off.

I get what you are claiming, my guitar produces noticeably deeper tones from just the neck pickups. If you can, try a Sansamp bass driver DI, LR Baggs Acoustic DI, or one of the Aphex products. I use the Sansamp a lot for my NS. Those effects can deepen the tones more naturally than most effects I've tried, and I did use the Sansamp in conjustion with the Line 6 effects I once had. Keep in mind the NS uses thinner than most bass guitar string gages are, plus the strings a lower than most other stringed instruments. The entire construction and electronics make this instrument work in ways I never imagined possible.

Good Luck!