Lfalex v1.1

Once upon a time, yes. Post- divorce and the sale of all my vinyl, most of the CDs and the HiFi to raise funds? Not any more. I can't afford to replace them, so I just use "free" Spotify and tolerate the ads.

I reckon some preamp stages (and maybe even cabs) are "voiced" to favour some instruments. That, or the instruments were used extensively during the products' development. Ampeg- my Jazz and SR5 also sounded really special. SWR- I recall excellent results with a Jazz at a gig where a Super Redhead was provided. Trace Elliot- super with Warwicks, Stingrays, Status. Hartke- Another good one with the Warwick, using an HA3500 and 4.5XL that the venue laid on. I'm sure there are many other examples.

Aren't they all CNC routed? Maybe the Masterbuilts aren't, but I reckon the rest are.

And as another version of events- I'm fairly sure my Vigier Passion s3 delivers a low impedance (600 ohm) output. Its not balanced though. I only uses a regular ¼ inch jack and lead. The idea being that it'll drive long cables and plug into any mic-designated jack sockets on mixers, PAs etc.

Doesn’t he set them ALL up himself? If so, he's touched my Stick, too!

Not a fascination on my part, but I've owned a bass that Boz Burrell (King Crimson) originally owned. It was a 1990 Stingray 5. For the sake of argument, let us assume that (insert famous player) knew what they were doing, and selected a bass that not only fitted their needs, but was a good example of its kind. Add in the possibility that the manufacturer knew where it was bound, and ensured that the said instrument was suitably well-made and finished. Factor in a good set-up by vendor/tech/luthier/the player themselves, and that's potentially one top-class bass. That's why I bought the SR5 fretless. It was way better than everything else I tried. I regret having sold it. Must get another fretless at some point...

Alas not. It was a Low Brow Guitars custom.

Did my eyes deceive me or did the Bassist of Blind Channel just use an Excess for the Eurovision show? 🤣🤣

I did do it. Once. To my eternal shame. having just moved from 4s to 5s, the band I was recording with were in Drop D, so I dropped the Vigier to DGCF and took what was the B string off for the session. I did it because I was more familiar with the songs in their original position on the fretboard, and the B string was just one more thing to control. That was >20 years ago. I'd never do it again- I must've improved a bit. It was only temporary, The B went back on straight away. Not that the Vigier's neck was bothered one way or the other...

All of which moot in the case of this bass; If you don't like ramps- Ramp Off. If you like ramps- Ramp On. 😀

Also.. "Ramp on, Ramp off, Daniel-San"

At least it's different(ish) It'll also be at least £60,000... 🙄

Surely 61.024 ci? 😉 That said, I use Metric for "small" measurements, and go back to Imperial for longer distances; Kilometres are meaningless relative to miles...

Which can, in turn, be illustrated by a graph, which shows the Modulus of Impedance; the way in which Impedance varies by frequency. *Please note I have no affiliation with Modulus, nor am I on their payroll etc. etc. ** Other manufacturers of graphite necks are available. 😉

(This is a generic thought regarding all 2 pickup instruments with a mid or neck humbucker/split coil and a single coil bridge pickup) I've always felt that the J is swamped by the P unless the volume controls are adjusted such that the J comes into play. Often, that lowers the overall output of the instrument somewhat. It can't be compensated for if it's a 3-way selector switch. The string deflection as witnessed by the P is inevitably much greater than that the J experiences, leading to greater output levels. If I were in your position, I might be looking into stacked humbucking Js, Split coil Humbucking Js or at the very least a hot or overwound J for the bridge position to give it a chance. Just a thought. YMMV, naturally.

Looks interesting. There's a 4 string version, too; The Quadraflex. There's no price info on the site. You have to mail them for info 🙄

I don't really like long songs (~6min) unless there's some substantial difference between the beginning and the end. Tubular bells side 1 is fine. Supper's Ready (Foxtrot- Genesis) is superb. If it's too repetitive for too long, I just get bored.

Could be drop tuned, y'know! Slacker strings= bigger bends at different frets! 🤣

Nope. The money I save through buying second-hand cars I "invest" in buying basses that are "rare" colours...😉 Come to think of it, I've only bought 2 new basses! 🤣 In all seriousness, its about a 15% increase on the price of the product. C'mon Epiphone, either you've got some blue paint, or you haven't.

Is there seriously a £100 surcharge on Pelham Blue vs the original Gold on these?

Good score there for £50. What are those weird things between the nut and first fret for? 😉

Nor mine. Ever. But I don't use the fastest strings I can find. Just goes to show, we're all a bit different as players.

Funny that DR feature an Insect (strictly an Arachnid) on a set of strings that share an acronym with an insecticide, namely Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT)

Must... Resist... Paul...

Having had two customs (If the Status I commissioned counts), I'm not sure that I could drop £~3k on a custom-made instrument that I'd not played first (so it'd have to be second-hand). There's that intangible "something's not quite right" or "such-and-such could be better". I'm not referring to construction, fit, finish or design / ergonomics specifically, more "Tone". I think the difficulty is this; how do a luthier and myself translate the tonal qualities I look for in an instrument into an actual bass in one attempt? I'm not sure it's possible other than by blind luck. That's not to say it's a bad bass. It just didn't nail the USP. 3 off-the-shelf instruments that I own do "something" that I value. The smoothness/tonality of the Vigier. The growl and bark of the Infinity SN4. The weirdness, immediacy and string impact noise (from the piezo) of the Ibanez EDA. I got to try all of these first. Decided I liked what they did, and purchased them as a result. I entirely understand that people might have special ergonomic requirements and some designs might offer a solution. I also agree that If you want a very specific aesthetic then luthiers can work miracles and that the quality of work is often excellent or better. I just couldn't go through the disappointment again with a new commission.