ped

V nice, lovely sounding amp!!

Cheers guys I'll improve that picture tomorrow and upload some better images of the bass. ped

Hi guys I really haven't played this bass for some time and I am starting to get some photography work and need a new lens. As i play my fretted version of this bass nearly all the time, this is becoming an expensive piece of kit to lie around unused. As you can see the bass has been played but it is in excellent condition. Actually I'm going to use Shockwave's advert layout in case I forget anything!! Here we go: [u] Description[/u] Vigier Passion series III 'Delta Metal' fretless 4 string bass, 1995 (10th October I think, will check this!). Fitted with an East U-retro Deluxe' pre-amp, hooked up to powerful single coil Benedetti pickups. John did the work himself at his house near my old place. It comes with a slightly battered but functional original 'softlight' case (sort of a soft case with rigid outer, sturdy but not as cumbersome and heavy as a flight case). [u]Functionality[/u] Everything works as it should.. the bass has no truss rod as the neck is extremely stable, using Vigier's 10/90 system (10% graphite T shaped bars in between aged maple sections, dried for 7 years). It comes with my preffered Marleaux 40-95 steel roundwound strings and I'll also include some TI (Thomastik-infeld) flatwound strings which are cut to fit (the bridge is top-loading so strings can be swapped easily. The EQ is 18V and very powerful, making the bass extremely flexible for anything from emulating upright bass to slapping. You can't do any damage to the fretboard! [u]Playability[/u] I like my action LOWWWW so this thing is dropped right down to accommodate my light playing. Plenty of flexibility left in the bridge. Relief is probably about 1mm, so very low and easy to play. You probably won't have plyed anything like this before so you are welcome to come and try it. The neck is very comfortable, perhaps slightly wider than a Jazz bass. Effortless! [u]Sounds[/u] From glassy highs to ringing slap bass, to woody fretless upright to compressed nasal mwah.. this bass has it all. Most of the time I use the bass flat and adjust to taste, as in this clip: [url="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/85432/Torrential.mp3"]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/85432/Torrential.mp3[/url] And this video (same track) [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WILDNiF6k38"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WILDNiF6k38[/url] Extremely flexible, making it suitable for many styles. I played this bass with Wales' premier funk metal band 'Part III: the Onslaught' and jazz bands like 'I Like Your Hat'. haha. Information on the pre-amp: [i]VOLUME & BLEND[/i] VOLUME The upper knob is the Volume which has two sections under the same knob. A high impedance for the passive path and a low impedance section is used for the active circuitry. When used active, this knob has active circuitry after it so that the feed to your amplifier is a low impedance drive. BLEND & PICKUPS SWITCH The lower outer knob is the Blend balance for the pickups. Turn it fully clockwise for the neck pickup alone and fully anti-clockwise for the bridge pickup. The midway position, which has an indent, gives an equal mix of both pickups. The balance between the pickups is continuously variable with progressive level compensation towards the single pickup settings. Important:- The Pickups switch (by the blend) must be set pointing towards the jack for the Blend to function. [i]BASS & TREBLE[/i] TREBLE (+12dB @ 3 kHz, -12dB @ 1kHz) The upper knob is the Treble control with boost and cut. The central 'flat' position is indented. The cut settings work on lower frequencies compared to boost to give a deeper sound when the top is rolled off. BRIGHT (+8dB @ 7kHz) Pull the Treble knob for the Bright setting. BASS (+15dB @ 50Hz) The lower outer knob is the boost only Bass control. The frequency band of boost gets progressively lower as the boost is increased. An indent midway is included to aid the setting of this control. [i]MID LEVEL & FREQUENCY[/i] BOOST/CUT (+/- 12dB) The upper knob controls the amount of Mid boost or cut at frequencies according to the setting of the Frequency knob. The midway indent is the 'flat' position. FREQUENCY (150Hz - 3kHz) The lower outer knob is continuously variable and sets the Mid frequencies for boost or cut. [i]PASSIVE TONE[/i] The passive tone pot consists of two sections, one for each pickup. Two sections are necessary since the pickup signals are kept separate and fed to their own individual input amplifiers prior to the electronic blend circuitry. To retain the characteristics of a true passive tone, its circuitry is connected directly to the pickups at all times and therefore function in both active and passive modes. The roll-off frequency is set to give a deep mellow sound. [i]ACTIVE PASSIVE SWITCH[/i] Towards the jack for active, the opposite for passive. [u]Condition[/u] Very clean indeed - difficult to see any problems, but you might say the top edge of the fretboard has some slight crazing/cracking in the lacquer which seems to cover the top edge, but this is not noticeable when playing the bass and I had actually forgotten about it myself. [u]Price/Trades[/u] No trades unless someone has a fast prime telephoto lens or perhaps a wide zoom for a Canon but otherwise I'm looking at [b]£1600[/b] please, no offers or trades for basses. These basses have now been discontinued as they took so long to make and were expensive to produce. They have recently been replaced by the excellent series IV basses which have a bolt on neck as opposed to the neck-thru of the series III. For a limited time Vigier were producing a last run of these basses at £2500 without any options. [u]Delivery[/u] Collection only from Maidenhead area, will travel to meet depending on distance, but if you pay my fuel I can deliver anywhere within reason. certainly don't want to post this one. [u]Other information[/u] I'll include a limited signed picture of me and Steve, the Basschat team. This will overtake the value of the bass itself within a few months. probably. I'll chuck in a tube of metal polish for the neck. The bass is French, so forgive the garlicky smell. The neck is a carbon/maple mix but upon closer inspection I have noticed elements of Baguette incorporated into the design. Photos: LOL I'll upload some more pictures later on. Got to shoot off to Oxford soon!! Cheers ped

Usually we leave 'sold' threads because the gear sold within helps us be found on google, especially with really rare or unusual stuff. I don't recall seeing this advert but it sounds like it was a cool bass... any possibility of adding the first post back, you can have 'sold' in the title still though! ped

Giz a shout when yer' next online and let's talk ped

Mmmm I'd love to get another and do it up with the same bits I have done on mine, have it as a spare!! Or am I being silly? To be honest I don't fancy trying to get another Roland GK system from Roland UK after my full on mission last time!!! As I say though, a cool project!! Buy it!

BTW it's a series II, not a series IV, which is the current range. If you give me the serial number I'll tell you when it was made. Sound clips of mine available in my sig - I go for a smoother cleaner sound, personally. Despite the closeness of the pickups they are extremely versatile sounding basses. ped

[quote name='valere24' post='842205' date='May 19 2010, 04:15 PM']You'll probably find a lot of French bass players on Basschat, so I don't think this kind of language is appropriate. Thanks, V.[/quote] Just an old joke between two countries. I Love anything French personally, I have a love affair with Citroen and enjoy French food - and their basses of course! This looks like a great bass. FWIW when I got my fretted bass it was just a 'shell' - neck and body - to which I added my own pickups, electronics and GK system. Graphite basses are superb, but the graphite is only half the story - it's all about the interaction between the wood and the neck, how the two work together and resonate (In my opinion) and Vigier simply nailed it with these series 2 basses. They sound very smooth, fat, growly, clean and supple! Hard to describe but what a great project for someone. ped

Anyone? ped