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Villex passive rotary tone booster Review

By ped – [[email protected]]Contact ped[/email] [[email protected]]Contact Villex Europe[/email] [url="http://www.villex.com/prtb.html"]Villex website[/url]




Villex are a company who came over my radar when I heard their pickups in a Modulus bass some time ago. I didn’t have cause to investigate them further until I met Tigran, the European distributor, at the last bass bash in Northampton organised by Paul, one of our members. It was there that I tried the magic, and prompted me to further investigate what I felt was an extremely good sounding product. Tigran brought with him a Squier Jazz Bass with his Villex pickups and booster system installed, and frankly I was blown away with the sound. After trying an external booster circuit with my own basses I felt I would have to get one to review ASAP!

So let me introduce you to the Passive Rotary Tone Booster (or PRTB for short!). The Villex passive rotary booster offers three different boost patterns, boosting frequency bands rather than just one frequency in order to achieve a natural, musical sound. Each boost pattern shifts the resonance frequency, which is determined by combination of pickups inductivity and cable capacitance. The booster is set to shift the resonance frequency towards fundamentals by a factor of 1.35 at each consecutive boost level. This offers some benefits to the bass guitar signal which I will discuss and hopefully demonstrate later in the review.

I had the booster installed firstly externally, hanging out of the back of my bass, to see if it was worth installing for good. I hadn’t tried it with the Jazz Bass it was destined for yet, but I was very impressed with the boost it gave my Vigier bass at the ‘bash’ a few months before. A quick play with it revealed the same characteristics I remembered from the last try – it added some real girth to the signal without overloading anything or sounding muddy at all. It was a very musical sound, and the control seemed to be opening the door to release the potential of the electronics in my bass already. The bass is equipped with Bartolini BC dual coil soap bars and a TBMT pre-amp. The booster is usually installed in passive basses, however I wanted to keep the flexibility of the pre-amp and opted to install the booster before the EQ to allow me to use all at once should I need to.

After installing the booster in the front of my bass, I recorded some samples which show how it affects the sound in this particular bass. As you will hear, the differences are sometimes quite subtle and sometimes fairly drastic. It is more noticeable through a live rig and using my in-ear monitoring gigging setup than comes across in the recordings, but I was pleasantly surprised at how the signal recorded with the booster engaged in various stages. Turning it off after some time playing takes something away which you instantly want back.

Here are the samples I mentioned. The first is with the rear pickup only playing some fingerstyle. As you will hear, the bass line is split into four sections, the first is bypass, and then the next three the stages of boost one by one.

[url="http://www.frozencloudmusic.com/~chrishiscocks/Villex%20RTPB/villex%20rear%20pup.mp3"]Rear pickup, fingerstyle[/url]

As you can hear from this sample, the booster really adds some guts to the sound. The bass is still tight and the top end natural, but the sound is wider and more powerful. The volume increases slightly with each boost but I didn’t adjust the levels so you could hear exactly the difference it made to the clean signal. I use the rear pickup sound quite a lot and the booster makes it a much more useable sound – where I was boosting the bass and doing some EQ after recording before, the booster on board adds what is needed to fatten up the sound and, for want of a better term, make it more musical.

The next sample demonstrates a similar riff but using both pickups and the EQ flat. In this sample you can notice again the signal fattening up and gaining that extra something, although I would say it is less apparent than before.

[url="http://www.frozencloudmusic.com/~chrishiscocks/Villex%20RTPB/villex%20both%20pups%20finger.mp3"]Both pickups, fingerstyle[/url]

This makes recording the classic Jazz Bass growl very simple. My bass is a little mid shy, which I like about it for playing through my amplifier which is mid heavy (an old trace v4) but for recording I wasn’t quite satisfied with adding some mid EQ boost to the signal. This booster however seems to get me there not by adding a dollop of mids but by squeezing every last drop from my pickups and lifting the signal no end.

The final sample shows the affect it has on slap playing. Again, there are four parts, and you can hear the different sound in each position. This one comes across very subtly here, but I am looking forward to using the booster in a live situation to boost a slap part and help me cut through the mix or equally to bring out the ‘honk’ for funky fingerstyle tracks. Through my in ear setup at home I use the booster up one notch where it sounds very natural and great at low levels.

[url="http://www.frozencloudmusic.com/~chrishiscocks/Villex%20RTPB/villex%20both%20pups%20slap.mp3"]Both pickups, slap style[/url]

I am very impressed with the booster, and I am happy that now my beloved jazz can fit every situation it needs – the booster adds lots of versatility to the instrument and makes it even more of a pleasure to use in the studio. I should also add that the booster is silent – there is no added noise at all, adding to its usefulness in a recording environment.

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[i]If you are interested in any of the products Villex has to offer, get in touch via the email address. They are very nice people to deal with and can make pickups to fit any bass, and the booster itself is a doddle to install.[/i]

Here is a final sketch using this bass in four ways to demonstrate the booster.
[url="http://www.frozencloudmusic.com/~chrishiscocks/Bad%20Back.mp3"]Jazz bass jam[/url]


The booster is supplied without a control knob so you can add your own. You can see it here as a small black knob near the output of the bass.

I had one like this before: [url="http://secure.sadowsky.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=25&products_id=155"]http://secure.sadowsky.com/store/product_i...products_id=155[/url] it was really good and didn't weigh much at all.

Aww never mind. Yeah there is a Crawley just down the road, it exists as an MOT station and a bridge, thats about it.

Very tasty indeed. I would like to hear some samples of that badboy!

Not Crawley as in crwaley Oxfordshire?

My new bass was shipped today so will be with me soon. Aki at bacchus is the necest bloke ever, he sent it before the payment has cleared (it takes barclays 5 bleedin days!) all he wanted to see was the signed invoice and payment slip. What a legend.

Hi mate,

We are indeed, though our donation button has been moved from the front page for reasons unbeknown to me, I will have her back in a jiffy - otherwise paypal chiscocks AT hotmail DOT com and it will land in the basschat account. Ta muchly - we will be using all the money collected on some exciting developments very soon.

Cheers
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[url="http://www.frozencloudmusic.com/~chrishiscocks/Bad%20Back.mp3"]http://www.frozencloudmusic.com/~chrishisc.../Bad%20Back.mp3[/url]

As I am unable to do much at the moment I have been messing about on my computer and recorded this! Thought I might as well share it!

Ped

I'll take em!!!

^_^

Past:

Squier Precision
MIM Jazz Bass
Pedulla MVP4 Custom
Fender 1857 re-issue Precision, shell pink
Carvin BB75A
Bossa UJB
OLP MM3 with Status neck
Marleaux Consat Straight 4
Alembic Elan 6

Current:
Vigier Passion s2 fretted - w/marleaux leccy
Vigier Passion s3 fretless - w/u retro
Bacchus Jazz - w/villex/bart leccy
Bacchus 24F

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='25207' date='Jun 30 2007, 08:43 AM']... and some silly s*d needs to realise that manufacturers probably research the best place to put a strap (base and horn). Added to which this seller also forgets to mention the fact that the A string doesn't seem to want to sit in the saddle! I can't believe he did that on purpose prior to photographing it, check out what it does to the string spacing. Warwicks are about as adjustable as you can get so I can't for the life of me figure that one out.

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-Warwick-Streamer-Neck-thru-Bass-1988-OHSC_W0QQitemZ120137367441QQihZ002QQcategoryZ4713QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-Warwick-Stre...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url][/quote]

There is a possibility that the seller slackened the strings to show the wear to the pickup covers, and the A string popped out of the groove.

Still, a decent photograph goes a LONG way when selling on ebay.

The Villex booster is now installed and first impressions are very impressive. It really adds some guts to the fingerstyle sound and fattens up the slap sound very nicely, adding a thicker and bell like character to the top end especially. With the mute engaged and the back pickup soloed, a treble boost and the booster up 2 levens it sound like the most ballsy stingray I have heard. I had it installed as an extra pot below the pan knob rather than to replace the Bartolini pre-amp mid control after trying it pre installation. I am confident i can serve up most sounds with this bass now which was the origional concept!



Very happy - full review in the pipeline.

My new bass is being sent on Monday too which is great news.
Cheers
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Being a geographer I should have anticipated this and waited with a net and some waders downstream! Ah well, next year!

First of all mate well done so far - looks like you are off to a great start. It was ages until I could slap like that.

I tend to play with the hand facing in the same way as you, thumb going accross the strings rather than at an angle to them. I have just found this position more natural and enables me to play with teh right hand side of my hand for muting and triplets which are hard to explain. Maybe I will make my own lil vid.

With a good low action there is no reason why you should have to play hard at all - if anything the transients produced by my slap are lower than a fingerstyle line. Your thumb should not hit the strings but merely glance them and bounce back. This will help you develop a much smoother and natural style which will sound much less 'forced' and 'stabby'. Two new terms there!

Remember, just as important as the slap is the pop. A tasty fingerstyle groove is livened up no end with the occasional 'pop'. I would say though as a completely random point that the ideal setup for a gauranteed great slap sound is if you can produce almost the same sound as popping your G string by slapping it lightly.

I have never checked out the books mentioned, but have watched videos by Pattituchi among others just to get me in the mood really. You can learn an awful lot just by watching someone. Can you get to any gigs or local basschatters and have a gawp?

Great start as I say mate. Keep at it.

Hi Tom! How are things mate.

Quite honestly there is no point in another 4 for me because my two are all I need or want. I do like 5 strings as 'extra' basses though as they can then do everything I need, wheras the two 4 strings are my own specialised sound. I don't feel any different playing a 4 or a 5, so there is no issue with comfort or playability. So for a while its going to be two Vigier 4's and two Bacchus 5's!

On another note, it seems Vigier are changing the bass lineup at the moment - look at this convo here: [url="http://www.vigierguitars.com/forum/message.php?id_forum=1&id_question=409"]http://www.vigierguitars.com/forum/message...id_question=409[/url] apparently some changes are being made. I remember this being down to the equipment wearing out and the new stuff being harder to calibrate and use in the same way. Maybe the value will skyrocket now!

Cheers
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Lol yeah she was shivering because I scared her with the tape measure. Interestingly I met another staffie owner that afternoon when I took nel to Costas and he said his staffie was scared of tape measures too! Try it on Spike, if he isn't asleep!

Here is Nellie my stafford ^_^ ^_^ ^_^

Isn't she kkkeeeewwwwwelllllll

Sorry, here are the pics of my new baby coming soon...




-its like this but 5 string.

[quote name='Sibob' post='24310' date='Jun 28 2007, 10:17 AM']Its just one humbucker isn't it?
The other is just a standard split single coil!?

Si[/quote]


Si, the P bass pickup is in fact a humbucking design. Not in the same way as a soap bar or a big fat humbucker but nonetheless it does 'humbuck' - That is why there is no cycle hum on a P bass wheras on the front pickup of a jazz there is. I wouldn't have expected this seller to have known that - he can't spell and sounds a complete loboff

Stunning!

I recently emailed Trace and they were very helpful in reply so you could start your search with them.

Oh and there is a Villex Passive Booster being shoved into the Jazz this week. Full report and review pending, and on the U retro Deluxe in the fretless.

Cheers!
ped ;0)

Hi Stewart,

Cheers for the message. It seems 'bass histories' are the flavour of the month at the moment!

The bassmuts is on my Jazz now, and I really like it. You can see it on the last page, but since then I have made some modifications. Firstly, the tape holding it on was not strong enough as it kind of peeled off during the hot weather spell we had a couple of weeks ago. Since then I have used my usual plack plastic double tape and it is solid. I have also trimmed the foam saddles slightly as they were snagging on my gigbag. As you can see in the pic below, they are now much shorter but sound exactly the same.

The mute is great, i use it a lot on the middle setting - it really cops that Steely Dan bass vibe from Two against nature or Donald Fagen's Kamiriad album.

Here is another pic - final one, I promise:



In other news, I think I have finally tracked down my next purchase. here is a sneaky pic, not a very good one at that - you can just about make out the wood covered pickups and some details of the bass. More info to follow!



Cheers
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Nice one mate, sounds like a good job you have there. Great sound too, and ur singing!! I enjoyed the cheeky slap whilst Nat was talking before the Britney one. It was like 'Shut it, were ready'

Looks the biz - how much are we talking? I have a warwick one for my Vigier pair which is OK but not very comfortable, even though the two basses are fairly light. Kiwi has just got a new double bag which he says is very good - he will chime in later because I will tell him to ;0) thats right, he's my bitch