Fraktal

[quote name='NickH' post='628456' date='Oct 17 2009, 02:18 AM']Has Flea sold his name to some anonymous Far Eastern chipboard bass manufacturer and that's it?[/quote] 1-Listen to One hot minute. 2- Then listen to Californication. and 3- Realize you just made a rhetorical question. They sold themselves long ago.

You wont believe how good is its tone. Those MEC pickups have a retail price of 179€ EACH! Mine is a 5 strings righthanded model and it is not only my personal favourite, but also prefered by a very famous studio engineer friend of mine and several bassists I have met in the road. Mind you, we bought one of those as soon as they were released into the market, like 8 years ago, so no clue if the quality control has suffered through the years. Really hard to believe that such a cheap bass sounds so good, but I believe in miracles since I got one.

Already tried nickels and it didnt work. The eq isnt the issue either, as I stated before, its not about output, volume or frequency boost/cut, its just a matter of character. Those bartolinis have harsh mids and highs, and no eq will solve that, really. Its not like they have too many mids/highs and you should cut them, they are well balanced across the spectrum. I simply dont like their sound, I guess. Thank you very much, though.

Hello fellow bassists, I am a bit tired of the tone of my Ibanez SR505. Those Bartolini pickups have a very "dry" sound. They define extremely well and cut thorugh the mix like butter, but my old bass has MEC soapbars and has a tone that suits my playing style and the music I play much better. In general, the MEC soapbars have a more open sound, the bass frequencies are warmer and the highs are less aggressive. Its a matter of tone, not output or volume. When I play the bartolinis I get a "too much in your face" kind of tone with aggressive mids and harsh highs, when I play the MECs I dont miss any mids or highs, in fact I would say the MECs have as much highs as the bartolinis or even more, but those mid and high frequencies are much more pleasant to my ears. I dont have the tools neither the skills to reroute the body wood to fit different size pickups. Do you know of any pickups that would fit the original pickup sockets in my Ibanez SR505? I know there are 2 different models by Seymour Duncan, one active and one passive, but I would like to have several choices, preferably passive. Thanks in advance

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='622345' date='Oct 10 2009, 12:29 PM']Not true.[/quote] Well, then, can you explain us why there are 21" and bigger speakers built with the purpose of handling low frequencies? And the same applies to 1" and smaller high frequency drivers. Surely if 10" speakers were efficient at handling low and high frequency content, those other speaker sizes wouldn't exist? A 10" speaker is inherently a mid frequency driver. Can it play lows? Sure. Can it play highs? Of course. Can it do efficiently? I dont think so, just check their frequency response curve.

The VPF filter is VERY dangerous. I have a combo like yours and always leave the VPF at minimum. After all, 10" speakers are only efficient when dealing with mid frequencies, and the VPF filter removes precisely those frequencies. Also, when playing with a drummer you are gonna need much more mids and highs than you would like to hear when playing alone. Forget about the settings you liked at your flat, and build a new tone WHILE playing with the drummer/drum samples/whatever.

Have you considered a bass pod XT live or X3 live? Because they will give you the overdriven valve sound no matter wich amp you plug into while being much more versatile. I can confirm it is possible to get several overdriven valve tones from those 2 multi-fx and the emulation is good enough to fool my ears as if it was a real valve amp, though I have to admit you may need several hours of knob tweaking if you are as picky as I am.

A 15" plus horn, I prefer it to 2x12" or 4x10" because I love when I push the 15" too much and it starts to fart... Power-wise I would say 300-500w. Almost any quality monitor, active or passive with a 15" and a horn and I am happy, the flatter the response the better.

Maybe the price is too high? £450 is about the highest price a Korean made bass goes for at shops (new). In the current economic climate, £450 will buy you a nice second hand USA made bass, so I find your offer hardly competitive, even though it looks to be a very nice bass that "superjazz" of yours.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='613512' date='Oct 1 2009, 04:51 AM']The one girlfriend I had who played bass had some Peavey 15" combo and it was the best 15" combo I ever heard. But then she was a pretty nifty bassist. She couldn't carry the thing, but she could use it.[/quote] Screenshot or it didn't happen! (The girl, not the amp!) :brow:

I suppose there must be a difference in tone because of the bridge. If it is directly screwed to the body wood without any paint/varnish/lacquer it is logical to assume the transmission of vibrations wont be the same than if it has a layer of stuff in between. There is also a chance the harder, shinier, less porous finish of paint/varnish/lacquer on the body will project the mids-highs frequencies a bit better acoustically speaking, but I doubt this has any effect on a plugged and amplified bass, and even if it has, I bet it would be marginal.

[quote name='StevieD_FenderP2009' post='609916' date='Sep 27 2009, 12:42 PM']NOOOO! NO MORE PEAVEY! PLEEEEASE NO MORE PEAVEY![/quote] Bullshit. We will never have enough of them.

Ok, I know this might sound bonkers, but have you tried Warwick red label strings? They feel like sandpaper to your fingertips for the first week or so, but the low B has so much clarity and definition and they are so incredibly inexpensive. They ran out of them at the local store and I had to buy a set of rotosounds... Just to put back the 3 months old warwick set. The rotosound 5th was dead in comparison, even though it was new. Donno, maybe I got a dud, but still worth a shot since their price is so low!

I wouldnt say you look confused at all, its perfectly reasonable that with so many different choices in the market today you need some time to set up your mind. In the end, and as previous posters have pointed already, the best way to decide is to try them all by yourself. Oh, by the way, and just to help confuse you a bit more Status has a model you can order with several custom options, such as body wood, string width, pickups, electronics, etc. I think its called the Smartbass and the cheapest one goes for 1000£ if I recall correctly. I would give you a link but the web is being updated, apparently. Maybe Outtoplayjazz could help us here, though you can always send Status an email and ask about. Im pretty surprised that your taste in basses seems to be pretty close to my own, heh!

[quote name='TheBlueFalcon' post='600465' date='Sep 16 2009, 06:00 PM']I'll take a peek at the Rockbass. I quite liked the SR500 when I saw it, but some reviews have said that the finish on the body is quite easy to mark and supposedly wears fairly quicky. Therefore, I was considering the SR520 instead.[/quote] Yup, the body finish is VERY delicate, I can confirm that. On the other hand, if you buff it, its one of the most beautiful finishes I have ever seen. It will shine so much you will need sunglasses. I suppose the main difference between both necks could be the jatoba/bubinga neck being more stable. Actually its mainly bubinga, just like the maple/rosewood neck is made of maple mostly. Bubinga is denser and harder than maple. If you have a chance to try the Rockbass, make sure the model is the Streamer Standard with 2 MEC soapbar pickups and PASSIVE electronics (3 pots vol-vol-tone). Out of all Rockbasses, its by far the best one tone-wise in my humble opinion.

The Rockbass Streamer Standard 2 pickups has a tone to die for and the neck is very stable, you can set up those to play like butter with very low action without fret buzz. The Ibanez SR500 is probably the most comfortable bass you can buy in that price range. Low weight, thin neck, good balance, a joy to play. I have had very good experiences with both of those, I own their 5strings models. For tone, I would choose the Rockbass, but I have a weak back so I play 95% of the time with the Ibanez.

Speaker cables arent shielded, instrument ones are.

OMG 2x18" Just thinking about such a bass rig makes an stupid smile appear in my face instantaneously.

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='583237' date='Aug 28 2009, 10:28 AM']Well see, now that's your opinion and no less valid than mine or anyone else's although it doenst seem you agree with that.[/quote] I dont want to start a flame war here, but I think that wasnt an opinion, more like a common sense fact. Lets go back to 1960, when the Jazz Bass was released. Now think about the clothing people used to wear back in those days. Think about 1960 furniture, cars, electrodomestics or anything else. Would you say those designs arent outdated? Would you prefer to use "old-fashioned" as the word here? The designs of that age (late 50's-early 60's) are outdated from a technical/design/engineering point of view. On the aesthetics side, they are old-fashioned. Some of us may like old stuff, but that doesnt transform it magically into contemporary/new/modern stuff. An opinion would be more like "the Jazz Bass looks crap" and I never said that. Again, please try to understand that is not my aim to bash Fender, neither trying to impose my personal opinion above anyone's else. Im just saying its a late 50's design.

[quote name='AM1' post='582810' date='Aug 27 2009, 08:40 PM']Aaaah don't underestimte the power of the rockbass. The rockbass is a wolf in sheep's clothing. It is seriously under-rated! I'd love to try a 4 string rockbass but haven't seen one in the flesh - but the 5 is awesome...that low B just rumbles like a f*cking beast! I really, really LOVE this bass! I'm having some quality alone time with the Rockbass as we speak, there's just nothing better than a blissful evening time bass love-in! Life is good. [/quote] Haha, dont get me wrong! I LOOOOVE the Rockbass Streamer Standard, amazing tone! You are completely right, they are seriously underrated and the B string is so tight and defined that after years of playing it I still cant believe I payed 300 bucks for this bass. The complaint was about the price, not the bass itself. Surely its gonna be a tone beast, but that price is excesive by all means for a chinese instrument. Hell, there are a few proper german Warwick 5stringers retailing under 1200$. I dont even believe thats gonna be the official retail price.

Judging by the responses seen in this thread I guess if I were a luthier I'd die of starvation because nobody would buy my basses. I consider that 95% of Mr. Shuker work are pieces of art and often I wonder why most bassists cant see beauty beyond Fender. I have nothing against Fender basses, and I fancy the Jazz Bass tone, but the looks and the design are clearly outdated. I mean, come on, its XXI century, time to move on, maybe? Again, nothing against tradition and such, but if I were a luthier I would die of boredom with yet-another-fender-clone order. I agree that uberhorn with polyester finish might look Ritter inspired and probably I wont choose such a finish for my own bass, but just roll down the page a bit and check the same uberhorn shape with african blackwood... That one is definitely in my top10 most beautiful basses ever.

[quote name='Doc B' post='582157' date='Aug 27 2009, 09:46 AM']Yeah - I've been watching that thread for a while to check for updates on the RB Corvette $$ Someone on Warwick.de posted this link too: [url="http://www.bassnw.com/New%20Standard%20Basses/warwick_rockbass_corvette_db_5_honey.htm"]New Rockbass Corvette[/url][/quote] "...retail price of 1200$..." Yeah, suuure... 1200 bucks for a rockbass... Now, if you'd excuse me, Im gonna LOL a big one!

Possibly the best bass sound I ever had was through 2 Electrovoice cabs, sheffield-like, 2x15+horn, 800w RMS each. All the band went through them for reharsals at least partially, bass drum, guitar, bass and vocals, and believe it or not, noone got lost in the mix. Their definition and clarity was impressive, specially having in mind that they lacked a proper midrange driver and the stereo power amp used was old and cheap. Bass cabs are a lie (sorry, Alex)

Assuming you are using a computer to record, you should really try IK Multimedia's Amplitube software. I couldnt live without it. By these days, unless I meet a perfect guitarist with a perfect valve amp and a perfect guitar inside a perfect studio room, and unless I have loads of time to experiment with different mics and zillions of mic placement/combinations/permutations I refuse to use anything else than Amplitube. 95% of the time it sounds better than anything else and saves lots of time and headaches.