retroman

Cheers Loz. It is indeed purpleheart. The body is a laminate of mahogany, maple, purpleheart, and zebrawood. The mahogany has a weird holographic effect to it, which looks amazing. The neck is a multi laminate of maple and I think walnut. You're right about the clarity, and complexity of Alembic's. The sound is sort of a woody growl, and not really much colouration from the pickups or pre amp at all. Really easy to get a great sound through most amps. Most of the time the Orion is tuned ADADG, and the clarity and punch remains on the low B when dropped to low A. Recently used it for a few spots of double tracking on a recording session, where I wanted some low A. Sounds immense!

Cheers Chris, you're more than welcome to pop by any time. Kettle's always on

Cheers Lorne

Well, took a trip to the fine establishment that is Bass Direct, where Mark allowed me to try many fine basses. Kept getting drawn back to this beauty, and have to admit, had never considered a Vigier before! Bought it a couple of weeks ago, and have been loving it. used it for band practice last week, and it's beautiful to play. The two pre amp set up works really well, and it's really easy to go straight to a useable tone on either pick up, or a blend of both. Also found that it is relatively easy to coax a more passive tone from it as well. It's beautifully built, and the woods used are gorgeous. Must say thanks to Mark, for all the time he spent with me, and allowing me to try out so many lovely basses. Fantastic customer service.

Thought it was about time I posted up some pictures of my beloved Orion 5. Gets used for practice, gigs, the works. Lovely shallow neck, which despite having a fret board like an aircraft landing deck, makes it really easy to play. Has a wonderfully growly tone to it, and plays with an uber low action. It's built like a tank, and feels ultra solid, and rigid. The low B string is really focused, and clear.

[quote name='lozbass' timestamp='1321189428' post='1436205'] Was re-stringing this yesterday (managed to get an hour to myself) and got a couple of shots - Alembic know where to get some nice timbers [/quote] Hubba Hubba, that's gorgeous

Good call for Michael Manring. Always loved this piece; [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx1RccwlF5g"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx1RccwlF5g[/url]

Black Sabbath's "Who Are You" covered by Goatsnake. Uber slow and dropped tuned. Love Greg Anderson's guitar tone [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niY-wboYEOE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niY-wboYEOE[/url]

Minimalist melancholy......Pretty much bass and vocals only [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6hO2Tb1oEs&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6hO2Tb1oEs&feature=related[/url] Slow one by Motorhead, with a rather tasteful bass solo......Well, slow by Motorhead standards anyway! [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAZE4oFcO9c"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAZE4oFcO9c[/url]

One of my all time favourites; [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XKYfNzZgt0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XKYfNzZgt0[/url]

Probably one of the slowest, fatest grooves ever [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0Fv5gJJAqo[/media] DOOOOOOOOOOOOM [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rThzuHImisY[/media]

Marshall VBA400 has some serious power, and can be picked up relatively cheaply second hand. I am doing rock/ metal, tuning down to low A, and it handles it all with ease. Also have an Ampeg SVT CL, which sounds great, but the Marshall gets a little dirtier, and is definately a lot louder/ more powerful. The Marshall is a bit leighter in weight than the SVT

Down to 10 at the moment Some are investment/ toys, some are workhorses, some I just like having about. I find sometimes I can get a bit bored with one that I have played lots, and feel a bit more inspired to practice playing something a bit different to the norm. I need a few though, due to being in two bands, using different tunings, and for one band I am using two different tunings that require two different basses. The two five strings get the brunt of the work, Then have a couple of others tuned C standard that get some of the work, then the rest are really just for my own enjoyment, or for home practice when I am having a play along to tracks that use a more standard tuning.

Might be the voice coils in the speakers themselves that have failed. Take the grille off, and gently push each speaker cone in by hand. they should move really smoothly, with no noise. If one, or more feels a bit gritty, and makes scraping noises as the cone moves in and out, they will need replacing- this was what I had to do with an old Trace Elliot 2X15 I had that started to sound a bit farty. New speaker sorted it. As for smell?????? Only thing I can think of is that cab may have been over powered, and the speakers/ wiring/ horn have fried, and working the cab hard is causing the failed component to overheat. Would definately stop using the cab until you have got to the bottom of it. As for the HF horn, and dial, might be worth getting a multimeter and checking them for resistance/ open circuit. 'Bout all I can think of anyway Edit- might be worth checking simple stuff first, like condition of your leads, etc, or loose wiring inside the cab

Really enjoyed listening to that. Lovely playing, thanks for sharing

Something that has worked for me in the past is strips of insulating tape. Not just a great visual reference, but you can use feel as a reference as well, should things go really dark! The beauty of insulation tape is it is dirt cheap, and comes off really easy, without any damage to the finish of your bass. Just peel it off when you have finished playing.

Good to see a couple of Vigier's on here already.......Very recently tried out a 2011 Arpege 5, and liked it so much, I bought it! OOPS!

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1320261158' post='1424579'] That is just so cool! I dont think Im cool enough to play it you know, Is there a test or something when you buy it? [/quote] Cheers Pete. Don't know about a test, just wear it low, and get ready to ROCK!

Neck angle shouldn't really be the issue unless you have reached the end of the height adjustment on the bridge screws. Rattles can be caused by loose parts on the headstock parts, nut slot too low, truss rod too tight, or bridge saddles vibrating against each other. I get the bridge saddle issue occassionally with Fender type basses I have here. Setting the outer saddles at a slight angle using the height screws helps, as the outer strings will pull slightly inwards, and pull the saddles tight together. A combination of faults can cause weird string rattles as well, eg, nut slot too low, and over tightened truss rod will cause an open string to rattle, and cause a weird rattly buzzing noise between a fretted note, and the nut. Harmonic issues, I would first swap to a spare set of strings, and see if the problem goes away. I have had a duff string in a set before, that had a weird harmonic over tone to it, and sounded completely out of balance with the rest of the set. Also, if the pick up heights aren't correctly set, you can get some odd harmonic noises. The pickup closest to the neck should always be further away from the strings, than the pick up closest to the bridge. Well worth learning the art of setting a bass up, as set ups are a very personal thing......One mans perfect set up can be another mans unplayable! Might be worth letting us all know where in the country you are based, as some kind hearted bass chatter might be willing to help you out

Think this would have to be the one. Such a lovely old thing to play. Recently done a three day stint in the studio with the ol' Bird, and it sounds gorgeous

Me too. Would defo bring my 3 along for that

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' timestamp='1320006014' post='1421255'] Yeah I know but that place is well out of reach, last time I got there I had a puncture too and to find a tyre replacing garage was strangley very hard. Funny part of the world grrr [/quote] Know what you mean, it was quite a serious trek out for me too, but the guitar shops local to me have dwindled down to a state of nearly useless for bassists. Was well worth the trip, and came away a happy bunny Dingwall's were a plenty, and first time I had ever tried one. Found the fanned frets surprisingly easy, and intuitive. Impressed

A trip to Bass Direct is enough to clear anyones GAS.......and wallet!

You have to be careful when looking at the power output of amps, as a lot of manufacturers will state "Peak" watts, and not "RMS", which is what we should really be interested in. My old Trace V Type AH600 claimed 600 watts RMS, and 1200 watts peak! Was pretty loud as it goes, with the 4X12, and 2X15 matching cabs. There also seems to be a huge void between valve watts, and transistor watts. The Marshall VBA400 is rediculously powerful, and has huge amounts of power in reserve, where as some transistor stuff runs out of puff quite quickly. To me, Ashdown, and Trace heads sound more and more compressed the louder you go, and the bottom end seems to dissapear with it. I use the rule of thumb that to get the same volume levels, you need double the watts from a transistor amp. Another major factor in volume is the effeciency, and type of cab, or cabs you are running. Some of the modern, somewhat boutique type cabs can really belt it out, where as an old 1X15 cab from the 80's will be really struggling to keep up. And then there is the projection of the cab as well. All horses for courses at the end of the day. Was trying out basses yesterday through a Genz Benz Streamliner, and Vanderkley cabs. Very nice actually

Loving that RD Artist Neepheid