Chris2112

The hum of an industrial ventilation unit, White noise can be so soothing.

Tony Butler of Big Country never got a signature guitar. He played a few Fender P's in the days when Fender didn't make signature basses (that would have to wait until 1992 for the Fender Urge with Stuart Hamm). He did notably play a hell of a lot of Aria basses, I'm surprised they didn't make him one! Hell of a player too, as good as rock players get and one of my favourites!

I know P basses sound old and wooly and Status Kingbasses are bright and snappy, but between that there are too many variables! I still stand by my love of graphite necks though, they are cool beyond cool.

I think unfortunately we've evolved our craft too far, too quickly to actually be able to assess objectively what things sound like. Does maple sound brighter than rosewood? To my ears, yes, but perhaps this is just programming my ears have came to accept to fit whats being told to my brain. I've seen some real "experts" on Talkbass looking buffoons over "is it a P or a J" blind tests.

I should also mention my Sabre "Special" custom bass here. This is a great one too: lovely fat Sabre neck, beautiful woodworking, great SD pickup and preamp. Fantastic for fat, burpy funky bass tones. It doesn't see as much playing time as the Alembic but it is a nice one to fall back on when I just want to play a 4 string. bagged it for £500 too, quite the steal!

[quote name='Vibrating G String' post='934362' date='Aug 24 2010, 02:04 AM']That's very interesting that it would sound like graphite to someone (ignoring the 32" scale here) as the Kubicki has a lot in common with some graphite necks, as it's many 1/16" layers bonded together making it a composite neck. Using cellulose where the graphite necks use carbon. Funny how the old Moses necks are said to sound like graphite when the overwhelming majority of the neck is resin. If a "graphite composite" neck is the sound of graphite is a phenolic fingerboard the sound of paper?[/quote] I think with graphite necks, or indeed "resin" necks, what you're hearing is the general tonal properties of materials that are stiffer and more resonant than woods. With the Kubicki, I feel some of "graphite like" quality comes from the fact that it is naturally a very bright sounding bass with the ebony fretboard, maple body and well voiced active electronics. Furthermore, the 6 position preamp has some very bright sounds, especially in the basic active mode. In the hands of Stuart Hamm, the Ex Factor's most prominent user, it sounded very bright. Bright, but always full and resonant and never thin or clackety. With Vail Johnson, it sounded even fatter, but still incredibly well voiced and articulate - it would be easy to mistake it for sounding like it had a graphite neck and indeed, that was something that Phil looked at and eventually turned away from in order to find a more cost effective solution to having strong and highly resonant necks.

Wal are an obvious one, and I'd rank my fretless Alembic Epic up there with the best of them. Flawless construction, incredible playability, ergonomically pleasing - it's an absolutely brilliant bass. It has what I like in fretless basses: burpy, middy sound which is pleasing "poppy" and pronounced without being thin or harsh and effortlessly low action meaning it plays itself and produces expressive vibrato with the greatest of ease and plenty of room between the strings at the bridge end for Jaco style 16th note finger funk lines. Every time I sit down with that bass I am pleasantly reminded of how good an instrument it is, and much like my Kubicki it's a pleasure to own. I'm very proud of that one, it's been through a few good studio jams now.

I truely believe that graphite necks are the way forward, although the Kubicki Ex Factors neck is an interesting one - 36 laminates of maple. Extremely stiff and bright and responsive as either of the Status basses I've owned. I recall someone on talkbass once mistook it for a graphite neck based on sound alone! I've got some basses with awesome wooden necks but graphite just seems cooler. I'll hopefully be getting another Status soon anyway!

[quote name='Lozz196' post='933531' date='Aug 23 2010, 12:25 PM']Dunno if this counts as terrible, or suitable: Years ago, I was in a punk band (still am, but different band tho) and whilst playing a gig, a member of the audience though he should spit at us. So I turned around and hit him full in the face with the headstock of the bass. Amusingly enough, the guitarist did the exact same thing at the same time, so said member of audience, sporting two matching black eyes, resembled a panda for the rest of the night. He did help us carry our gear out at the end of the gig tho, saying he liked our band, cos we didn`t take sh*t from anyone![/quote] I think you've done quite well to avoid being locked up for assault over that!

[quote name='stenobass' post='930042' date='Aug 19 2010, 05:00 PM']Hi, just noticed this thread so here are some pics of my 3 beloved Statii, sorry for the bad quality... From left to right: KingBass Artist; KingBass MKII; Series II #56[/quote] That Series II is beyond awesome. I absolutely love it!

They look amazing. Even without the bells and whistles, I think the bog standard Hyperbass with 4 hipshots attached is a frightening thing to imagine mastering. I expect it is an absolutely incredible instrument, if I were willing to pay that much for a new bass I'd buy one!

Drums: Neil Peart Guitar: Shawn Lane Bass: Stuart Hamm Keys and synths: Vince Clarke Ideally they'd just play instrumental fusion-y tunes with an 80's pop slant, which would be awesome.

I love machine gun 16th note slap lines.

For me, the entire package of Status is far better than Modulus and the rest of the competition. The competition is incredible, but Status just feel "right". They look amazing, the sound incredible and thanks to Mark King and Jonas Hellborg, they're incredible cool!

I think it's easy to let figures go to your head in the bass world. If you saw a Wal mk 2 for sale for for £1000 you'd think it was a bargain and would likely buy it there and then. However, thats a serious amount of cash - enough to buy a decent old sporty car and put it on the road, enough to pay for weeks and weeks of food etc etc. Despite the fact I've now got more money than ever to spend on playing bass, I accept that it's just a small hobby of mine and in the past I've let it command far too much of my money.

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='929350' date='Aug 19 2010, 08:26 AM']Ah, but does that necessarily make them [i]better[/i] than Moses, Status, Gus, Vigier etc.?[/quote] I'm not sure. I love Modulus, and the flaked effect of the neck looks great (I hate the cheesy "Thousand naked ladies dancing" name or whatever it was they call it though!). However, their pricing is outrageous. I'm also of the opinion that Status do the best graphite products. Moses have always been a cheap option but I hear they've improved by massive leaps in recent years and are a viable alternative to the more expensive options. The old problems with them included excessive weight, poor casting and shoddy fretwork. They have improved great though, which is encouraging.