bassbluestew Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Those of you who follow my less than lucid threads will know my long held GAS for a Smith, well at long,long last it has been satisfied. I have just taken delivery of a 2005 BSR5GN. Specs are - 5 piece neck through model, macasser ebony finger board with mother of pearl inlays top and sides, booked mark Exhibition grade choice quilted maple top and back, mahogany core , gold Smith hardware and Dunlop flush mount straplocks, new Smith B.M.T. 3-band 18 volt eq circuit with adjustable dip frequency switches. Smith custom bass humbucking pick ups. Controls are bass, mid and treble with pick up blend and master volume. And it looks like this...................... [attachment=73146:Full_bass.JPG] closer up ....................... [attachment=73147:Front.JPG] and the back ................... [attachment=73148:Back.JPG] and closer ............... [attachment=73149:Back_close.JPG] control cavity ..................... [attachment=73150:Cavity.JPG] headstock ........................ Front [attachment=73152:Head_front.JPG] Back [attachment=73151:Head_front.JPG] I haven't yet gigged it, cant wait till Sat, but have not put it down since it arrived. Sounds amazing through my home rig, clarity, depth, articulation.......all there in spades. Three band EQ does exactly what you expect it too, that sounds weird but some EQ's don't and the frequency responses are not always intuitive. Neck is very thin front to back which suits me fine, and not too wide either. Body is also surprisingly thin too, but has substance. So far so good, will edit on Sunday after Saturday night. Oh, must mention the Smith hard case. These things are just the poodles plums although are EXTREMELY heavy. In fact too heavy for me to lug about. But bomb proof and extrememly well made. Can you tell I'm a very happy puppy ?? Stewart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voxpop Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 fantastic bass......welcome to the Smith posse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbluestew Posted February 24, 2011 Author Share Posted February 24, 2011 Merci !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbassist Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Great instrument! I love my sadowsky ... But would also kill 4 a 5 string smith! Enjoy :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purpleblob Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 (edited) That is really nice. I must admit I've not been much of a fan of Smith's in the past but these BSR5GN's look really nice as does the BT6 voxpop has as his avatar. Edited February 24, 2011 by purpleblob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fingerz Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Looks great mate. The necks on Smiths are the most playable necks I've tried. Hope it blows you away on the gig too... keep us posted! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 Congrats - you have the right amp for a Smith bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niceguyhomer Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 I love Smiths ever since I had a dabble on Crazykiwi's at a Bass Bash what seems a long time ago. Quality...enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverfoxnik Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 Lovely looking bass - congratulations! Always fancied a Ken Smith 5 myself ... I also had a play on one of CK's Smiths (a 6 er) at a SE Bash a few years back and it was superb; amazing tonal clarity, beautiful neck profile and a real looker! Enjoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 A Smith 5 would complete anyones collection, IMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbluestew Posted February 25, 2011 Author Share Posted February 25, 2011 Thanks for the kind words chaps....cant wait for tomorrow nights gig. CK [quote]you have the right amp for a Smith bass[/quote] Which amp had you in mind out of interest. I have 3 rigs and am interested in which you think most suitable as I'm about to sell 2 of them !!! S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voxpop Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 (edited) [quote name='bassbluestew' post='1141113' date='Feb 25 2011, 12:42 PM']Thanks for the kind words chaps....cant wait for tomorrow nights gig. CK Which amp had you in mind out of interest. I have 3 rigs and am interested in which you think most suitable as I'm about to sell 2 of them !!! S[/quote] I'm also interested .....what is the best amp / cab for a Smith???.................... I feel GAS. Edited February 25, 2011 by voxpop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbluestew Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 Okdoky.........so the beast hes now been gigged. Rig used on the gig was my Ampeg B2-re head into the SVT410 HLE cab, Stage was one of these raised hollow horrible things that is normally a nightmare. [b]Sound[/b] The sound was terrific. I think the best way to describe it is controlled, articulate and little notes that can sometimes get lost in a fast run were just popping out - effortless. Had to crank the gain on the head WAY higher than I would have for the Overewater, but on further investigation found that the gain trim pot on the bass was set pretty low. I adjusted this a little and its much better. EQ on both the amp and the bass was set flat....used the p'up sweep to alter any tone I needed, but from the get go the sound was there. Sound engineer was very happy, he reckons he's getting a nice clean sound to work with and it sounded great out front. No noticeable effect of the horrible stage which was a real bonus. These things can really feck with your sound. [b]Playability[/b] It was a joy to play.....it was a long set - 2hrs followed by 1hr after a 15 min break, and I felt no fatigue. Bass balances really nicely on the strap. I have gone back to a 34 inch neck after the Overwaters 35, but it felt great. Spoke to the previous owner who advised me the strings ( Smiths ) were gubbed and had been on for a long time. I replaced them before the gig with a set of Elixirs I had and it felt really good. I will be trying some new Smith strings when I can get them as Uncle Ken reckons they sound night and day to anything else, and they are comparatively priced with the Elixirs so thats cool. So far sounds so good, and thanks to Trev for the wax, its looking good too !! Oh meant to add, for anyone looking for a decent semi solid gig bag, Thoamnn are doing a great price on the Protec Contego bag......that's what I'm using instead of the Smith hard case. S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brave Sir Robin Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 (edited) Phoar.... EDIT : Was looking for the Ken Smith factory tour videos but guess what... No no no... Mr Smith quickly pounced and it's now only available for purchase for the amazing price of $35, with complimentary polishing equipment and a T-shirt. The old boy never misses a trick! It was a great video. Well, there's still Spector's. EDIT 2 : Looking at the 'packaged deal' it's in VHS. Old ways indeed! Edited March 4, 2011 by Brave Sir Robin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waynepunkdude Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 'BSR5GN' Looks like a bargain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbluestew Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 Nice one................... I hadn't noticed that !!! I truly wish it had been.....but I'm reliably told I only need one kidney !!!! S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 [quote name='voxpop' post='1141159' date='Feb 25 2011, 01:08 PM']I'm also interested .....what is the best amp / cab for a Smith???.................... I feel GAS. [/quote] Something quite neutral sounding. I had recommended the EA to Stew, my Genz and GK rigs were also good. Class D amp sections generally sound pretty good to my ears. What didn't work so well for me were Eden and SWR mainly because both the bass and the amp have scooped mids so makes hearing yourself difficult on stage. Having said that I've seen a load of hip hop/neoSoul bassists use exactly that combination. I played through an mosfet Ampeg head once at The Premises in Hackney and it sounded OK but didn't have a lot of focus to the mids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee650 Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 Congratulations stewart, that is an absolutely stunning example, i absolutely adore ken smiths, and i will have a black tiger 5 one day, when i had my BSR5 MW it worked really well with my EBS HD350 and accugroove cabs as the heads high end worked well with the smiths warmth, and the cabs are very natural sounding, whenever i used mine, i always got compliments on the sound, it's not for everybody but for me its perfect. i set up a smith thread in the gear porn section, get some more pics for us to drool over really glad your dream came true, actually your little story has really cheered me up today- cheers mate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbluestew Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 Thanks Lee, it has been a long journey ( which you know a bit about ) and I'm so glad I got it. Have never tried the accugroove cabs......................used the head once through an ebs 410 and it sounded great. I hope your new Spector is still ticking all the boxes for you, and I have just noticed its a quilted maple model - just like my Smiff. Whats the difference between the BSR5 MW and the BSR5 GN ?? Mine is maple so thought it should have been MW ??? Almost as obtuse as Jimmy Copollo when it comes to naming basses. S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee650 Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Aye mate a long journey indeed!! you got there in the end though!! im still loving the spector it sounds fantastic, i doesn have the warmth of my smith though but the high end is there in spades the east pre does help the warm it up with a bit of treble cut and the bass boost is enormous, i do find IMO that EQ' ing a bass to make it warmer isnt the same as a naturally sounding warmth from the wood combinations (i try to use as little EQ as possibe, with the smith i didnt need any) it is quilted but the quilting isnt anywhere near as figured as your smith. Im not sure what the GN stands for but the MW stands for maple and walnut,as mine had a flamed maple centre block and core with a walnut top and back, the main diffrences between that and yours, is the MW is a bolt on neck and has a pau ferro fingerboard,while yours is neck through and has an ebony board, i think yours has a mahogany core and the quilt maple top, pickups and electronics are the same, yours i a much higher spec'd model, im not sure if ken still does the GN model, its a bloody killer bass though. Promise me you'll never be skint and have sell it (unless it's to me ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbluestew Posted March 13, 2011 Author Share Posted March 13, 2011 Did my first full length wedding gig with Smiffie last night. Despite have a serious arthritic explosion this week I don't think I have enjoyed a gig more. Had to sit the entire night spry from the first couple of dances - bah !!! Anyhow the Smith was a joy, the adjustment to the gain pot is great, boosted the mids on the amp and it was truly great. My bass gas has been replaced by the urgent need for some top quality lightweight gear. Anyone tried the new Ashdown fliptops??? S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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