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Vigier Porn!


retroman

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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.








Edited by retroman
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Cheers LC :)

I'm really liking the zero fret thing. It's the first bass I have had that has had this feature, and it's nice being able to use open strings a bit more, with them sounding less obvious. Tried the 4 string Vigier's in there, which were lovely, but have really got to grips with playing 5 string over the last year and a half, so decided a second 5'er would be the way to go :)

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Love it. I have only tried one of the series 4 basses at the Manchester Bass Day but I couldn't really hear it properly - what I was interested in though was the feel of the bass. I have an old series 2 (graphite neck) Vigier which I love and it's good to see these newer models continue the same lovely feel of the series, even with a bolt on neck.

Welcome to the club, it's quite an exclusive group!

ped

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Thanks Ped :)

Vigier's are a new thing to me, although I have been aware of them for a while now, and the first time I got to have a play on one was at Bass direct. I had been really struggling to find a 5 string that measured up to my trusty Alembic Orion 5, and the Arpege has certainly measured up with style. used it for another band practice last night, and the clarity of the sound is very impessive. Very easy to play, and comfortable too. At some point, wouldn't mind an Arpege 4 string.............Uh Oh, more GAS! :)

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[quote name='dave.c' timestamp='1321874118' post='1443843']
Another Vigier owner here! I'll have to get some decent photo's of my pair of Passions!
[/quote]

Do it - feel free to start a seperate Vigier porn thread so we can invite everyone to post their pics... I would do but should be working!

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[quote name='retroman' timestamp='1321569132' post='1440900']
Have to admit Ped, I did a forum search on Vigier's before I bought this one, and didn't find too much. Me thinks you were right about it being quite an exclusive group! :)
[/quote]

I used to own a gorgeous passion I solid flamed maple wings, wish I had kept it and put a better circuit in it. :)

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[attachment=93824:Vigier Passion_02.jpg][attachment=93823:Vigier Passion_01.jpg]
1984 Passion II, serial number 028 with a graphite neck, i will get some better pics when I get a chance.
Best tone of any bass that I have played so far! and Vigiers have the best necks IMHO.

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[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/pedullaman/20100205-SG1L3213-1.jpg[/IMG]

Here's mine, think I put it in the other vigier thread too..

Had this for a long time now and love it to bits. When it was originally bought it was just a body with neck (as its a carbon neck thru). Marleaux pickups have been installed along with their excellent 3 band pre.

At the time I also had jazz basses, an alembic and so forth. The vigier was always #1 though because it just feels so supple; the action is very very low giving a lovely grind and burp when I dig in. There is also next to zero relief in the neck.

After a while I stopped using the others live as I found it annoying to have to switch often and I wanted to write bass lines that didn't depend on a certain instrument. At the same time I wanted to nail down my own sound rather than copy someone else's.

I installed the Roland v-bass system after trialling it for a few months by using the external pickup and 'brain'. I got hold of the fully internal installation kit and approached the bass with a chisel, mallet, soldering iron and some screwdrivers.

Now I have the 3 band pre and standard jack with active/passive switch but I also have the 13 pin Roland output and the pre-amp knobs become assignable to certain functions. An example is with my jazz bass model the tone knob sweeps through a user set range and with the Smith it changes the compression.

Some people say its a complex system, and it is, but first of all I like fiddling with the settings and secondly once you save the setup it becomes truly plug+play. I haven't changed the main patches for over a year.

It works brilliantly in the studio too where I can benefit from really hearing the subtleties of the sounds.

99% of the time I bypass the GK and play using the bass 'standard' but it's great to have in there for when the mood takes you.

I concur that vigier necks are just amazing. Mine has seen off all my other kit now and it's staying!

Cheers
ped

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[quote name='ped' timestamp='1321568272' post='1440886']
There needs to be a Vigier porn thread - I wonder how many owners there are now?
[/quote]

I have an Excess II in urban grey and the one of the new Arpege fives in the deep red colour. I love them, but I'm hopeless with photos, the only one I have is of the Arpege taken by its last owner (Captain Bassman). Better than nothing though![attachment=94118:Vigier Arpege V (2).jpg]

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[quote name='ped' timestamp='1322519910' post='1452163']
Lovely bass. I need to try a series 4 at some point. The pre-amp is meant to be pretty sweet.
[/quote]

Well it is really quite a 'polite' or and transparent eq system compared to the Excess I have. Running the all the eq knobs on full on the Arpege still gives a decent tone. The eq on the Excess was almost well, excessive if boosted beyond 50%. There is a huge range of tones available in the Arpege, though the natural tone of the bass is such that I don't really make use of the middle eq at all. The idea for separate 3 band eqs for each pickup is brilliant though.

Has anyone tried the new Excess five string? It looks great.

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