Was it the right decision to order a custom bass?

[SimonQwerty]

Hey everybody! I'm newbie here, and really liked the forum. It's a great place to find an answer whatever the question is. Bass related of course

Finally I got one which cannot be answered with a forum search button.
It's about 2 months since I received my custom SC bass. Despite I got mostly a positive feedback from some of local bass players and from my friends, but there were some unpleasant comments regarding to the sound of it. Most of all, people were telling me it sounds too midrangy with not that good low end and dimmed highs... To my ear it has a great tone with it's own personality and passion, but I'm not sure at 100% cause I have already accustomed to that tone.

Here's a [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=WWt9Dg4KTRI#t=253"][u]line-in recording[/u][/url] where it is compared to Fender American Vintage '75 reissue and Warwick Streamer Stage II.
Tell me what do you think.

Thanks in advance!

[chrismuzz]

What you think of the sound is all that matters. But for what its worth its a great sounding bass! I preferred it to the warwick very slightly.

[Bassman Sam]

Great looking and nice sounding bass. Like Chris, I prefer it to the Warwick, there's not much in it, but it sounds much better that the Jazz. I'd say that you made a good choice there. Nice playing as well. I use to hate single cut basses but they are really growing on me now. Enjoy it.

[jazzyvee]

[quote name='chrismuzz' timestamp='1377649249' post='2189990']
What you think of the sound is all that matters.
[/quote]

What we like in a bass sound can be very personal, which is why there are so many different bass makers out there to help us find that sound, and probably why you chose to have a custom bass. If you do gigs with a PA and decent sound guy, I would suggest having a chat with him/ her and get their view on how the bass is coming across as they will want to give you a good sound.


Jazzyvee

Edited August 28, 2013 by jazzyvee

[SimonQwerty]

Thank you guys!
Yes, I love my Warwicks and the reason for ordering this bass was to get a slightly bigger/softer sound, still growly but not that much. And I wanted SC bass badly
I'll ask a sound guy about the bass tone at the next gig for sure.

[LukeFRC]

it sounds great and looks like you enjoy playing it.
If the sound isn't quite right then you can slightly tweek it with the string choice and to lesser extnt pickup height

[Ghosts Over Japan]

it sounds great, definitely prefer it over the others.
Cai

[krysh]

hi simon,
nice playing and a beautiful and nice sounding bass. I also prefered it over the others, though I'm a bit biased to JBs.
I watched the video and is it correct that there are emg's in the sc?

[Rikki1984]

For what it's worth, I thought your SC custom was the best sounding of the three.

[Jellyfish]

I loved the sound of that bass. Very fluid and even across slap and finger style too and it definitely sounds better than both the Jazz and the Warwick.

[Roland Rock]

Sounds great, and those don't sound like dimmed highs to me! I especially like the finger style tone

[Prime_BASS]

I wouldn't worry too much about what others think of your bass. They are rather specific criticisms too, so I'd wager they were just being mardy.

As long as you love it that's all that matters it's your bass, not everyone else's.

[SimonQwerty]

Wow! What a massive feedback!
Thanks a ton, gentlemen. Now I can see the situation much more clearly. Seems like investing some money into this bass was a good idea.

[quote name='krysh' timestamp='1377672458' post='2190046']
hi simon,
nice playing and a beautiful and nice sounding bass. I also prefered it over the others, though I'm a bit biased to JBs.
I watched the video and is it correct that there are emg's in the sc?
[/quote]

Yes it's an EMG J set with no preamp/EQ or tone shaping.

There's a full bass [url="http://youtu.be/WWt9Dg4KTRI"]description[/url] in the beginning of the video. You may check it out to quench your interest.

[quote name='Prime_BASS' timestamp='1377680815' post='2190160']
I wouldn't worry too much about what others think of your bass. They are rather specific criticisms too, so I'd wager they were just being mardy.

As long as you love it that's all that matters it's your bass, not everyone else's.
[/quote]

Yeah, that's my bass Playability, sound, look and overall setup are just the way I like. I agree that some people could be sulky with no reason at all but now I don't care that much about their negative feedback.
I simply wanted to be absolutely confident about my choice. Sometimes other's pair of ears works even better then your own. So your opinions are highly appreciated.

Edited August 28, 2013 by SimonQwerty

[krysh]

[quote name='SimonQwerty' timestamp='1377686201' post='2190271']
Yes it's an EMG J set with no preamp/EQ or tone shaping.
[/quote]
simon,
to my ears the potential of the bass is great, but I belive I hear what might be missing to some ears.
in my fretles 4-string I had a factory installed emg p/j set. it was ok but somehow always seemed to cut and compress the sound a littlebit too much for my taste, so I decided to swap them for passive pickups. my choice was great and the regular passive pickups really opened up the sound of my bass, resulting in more lows and more high end and much better dynamics. but you should try to feed the emgs with 18v first to receive more headroom, maybe it works.
if this was my bass though I would add an 18V preamp with 3-band tone control (parametric mids) passive/active switch, 2x volume and an always working passive toneblend to max out its potential.

[SimonQwerty]

[quote name='krysh' timestamp='1377693313' post='2190421']
simon,
to my ears the potential of the bass is great, but I belive I hear what might be missing to some ears.
in my fretles 4-string I had a factory installed emg p/j set. it was ok but somehow always seemed to cut and compress the sound a littlebit too much for my taste, so I decided to swap them for passive pickups. my choice was great and the regular passive pickups really opened up the sound of my bass, resulting in more lows and more high end and much better dynamics. but you should try to feed the emgs with 18v first to receive more headroom, maybe it works.
if this was my bass though I would add an 18V preamp with 3-band tone control (parametric mids) passive/active switch, 2x volume and an always working passive toneblend to max out its potential.
[/quote]

Hmm... Thanks for this great idea! I've never had a bass with 18v power and should definitely give it a try.
I've already tried Bartolini CBJD set with this bass and found EMG to deliver richer and fatter tone which I liked a bit more for that particular one. What were the pickups you've installed? I'm thinking to try MEC gold or EMG JA set to bring up the high end a bit. But it's still a doubtful decision.
I used to make tone adjustments right on the amp rather using an onboard electronics. Just a few times on scene I needed to boost a low end right during a song. So I guess there's no need to install a preamp, at least with an active pickups onboard. Furthermore I'm not a fan of an aircraft control pane on the bass

[krysh]

[quote name='SimonQwerty' timestamp='1377696924' post='2190491']
Hmm... Thanks for this great idea! I've never had a bass with 18v power and should definitely give it a try.
I've already tried Bartolini CBJD set with this bass and found EMG to deliver richer and fatter tone which I liked a bit more for that particular one. What were the pickups you've installed? I'm thinking to try MEC gold or EMG JA set to bring up the high end a bit. But it's still a doubtful decision.
I used to make tone adjustments right on the amp rather using an onboard electronics. Just a few times on scene I needed to boost a low end right during a song. So I guess there's no need to install a preamp, at least with an active pickups onboard. Furthermore I'm not a fan of an aircraft control pane on the bass
[/quote]

well. I like neither of the pickups of your choice. I have chosen nordstrands for the p/j since I love the nj4se in my franken jazz so much and these are what I'd chose again, also for your bass. they sound great passive, but you should at least have 2 vol controls and 1 passive toneblend to get the best results for the perfect sound. but take time and listen carefully to all videos with pickups that match your pickup position, research a lot about the comments on the different sounds and then decide (which ist the most difficult part of the process).

[SimonQwerty]

[quote name='krysh' timestamp='1377698258' post='2190505']
well. I like neither of the pickups of your choice. I have chosen nordstrands for the p/j since I love the nj4se in my franken jazz so much and these are what I'd chose again, also for your bass. they sound great passive, but you should at least have 2 vol controls and 1 passive toneblend to get the best results for the perfect sound. but take time and listen carefully to all videos with pickups that match your pickup position, research a lot about the comments on the different sounds and then decide (which ist the most difficult part of the process).
[/quote]
Yeah, Nordstrands are interesting to me, but I couldn't find a closed design version of single coil pickup. From the other hand, it's a good reason to install custom wooden covers, haha. Thanks for advice. As soon as I get some spare money to spend I'll try to get Nords.

[jimbobothy]

Hey man, firstly some nice playing there. Secondly I thought you custom bass was the nicest sounding to my ears, nowt to worry about tbh !

Edited August 29, 2013 by jimbobothy

[nottswarwick]

Great bass, I'd not worry. It could be that folk who criticise it are missing the visual cue and reference of a standard bass like a Jazz or something. But it sounds ace.

Edited August 29, 2013 by nottswarwick

[SimonQwerty]

Great! Thanks for your input, guys! I have a new motto from now: 'Keep calm and play bass'
However I'll make experiments with some other pickups later.