bassmayhem Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 I just got hold of a nice and rather rare bass in a swap deal: a Tobias Standard 6, made in Japan, one of the 400 made pre Gibson take-over. In one hour I have it at home. Anyone out there with experience of such basses? I'd be happy for a comment. Pic's will follow... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 Sounds cool, I've always liked the look of Tobias basses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassmayhem Posted December 15, 2013 Author Share Posted December 15, 2013 Well, here it is: [IMG]http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd169/bassmayhem/11_zps01523223.jpeg[/IMG] After some tweaking it proves to be a very nice bass... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Nice . I tried a Tobias Toby Pro 6 once, that was nice, but I should imagine this would be in a different league, being Japanese and the Toby Pro's being Korean. Congratulations on a nice bass ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassmayhem Posted December 16, 2013 Author Share Posted December 16, 2013 (edited) Toby Pro is another animal... Here is a better picture: This bass is REALLY nice... Edited December 16, 2013 by bassmayhem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Ebony fretboard ? What are the pickups and electronics like ? I can imagine this is going to be similar quality to the USA basses. I'd really like a Tobias or one of his current basses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victor5string Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 I had a standard 5 in white for a few years. I loved it, great neck and so much tone. My one had the internal midd pot put on the front to make it even more versatile. It was the bass i wished i had never sold, it looked so good in all white. ambient; The pickups and pre are bartolini , i think the pre was the TCT circuit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Very envious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassmayhem Posted December 16, 2013 Author Share Posted December 16, 2013 (edited) This one has Bartolini pups and three band eq (with hidden mid band pot in the control cavity). The fretboard is rosewood, but I oiled it yesterday evening so it was "soaking wet". The guy who had the bass didn't really know how to set up a bass, so I spent some 45 minutes filing the nut to appropriate height, adjusting the twin truss rods, intonate the bridge and raise the pups to a level of "non anemic content". The bridge pup was set so low it didn't make a difference, nearly. I put some foam under both pups and screwed them tight. I set the mid control on full et voilà: the bass sang like a bird (just lower). Before the tweaking I did some serious cleaning of the fretboard with a ScotchBrite spunge soaked in oil, also cleaned the laquer with my standard solution: window cleaner (kind of...). I was a bit surprised though, since the bass is rather neck heavy in spite of the long upper horn. Not a problem, just not expected. Oh, I changed the buttons to Schaller Strap Locks. Ambient: I cannot comment on the similarity to the American made Tobias basses, since I've never played one. Still, it has a very nice tone, touch and quality. The neck is asymmetric: also a new experience. It feels more expensive than it was, at least after my tweaking. The strings were wery, wery old so I changed them to a set of not-so-very-old strings, but plan to order some balanced sets from Circle K Strings. Anyone tried them? Edited December 16, 2013 by bassmayhem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JuliusGroove Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 She's a beaut. The string spacing looks really comfortable too.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andysg42 Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 (edited) ive got a 5 string standard,same finish,awesome bass .cuts like butter.nice bart tct eq. nice woods,all the electrics and setup done by tobias in the states. Edited December 16, 2013 by andysg42 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassmayhem Posted December 17, 2013 Author Share Posted December 17, 2013 (edited) This is a very cleverly designed bass ... I thought the bridge was a little too bulky with a lot of strange details until I - to my surprise - found this: Adjustable string spacing! The previous owner had missed these important details: - He had not tightened the locking screws to the intonation of thebridge saddles, with the result that they fluttered like aspen leaves in the wind when played. - He had not tightened the locking screws for the string spacing (one per saddle) which made the spacing fairly uneven with some audible buzzing and other [i]peculiarities[/i]. Overall, this means that you can get " compound spacing ', ie . the same distance between the strings' " winding periphery " instead of equal distance between the center of the string core. This means that the distance between the strings adapts to the strings' diameter : larger diameter - larger center distance = same distance [ in ] between [/ i] strings. Smart! Feels just right ! Now I'm just waiting for a set of new strings so I don't have to use my own old ones. If I try to describe the tone of the words, something equally baroque, like dancing about architecture, but I make an effort: a homogeneous tone with granular core, perfectly bridge pickup bark without a shred of thin crispness. The neck pickup can emulate P- bass tone if you like, both pups in combination becomes like a juicy tonal boullion with a light fragrance of thyme and wild meat. Tastes best with a Cabernet Sauvignon or Cotes du Rhone... (Heck, I said I would try.) Edited December 17, 2013 by bassmayhem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassmayhem Posted January 4, 2014 Author Share Posted January 4, 2014 Well, I haven't decided yet if I shall keep it. The string spacing is a bit too narrow for my big hands. Anyway, here is a pic from my corner of the living room: A nice looking old girl, she is... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basexperience Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Did you decide to keep her? I have a Toby Pro-6 which I've recently given a makeover - everything but pickups, including a GK-3B fitting - the story is over on [url="http://basexperience.blogspot.co.uk/"]http://basexperience.blogspot.co.uk/[/url] - and after the work it's a hell of a bass. The spacing is narrow on the Pro-6, too, I tend to use it for fingerstyle only, but it's great for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassmayhem Posted July 7, 2014 Author Share Posted July 7, 2014 (edited) In fact, I didn't keep her. Another item came up. Also, the string spacing was not really to my liking, so a young music student bought it from me. I got the six string I've been looking for the whole time at last, at a VERY reasonable price too... Yamaha TRB John Patitucci II... A Jazz Bass on steroids... I sold the Tobias and the Tacoma T-Cfief to get this odd carachter: [IMG]http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd169/bassmayhem/20140119_103043_zps987b8319.jpg[/IMG] A 10 string MIDI equipped Chapman Stick... Edited July 7, 2014 by bassmayhem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AttitudeCastle Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 That's one lucky student, VERY jealous! The JP has huge string spacing for me so never got on with them, but boy do they play and sound so good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.