bassmanklm Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Cort basses reviews aren’t so numerous, and fretless are more rare... As I’ve got a B5FL at home for several months now, let’s make a review of it ! First, some pictures: Back of the headstock: Back of the neck: The fingerboard: [b]Specifications:[/b] Year of production : ??? Construction : botl-on neck, 4 screws. The back of the body is ergonomically shaped at the neck joint. Body wood : (swamp ?) ash Neck wood : rosewood and wenge, 5 pieces. Very soft under my thumb, i like it !. Neck profile : not flat, and almost narrow (because of the little string space) Scale : 34" Fretboard wood : rosewood again Fretboard radius : almost flat Nut : black plastic Nut width : 45mm String spacing at the bridge : 16.5mm. Frets : NON! Number of strings : 5 Body finish : "Open Pore Natural" Tuners and other metal pieces : Hipshot tuners, seem to be good quality, smooth action, one piece black bridge, everything seems ok there Pickups : 2 Bartolini MK1 soapbars Mics blend : yes Electronics : 3 bands (Barto?) preamp, 1 9V battery, EQ-bypass with 1 toggle switch. [b]Ease of use:[/b] Easy access to the upper notes One knob equals one functions, even a sloth understands how it works ! I don’t have any way to check the weight, but this bass is rather light [b]Fabrication quality:[/b] The neck and his trussrod seem to be ok, i did not adjust them yet, as i received the bass well set-up. The strings are set-up very low, as there is no fret to buzz. [b]Soundclips:[/b] I’ve played the same bass line many times, in order to have different electronics set-up. In each soundclip, I wanted to hear if the right hand placement has any influence. I play 3 times the same lick, first with my hand at the end of the fretboard (0” to 18”), then I play on the neck pickup (18” to 35”), and then on the bridge pickup (35” to the end). This sound is almost my favourite one, bypassed EQ and neck pickup only: [url="https://soundcloud.com/bassmanklm/b5-review-passif-mic-manche"]https://soundcloud.c...ssif-mic-manche[/url] Bypassed EQ and both pickups: [url="https://soundcloud.com/bassmanklm/b5-review-passif-2-mics"]https://soundcloud.c...w-passif-2-mics[/url] Bypassed EQ and bridge pickup only: [url="https://soundcloud.com/bassmanklm/b5-review-passif-mic-chevalet"]https://soundcloud.c...if-mic-chevalet[/url] Both pickups, V EQ (Med 0%, Bass/Treble 100%) [url="https://soundcloud.com/bassmanklm/b5-review-actif-v-2-mics"]https://soundcloud.c...-actif-v-2-mics[/url] Neck pickup, Treble 50% (flat), B/M 60% [url="https://soundcloud.com/bassmanklm/b5-review-actif-mic-manche-cb"]https://soundcloud.c...f-mic-manche-cb[/url] Bridge pickup, Bass 30%, Med 60%, Treble 70% [url="https://soundcloud.com/bassmanklm/b5-review-actif-mic-chevalet-jp"]https://soundcloud.c...mic-chevalet-jp[/url] Both pickups, Bass/Treble 50% (flat), Med 100% [url="https://soundcloud.com/bassmanklm/b5-review-actif-2-mics-med"]https://soundcloud.c...ctif-2-mics-med[/url] [b]So ?[/b] This bass is really easy to play, for this point, it’s a big win. But… I would say i’m somehow disappointed with its sound. I think Barto pickups « kill » the high frequencies, and this is dramatically increased by the flatwounds. I don’t manage to obtain Jaco tones, full of high and high mids. As you can hear in the fourth soundclip, boomy sound is easy to find… but what for? Although I think this could be a good first fretless, I’m not convinced by this bass. Maybe something with two JB pickups could more meet my requirements, or maybe I’d just have to change the pickups and/or preamp to find my perfect fretless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassBus Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Always fancied one of these. Flats will not bring out the tone. Maybe try a set of halfwounds, you'll get a bit more brightness from them. You could always coat the fingerboard and use rounds then you'd get that lovely bright tone. Here is what the four string can do. http://youtu.be/H7sj15PJ-6Q Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowieBass Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 I've got the 4 string version of this, bought it secondhand via eBay; mine had a poorly positioned bridge (probably why it was being sold) and it wouldn't intonate correctly (using the side dots as reference) so I ended up moving the bridge a few millimetres further back and it's now perfect. You're right about the sound not being like a Jazz, but then the Bartolinis aren't single coil design so that'll be a major influence (they'll be series wired humbuckers which aren't as trebly). The preamp is a Bartolini MK1 design, it is a swamp ash body and the fingerboard radius is 15 3/4". The serial number on yours indicates it was made in 2011. In summary, no Jaco tone but a hell of a lot of growl on tap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo2 Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Great review, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassmanklm Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 (edited) Thank you guys for your input! Bassbus, i think i'll have a set of halfwounds when i have to change strings. But i'm almost sure i won't go for a fingerboard coating (this might be too expensive for this "little" bass). HowieBass, i for sure wasn't expecting to find the exact Jaco tone in this bass (even if my sentence in my first post says almost it)! But in my opinion, there miss some brightness in this bass, and it can't be found by using the preamp. Maybe i'll swap the pickups one day, or maybe i'll swap the preamp... Anyway this will be something not very expensive, as i don't want to "invest" lots of money in this bass: fretless is not a thing i use in my band (yet). Edited January 23, 2015 by bassmanklm 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.