Spector fans!?!

[Al Krow]

@White Cloud - that's a very positive review, but I guess I'm not surprised: kinda had a very similar reaction following getting my own first Spector Euro LX (a 5er in my case) and it's a had a somewhat unexpected deflationary effect on my bass GAS!

Must get around to turning my Tonepump down, soon, too!

Congrats on the new acquisition - pics please!

[White Cloud]

4 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

@White Cloud - that's a very positive review, but I guess I'm not surprised: kinda had a very similar reaction following getting my own first Spector Euro LX (a 5er in my case) and it's a had a somewhat unexpected deflationary effect on my bass GAS!

Must get around to turning my Tonepump down, soon, too!

Congrats on the new acquisition - pics please!

Sure thing!

[Al Krow]

Very nice!

I see that we share a similar taste in basses AND wood flooring 😁

[merello]

On 12/01/2019 at 06:55, Paulhauser said:

@cetera pretty much nailed it. 

I'm using Spectors almost exclusively live and in studio for the last 10-11 years. (Euro5 and NS-5XLs)

What I really like about my Spectors and Spectors in general are three things:

- they suit me ergonomically. The sleek undersized body sits well both sit down or stand up position and the bass hangs balanced and the same position stand up as it does when I play sit down. No need to use any of my nahds/fingers to keep it in position.

- the sound is very easy to work with both live and studio. I don't use any pedals, the eq is flat on my amp (or preamp/DI if I'm going direct) and on the bass as well and the sound cuts through even in a dense mix.

- the community of the Spector players is awesome, said facebook page is great and also the way Spector and PJ  Rubal treat customers is top notch.

 

There is a constant and quite stable market for used Spector Euro basses so you don't risk much if you buy one used. Good luck!

 

Paul is now my fave basschatter due to his ability to balance a bass on his.....well you find it! 

 

Anyway....just a wee legend player and I love it. £449 brand new from Kenny’s Music. They still have a neck through Aguilar for sale st £800. Web said it is walnut (maybe they’ve changed it now) but it’s more crimson or cherry red.

Had a rehearsal during the week and a two hour session of extreme bonding yesterday. Mucho like-o! As ever, try before you buy but I’d recommend a legend   For anyone wanting a competent and reasonably versatile bass or back up.

Edited February 8, 2020 by merello
3 to e

[Al Krow]

+1 for the Legend. I got a used one of the Legend Custom range from off here, which I believe was an older top end Legend with set neck and 3 band EQ. Lasted literally about a month before I had to concede I was liking it rather more than I was expecting to and if that was true for the Legend what was a Euro LX going to be like? 

Not a helpful question to be asking, particularly when Andertons (their pic below) promptly put a 5LX on sale and knocked a chunk off the new price... sometimes resistance is futile, eh?😁

Edited January 20, 2020 by Al Krow

[AndyTravis]

There’s a Euro LX at PMT Manchester, used...its up for £1300 And has been for some time.

Every time I go I look at it and think...it’s gorgeous. But I daren’t pick it up.

£1299 is a bit rich too, it’s a few years sat on the wall at that, so it’s probably not going anywhere.

Theyve also had a Yamaha 614 fretless for 2 years at £379.

I am tempted to walk in all Johnny big guns, offer £900 and see what happens.

 

[Paulhauser]

2 hours ago, merello said:

Paul is now my fave basschatter due to his ability to balance a bass on his.....well you find it! 

 

Anyway....just a wee legend player and I love it. £449 brand new from Kenny’s Music. They still have a neck through Aguilar for sale st £800. Web said it is walnut (maybe they’ve changed it now) but it’s more crimson or cherry red.

Had a rehearsal during the week and a two hour session of extreme bonding yesterday. Mucho like-o! As ever, try before you buy but I’d recommend a legend   For anyon3 wanting a competent and reasonably versatile bass or back up.

😄
English is not my first language and if you add some typos then the result can be...hilarious 😄

[scrumpymike]

6 hours ago, White Cloud said:

That body looks like it's been sculpted out of solid marble!!

[Dood]

Enjoy!

The Spector LT4

https://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=4c194c8f-0b8c-496f-bd11-22d4d1c3e01b&pnum=253

 

[White Cloud]

36 minutes ago, scrumpymike said:

That body looks like it's been sculpted out of solid marble!!

Thanks! It really is special in the flesh, very tactile.

Funnily enough, when it arrived and I removed it from the packaging my confused wife stated, "It's bent!! Send it back" lol🤣

[Billy Apple]

4 minutes ago, White Cloud said:

Thanks! It really is special in the flesh, very tactile.

Funnily enough, when it arrived and I removed it from the packaging my confused wife stated, "It's bent!! Send it back" lol🤣

I'd send 'er back before the Spector

[Al Krow]

Euro LX owners - what EQ settings have you got your basses set at?

For general use I'm kinda landing on: single J neck + MM bridge, with treble at 7/10 and bass dialled right back. The single J neck is crisper / less full bodied than the double MM setting at the neck and having lower output than the full MM just takes a little of the edge off the bridge MM without diluting the latter's crunchy tone.

For a more vintage tone - solo MM neck pup plus treble rolled right off.

[Mastodon2]

Do you have a Sarzo model with the Sims Super Quads? If so, I don't know if your settings will be transferable to any other Euros, nor will our settings be useful to you.

That said, my Euro LX has the EMG PJ set and Tonepump, I use the bridge J bar on 100% and the P pickup on maybe 50%, which gives a middy aspect to the tone. I've got my bass and treble knobs pretty much flat, no cut or boost - despite Spector's inaccurate marketing, the Tonepump can both do both cut and boost the treble and bass. I think the EMG PJ is quite sensitive to picking position, it can get beefy slaps, grunty fingerstyle over the P and growl fingerstyle over the J. Of course, all basses can do this to a degree but I find these pickups to be very good at everything, all at once without needing to fiddle with the knobs.

My main rig is a Markbass Little Mark Ninja 1000W, Ninja 2x12 and a Markbass Traveler 2x10. I keep the filters on the amp switched off, the tweeters at neutral (no decibel cut or boost). I boost the low and high mids on the amp and little and keep everything else flat. I find extremes of EQ just don't sound good.

 

[Al Krow]

1 hour ago, Mastodon2 said:

Do you have a Sarzo model with the Sims Super Quads?

Nothing as fancy as that! From the blurb...

EMG 40TW (or 40CS-TW)

• The single-coil mode is the JCS pickup built with ceramic magnets and steel pole pieces. The humbucker mode is the ceramic steel dual-coil for a big, aggressive sound with a pronounced mid-range.
• Push/pull volume pots allows switching from the clarity of the J pickup sound to the fatness of the CS humbucker.
• This five string bass pickup uses a 40 Extended housing that is 4 inches (102mm).

[Al Krow]

Function gig last night and, given that it wasn't an East End pub, I thought it would be a good opportunity to christen the LX5 on its first gig outing. 

Must admit the 35" scale vs my usual 34" was more of a stretch than I had expected when I first played it a few months back. The 17mm spacing was however fine, sitting as it did between the even narrower 16.5mm of my Ibby SR 5ers and the 18mm of my Yammys. The slightly heavier weight was also a bit of a concern for me over a 2 hour gig (it's just under 10 lbs) whereas my Ibby is sub 9 lbs, although tbf the LX5 is only a little heavier than my Yammy 1025. But it was such a lovely bass otherwise in terms of design and sound that I was determined to persevere. 

At the gig last night it was difficult to hear how the bass was sounding in the mix as I was going straight to DI with no backline (plus ear plugs of course). The stage monitoring was individually tailored rather than being a full band mix and I had a crap farting monitor, which I asked to be turned right down for the second set! And the venue's mega sub woofer was close to my bit of the stage which obviously also impacted what I was hearing.

But the gig went well; the band was in the zone and the punters seemed to really enjoy our sets. 

The LX5 was surprisingly comfortable to play over 2 hours and the time previously spent getting used to the 35" scale meant it felt natural and very enjoyable to play. The higher frets (17 and 19) were dead easy to access for the one song that needed it. 

So overall I continue to be delighted by this bass (so much so that I briefly considered putting my Yammy NE2 up for sale - I've been quickly persuaded of the error of my ways on that one!). I'm really looking forward to hearing it with some proper back-line in a band mix. 

Needless to say, none of my bandmates spotted that I was playing a different bass to the usual. Lol! 

@M@23

Edited March 13, 2021 by Al Krow

[krispn]

Sounds like a great gig. Was it a post 6 Nations gig? We do those every year and they’re good fun ( I’m on holiday this weekend so obviously not gigging but looking forward to the rest of the 6N especially when Scotland have home games!

[Al Krow]

On 09/02/2020 at 19:05, krispn said:

Sounds like a great gig. Was it a post 6 Nations gig? We do those every year and they’re good fun ( I’m on holiday this weekend so obviously not gigging but looking forward to the rest of the 6N especially when Scotland have home games!

Thanks. Was a regular social event for international folk in London looking to party laid on at the club we were playing at. We've done a few of them over the past couple of years. A few clips of last night were recorded on a phone so the sound isn't great (& we had a dep vocalist in for our usual leading lady yesterday, in case you spotted that change!)

Edited May 9, 2021 by Al Krow

[krispn]

You should link them. 

[White Cloud]

20 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Function gig last night and, given that it wasn't an East End pub, I thought it would be a good opportunity to christen the LX5 on its first gig outing. 

Must admit the 35" scale vs my usual 34" was more of a stretch than I had expected when I first played it a few months back. The 17mm spacing was however fine, sitting as it did between the even narrower 16.5mm of my Ibby SR 5ers and the 18mm of my Yammys. The slightly heavier weight was also a bit of a concern for me over a 2 hour gig (it's just under 10 lbs) whereas my Ibby is sub 9 lbs, although tbf the LX5 is only a little heavier than my Yammy 1025. But it was such a lovely bass otherwise in terms of design and sound that I was determined to persevere. 

At the gig last night it was difficult to hear how the bass was sounding in the mix as I was going straight to DI with no backline (plus ear plugs of course). The stage monitoring was individually tailored rather than being a full band mix and I had a crap farting monitor, which I asked to be turned right down for the second set! And the venue's mega sub woofer was close to my bit of the stage which obviously also impacted what I was hearing.

But the gig went well; the band was in the zone and the punters seemed to really enjoy our sets. 

The LX5 was surprisingly comfortable to play over 2 hours and the time previously spent getting used to the 35" scale meant it felt natural and very enjoyable to play. The higher frets (17 and 19) were dead easy to access for the one song that needed it. 

So overall I continue to be delighted by this bass (so much so that I briefly considered putting my Yammy NE2 up for sale - I've been quickly persuaded of the error of my ways on that one!). I'm really looking forward to hearing it with some proper back-line in a band mix. 

Needless to say, none of my bandmates spotted that I was playing a different bass to the usual. Lol! 

Stunner... Love these sort of gig stories/ photos of basses.

[Eldon Tyrell]

Sorry for being late to the party. I've just joined basschat. I am a huge Spector fan. I grew up in the 80s and always loved the sound of the bass in early AIC and Queensryche records. I have a Forte (in vintage tint ash, PJ config) and one on order (black stain, with DCX pickups). I also have two Euros (77 and Mike Starr with Haz 9V). The Mike Starr is my fav and the only bass that I don't think I will ever sell. The one I would love to have but cannot afford is the NS-2 with premium buckeye burl top and inferno red high gloss finish. This one looks absolute killer.

All Spectors have great looks, great ergonomics and an amazing sound with lots of oomph. Not sure my neighbours like them so much though 😎

[Al Krow]

6 hours ago, Eldon Tyrell said:

Sorry for being late to the party. I've just joined basschat. I am a huge Spector fan. I grew up in the 80s and always loved the sound of the bass in early AIC and Queensryche records. I have a Forte (in vintage tint ash, PJ config) and one on order (black stain, with DCX pickups). I also have two Euros (77 and Mike Starr with Haz 9V). The Mike Starr is my fav and the only bass that I don't think I will ever sell. The one I would love to have but cannot afford is the NS-2 with premium buckeye burl top and inferno red high gloss finish. This one looks absolute killer.

All Spectors have great looks, great ergonomics and an amazing sound with lots of oomph. Not sure my neighbours like them so much though 😎

Hey welcome to Basschat! 

Come on then, get some pics of your Spectors up so that we can while away a few lockdown hours quietly admiring! 

Are you playing yours in a full band and what's the rest of your rig you're playing it through? 

Edited April 5, 2020 by Al Krow

[Eldon Tyrell]

19 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Hey welcome to Basschat! 

Come on then, get some pics of your Spectors up so that we can while away a few lockdown hours quietly admiring! 

Are you playing yours in a full band and what's the rest of your rig you're playing it through? 

Thank you, Al Krow! Much appreciated. Due to the lockdown I actually have a bit of time to post here. 

Sure, here they are. First up is my Forte 4 in Vintage Tint Ash. According to PJ, only four were ever made in that finish and only two of these in this slightly darker tone (PJ owns the other one). Next to that is my Mike Starr LE. The solid maple wings and the Haz 9V get it quite close to the Spector tone I always had in my head. I am looking forward to checking out the recently announced Spector Euro LT with Fishman Fluence pickups. Replacing the neck pick up with the Mike Inez Legacy Fishman pickup would turn this bass into another AIC bass. Next to that is my Euro 77. I like the 70s retro look (a homage to the NS-1) and use it for funk and disco songs. 

I am only a living room (well it is more a rehearsal room and gym now ;- ) player and play along to songs on youtube. I am currently playing a lot of AIC and STP (Rob DeLeo has some amazing basslines) songs.  So, my "rig" is rather limited and only consists of my basses and a GK MB 112-II amp. 

 

 

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[Al Krow]

Those really are three very tasty basses! 

[Eldon Tyrell]

2 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Those really are three very tasty basses! 

Cheers 😀

[AndyTravis]

3 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Those really are three very tasty basses! 

Love that Amber Forte.