Kiwi's collection

[funkypenguin]

3 hours ago, Kiwi said:

I sold it to LucOry just before I left the UK.  It had 14mm string spacing at the bridge which was a challenge to play.  Otherwise a fantastic sounding bass but I kept thinking about Ned Steinberger admitting he wished he had put out something like the M series before the L.  I haven't missed it.

In terms of timbre and feel, yes I guess so.  I thought it would be easy to achieve once the recipe was right.  But there's more than one recipe and so much seems to depend on getting access to the right woods and using them in the right places.
 

 

Do you feel as though you're getting closer at least? is there any specific player who has your ideal sound that I could listen to to get an idea of exactly where you're going? aside from all that, hope you're keeping well through the current shitshow Kiwi

[Kiwi]

10 hours ago, funkypenguin said:

Do you feel as though you're getting closer at least? is there any specific player who has your ideal sound that I could listen to to get an idea of exactly where you're going? aside from all that, hope you're keeping well through the current shitshow Kiwi

Thanks :) We're hanging in there although our export business is getting a double dose - couldn't export during our lockdown and can't import into the UK during its lockdown.  We've had to take finance out.

So the timbre I'm going for involves well defined mids, some basses I've played have had them.  The occasional Sei bass and ACG but a Toby Pro (with the same neck woods) didn't.  Celinders, Yamaha BBNEII, Jaydees, Wals, Smiths and my Spector (s) also but in 'slightly different ways and for different reasons.  A lot of it comes down to neck woods but there's no single way to do it.  So it's not a quality that can be predicted reliably yet because the sound and feel is so dependent on the right combination of wood characteristics.  I can't even rely on species 100% !  It's more a case of finding a maker with a stash of the right wood and putting together something that works ergonomically.


 

[Kiwi]

 Time for an update given it's been over five years. Mostly I have been focussing on guitar but I'm pleased to welcome the following to the stable.
 

Moon MBC5TN

There were two guys I found on YT playing these basses. One called Terry Romanio, based in Australia, who was playing one of these on a Chaka track.  And other guy Igor Odaryuk playing one with modified electronics and a delicious amount of chewy midrange.   This japanese import was intended to be a better value alternative to the Warwick Thumb 5 but it's more like cross between a Smith and a Warwick.  Featuring a through body neck of wenge and bubinga with mahogany wings and pomelle bubinga facings, it has the Smith high end smoothness but the Warwick growl in the mids although the action has to be lowered to get that. The lows are boomy and a little unfocussed so pairing it with a class D amp is a good match or maybe replacing the Barts with some tighter sounding pickups could work.  It's also a bit on the heavy side and the nut is fairly broad at 48mm.  The electronics include twin pickup volumes, a passive/active switch and a three band eq which seems little clumsy so they've been replaced by an East Pro circuit.  The truss rod is proved to be a little sensitive to tweaking, a little movement creates a lot of curve but after a fret dress it plays like butter.   Really nice bass and great value second hand, at the time of writing I could pick two more up in China for about 1300-1400 quid each.
 

Good bits: 
Smooth, bell like high end that you might find on a Smith bass

Mid range warwick growl when the action is lowered.
Deep deep bass
Comfortable body ergonomics
Dual truss rods
Neck through construction
Astounding value for money if you can bag one in the right location

Not so good bits:
It feels closer to 5kg than 4.
Compared to my Spector NS5CR, the low end is a little unfocused
Electronics are a little illogical.
Nut is on the wide side (48mm)

 

 

 Musicman Stingray Classic 5 

I never set out to buy one and I was never really interested in owning one.  This was a complete impulse buy, in mint condition, due to it's ridiculous asking price from some rich kid who aspiring to be a professional musician and didn't care about the money he lost.  I was planning to sell it on in the UK to cover my airfare but I played it back to back with my '78 stingray and it was close enough (and impressively so despite differences in neck profile) that I had second thoughts.  Then when the graphite neck thing started, I wondered whether there might be a chance of having the 5 string OG Cutlass bass I'd always wanted but could never have...watch this space. 

Good bits: 
Rich, deep character with some midrange growl thanks to the ash body.
Beautiful 3A flamed neck
Genuinely gets close to the sound of a preEB bass - fatter sounding than the standard SR5's I've played.

Not so good bits: 
Nut width and neck profile is way too chunky, was it really necessary?
It weighs over 4kg

 

 

Vigier Passion III 5 string

There was a guy on YT called Alex Bankovic who used a Passion III on some of this play alongs and I couldn't get that B string out of my head. This particular bass popped up on Ebay and I snagged it for a song, although it later turned out to have some cracking around the control socket which was repaired solidly but the refinishing is a little clumsy.  The bass was also sold as "low action" but after I set it up properly, it turned out to have exactly the same built in relief as the others I've played.  Still, the neck is ridiculously fast to play - the nut width is 42mm, the same as a stratocaster and the body is comfortable and light.  Apart from the built in relief it's a very very good bass to play.  So I will be getting the phenolic fingerboard replaced with PEEK at some point because it's very clearly lacking in thickness around the upper frets compared to the lower ones.  Whether I add a truss rod at this point remains to be seen, it's mechanically the safest thing to do but its not certain whether it might have an impact on the sound of the bass.  This bass has a replacement Lusithand GK RB800 preamp installed which on paper looks like it might be an ideal match for the character of the bass but in practice, the centres of the frequency bands miss the sweet spots of the bass, there isn't any onboard gain trim control so it's a little quieter than the Moon and the treble and attack is piercingly bright so I have it turned down. This one will probably be getting a 4 knob East Pro and a refinish in pearlescent white as I've got artwork for replacement waterslide decals.

 

Good bits: 

Ridiculous neck profile, probably the fastest and narrowest I've ever played.
Toit low end and chewy mid range growl
Light weight
Comfortable and well balanced
Kahler bridge allows you to customise the string spacing.

Not so good bits:

Replacement preamp isn't as effective as it could be.  Tone is a little too bright.
That pre-set neck relief and no truss rod...for the love of god, WHY?!!
 
That's it.  No changes on the amp side.  I sold the Source Audio C4 as it was too complicated and had too many compromises (like no MIDI DIN socket) so I'll probably be sticking with Future Impact.  Also up for sale are the Cooper Fx Moment Machine sequencer pedal, Alexander Colour Theory sequencer pedal, newly acquired Boss SY200 (after 4 weeks of ownership), EBS Microbass II pedal.  I also see that a company called Polyend have released a pedal based sequencer in August so I'm aiming to get one of those in the next 12 months and put it through it's paces.