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Kiwi's collection


Kiwi
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Obligatory photo on the bed...

[attachment=88421:DSC05469.JPG]

This bass requires some getting used to, form follows function in a very single minded kind of way. But the narrow string spacing not so difficult to get around, the strap saddle does feel comfortable eventually and I've managed to adjust to the lack of body. Fabulous neck pickup sound - deep, smooth and warm, so much like a p-bass through valves. Love the hazlabs eq. as well, it fattens up the bass in exactly the right way. Now I know why reggae bassists liked Steinbergers so much.

It's probably the coolest looking bass I own.

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  • 5 months later...

Thanks Sprocket, I don't buy much gear these days because the good stuff is just not available in NZ. Plus I have an early 80's time capsule of a house to renovate which includes a new kitchen and I'm not on the money in NZ that I was earning in the UK.

However I'll be pulling the trigger on an Eventide Pitchfactor and mating it to my Deep Impact at some point soon. Just to see what the arpeggiator in the Pitchfactor works out with the synthbass of the Deep Impact. And when I've finished renovating the house and get my garage/workshop sorted, I'll be playing around with a router and seeing whether I can make a couple of bodies out of NZ wood for some necks I have.

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[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1329595441' post='1544770']

However I'll be pulling the trigger on an Eventide Pitchfactor and mating it to my Deep Impact at some point soon. Just to see what the arpeggiator in the Pitchfactor works out with the synthbass of the Deep Impact.
[/quote]

I'd be very interested in the results of this Kiwi....

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  • 3 weeks later...

Sure, basically I felt the barts in the Pentabuzz tended to stifle both the singing character and the upper mids (the thup sound as your fingers release a string). So I did a bit of research and decided on Alembic Aviators and pretty much paid through the nose for them. In hindsight, I would have gone custom instead because you could probably mount any flat response PJ set and get the same results. The East pre has been on a few of my instruments. It's a clear sweet sounding preamp which doesn't sound too brittle. Nice combo with the Pentabuzz and it gives me that all important control over the mids.

On stage with the GK RB700 1x15 combo I used to have, I could get a gentle feedback going with the mids and it was like playing with a sustainer. Just a gorgeous sound...the aural equivalent of having warm chocolate dripped into each ear hole.

Does your Hexabuzz have soap bars? I remember Shockwave looking into getting replacement soapbars for his Pentabuzz. Andy at Wizard said he thought they were too narrow to produce a decent sensing field so couldn't build them to be a direct replacement. Might be something worth thinking about if you look into replacements. Just check yours are made for a 6 string and not a 5.

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Thanx for the comebach Kiwi , yes mine is a 6-String , I like it unplugged , the feeling I get from it , it s when I m plugged in that it s not up to my taste .

Like you said , true , need more control on mids , anyways , fretless is mids right! lol

Here s the link for Aero Instrument Pickups ; http://www.aeroinstrument.com/

Yep , I ordered it with soapbars , I thought about having Aero Instrument biulding me some crackerhead PUs lol , Larry Pollack (Aero) used to supply Fodera basses for a while , so he must know a thing or 2 about pickups ...lol maibe his N-Series humbucker PUs or the ACG PUs &/or preamps , should be very ineresting also

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  • 1 month later...

[quote name='sprocket123' timestamp='1331328534' post='1571620']
Here s the link for Aero Instrument Pickups ; [url="http://www.aeroinstrument.com/"]http://www.aeroinstrument.com/[/url]

Yep , I ordered it with soapbars , I thought about having Aero Instrument biulding me some crackerhead PUs lol [/quote]

It may be worth ordering 6 string soapbars and then having the bass routed to take the larger size. You'll end up with a better result technically. What difference that makes to your ears may be something else though. I just know I didn't like the Barts on mine and replacing them with something more even sounding worked really well.

[quote name='crez5150' timestamp='1329596146' post='1544779']
I'd be very interested in the results of this Kiwi....
[/quote]
BTW Jay, Eventide Pitchfactor arrived today. However am in the process of moving into my half-renovated house ATM so may not be in a position to give the pedal a thorough review for a while yet. Am curious to see how well it does the arp though...

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[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1335135238' post='1626314']
It may be worth ordering 6 string soapbars and then having the bass routed to take the larger size. You'll end up with a better result technically. What difference that makes to your ears may be something else though. I just know I didn't like the Barts on mine and replacing them with something more even sounding worked really well.


BTW Jay, Eventide Pitchfactor arrived today. However am in the process of moving into my half-renovated house ATM so may not be in a position to give the pedal a thorough review for a while yet. Am curious to see how well it does the arp though...
[/quote]

My Pedulla already has SBs , so it will ne allright , thanx for the comeback , & look forward your new Eventide review

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  • 1 year later...

OK its been a while since I've updated this. Sure enough, return to the UK has resulted in being hit by GAS again.

First purchase was opportunistic - Ashley Pangborn Warlord with a graphite neck.











As you can see, it's seen better days but the issues are only cosmetic. The finish is extremely thick in places and has clearly cracked due to temperature fluctuations (apparently it had been stored in a shed at one point). The neck is precision-y in profile and has an ebony fingerboard. The finish is a black tint on some kind of lightweight wood...not sure what. Could be swamp ash I guess. The grain is too distinctive to be basswood or alder. Sound is very much like a mid 80's Status Series II on the bridge, a little warmer and unfocussed on the neck. The pickups were made by Kent Armstrong who I understand may have made the original GMT versions for Status. The electronics work great and the mid control is dialled in perfectly on the honk of the bridge pickup. I personally like wide bodied basses very much and this one is extremely comfortable. The neck profile, screw in logo and aluminium fittings suggest it might be a later version (circa 1985/86) and the lack of exotic top and brass hardware suggests it might have been built to a budget rather than an aspiration.

So, all in all its a bit like the bastard love child of Jaydee and Status. Needs refinishing though - any suggestions on colour? I was thinking pearl white at one point...but CAR might be nice too.

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And the other purchase last week from member 'James' was a lovely 1975 Fender Jazz. In 27 years of playing, this is the first Fender I've ever owned.



I'm no expert on them but this one seems light compared to others I've played, the neck appears to fit snugly and is very straight. I have managed to set it up now for very low action although I think a couple of frets at the dusty end could do with a bit of a re-seating. The instrument is all original apart from a badass bridge. The body appears to be four piece (there's a small piece of extra wood sandwiched in on the lower bout) and it has a 4 ply pickguard. The bass so far sounds fairly miller-ish - more so than my Celinder after the pickups were swapped for more vintagey sounding versions. Kind of wish I had my EBS Microbass II with me so I could play around with some settings.

Then...finally...I collected this off Old Horse Murpy yesterday.



A minty EBS Session 60 combo. Does the business very nicely for practice purposes. Practice combos have come a LONG way since I took up bass. Back in the 80's an amp of this quality and price would have been the stuff of futuristic fantasy.

So the collection (across two continents) currently stands at:

1979 Alembic Series 1 (graphite neck)
1996 Celinder J Update (Ol' No. 2)
2002 Celinder P Classic (with a factory installed J neck)
1975 Fender Jazz
1979 Musicman Stingray
1985 Pangborn Warlord (graphite neck)
1993 Pedulla Pentabuzz
2009 Shuker Headless 6 (with Graphtec MIDI)
1998 Spector NS5CR (34" scale)
2000 Spector NS5CR (35" scale)
1985 Steinberger XL25A

Pedals:
EBS Microbass II
Akai UB1 Unibass
Akai SB1 Deep Impact
Eventide Pitchfactor

Backline:
Genz Benz Shuttle 6
Trace Elliot V8
Burman Pro1000HD (late 70's, road rashed)
Burman Pro1000HD (1984, mint condition)
Rack 1: Lexicon MPXG2, TL Audio 4 band parametric valve eq, Peavey DPC750 power amp
Rack 2: Axon AX100 pitch to MIDI convertor, Roland JV1080, MIDIman 16 channel mixer (which can be plugged into Rack 1 via the MPXG2 effects loop)
EBS Neo212 x2

I'm also in the process of booking some course time with Jon Shuker for a very, very special build later this year which will result in two more basses but of my own design (fretless and fretted 5 string headlesses). At that point, I might be considering a little rationalisation of the backline at least...not sure I need all the refinement of a rack when it's easier to take the GB Shuttle and something like a Zoom B3. I'm still on the hunt for a pair of lightweight, tiltback cabs though.

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To be completely honest, someone else should take credit.

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/206578-pangborn-on-gumtree/page__p__2066360__hl__pangborn__fromsearch__1#entry2066360"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/206578-pangborn-on-gumtree/page__p__2066360__hl__pangborn__fromsearch__1#entry2066360[/url]

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  • 2 years later...

OK update time I guess...it's been over two years!

[i]Gone: [/i]
Both Celinders (I wouldn't mind picking up a blue J Update 5 with a birdseye neck at some point in the future.)
Both EBS Neo 212 cabs
Trace Elliot V8
Roland JV1080 (replaced by a Yamaha CS6R I own)
EBS Session 60 combo
Akai Unibass
Eventide Pitchfactor
TL Audio 4 band parametric

[i]Arrived:[/i]
Genz Benz Shuttle 6 (another)
Zoom B3
fEARless F112 cabs (x2)
Status Series 1 5 string

[i]On the way out:[/i]
1975 Fender Jazz
Steinberger XL25A (again)
Spector NS5CR (sunburst)
Peavey DPC750 amp

[i]On the way in:[/i]
Custom self build basses (but won't be finished until a year from now due to a lack of time)

Guitarwise there has been a little bit of churn:

[i]Arrived:[/i]
Yamaha MSG (blonde, stunning flamed maple top)
Two Ibanez TSA5 5w combos

[i]On the way out:[/i]
Yamaha MSG No. 3 (sunburst top)

[i]On the way in:[/i]
Alan Knight custom Hitmaker replica (Nile Rodger's guitar)
Finishing a custom Kleinberger replica (routing the control cavity for the sustainer electronics and fitting all the hardware - like the self builds, won't be ready for at least another year).

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  • 10 months later...

Nearly a year since I posted in this thread. Guess it's about time for an update.

Farewell to the Steinberger XL25A, the tobacco burst Spector and the 1975 Jazz. Lovely basses but I couldn't play them and they were just surplus to my forseeable requirements.

Hello instead to..."one I made earlier".
[attachment=229532:IMG_1082.JPG]

If you haven't seen the build thread, the specs are:[list]
[*]Moses MB145 graphite Steinberger neck
[*]Semi hollow body from mahogany with quilted maple front and flamed sycamore rear carved tops
[*]Custom Armstrong humbuckers with coil splits
[*]Noll 3 band parametric eq
[*]Custom hidden headless bridge arrangement with ebony/rosewood bridge cover.
[/list]
There were a few extra parts needed to make this bass playable which are still on their way and it needs a decent set up.

I've also "invested" (ie. spent more than I expected to) in some pedals.

Future Impact bass synth pedal
[attachment=229530:Future Impact cut out.png]

Bought as a replacement to my Deep Impact which was becoming worn out with use. While 100 presets are available I wonder why. I've still found the first 10 Deep Impact presets to be the most useful.

Empress 3 band Parametric Eq
[attachment=229529:Empress para cut out.png]

I bought this to give an extra boost to a narrow range of snarly mids. The sort of thing a decent wenge and maple neck might provide too.

Incoming: FEA Labs dual band optical compressor
[attachment=229531:FEA DBCL.png]

They're currently selling every unit they make - it's based on Trace Elliot's Dual Band compressor which I've always admired, but with higher spec components. Guitar wise, I've sold the sunburst MSG to a BC member and the Klein-berger is awaiting a replacement tuning knob but is otherwise complete.

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  • 3 years later...
On 09/10/2016 at 04:27, Kiwi said:

Nearly a year since I posted in this thread. Guess it's about time for an update.

Farewell to the Steinberger XL25A, the tobacco burst Spector and the 1975 Jazz. Lovely basses but I couldn't play them and they were just surplus to my forseeable requirements.

Hello instead to..."one I made earlier".
[attachment=229532:IMG_1082.JPG]

If you haven't seen the build thread, the specs are:

  • Moses MB145 graphite Steinberger neck
  • Semi hollow body from mahogany with quilted maple front and flamed sycamore rear carved tops
  • Custom Armstrong humbuckers with coil splits
  • Noll 3 band parametric eq
  • Custom hidden headless bridge arrangement with ebony/rosewood bridge cover.


There were a few extra parts needed to make this bass playable which are still on their way and it needs a decent set up.

I've also "invested" (ie. spent more than I expected to) in some pedals.

Future Impact bass synth pedal
[attachment=229530:Future Impact cut out.png]

Bought as a replacement to my Deep Impact which was becoming worn out with use. While 100 presets are available I wonder why. I've still found the first 10 Deep Impact presets to be the most useful.

Empress 3 band Parametric Eq
[attachment=229529:Empress para cut out.png]

I bought this to give an extra boost to a narrow range of snarly mids. The sort of thing a decent wenge and maple neck might provide too.

Incoming: FEA Labs dual band optical compressor
[attachment=229531:FEA DBCL.png]

They're currently selling every unit they make - it's based on Trace Elliot's Dual Band compressor which I've always admired, but with higher spec components. Guitar wise, I've sold the sunburst MSG to a BC member and the Klein-berger is awaiting a replacement tuning knob but is otherwise complete.

out of interest @Kiwi, did you finally get the shuker to the point of being happy with the sound?

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1 hour ago, funkypenguin said:

out of interest @Kiwi, did you finally get the shuker to the point of being happy with the sound?

The Shuker is a great bass.  Although after playing @Dood's 6 stringer in 2015, I actually preferred his to mine.  At the time I spec'd mine, I asked Jon to use my Smith BSR6 as the template.  If I were to spec the bass again I would have gone for three pieces of wenge with a few stringers of flame maple in the neck and maybe an ebony or richlite fingerboard and 15mm string spacing, with the neck profile of Dood's bass.   Also my bass has needed a lot of time to bed in because of how dense the maple is in the neck.  So now it sounds a little mellower sounding now than it did after it first came into my possession.  Given I have had it in storage since 2015, perhaps it has mellowed further.

But regardless, it has a piano like tone which I'm sure would appeal immensely to some players.  It's also superbly made and I guess I've learned quite a bit about wood and construction from it.  The bass I made for myself since, under Jon's expert supervision, is a load closer to what I've been looking for but even then there are things I would change.  It's proving to be an expensive journey.

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  • 2 weeks later...
4 minutes ago, Bagman said:

I think your Pedulla is the nicest fretless I've ever played

a lovely instrument

It's a great bass, isn't it?  Really low action thanks to those metal rods in the neck.  I'm planning on swapping out the Alembic eq for something else but all the spare preamps I have right now are 4 knob, not three.

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On 28/03/2020 at 05:31, Kiwi said:

The Shuker is a great bass.  Although after playing @Dood's 6 stringer in 2015, I actually preferred his to mine.  At the time I spec'd mine, I asked Jon to use my Smith BSR6 as the template.  If I were to spec the bass again I would have gone for three pieces of wenge with a few stringers of flame maple in the neck and maybe an ebony or richlite fingerboard and 15mm string spacing, with the neck profile of Dood's bass.   Also my bass has needed a lot of time to bed in because of how dense the maple is in the neck.  So now it sounds a little mellower sounding now than it did after it first came into my possession.  Given I have had it in storage since 2015, perhaps it has mellowed further.

But regardless, it has a piano like tone which I'm sure would appeal immensely to some players.  It's also superbly made and I guess I've learned quite a bit about wood and construction from it.  The bass I made for myself since, under Jon's expert supervision, is a load closer to what I've been looking for but even then there are things I would change.  It's proving to be an expensive journey.

expensive indeed, you seem to have something incredibly specific in mind when it comes to the sound of your bass

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8 hours ago, Bagman said:

No Steinberger now? 

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.

6 hours ago, funkypenguin said:

expensive indeed, you seem to have something incredibly specific in mind when it comes to the sound of your bass

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.
 

 

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