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Italia Bass


stewblack
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Italia IIRC are a JHS Brand in conjunction with Trev Wilkinson. All the designs are very "Retro", I'd say more of a nod to the oddities that came out of Italy during the 50's & 60's, but obviously (hence some of the "odd" finishes & fittings), with modern (Wilkinson) parts & manufacturing.

I always fancied getting a Rimini bass, inspired by the Ric 4005 semi.

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I have an Italia Rimini. Design wise there's a definite nod to the Rickenbacker 4005, no idea if it sounds like one though, I'm rubbish at comparing the tone of basses.

Strung with flats, it does that plummy 60s sound (think Day Tripper), but with rounds and a pick it does a nice agressive punk noise.

The weak point (for me) are the tone controls, they're kind of all or nothing with the sound only changing at full on or full off.  I keep meaning to get some decent pots for it but never got around to working out what I need.

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Ooh - had a bit of GAS for one of these a few years ago - the same bass was available in an all-over MOTO finish, that & the stacked lippys got me proper hot & bothered. Not so much a fan of the S&M leather finish. I surprise myself sometimes.

Italia were quite high-profile for a while a few years back, just seem to have vanished these days. Had a few basses that caught my eye as well as this one, a Rick 4005-ish semi (also available in full MOTO!) and a glittery LP-shaped thing called a Maranello, which Nicky Wire from the Manics played for a few years.

Always felt they were a bit overpriced for sort of niche novelty mock-retro stuff. A bit like Eastwood without the blatant copyright theft.

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I've owned a couple, including the Rimini now owned by @TheRev. They're my favourites of the range and but I love their quirkiness. Build quality is excellent and they're easily on par with Reverends for example. 

Funnily enough I traded my Fender Tele for a Gibson SG but I also got this Maranello as part of the deal. It's very, erm, shiny and I don't think it's really for me, but it plays and sounds amazing. 
 

 

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They did a few "interesting" finishes, like I said, very inspired by the oddities that came out of Italy in the 50's & 60's.

They did a pearlescent white and pearlescent blue Rimini, the metallic sparkle finish Maranello's. 

Those Imola's (the Ampeg-esque one above) were good looking basses, though no interesting finishes there.

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I have owned a Torino Bass for a while. Really cool, but heavy and the positioning of the strap buttons combined with the arched back made it want to topple forward at all times when playing it standing up. I did gig it on several occasions and loved the HUGE tone I got out of it. 

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I was going to get the one on eBay tonight because I have always been a sucker for the  mother of Pearl thing, and was just talking about it and had a wave of sensible come over me. I have too many basses,, I still have some I need to sell.

do want a semi acoustic at some point though!

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I have an Italia Maranello Cavo Bass which has been featured on various post on this forum.  It's short scale with a semi hollow body and fitted with LaBella flatwounds.  I really like it as it is fairly light and easy to handle.  Sounds good too!

One slight problem with the bass is neck dive.  Being a semi hollow body, the headstock acts like a pendulum and causes the neck to drop.  I changed the tuning gear for Hipshot Ultralights but the neck dive is still there.  I think if the front strap button was placed closer to the neck joint that may help a little.  As it is, when I wear the bass, he strap leaves the button at an angle (I like the neck to be fairly upright) and even the BC strap locks are forced off.

Other than that it is a cool bass.

 

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Edited by LeftyP
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