Tokai Talbo

[beerdragon]

Anyone come across these before. not that like it much. but i wondered what it sounded like.

[url="http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=72121&sid=f045bf604590b5f9528114ce60d80719"]http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=...28114ce60d80719[/url]

More. [url="http://www.tokaijapan.com/talbobass.html"]http://www.tokaijapan.com/talbobass.html[/url]

Edited July 16, 2009 by beerdragon

[bythesea]

I haven't - not sure I like that shape, looks a bit shark-like.

I expect BigRedX will be along to tell you what it's like though as it is his

[beerdragon]

Ha! i didn't notice the username I guess he's the guy to ask!.

[Bassassin]

I've got one, very heavy, nice and exciting-looking bass, but I can't use it live. I like a bright sound & use various effects including overdrive, this thing is very microphonic (maybe due to the hollow metal body) and just squeals like a piggy. A shame because it's a pleasure to play & looks amazing.

Jon.

[BigRedX]

As Jon said the Talbo Bass is mostly about the looks.

Average weight by my standards (mine is 4.4kg on the bathroom scales) but it's nearly all at the body end so at least it doesn't suffer from neck dive. I find the neck is very slim (but then again I mostly play 5-string basses). I haven't tried mine at serious volume so I couldn't comment on feedback, but it did suffer from a nasty rattle until I taped the "scratch plate" to the body using double sided tape. Sound wise it's bright and aggressive, and pretty versatile considering there's only one pickup although the design appears to be a separate coil for each string.

I like: The look, the sound (although not suitable for everything) the playability.

I don't like: A couple of design features that compromise functionality. The machine heads used makes it difficult to get a decent break angle for the A string. The bridge design is far too complicated and unfriendly for what it does. Has a tendency to rattle unless everything is tightly screwed down.

Overall nice but I wouldn't want it as my only bass.

Also the price of these in the UK is stupidly expensive. There's one in Denmark Street that's been there for years with a body with far too many casting marks on it (mine only has a few and they're all on the back). The Japanese seem to get these at a sensible price. Here we pay a premium which simply isn't worth it. (I imported mine from Japan via Ishibashi).