eude

I do think it's part of it yes I expect there's a special sauce being brought to the table with the Wal pickups and preamp, that's undeniable, but I also think a lot of what people want to hear is being effected by materials, construction and technique. It's also extremely rare for bass to be recorded in any kind of virginal context, unaffected by anything else as part of a signal chain.

How I've been using this bass is exactly that, using a tone along these lines, then into a SansAmp BDDI v2 before hitting the amp, to add a bit of hair and I absolutely love it! I do honestly think though, that a lot of that BSSM tone is in the right hand attack though.

I will have a go at this when I can matey, although I was trying to get as close as I could just via the onboard preamp. I should be able to do something along these lines on the Mac though, will let you know once I've had a go. Cheers, Eude

Thank you @funkle, I just remembered that I had promised to try and do something like this AGES ago The Ubers are expensive, but still significantly cheaper than a new, or even an old Wal, with a significantly shorter wait time than ordering new I do appreciate that it's a big investment regardless. Cheers, Eude

Bit late, but I did promise some recordings of my ACG Uber Finn with the DFM 5K preamp and MC Series pups. It's the one on the left here >> Just for the nerds here, the bass has a mahogany body, with a very hard katalox top, a super tight bolt on neck joint, with threaded inserts and bolts, 5 piece red oak/bubinga neck and a pau ferro fingerboard. The real reason for sharing the specs is that I really think that construction and technique play as big a part here as the preamp. I did a few quick and dirty snippets of some BSSM lines, I think it's getting quite close. The bass is recorded direct into GarageBand with no effects of processing whatsoever. The pickups are pan 50/50, both filters are wound back a little, about 25% and the resonant peaks maxed out, the treble stack is out of the equation and I've dialed the passive tone off a bit, as it's a very bright bass and I was giving it some with my right hand. Hope they're of some interest, and apologies for the sloppy playing! Give It Away GIve it away.mp3 Suck My Kiss Suck My Kiss.mp3 Funky Monks (Outro) Funky Monks.mp3 Cheers, Eude

It would have to be my ACG Finn SC Classic 6er.

That is BLOODY GORGEOUS!

Agreed!

I've spoken with Alan, and all being well he might be able to loan me at least one of these to bring to the SE Bass Bash in October! He's building a stock pair, fretted and fretless 4 strings with piezo pups, so at least one should be available, hopefully the fretless 😎 Happy days!

OK, this is the one I was waiting for! Shortscale, fretless with a chambered body and piezo pickups. My wife would kill me if she could read my mind right now!

That's true, and I'm sure I could find some wheels if I sell both...

Man alive, that is a cool spec! I've desperately trying to figure out how to finance one more ACG, but it's looking like selling off some of my spare internal organs or turning to crime are the only options at the moment...

Fantastic news matey! What are the specs?

Incredible!

Ha ha, I can appreciate it's not to everyone's taste, but I've always rated Josh, he's been a big influence on me. He played with Suicidal Tendencies for a while after Robert Trujillo left, and I've always loved his playing, and the energy he creates with his bassings.

These demos with Josh Paul are phenomenal. What a player!

There's another one, this time with a mag pickup instead of the piezo.

With those particular strings I guess. I think they're LaBella tapes which are pretty low tension, I'm sure you could pop some higher tension stuff on there, but the play in the strings gives a bit of a Double Bass vibe to my ears. As much as I'm looking forward to hearing the fretless version, my bank account is worried about how things might pan out...

You have to check this out!

I reckon this could be a goer, what do you think @Merton?

My experience has been very positive too. Setting one pickup for the beef, the other for a bit more of an edge/punchy tone, and then the treble control for slice. In the case of the DFM, then using the passive tone to take any harshness out. After that, you just use the blend to taste. I think it can be as complex or as simple as you like, depends on how you approach it, but chasing a very specific tone in your head might get you in trouble rather than just finding what's in the voice of the instrument. It's an incredibly flexible preamp, but you need to approach it differently. Having said all that, to my ear, my ACG with the MC pups and DFM preamp, through a Sansamp for a little hair gets very very close to the BSSM tone. I think a big part of that is the mahogany body, hard top, and bolt-on 5 piece neck though.

I was at ACG Towers last week and saw this beauty in the flesh. You're one lucky guy! I'll bet this will be the longest 3 weeks of your life 🙂