Bigwan

Just bought a bass from Rhys who was kind enough to respond to my wanted ad. It turned up well packaged and in super quick order. First time I've bought anything since Brexit - the Irish Sea customs debacle could have put a few sellers off, but Rhys sorted all the paperwork for the courier with minimal fuss. Couldn't be more pleased with the bass and I'd definitely deal with him again. 

Last week...

Missed it by deliberating too long... But I'm not too sad... I have something else French coming!

(@walshy I was quite sad for a few days though!!!)

10 minutes ago, eude said:

 

5 minutes ago, Merton said:

Go on... you know you want to!

Yes I do... But no, I can't!

1 hour ago, Merton said:

Same story with me; in fact it was the exact same Recurve bass which took me on my journey. My first ACG Custom, a 33” Finn 5, was superb but as soon as I then got a 32” Finn 4 I realised I wanted a slightly shorter 5 too. I now have 4 ACGs of different flavours but they are all bang on what they were supposed to be, based upon my learnings from that first Recurve and Finn. 

I could see a 30" 5 string (or 30.5" as Alan makes them) ACG in my future... although probably distant future given recent events!!!

1 hour ago, BassApprentice said:

This for me is the hurdle, I would love an ACG/Sei/Shuker but I would have no idea where to even begin. I don't think I've spent enough time with enough basses to even know what I would want them to make. 

Just another excuse to try and buy more things 😂

All I can tell you is how I started with ACG - buy a used one to get a feel for what you think you might want. I bought an ACG Graft Recurve 5 from @Black Coffee of this parish... Actually I loaned it from him for a few days with a view to buying it... And transferred him money pretty much the same day I was that impressed with it. (I don't delieve in "signs" so much but on my way home from picking up the bass there was a pretty clear one as I was driving behind a Jeep Cherokee with an odd numberplate "xxxx ACG" - TRULLY BIZARRE!)

Anyway, living with that ACG for a while taught me what I like about what Alan does.

Zero radius fretboard - love it

Neck shape - love it

Scale length (33") - could be longer. I was used to playing Lakland 5s at the time so matched their 35" scale with my custom

String spacing - OK @18mm but could be wider, went with 19mm but adjustable. 

Pickups (singles with an odd placement) - sounded great, especially the neck pickup but wanted twin P pickups and fatter enclosures. Ended up with a mix of Alnico P at the neck and reverse Ceramic P at the bridge. Alan was great with suggestions in this regard. 

4 way selector switch - nope I had that on a Dingwall and didn't like it. Went with the all dancing 5K pre - this is the only thing I'd change if I was going again, and only because I've now owned a bass with the ACG version of the East Retro-P! 

Recurve body shape - yup, like it a lot. 

As for wood choices, I had my own ideas about what I wanted and Alan didn't dissuade me. I also wanted my pickups in a non-standard position - front pickup in normal P position, but bridge pickup as close as possible to the neck pickup. Worked well for me and the resultant bass is a dream! 

I've had 4 ACGs now, the original Graft Recurve 5 (gone but served its purpose well), my custom 5 Recurve (I doubt I'll ever sell this one), a custom 4 Recurve (similar spec to my 5 string, regretfully sold), the 4 string Finn "cricket club" bass (sold, regretted, bought back). Not a bad bass among them to be honest!

Looks like I'm going to get a chance to find out for myself! Woop woop! 

5 hours ago, Sarlscharisma said:

https://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Vigier_Excess_4_SH.html.

 

There's also a review on the Excess on the page

Yeah I'd seen that one and I'm tempted. @Dood's video review is of the ACTUAL bass that bass direct have for sale too! 

Alas I missed the boat on 2 (yes, 2!) Passion IV 5 strings over the weekend. Have wanted ads up - it's time for a bucket list bass so have ads up for Vigiers, Spectors and a left-field-in-comparison  Dingwall Super P! 

Thanks @Balcro! I'm holding off changing anything until I can play the cab with my band in the setting it was intended for and then we'll see what's what!

45 minutes ago, Phil Starr said:

I assume this is the cab in this thread? So I bought a heap... - Amps and Cabs - Basschat

Have you addressed the issues you mentioned there, fixed the leaks and checked the glue on the old Peaveys? Without fixing the leaks and other issues replacing the speakers won't solve the problems.

It was quite common for 2x15's to use speakers not initially designed for bass, Peavey used the 1501Black Widow in their own 2x15. It has the metal dome and was designed for guitar but sounded great for bass. Excursion was terrible by todays standards 1.6mm from memory but the cab was more than loud enough. If this is sitting in a rehearsal room I'd fix everything i could and just stop worrying, if it blows then you are no worse off and you can replace the speakers then. 

If not then the Beyma's recommended in the previous thread are still probably your best value for money replacements. Avoid anything with LF in the designation like that Fane. They are designed to be the LF part of a 2-way speaker system with a horn and will sound very dull in a 2x15.

You know I'd forgotten I'd even started that thread - thanks for the reminder Phil! I did deal with the issues on the cab at the time, but it doesn't sound particularly pleasing with the BWs, albeit solo at the minute. Holding off on rashly changing drivers may be the sensible move.

On 05/05/2021 at 10:54, Balcro said:

Hello Bigwan,
What's the size of the the old Laney beast. Any idea of the internal volume and secondly, (couldn't find any online pics) what is the diameter and length of any ports?

15" speakers seem to need between 50 & 150 litres each to work well in a cabinet. A lot of variation. Let me know the figures.

 

Sorry, @Balcro I missed your initial message for some reason!

2 separate chambers, dimensions are as follows:

24" x 15.25" x 16" (internal) (610mm x 387mm x 410mm)

2 ports, each 4" (101mm) internal diameter, 4.5" (114mm) long

I'd imagine it looked a bit like this in better days:

1 minute ago, itu said:

I only have two Passion II basses, and their preamps are capable of anything I need to play. So my understanding of the Excess is therefore limited, but I do not have any reason to believe they are very good in any genre.

String choice affects the outcome quite a lot, so for twang I would choose Vigier's basic strings, 40-95 SS RW. For more middle nickel strings work better, and naturally you can go down to flats if needed. I think string choice is crucial to the basic sound of any instrument.

As the necks do not have truss rods, you can only adjust the bridge. If you are after a very low action, my instruments have been steady since 1980's and I am confident that Excess is no exception.

That's extremely useful. Thanks @itu! It's a Passion IV I'm interested in.

32 minutes ago, Bassman68 said:

I do love a Vigier, a friend of mine plays an 80’s passion in a Rock/metal covers band & it sounds glorious?

I think it all depends on what sort of tone you are looking for, The graphite necked Vigier is very full sounding, with a clear top-end but IMO more traditional sounding than say, a Spector or a Dingwall, even a Warwick, which can all provide a real ‘growly mid’ more modern metal sound, especially if you like that overdriven sound?

I really don't like the modern rock/metal tone. The Dingwall & Darkglass thing is EVERYWHERE and it sets my teeth on edge! Think more James Lomenzo/Billy Sheehan tones (not playing-wise I might add!). 

18 minutes ago, itu said:

If the instrument brand dictates your playing style... no, I won't continue.

Make a test ride and choose the one that fits like a glove and sounds incredible.

The brand name means absolutely nothing. I'm asking about the tonal attributes of a specific model... A relatively rare bass, I've never seen one in the flesh in my 30 years of playing. 

It would be simple if I could try everything I wanted to... It's not something a bass player on this island ever has a chance to do on an instrument of the level we're talking about, not without significant travel. That's why I've always relied quite heavily on basschat input, since before day 1 of the basschat forum - some of us remember basstalk.co.uk. If you haven't anything better to contribute maybe you should be on a different thread... 

Vigier are a brand I've been interested in since I used to read Guitarist magazine in the very early 90s and saw a review of the Passion - I never thought I'd be able to afford one, but I recently received a little bit of inheritance money from my grandfather so I'm in bass shopping mode! 

A used Amethyst Passion 5 at Bass Direct has caught my eye and is just within my budget... The other basses I'm considering are a Dingwall D-roc 5 Standard (currently on order with Mark as it was floating my boat originally) and a Spector Euro 4 or 5

What I'm looking for is a bass that feels ALIVE... Punch and growl are what I'm after. I don't see many reviews for the Passion that would cover my style (hard rock to metal) so it's hard for me to really judge and visiting Warwick is out for the foreseeable. What are the thoughts guys? Would a Passion 5 fit the bill?

Vigier are a brand I've been interested in since I used to read Guitarist magazine in the very early 90s and saw a review of the Passion - I never thought I'd be able to afford one, but I recently received a little bit of inheritance money from my grandfather so I'm in bass shopping mode! 

A used Amethyst Passion 5 at Bass Direct has caught my eye and is just within my budget... The other basses I'm considering are a Dingwall D-roc 5 Standard (currently on order with Mark as it was floating my boat originally) and a Spector Euro 4 or 5

What I'm looking for is a bass that feels ALIVE... Punch and growl are what I'm after. I don't see many reviews for the Passion that would cover my style (hard rock to metal) so it's hard for me to really judge and visiting Warwick is out for the foreseeable. What are the thoughts guys? Would a Passion 5 fit the bill?

4 hours ago, Merton said:

Sell a kidney/child/spouse 😄

4 hours ago, bloke_zero said:

If you sell a child you'll also have more time for practice! Win/win!

All viable options...

A real pity that Alan isn't doing his classic line of basses any more... Can't afford another custom!

21 hours ago, Jus Lukin said:

Might the Ashdown Triple Shot be worth a look? It's a three band overdrive, so just the mids could be dirtied up. Hopefully the mid frequency centre is similar to the freq knob at 12!

https://ashdownmusic.com/collections/pedals-1/products/triple-shot-drive-pedal

Same idea as the VFE Triumvirate. I don't know if the Triple Shot has adjustable frequency ranges like the Triumvirate, and at 239 quid I'm unlikely to find out!

The Triumvirate didn't work nearly as well for me as the Lomenzo though... While the mid range drive was OK I couldn't get it as focused as the Lomenzo and the high or low ends didn't sound as nice either. Good for other sounds, but not the same sounds as the Lomenzo.

The Lomenzo is the best drive (for me) that I've found. I have a few issues with it: the form factor, the useless VU meter and the overabundance of controls... and being of a diy bent I've always fancied tackling a redesign of it but "real life" keeps getting in the way... 

I like it on its own for what I do, but you're not alone in liking to stack it! I've seen that a few times - Peter Iwers, formerly of In Flames, stacked it with an MXR DI. 

15 minutes ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

Use this: http://www.loudspeakerdatabase.com/

First rate Bill! Thanks, I'd never seen that site before!

I have in my possession a Laney B215 cab. It looks awful, but it's physically sound and measures suspiciously like 2 TL606 cabs pasted together. It's currently loaded with 2 Peavey Black Widows (the non-bass variety strangely) - the cab came to me like this. I'd like to load it with something a bit more appropriate, but weight is absolutely not an issue. I don't plan on moving the thing more than a few times in its life and the rougher it looks and heavier it is the happier I'll be as I'm intending to use it in a rented rehearsal space. Can anyone suggest a driver with similar/equivalent specs to an Eminence 3015 or Faital Pro 15PR400 (which model reasonably well in the cab with some tuning) that weighs about the same as a neutron star? Or should I spring for the Faitals and a few rolls of roofing lead?

Certainly could be a bass issue - but having played in downtuned bands on and off for 25+ years I'd say it certainly doesn't warrant a £2k outlay! Last downtuned band I played in (drop A) I used a Sire V7 mostly with stock strings, but swapped the B string for the heaviest gauge D'addario single string I could find. Worked REALLY well, although I couldn't intonate the string particularly well due to the "high-mass" bridge design... Having said that I don't thing I played that string above the 7th fret so not a massive issue.

Having said that I have a Dingwall D-roc 5 Standard on order from Bassdirect... Just because!

On 27/04/2021 at 21:17, eude said:

I have one of their Mighty Plug practice amps >> https://www.nuxefx.com/mighty-plug.html
I have to say, it's bloody brilliant!
The effects are the same as the ones on that wee amp, as are the IRs, although there's only two amp heads.
It works great for just plugging in and playing, you can also sync it to your phone as a Bluetooth audio device and play along with whatever audio you have on there, you can even jam along with YouTube. And finally, it works as an interface for recording too, and it sounds really really good.

I am very much tempted by the MG-30 too!

Eude

Bought a "warehouse" Mighty Plug from Amazon the other day. Sounded great, app integration seemed good for editing sounds. No compressor in the effects list though, which I found a bit odd....

Unfortunately it failed in its primary function as the battery (or charging circuit) was goosed so it only functioned when hooked up to a charger - probably why it was for sale on the cheap from Amazon. Still undecided if I'll replace it, but Just ordered a replacement because as I say it sounded pretty good... But nobody buy a warehouse one in the next while because it'll probably be the one I just returned...