Kiwi

If you saw the factory tour vid on youtube from the mid 90's, you would see Ken has an assembly line set up. All the wings are preshaped with dowels to slot into the neck. The control cavity is routed and the only real handiwork is shaping of the neck joint. Line up 5 Smith BSR basses and you'll see there's a lot of variety in how much wood has been taken out. The point is, there is no such thing as a pre and post Ken age any more than a pre- and post-Fodera Smith bass. Ken has never had very much personal involvement in the making of the basses apart from design/spec and the final set up/QC. None of which is changing.

Came here hoping to see a chat about Gene Perez and Louis Benedetti.

When I worked in a pub in Calne, Wiltshire, I put on Wagner's flight of the valkyries to help clear out the punters so we could lock up. It worked really well.

seems like he's doing a lee sklar thing Bernard Edwards basically mentored him through production of Notorious so there's bound to be a lot of the big man's influence in those lines.

I think the answer depends on what you mean by 'all'. Every conceivable genre and style in every pick up combination? And then there's the question of how much ballache you really want in your life as you grapple with complexity of the system you eventually choose. And are you playing live or recording? Are you wanting the system as a way to discover what you want or are you wanting it because other people have asked you for different bass sounds? And none of the systems you have mentioned will be totally accurate. I've been through the same process and fell back on a pair of humbuckers with parallel/single coil switching. They did the job 80% of the time for what I needed live and the addition of a 3 band semi-parametric eq allowed some tweaking for the odd recording session. The Variax is probably the cheapest option if you are just wanting to discover things for yourself at home. They can be picked up for silly money considering the tech that is inside them. It's like a Kempler system but for instruments rather than amps. You can also look at the Mooer GTR pedal as a cheaper (and less sophisticated) alternative to the Roland system if you can borrow the basses you want to sound like. https://www.amazon.com/MOOER-Guitar-Tone-Capture-Pedal/dp/B07VQZQM7F

A early noughties Spector Euro would do the trick. Just change the pickups to suit the genre. EMG for rock/metal, parallel wired humbuckers for smoother genres.

I will put a word in for the Effectrode PC2A after all, despite it needing a huge amount of power. It's the perfect valve comp, studio clean and warm and can be subtle or squashy as you like. Just can't power it off a pedalboard brick.

Thank you! It's a good enough guess to work with.

Can anyone tell me the dimensions of the Hexavalve?

Yeah maybe I'm a bit late to the game. They're good quality too.

Even Nile approves.

Great thread this, am thinking about replacing my Effectrode PC2A compressor on my guitar board. It's a stunning comp but power requirements mean I can't run it off a power bank.

Mine honked and squeaked after the firmware update didn't install properly. lol

Me too, I had an opportunity to purchase a brand new NS Wav bass @cost about 10 years ago. I tried it and it sounded gorgeous but goodness me I stumbled around on it and fought it feriously. Just not my cup of tea but, as I said, it sounded fantastic. Also: Piano. My son is learning and I'm left handed so my dominance is on the lower notes. Now I know Jools Holland is a leftie and his left hand is always busy as a result. And Phil Collins doesn't seem encumbered when he plays 'A Groovy Kind of Love' but I struggle with controlling dynamics with my right hand.

I have an FEA Labs dual compressor, highly sought after for that Trace Elliot dual band thing but far, far better quality.

An oldie but a goodie.

Sometimes a seller will post something with an outrageous price just to get idiots like me posting about it on forums.

https://www.guitarchat.co.uk/topic/623-my-motley-collection/ Oooh look! We have a guitar site!! lol TLDR: Chandler Strat HSS with Wilkinson VS100C trem, EMG pickups and mid boost Nile Rodgers Hitmaker replica Yamaha MSG (x2) Klein berger with Fernandes sustainer and R trem

It's almost too much if I'm honest. Once the sweet spots for each band have been found, it's pretty much set and forget. So trim pots for frequency centres in the back of the bass, (like Alembic use for their noise filters) adjustable with a small crosshead screwdriver would do the trick probably. Also the middle band isn't narrow enough for my taste despite Klaus doing his best.

Heh, I have a three band semi parametric eq on the Spector and my self built bass.

Have you tried the BB2005 at all? Same electronics and identical woods apart from no maple cap on the wings, chrome hardware and rosewood fingerboard instead of ebony. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Yamaha-BB-2005-5-String-Bass-Guitar-with-Hiscox-Case/202967944175?hash=item2f41d50bef:g:ovEAAOSw~wZejjOQ

I actually tried the NE pedal 15 years ago, maybe it was just me but I didn't understand the point of it outside a recording studio. I think I also saw a freq chart for the pedal somewhere online too since then. What about comparisons with the Wal high pass+boost@ shelving point?

I actually replaced the Smiths with the Spector. But I ripped out the EMG's as I don't like them in basses and put some custom Wizards in instead, wiring the coils in each pickup in parallel. So now the Spector sounds more like a Smith but with a bit more midrange. (Although now I know the bloke who makes Smith pickups so could go back to him for an OEM set if I thought that might make much of a difference.) Do you use the mid cut much? I have to admit that I didn't find mid cut very helpful on stage when I was gigging.

Smith sound is defined by parallel wired coils in each humbucker and soft necks. A complete opposite to the sound Status are known for which is zingy with shelved lows.

Yeah BBNE2, Spector NS5, Smith BSR/BT, maybe Tobias, Vigier, they're all sort of in the same ball park of timbre, aren't they? The neck on the Spector has a slight S curve on it which prevents me from getting the action as low as I'd like. He suggested steaming the neck straight but I was happy to just replace the rosewood with richlite and be done with the faff. He's also got my Pangborn as well which was being refinished but the original finish was so tough on it that it feels like he's just written the whole thing off until there is a good enough reason to get back to it. I'll probably end up doing it myself during my next visit to the UK. If Spector or Tobias or even Schecter were to offer their take on the BBNE2, same neck woods and body (Spector already do alder with maple cap) how much would you be willing to pay to tempt you away from the BBNE2? Is it all just about the woods or are the electronics part of the appeal? I'd be happy with a passive bass if it felt and sounded right.