White Cloud

Cant pass this thread by without chipping in. I bought an immaculate used SR605 for £299 to dip my foot into the 5 string pool and was so impressed with it that I sold my 4 string gigging Laklands and bought a SR1205 premium . These two basses are now the only basses I own. The overall design template for both basses is incredibly well thought out and works beautifully. Over the last 35 yrs I have literally owned almost every brand from Status, Wal, Alembic, Musicman, Vigier, Fenders, Laklands, Ricks etc etc etc etc...I could go on all day....so I think I know my stuff. For the money the 605 is a gorgeous instrument...light, beautiful construction, great playability and electrics pups. The 1205 is simply stunning..,..easily one of the nicest basses I have owned, and arguably currently giving me my best ever live sound! A 5 string that weighs 8lbs and knocks out absolute killer sounds whilst playing like butter. Build quality is superb. I cant believe how overlooked and underated the Ibanez SR basses are, especially the higher end models. For the record I think the difference in quality between the Premium and Prestige range is negligable. This, for me, makes the Premium range the best value for money of all the SR's.

[quote name='Chris2112' timestamp='1355561706' post='1899869'] Irrespective of the way the market for handbuilt basses has changed, Alembic's books are still back logged, so despite the fact that better value is available elsewhere, Alembic's business model is still working for them. [/quote] Yes very true....yet on a different tack very few high profile players use them extensively these days. This may however be due in part to the fact that Alembic generally dont hand out freebies to big names. More strength to Alembic. There are obviously plenty of players willing to pay the asking prices. For me personally I wouldnt dream of it...I'd rather have a Fodera and a Smith, etc etc for the same cash.

I'm going to do you a real favour here. Forget the aforementioned options and vist Jon letts website. He currently has an outstanding four string fretless for sale (brand new stock) at an insane £400 including a hard case. If you havent heard of Letts basses then you are missing a trick....every bass is hand built to an exceptional standard. Why opt for mass produced when you can snap up a luthier hand made piece of master craftmanship. Letts fretless basses sound wonderful.

Hi Jazzy. Yes indeed they are absolutely first rate instruments despite every other factor discussed here. My pal has a 78 Series 1 and it is "off the scale" tone wise! My advice would always be to buy second hand.

Lol...yes true. Apologies! For what its worth I dont think you can go far wrong with a bass of that quality. Its horses for courses really. I will share my personal wisdom on the subject of the "what bass is best question" with you....I'm a great believer that the name of the person playing the bass is much more important than the name on the headstock! If you think about it people get so hung up on all the different basses out there - but they are all merely variations on the same theme.

It took me 30 years of playing before switching to 5 string....and I will never go back to 4. I bought a used Ibanez SR605 at a great price to try out the extra string - a fantastic cheapish 5 string. Buy what you want though dude...its your cash. If you want a Fenderish style 5 and have a reasonable budget I personally would go either a Lakland or Stingray.

I agree that this bass sounds great. Nice demo, thanks for sharing.

I have been lucky enough to own an Alembic. They are very much an acquired taste...basses that you either love or hate to be honest. Personally I found the electrics to be absolutely first rate once mastered and the bass itself to feature breathtaking woodworking. Very heavy though so be aware that this is not the brand for those with dodgy back problems. The (big) downside is they are massively overpriced when bought new. Surprisingly enough, considering the multi laminations used in construction, there are also a good number of Alembic owners out there who have had neck stability problems (browse the Alembic club and you will find them)...although some of these may be down in some part to the aforementioned more complicated set up requirements. The neck on mine was almost perfectly straight and the action was crazy low so no complaints here. I think at the end of the day though that the "elephant in the room" regarding Alembic is this; back in the day nobody was doing what Alembic did...but times have changed. There are an absolute myriad of builders making instruments of comparable build/sound quality now - most of them at a price point MUCH lower than Alembic. I could have bought 3 Wal customs for the price of an Alembic Series1 ...and I much preferred my Wal to my Alembic. The bottom line? If you think anything (including an Alembic) is worth the asking price...then for you it is. Just my tuppenceworth.

There is a distinct difference between the two woods when used as fingerboards. Rosewood is indeed harder (despite some assertions to the contrary earlier in this thread) and much more expensive than Maple in its raw state. Maple has a noticeably brighter and (to my ears at least) less resonant sound characteristic. It also offer a completely different mid tonality imho. My preference would be Rosewood every day of the week...however this is entirely subjective. I like the response, warmth and resonance of Rosewood and have always found that Maple does not suit my personal taste/feel. Just my tuppenceworth.

A good friend of mine owns a fretless 4 string Curbow. He absolutely loves it, swears by it and gigs with it regularly. I have played it a couple of times and although I'm not too keen on fretless have been generally quite impressed with it....especially at the price he paid for it (not a lot). I thought the Bartolini pup + electrics sounded good and the playability (despite the smallish body feeling a tad unusual) was good. My mates main bass is a fretted 1978 Alembic Series 1 and the Curbow is his gigging fretless....quite a contrast price wise! Not sure if this helps or not...but I like the Curbow.

Slightly off topic but my old Lakland Darryl Jones was the best jazz bass that I had ever played ...and I have owned some VERY nice vintage F Jazzers. Just my tuppenceworth.

It is of course a subjective opinion. One mans meat is another mans poison. No disrespect to the new US Fenders which in the last couple of years have stepped up to the mark significantly. My opinion is based on the fact that I found the lightweight swamp Ash bodies on the Glaubs to be slightly more resonant than the modern US Fenders that I had played. I also found the Laklands to be better put together...neck pocket, neck finish, immaculate fret work etc. I found it surprising at the time that a brand new "off the shelf" Korean built Lakland P bass copy could remind me so much in both feel and sound of my vintage Fender P...as opposed to off the shelf Fenders that were retailing for a higher price. Thats my rationale dude.

Lakland = Fender killers. I have owned several Lakland Skylines and whenever I compared them to US Fenders there was no comparison. Just my tuppence worth. Never played the Dunn model but played a couple of Glaubs and they were really wonderful P basses.