Lfalex v1.1

[quote name='pantherairsoft' post='847365' date='May 25 2010, 12:03 PM']A fretless guitar!!!!!! What ever next.[/quote] Vigier have been making them for about 20 years. IIRC they're called Surfretters or some such...

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='847056' date='May 24 2010, 11:47 PM']...#2 I've asked specifically in this thread about whether graphite necks can make dead spot problems completely go away, and this is the first response I've had. Dead spots are a big deal to me because I use a lot of effects and dead spots are quickly shown up by tracking effects like the ubiquitous Boss OC-2, rendering certain notes in certain positions useless. Do graphite necks eliminate this issue? Other graphite neck bass users seem less than keen to endorse this particular performance improvement.[/quote] Okay. I'll [i]try[/i and give a reasoned response to this one. My MIA Jazz has Posiflex rods (graphite) in the neck. It still has discernable differences between how some notes ring and others... don't ring as much! Stand up 7th fret on the E string (B in standard tuning) The Vigier doesn't seem to have many, and those that there are are much less evident. Less evident to the extent that you tend to question your technique first and wonder about dead spots afterwards. The Streamline? I can't find any. I reckon that's due to more than just the carbon/graphite neck, though. Firstly, it's headless - so no resonating headstock to dampen out certain frequencies. Second, it's only got four materials used in its construction; The Carbon/Graphite cloth, the resin, the epoxy filler inside, and the (presumably) steel of the truss-rod. All of whose consistency can be controlled during manufacture. Thirdly, it's a monocoque- Neck and body are one fabrication. Does improved energy transfer thorugh the body help? Lastly, it's relatively lightweight compared to other basses- that may influence matters also. One final point. I've played about 12 Vigiers. A mix of S2, S3 and S4 Passions and Arpeges, including 3 or 4 Excesses. Whilst I wasn't that keen on the Excesses (apart from one!), The rest have proven to be remarkably consistent. I played one that was 5 later than mine in the line of production, and but for the finish and the Maple wings, it might as well have been mine. Likewise the Statii. The Streamlines vary VERY little from one to the next. Seems like you can have consitency (up to quite a fine point) from such instruments, but the corollary to that might be a loss of "individual character", but as we all know, the greatest contributor to the overall sound is the player and their playing style! Hope that (sort of) answered the question!

[quote name='E sharp' post='846749' date='May 24 2010, 06:50 PM']I'm suprised that no one has mentioned the Viger Excess models and the like , as they all now have wooden necks , graphite rods , and no trussrods (Vigier state the trussrods can affect the tone - as Ped stated) . This may be a good halfway house for many . Everyone should try one...[/quote] (I mentioned the Vigier Passion S3 back on Page1. It's a 10/90 through-neck) For some reason, all but one of the Excesses I've played have been a bit "ordinary". I do think that truss-rods make two differences, one practical and one sonic; If you've got a truss-rod, you can modify your neck relief to suit your playing style as well as / instead of tinkering with the action. If it's right from the outset, a rodless neck will be fine- provided it stays that way. Which is where the stability of carbon/graphite comes into play. Sonically speaking, the absence/presence of a truss rod is noticeable. My S3 just sings. However, when slapped, I find it lacks a certain "clanging resonance" that my Status Streamline has in abundance. That bass has a truss-rod. My Warwick Infinity does it best, but I reckon that's down to the heavy (and hard!) Zebrano body. If I ever ordered a custom wood/graphite instrument, It'd probably have a Zebrano body. Oh no! another idea...

[quote name='Fat Rich' post='846422' date='May 24 2010, 12:20 PM']But there's no way you're going to get a graphite neck to sound like a wooden bass and vice versa, so I reckon you need one of each. Or several of each![/quote] Works for me! Now I've got the justification, all I need is to find a Lane Poor/ Aguilar Modulus Flea in Silver flake, a Vigier Passion IV (S2) and a Status S2 (Neck through)... Oh and about £3K. For second-hand ones, naturally!

I own most of the available combinations apart from a graphite neck-through (Status S2 or Vigier S2) or a graphite neck with a wooden fretboard. I don't own a fully graphite-necked bolt on either (Status, Modulus, Cutlass etc.) I do believe that the prevalence of phenolic fretboards is a contibutory factor in the snappy tone of the graphite necks. I seem to favour unusual combinations. My Jazz has graphite rods in it, but in the absence of a "normal" one, I've no basis for comparison! The Vigier Passion V (S3) has the 10/90 Maple/Graphite neck-through. Sounds quacky, clicky and plasticky when played acoustically. Plug it in, and it's magic. Weird, but reliable and stable. I don't get the snap and bite. It just sings. My Yamaha Attitude has a phenolic fretboard, and exhibits some of the traits of a graphite-necked instrument. That said, a neck that hefty ought to demonstrate some inherent stablility! The Streamline is an all Graphite/Epoxy, and is different again. It is very snappy and responsive, but that may be down to the headless/bridge tuner design as much as anything else. It [u]is[/u] amazingly stable- it went across 900miles of France in the boot of my car without any issues at all...

[quote name='BigRedX' post='841709' date='May 19 2010, 09:17 AM']Have a read of [url="http://www.liutaiomottola.com/myth/perception.htm"]this for more information on tension and compliance[/url].[/quote] Good article. Well found, BRX. As an adjunct to that, and two other statements in this thread, please consider; That action adjustments may influence "break angle" and [i]slightly[/i] modify your perception of how the string feels. That [i]some[/i] DR strings are round-cored. This does influence the string's compliance (positively) in both my experience and DR's opinion. (And I like it!)

Depends how close to the bridge you like your thumb-rest!

Not [i]exactly[/i]. I chop and change because I like a bit of variety. That said, two of my favourites are; MIA S1 Jazz (Ash body/Rosewood board and completely standard) with 40-100 DR Sunbeams. Works a treat. More output. Greater sensitivity to playing style and an all-round "Bigger" sound, whilst still sounding like a good Jazz should. Warwick Infinity SN4 with Elixir 45,65,80,100. Again, wholly unmodified. Running a slightly high action, so I can really attack the strings (if I want to) without the dreaded buzz. A tricky bass to get sounding good. Too low an action seems to choke the tone. Wearing it too tight against my body robbed the sound of vibrancy and life. It came wearing Warwick Yellow label strings, which were okay. I swapped for Warwick EMPs at the next change, and they were simply awful. I tried a fairly dead Elixir "E on it as an experiment, and liked what I heard. Replaced them with a full set, and that was it. I try out instruments fairly carefully, but for me, the secret's in the strings. I wish I could just stick DR FatBeams on everything and that'd be it, but I think different strings sound better on different basses. The trouble is, finding out which go best with which! That apart, I'm still looking for the perfect Overdrive and/or pre-amp. After 18 years, I still haven't found it!

Been here. Done this, so [i]perhaps[/i] my experience is relevant (up to a point) My Trace head kept on blowing fuses every time I powered it up- from new. Turns out Trace had a new transformer supplier, whose products drew a little more juice at start-up than the originals. Solution? SLOW BLOW fuses. Same value, just the slow-blow variety. Check the value on your internal fuse and replace it with a slow blow variant. Not costly, and you should be able to track 'em down easily enough. Try Maplin or a half-decent HiFi or electrical repair shop. Worth a go. Hope this helps. Alex.

My Warwick Infinity SN4 is a "set-neck" (hence the SN bit!) It's really well done in this case, and the slightly odd overall construction of the body (sliced in two to facilitate the chambering) makes it a sensible idea. If it were bolt-on, you could potentially pull the back off of the bass.. One other advantage; you can sand the base of the neck into the body to give a heel-less design as seen on the picture above. This can help with upper fret access for all you dusty-end polishers out there. Sound wise? I can't tell any difference! I own bolt-ons, Through-necks and a set neck. The quality of the sustain/tone is better/smoother on the through-necks, but that's about it. There are much greater influences at work in the tone of an instrument (pick-ups, string gauge/condition/type, electrics etc.)

BRX's statement captures it in a nutshell. There are TWO aspects to sustain, though. Quantity or duration (which has just been covered above), and Quality- The way in which EVERY note you play decays. Does the sustain drop away gently in an almost exponential fashion, leaving a greater emphasis on harmonic content as it goes, finishing an a warm glow that echoes the original note? Or does it sound like a wounded Wildebeest on its last legs? Sustain is an important characteristic of a fretless instrument, IMO at least...

[quote name='steve' post='838182' date='May 15 2010, 03:10 PM']I believe Josh Homme played guitar through a bass amp with Kyuss, don't know the specific brands (prolly not a Squier tho , not that there's anything wrong with them particularly)[/quote] When I saw him on the first QOTSA tour, he was using some sort of signal splitter after his Ovation, into Sunn amps with 2xflat Marshall 4x12s standing atop an Ampeg 8x10 laying on its side. Olivieri was using an Ampeg 8x10 On a personal note, a guitarist mate plugged into my Trace stack (1048h and 2103h) and was just playing some rapid palm-muted power chords with hefty down-strokes at rehearsals. He wanted to take it home give it loving! We didn't. It was truly terrifying. In a good but evilly loud sort of way. Nice to hear it (the amp) sounding so effortless as it wasn't having to work as hard as usual!

DR Sunbeams made my single-coiled, ash bodied Fender Jazz sound like a monster. God only knows what'd happen with a T-bird...

Not for me. I'd rather have a twin-neck!

All but the Streamline have been gigged (and that's only because I'm band-less at the mo') The Vigier usually gets used for Studio work, as it truly excels there. Gigging mainstays? 2004 MIA s1 Jazz 10th Anniversary Attitude Sheehan Signature 2002 Warwick Infinity SN4 Ibanez SRX 700 (gets the most mileage due to comfort and punchy low-mid tone) Personally, I think it's right to have one or two super-nice instruments to use on selected occasions. If you're playing HUGE gigs where you're not going to get grief from punters and/or gear nicked, then that's great. For many of us, that's a very real issue on a regular basis, so limiting the exposure to risk of your "good stuff" makes good sense. YMMV and all that. Automotive analogy: I'm not taking my Aston Martin banger racing, therefore I think I ought not to take my Alembic down to the local spit & sawdust tavern to have the locals pour beer over it.

Just get a good-sized collection! I haven't played my Ibanez for about 9 months. Eventually, I'll bring it out on a whim and it'll be like having bought a new bass. I like a broad variety of instruments, and have yet to sell one on...

Did it with my MM SR5 fretless ages ago, and have never looked back. Fretless low "B" doesn't seem to articulate the way the high "C" does. Currently using 30, 45,65, 85, 105. Used the heaviest "C" to stop nut rattles, and tweaked the rod/action and did the intonation (needless to say)

[quote name='throwoff' post='815118' date='Apr 22 2010, 04:07 PM']If you can try a Jazzman, by far my favourite[/quote] Smashing basses. As is the chambered Infinity SN4 that I own. Oodles of tone and lots of tonal variety from the J/JJ pickup configuration. One note of caution- The 26 fret models with short upper horns (Thumb & Infinity methinks) tend to make the bass hang a little unusually. The effect is that it can "throw" the headstock away from you, making the first fret a bit of a reach until you're used to it. Still 34" Scale though.

Doesn't the Michael Manring Zon Hyperbass have a De-tuner on each of its (4) Strings? Triple octave neck, too! 36 un-frets!

As previously stated, Why restrict yourself to just Streamers or 'Vettes? Some Warwicks are guilty of being the same hardware & electrics in a different body. I'd check out the more diverse packages (pick-up wise) offered in; The Corvette or Streamer $$ (MM/MM) The Streamer Jazzman (J/MM) The Corvette FNA Jazzman (J/MM) The Dolphin/Infinity/Vampyre (J/JJ) The Fortress Masterman (JJ but twin EQ!) Any of these will give you a wider variety of tones than a simple J/J Streamer or Corvette might. Beware the weight of some Streamer LXs. I have a '97 Maple-bodied, Wenge-necked VI ("narrow" neck) and it weighs 14lb! It is a monster of a bass though. Try as many as you can. Just to be sure, like!

BRX: I've played [b]2[/b] lightwave equipped basses. 1 was definitely a Sabre of some description. I really thought it'd be right up my street, but both were as previously described. Perhaps both that I played were suffering from a degree of misalignment? A pity, as the design has a great deal of potential when it comes to resolving fundamentals, and I guess the Ice tone takes care of the hrmonics that the optical sensors "overlook"

I have to say I expected very great things from the first Lightwave-equipped bass I tried. Theoretically, there are some very real real advantages to the system, such as lack of magnetic field drag upon strings from pickups, and the option to use different string materials to name just two. I was really disappointed, and figured it was either the bass or myself. To my ears it sounded thin and lacking in output. There was none of the tonal richness and variety I'd expected, and certainly none of the amazing sustain that the system ought to be able to deliver. The second one I tried was the same. There were other basses around which seemed to be just fine, which I played back through the same gear, so it wasn't the amp. All I can think is that I play [i]way[/i] too hard, and that it upsets the system's ability to sense the strings' motion properly. That or my sweaty mitts were wreaking havoc with the sensors. I should imagine that any kind of moisture has the potential to interfere with any light-related sensing system. I really wanted to like them, but I just don't think they're for me. Unusually GASless for once!

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='810086' date='Apr 18 2010, 10:07 AM'][i]"But in the spirit of HRI, shouldn't we start an argument about how much safer they would have been with a W/D/W 8x10 rig with with two 1x18's to reduce side impact?"[/i] Quality. [/quote] I [i]was[/i] going to post a statement like; "A car driver was inadvertently saved by his Ampeg 8x10 when his vehicle broke down on a level crossing. It de-railled the oncoming freight train whilst he remained stuck in the car. The train driver was, however, not so fortunate. He now bears the legend "SVT III" imprinted backwards in his forehead..." But as someone's already done it, I won't!