bassmayhem

I all of a sudden stumbled over yet another Unicorn. I got that one in a trade, though. I actually got two basses in that deal. The Unicorn is a 10th anniversary, one of ten made. 32" scale and four band eq. My three Unicorns are totally different animals due to the custom building process. My main bass, my BRG Purist, is the "muscle bass" - a lot of attitude. The White Gem is like a very elegant Jazz Bass. The 32", kind of faded jeans coloured one, is the most "Alembic-ish" in tone of them all. The other bass I got the same day was a nice Gibson Memphis ES Les Paul short scale bass from 2017.

I've never tried a real Fodera, but this bass is a really good bass; well built, fun to play and sounds good. We have an expression in Swedish; furniture bass (möbelbas). This one is in that category. I got a wall of them now...

I just couldn't let this one pass. On profit or loss I bought a bass just because I liked the look of it. Not an original, but a copy(!) of another bass. The original is the Fodera Imperial - out of reach for most of us, at least for me - and this is a copy built by the Ukrainian luthier Stas Potokilo (or Potokylo) some years ago. He uesd to work at Fodera it is said... I got it really cheap, didn't really plan to buy another bass, but you know the nature of bass players... (I sold a lot of stuff, just so you don't think my middle name is Musk... ) It arrived nicely and well packaged, took a while to get inside the wrapping, but what was in the cocoon was a really nice bass. New strings and a setup to my liking and we were ready to go. I used it yesterday at the school's Christmas party in the church in the village where I work.

Front and back against an ugly wall...

I have promised not to tell what I paid. But they ain't cheap. I bought this second hand so I got it at a very good price. Think Wal, Smith and basses like these. All wood is ecologically sustainable, as are glue and varnish. That's the Unicorn principle. All the instruments and speaker cabinets he builds are signed by Christian. Check the web site for info. https://www.unicornbass.se/

Check some of his recent builds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2Sfp2bYy0w&t=25s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM3G8t-mP5Q Christian makes magic...

One for each situation.

Yesterday I bought a very nice 6 string Unicorn Artist. This is the third Unicorn for me; the first - a 32" four string - I sold to a friend. The 32" was not for me. My second was, or is, my jolly green giant, the five string in British Racing Green. This one is the most flamboyant of all basses I've ever had. Lots and lots of different wood species. The best thing is, it is solid as a rock, sounds like a HUGE Jazz Bass in my hands, and really demands me to wear a tuxedo... Anyway, I like it!

I've owned a sh*tload of Dingwalls, but sold them all. My first was a 6 string Prima, my second was a purple Sklar, then a Super P4, Super J4, Super J5, Super P5, and then a three pickup Afterburner 5 with wenge neck. The last ones I owned were the Super P4 and Super J4. A good friend of mine fell in love with the Super P4, so he bought it from me. Why did I sell them? Well, Dingwall tended to "lean towards metal players" and I ain't one of them. Silly thoughts, maybe... But the main reason was, that Dingwall didn't offer what I wanted: a fan fret bass with 37"-34" scale AND 19 mm (or 3/4") spacing on the same five string. Hence, I got my Payson Supercharger that offered just that. Another thing I didn't adapt to was the pickup switching system. I didn't want to switch - I wanted to blend. Like on a Jazz Bass. My all passive Payson does that too. Another thing that made me sell the Sklar bass was the thin body, giving the bass an anemic tone, if you didn't tweak the eq. I don't like to tweak eq. I don't like eq at all. I am happy with a passive tone control. Also, I went back to regular non fan fret instruments more and more. My main bass now is my beautiful British Racing Green bass built by the fantastic Swedish luthier Christian Olsson at Unicorn Bass. 99 % of the time my Green Machine goes to gig with me. Yes - the Dingwalls were good. Very good. We just grew apart...

Yep, but they are not your average cabinet. High end woofers from "an Italian high quality manufacturer" and some high end German crossover circuit stuff. Not to mention the very precise tooling and crafting by Maïtre himself... And - they are built on order, not mass produced.

The construction is VERY stiff and sturdy. No vibrations what so ever in the box itself down to low B. Solid!

I've had a sh'tload of P-basses, though I really am a Jazz Bass guy. Still I only own one(!) Jazz Bass... Earlier this spring I bought a sunburst '78 that I hoped to keep. A young friend of mine reached out and said: "I am born the same year as the bass, let me trade my Fender Roscoe Beck V for it." The Roscoe Beck was a bass more of my liking, so the old buoy sinker was traded. I already had a plan and bought myself a beautiful new Fender Vintera II 60's P-bass. Light as a feather, Olympic White and with the wider and flatter neck that I like. Well, here it is...

Tomorrow I get my new cabinet delivered from Unicorn Bass, who makes the best basses around i.m.o. My British Racing Green Purist is a Unicorn creation. This is a small, yet very potent cab with a 12" woofer and a 6" mid/high speaker. 600 W RMS at 8 ohms and a tone somewhat like a good studio monitor minus the high treble. No tweeter in this one. High end components throughout. Small footprint, can be used horisontal or vertical. I will use this one with my Genzler Kinetix. Rather ravishing too; note the back panel in purpleheart...

It can surely go all the way from super clean, but with a "crystal gloss" to the tone, and all the way into Bass Mayhem... Despite my nick name, I prefer it clean(ish) but with some breakup when diggin' in...

Well... Now it is here. I expected a tube amp, and it feels very close to that. Tone from clear and soft to smooth growl: not the harsh broken sound many amps produce. A fine growl... The only downside is that it doesn't look like a Fender Bassman, but that is no issue. The amp responds to your touch in a pleasant way, the tone blooms according to touch. With all controls at noon, except for master volume, you get a good starting point. The only thing I've done is cut som treble to 9 o'clock. The lean/fat/thick switch in fat position is what I prefer. My main bass - the Unicorn Purist - has rather low output, and due to that very wide tonal range. With that bass I set the mute/on/boost switch to "boost!". On my other basses I set just "on". Powerful! Dynamic! Neat! Yep - a keeper! I like it... And - I like the new knobs. The old ones were a bit difficult to see when tweaking...

...still waiting...