bjelkeman

Maybe flog that Roadstar you got first eh?

Jonny is demoing the D1126 (the D for tweeter). He says it has incredible bottom end for being so leightweight. He says the good things with the TKS D1126 are: the small size, the low weight, the bottom end sound and the clarity of the sound. I'd add that the price is great too. Having actually heard AB testing of the full range of the TKS speakers this spring I can comfortably say that no video give true justice to the sound. Here is a picture of the testing with Tommy in the middle. [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/8706305337/][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/8706305337/]TKS testing at Glanshammar 2013[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/bjelkeman/]bjelkeman[/url], on Flickr

I am so glad you like them! After all I feel a bit responsible.

Hugs to you and your buddy! My sticks man just SMSed me. Gonna give him a good one when I see him.

@waterofthyne didn't realise you play a Promethean P5110 as well. That is my lightweight/backup.

I really like the TKS speakers I have heard, and I have listened to a bunch of them and played some too. I have TKS 212 at the moment, but I have custom ordered a pair of 2126 (diagonal layout of the 12s and an additional 6 inch). Really looking forward to them. I think the Swedish bass forum, PrataBas.se, has a list of over 115 base players with some 170 cabinets. We Swedes do like them TKS cabs. They sound amazing. They are good value for money and they are very lightweight to boot. Edit: Splling

My black Ibanez basses [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/8627372445/][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/8627372445/]Ibanez Roadstar II Series RB-960 (1985)[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/bjelkeman/]bjelkeman[/url], on Flickr [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/8656707907/][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/8656707907/]An Ibanez SR-305 to learn what the future has brought[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/bjelkeman/]bjelkeman[/url], on Flickr [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/8732405879/][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/8732405879/]Ibanez AEB10, aucustic bass[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/bjelkeman/]bjelkeman[/url], on Flickr [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9217881950/][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9217881950/]Ibanez Roadstar RB-850 (1984)[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/bjelkeman/]bjelkeman[/url], on Flickr

[quote name='megallica' timestamp='1372915992' post='2131531'] Looks great Thomas, you know that I'm a little bit jealous of your Ibanez collection Especially 70's and 80's Ibanez [size=1]sell it to me[/size] [/quote] Maybe I will. Stranger things have happened!

Never owned a white bass before, but here is the first one. [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9192808907/][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9192808907/]Ibanez Musician MC924PW (1985)[/url]

Just added a Musician MC924 to the collection. It was Polar White originally, but has gone more Cream since it was made in 1985. Not exactly in perfect nick, but ok from a distance. Actually it feels and looks more like a Roadstar of the same time, I have an RB-960, than a Musician. [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9192808907/][/url]

@grayn not sure. Depends on what GAS sets in I suppose. A few more pictures: [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9149922498/][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9149925024/][/url]

Yeah, a lot of us in Sweden are going with the local speaker mfg TKS and his best selling boxes are based around 12s. I have just ordered new 2x 2128s (or the not announced replacement for them in the autumn), which were just fabulous when I tested them earlier this year with a Mesa Carbine M9. And they are very light as well, 46 lb each, or so. Gotta love em.

Thanks guys. @CamdenRob fashion in Stockholm is black. More black and a bit if brown thrown in. I get bored to tears. So I try to liven up the situation with some colour!

True, it was added later as an online upgrade. They also added it to the sold CDs eventually. We'll, here is to hoping it comes with bass integrated fully from the beginning.

Trip report can be found here: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/211012-visit-to-mayones-guitars-and-basses-gdansk-poland/

Last week, 19 June 2013, I went to Gdansk in Poland together with my wife. The primary reason for going to Gdansk was to visit Mayones Guitars and Basses. I live in Stockholm, Sweden, so the trip to Gdansk isn’t too far. It is about an hour’s flight from Skavsta airport, south of Stockholm. [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9141250281/"][/url] [b]Me in front of the Mayones office and workshop[/b] Initially when I was investigating how to get there I looked at all the main airlines, which wanted € 200-300 / US$ 250-400 / £170-250 per person to get there and back from Stockholm, mostly via Berlin. Not really ok, as I could get a decent bass for that. But then I found the Hungarian low cost airline Wizzair, which wanted € 45 / US$ 60 / £ 38 per person. More reasonable, however, don’t fly far with them if you are tall. I don’t think I have ever been seated in a more cramped space. I am 190 cm / 6.2 feet, which of course doesn’t help in these type of situations. [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9141251185/"][/url] [b]A small showcase corner in the Mayones reception[/b] I had been communicating with Michael Gabryelczyk, at Mayones before going. Mike works as marketing and artist manager, and he was very supportive regarding my visit and helpful when we got there. We took a taxi from the airport and we got to Mayones’ workshops just after lunch. The workshop is on an industrial estate that has some of that slightly unkempt look to it. Mayones are in a few low-slung unassuming buildings, which are quite easy to find as it is marked quite clearly with signs. When we arrived, one of the first things that we noticed was that the whole Mayones outfit has a very relaxed attitude. They don’t seem to get a ton of visitors and they don’t really have a showroom as such. Mike had warned me about this beforehand. Essentially all their basses go straight from the workshop to the resellers and customers. You can’t go to Mayones’ workshops and expect to test a particular bass that you are looking for. They have a few basses at the reception area, but not what I have been looking to buy myself, but I knew that before I travelled. [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9141291671/"][/url] [b]Mayones reception area with signed pictures from Mayones endorsees[/b] Mayones is a family business with the mother and two brothers running it. It was started in 1982, when Poland was still behind the Iron Curtain and it was very hard to get hold of any type of electric guitars in Poland. So the family setup a guitar business in their garage. Mayones moved to the current facilities in the ‘90s and have been expanding them gradually ever since. Today the company have about 30 employees of which 25 are luthiers working at one stage or another in the workshop. Five people work with sales, marketing and administration. Mack Konczak, who works with international resellers and distributors, showed us around the workshops. First we went to the main wood storage where the wood is kept, sometimes for years, to dry out. From there we walked passed the paint shop, which didn’t have many guitars in process, on towards the wood workshop, which is currently being expanded to deal with the current surge of orders which Mayones is having. (When I say guitar I am using it interchangeably for guitars and basses. Although they make more guitars than basses.) At the same time the wood workshop is being used to make instruments, so you can imagine that it was a bit hectic in there. The workshop isn’t laid out in exact sequence of how the work happens, so in this walkthrough you may see some things out of order compared to how you may expect the work to progress. [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9141319213/"][/url] [b]Paint shop[/b] [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9143561528/"][/url] [b]Body materials for guitars and basses[/b] We go to the area where all the instruments are worked on, being fretted, assembled and more. It is a bit overwhelming stepping into a guitar workshop with hundreds of guitars and basses being worked on. Everywhere you look there are bodies or necks hanging, lying or stacked. Every piece I looked at I was trying to figure out what type of guitar or bass it would become. Apart from some minor items which today are produced in a CNC machine, essentially all wooden parts of the guitars at Mayones are handcrafted. [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9141347969/"][/url] [b]Guitars and basses waiting for some luthier love[/b] This year, Mack and Mike told me, they are expecting to make something between 1500 and 2000 guitars. Essentially every guitar is pre-ordered. Business has picked up significantly this year and they are expanding the woodworking part of the workshop to be able to handle all the orders. The majority of the guitars are sold more or less equally in Japan, the USA and in Europe. You don’t see that many Mayones basses for sale on the second hand market, the odd Jabba 5 and a few Be in the UK and in France as far as I can see. But maybe that isn’t very surprising. Mike told us that nearly every bass is customized for the customer, not many are sold “stock” as described on their website. And when you order a customized bass for € 2000 / US$ 2600 / £ 1700 or more, you probably aren’t going to go sell it on the secondhand market that quickly. [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9143583246/"][/url] [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9143593286/"][/url] [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9141370717/"][/url] [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9143600104/"][/url] We saw the room where the guitars hang to dry after painting. I think they called it Bahamas or Bermuda or something such, as it was often very warm there. Here, like in all areas of the workshop, there were some guitar bodies that have been hanging around for years. These were made as test or for expectations of orders that didn’t pan out or some other reasons. I’d love to hang out a bit longer one day and actually go through these in detail. You could get some real lovely things made out of these bodies hanging around. [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9141359769/"][/url] [b]Exotic wood storage[/b] [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9141380043/"][/url] [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9141382863/"][/url] [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9141386777/"][/url] [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9143659574/"][/url] [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9143687628/"][/url] A smaller section of the workshop was where the luthiers that produce the custom shop guitars are crafted. [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9141353605/"][/url] [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9141486705/"][/url] [b]Mayones Custom Shop[/b] Finally we got to the quality-testing department, where a luthier sat and test played a Jabba 5 just as we were walking through. [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9141487679/"][/url] I asked about their choice of hardware and electronics. Most of what they use are their own branded hardware. You can order other components if you want, but essentially they said that the flexibility they get from having their own mics and hardware allows them to respond quickly to changes. And as they make small series they feel that flexibility is necessary. I believe both hardware and electronics are made in Poland. As part of the entrance and reception area Mayones have a small test room with a few guitar and bass amps. It was small enough that you have to watch how you turn with a bass or you’ll knock the headstock in the wall. I got to lay my hands on one of the Be Gothic 4s and also a Jabba Classic 4, which was on its way to Japan. I don’t really get on with Jazz basses for some reason (mic layout and the way I hold my right hand) so I can’t really tell much if they are any good to play. Even though most interest was shown on the forums about the Jabba 5s. Although others say they are really nice players. [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9143727038/"][/url] [b]Mayones Jabba 4[/b] But the Be Gothic 4 which I tried was very nice. Both were lighter than I expected and had a similar neck profile compared to what I am most comfortable with (late 70s and mid 80s Ibanez Musician and Roadstar basses). The room and amplifier setup, Aguilar, and time available, wasn’t such that I really could get a good assessment of how they actually sound, so not much help there from me. [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9141499471/"][/url] [b]Mayones Be 4[/b] If you order a Mayones bass today it has something like a 20-24 week lead time before it is finished. Which is fairly normal in the custom built guitar world. They build guitars in batches, for efficiency, so if you are lucky there is a Patriot 4 (my favorite), or whatever your preference is, sitting on the shelf from a previous batch, which can turned around quicker than that. But after the Musikmesse guitar show in Germany and the NAMM Show in the US this year business has really picked up. Thereby the expansion of the workshop that is ongoing and the longer lead times than they have had before. A big thank you goes out to Mack Konczak and Michael Gabryelczyk and the rest of the Mayones crew, who made our visit to the Mayones guitar and bass workshop a real treat. And for the reader, I hope that this has given you guys and gals a little bit of what you were looking for regarding Mayoness basses. We also spent the rest of the day and the evening in Gdansk, which is a lovely looking old European Hanseatic League city, but that is another story. [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9143745284/"][/url] One place, which does have a few Mayones basses in stock, is Bass Direct in Warwick, UK. Check them out at: [url="http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/"]http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/[/url] More photographs can be found in a [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/sets/72157634340399354/"]Flickr set from the visit[/url]. A version of this post can be found on my blog: [url="http://www.rebar.nu/bass-workshop-visit/visit-to-mayones-guitars-and-basses-in-gdansk-poland/"]http://www.rebar.nu/...-gdansk-poland/[/url] Oh, and I have no affiliation with Mayones, other than being a potential customer.

I am convinced it will be available for bass too, as essentially all the content as a bass track as well as a guitar track (with a few exceptions). Doesn't make sense to now make it guitar only.

Excellent thread. Thank you all, but specially EBS freak.

Using a Saab 9-5. Took this in it earlier this year: 1x410, 1x210, 1x110 combo, 2x112, 1x amp, 4x bass in hard case, 25 t-shirts in box, pedalboard, sleeping gear, 24x beer and still had room for a passenger. [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/9131477685/][/url]

Digging this old thread up. I am working on an inear setup for myself, and our drummer at the moment. I have moulded hearing protection anyway, and they can be fitted with headphones. But I hate cables. I stepped on the headphone cable today, so I am going to try a t.bone wireless system with them, and a cheap mixer table, so I can have full control over what I get.

Rocksmith 2014 is coming in October and is substantially improved. The biggest issue with it now is the fairly frustrating menu navigation, but they are fixing that. I, like great harry, hadn't played for a long time, and this got me back in again on the bass. Without it I probably wouldn't be playing today. Here one can see some of the improvements in the new version. [youtube]http://youtu.be/JWRfbd2ebEs[/youtube]

I can't really be very useful in advice, as I play neither of these basses, but I will post a blog about my Mayones workshop visit a few days ago, next week.

Reading it all is bad for me. It gives me GAS. Here is to the next million. Cheers!

Yeah, a friend asked me today about pictures of a Jabba 5. So I hope to see some. Ah, the Wojtek Custom Pi and Pi 2. They probably don't have any of them in if I can hazard a guess, but then we may get lucky. I will also ask about the hardware.

Will see if them have any Be Exotics in and then grab some pictures.