Al Krow

Just re-read my OP on this thread: oh how optimistic I was about my self-control back in those days! 🤣 Kinda amusing that I thought I would have the self control to only get one 5er; I've just recently got my collection up to six having moved another four on along the way

I suspect it will be informative / interesting / useful to hear what you felt was 'missing' for you with your Status and Sei? I did try a headless Status recently with a view to buying, but having driven for nearly two hours to get there it wasn't for me...maybe it was the amp and cab, or that particular bass & pups; but despite having a 4 band EQ I just found it lacking in tonal sweep. Such a shame - it was a stunning looking bass! And I know plenty of folk do love their Statii.

Sounds like (i) you have impeccable taste and (ii) are in for a treat

Spent a pleasant couple of hours getting my SLC-5 set up tonight - previous owner liked his action set quite high, particularly on the E and B strings so I lowered these and also managed to sort the intonation. Back of my mind and my biggest concern was your earlier comment about the sound being weak on your NS2000 and this putting you off Spectors for a while. I mentioned yesterday my first impression that the neck pup has a fulsome low end and generally good output; the neck pup, on the other hand, was definitely a bit 'thinner' when I tried the bass out last night but pretty easily sorted this evening by my raising the bridge pup height to be closer to the strings. End result: great to have the more aggressive bridge pup now punching its weight! Just spotted that Mrs Krow has finished watching an episode of Poldark on iPlayer, so my turn to ditch the headphones and crank the noise up! 😀 Update: since spent a good hour working through material for the weekend gig. Initial sense that this was going be tonally versatile, which is something I really appreciate in my basses, has already been totally borne out. It has a tonal range that goes from neck pup solo'd with treble rolled off for Motown, via a smooth, sweeter, slightly mid-cut with both pups engaged for sitting comfortable in the mix, through to a raunchy bridge pup to cut through the mix for modern rock that can be made even more aggressive (should you ever want!) with a touch of mid-boost. And it's a pleasure to play with a very comfortable neck. Although it's only a little heavier than my Yammys, my shoulder was definitely feeling it by the end of the session! I think I'm going to need to invest in a double shoulder strap - any of you guys got one that you're using you can recommend? If that deals with the slightly heavier weight, this bass is likely to be a keeper that I'm sure I'm going to want to regularly gig.

I've never played a Bogart, but they do look good and seem to have got themselves quite a following. If you're preferring the Bogart ahead of your Pedulla then that is saying quite a lot, right?! Would you say Bogarts were in direct competition to Status?

Catch up with bass, without wife? 😀 Glad the clean patch proved useful.

This thread was very helpful to me when I was first looking to get a 5 string nearly 3 years back, and didn't know my 'benchmark' Fender from the back of my Yammy. I now pretty much only play 5'ers! There have been a bunch of new and excellent 5 string basses released in the past couple of years so, in case there are fellow BC'ers who are looking for a steer on getting a 5'er, I thought it might be timely to ask folk to share thoughts on their current 5 string bass favourites to bring this thread up to date. @Dad3353 has kindly 'refreshed' the thread for us so that our earlier posts are easily read - many thanks for doing that!

Tbf I've been thinking about getting a Spector for a while - they have a great reputation and, with their neck through, elegant body plus 24 easily accessible frets, head turning good looks. But I've struggled to find a neck through 5er with a 3 band EQ, so when you spoke glowingly about the Spector Legend Custom model, which I'd not come across before and which ticked both those boxes, and I recalled seeing one in the FS in vgc for a reasonable price, combined with you freeing up a space on my bass rack, the stars clearly were aligned! So entirely your fault? Possibly not. Major culprit? Yup! 😂 In terms of a London BCers curry with beers - great idea! I think you sound like the man to make that happen!

And that's exactly what I love about it! 😎 121 very easy to access presets should just about be enough to find two or three I really like...

@LukeFRCI completely agree, and your point about a lack of visual metering on multifx comps, which you have rightly touched on before, is a very good one. My earlier post was aimed more, clearly unsuccessfully(!), at getting young master Osiris who is insisting on others applying scientific methodology to back up their statements, to be prepared to do so himself! Personally, I'm very happy to take on board the wisdom and expertise of others on this forum and which I value greatly.

Definitely an important feature! I suspect the incoming Boss SY-1 is going to make that easier still for those of us not inclined to have to resort to deep PC editing each time we want to tweak our synth sound.

Or maybe spend the money on a beer and Brick Lane curry instead? ... 😄

The bass did come with a set of black knobs and a brass bridge to complement the tonal variety, so to follow on from @cetera's red inlays Q, would you: a) leave the set up as is? b) switch the gold knobs --> black? c) as (b) but swap the bridge back to brass? d) completely bling out and keep the gold knobs and add a brass bridge?!

Just bought a Spector Legend Custom off Alin - met up at his place and had a very pleasant time discussing all things bass! He's a real pleasure to deal with and everything was as described. Look forward to catching up with him again soon and I have no hesitation in recommending him. Cheers, Bas

Ok, more seriously and trying to be objective... Core tone is throaty / punchy which is something I like a lot as the foundation 'sound'. The neck pup, in particular has a 'fulsome' low end which I suspect is going to sound just great cranked up in a band mix. Separate volume controls for each pup allow you to blend, although when one pup is set at full the other doesn't really cut in until the volume is set to 7/10 so it's not a particularly 'detailed' blend - more in some ways like having a selector switch. 3 band EQ is pretty decent & combine with the VV controls for the pups => I'm really liking the tonal palette / variety that this bass brings to the party. I can very easily this becoming a staple gigging bass of mine and it will get its first outing at rehearsal Thursday night and hopefully then gigged on Saturday.

So day 0.2 of ownership, you're not really expecting me to say anything but slightly gushy tonight are you? 😁

Hope the OP doesn't mind me, as a fellow WHU fan, crashing his party too much with my own first Spector! This one won't have the greatness of his, but for the price I'm hoping it will be a bit of a Legend. It was a little bit 'love at first sight' when I picked this one up earlier this evening from a fellow BCer on the other side of the Thames. Maple core with Bubinga outer layer which means the overall weight is substantial at 10.5 lbs, but it feels very well balanced and not 'heavy' to wear. Neck through and 3 band EQ. Been a bit a of a journey getting me here but, I have to admit, I'm really chuffed at finally having joined this particular club

That one person btw is @HazBeen and he's an excellent chap and knows a thing or two about pedals, bass and engineering! I'd take his word (over mine) every day of the week! Bass world should absolutely be about fun, so I'm glad that laughter has been restored to the world of El Cid.

Well ok - I think Peter and Harry have kindly confirmed my view that the Stomp synths don't come close to the FI. Not sure why that caused you so much angst? Anyway I hope their corroboration has dealt with your query / interest and provided adequate support for my 'outrageous' claim on this! I do appreciate you're not a fan of 'best of' threads; that's cool - simply avoid them, there are plenty of alternatives. Glad you have a background in science and are keen to establish evidence to support claims made. That is the way of progress. My turn if I may : you have ad nauseam claimed that compression makes a difference to your sound. Adopting a scientific methodology, if you are able to provide clips (e.g. with your bass for which you have set up your Stomp patches and both with and without multi-band Stomp compression, so we can easily A/B?) to provide some evidence to support that claim, that would be very welcome. I am sure you are right but, as you say, evidence to back it up would be great, otherwise it's just hot air and should be ignored. Sauce for the goose and all that, eh? 😉

What also makes my bass life better is the kindness of fellow BC'ers! I've just been offered, for free, and completely unsolicited a fret wrap that was going spare. I'm gonna avoid the said individuals' blushes by not naming him, but the first round of beers will definitely be on me when we get a chance to meet up!

Thanks - much appreciated. I'm actually 'viewing' a Legend Custom tonight (entirely your fault btw for getting me interested in looking at these! 😁) and which is part of the reason of my urgent canvassing of opinion from the wider Spector BC community! If you have chance to pop yours on the scales - I'd be really interested to know what it weighs in at?

Got a pic / link to where we can source for us?

Haha - bit tricky to meet your every whim Mr Sidilicious, when I'm currently between synths! Btw why the sudden interest in this particular comparison, when you posted earlier on this thread that synths are not something you're fussed about? Sorry you seem to have picked up a cough. Benylin? So how about posting some of your multiband comp settings and letting the rest of us take a view on how useful (or not) they are for our set ups? At a minimum, it will certainly be a useful jumping-off point...

I've always loved my Nordy big singles on my Ibbys - do please let us know how you get on with the Zen Blades.

Much as I dislike agreeing with Cuzzie on pretty much anything bass related (don't worry it's entirely mutual, I can assure you 😁), on this subject, given his professional background, there's no question Mr C definitely knows what he's talking about! Back to Schecters?