three

Apologies for the poor image quality but an opportunity to re-unite twins for a quick shoot (non-identical and parted at 15 months)

Had the chance to play this on Thursday - the twin to my own. Outrageous in every respect. Some staggering custom appointments. I’m firmly on the positive side re: bics

12 hours ago, karlfer said:

9lb 3oz, same as it says in the first post Loz ya muppet 🤣

I would have thought it would be 2 piece Ash, but I'm buggered if I can see the join 🤔

Hahaha, I was sure that I’d looked carefully - muppet is probably a very polite descriptor! I’ve had a look on a large monitor and still can’t see a join - really could be a one piece. The body of my ‘76 was made of three - and three pieces of the heaviest timber known to humanity

On 19/09/2019 at 08:22, glassmoon said:

Ah, at MPH Guitars?  Nice!  Thank you

 

What sayeth this group about the Bass Gallery?  I would be most interested to hear any thoughts

I tend to use the Gallery for anything difficult or important and travel from Manchester for the privilege. First rate - Martin is by far my favourite of the UK builders - his work and John’s are superb

Wow! Utterly trustworthy and extremely knowledgeable seller with superb taste. I know this from experience. 

Looks like a fab price for such a quality instrument! I’ve always held Pedulla’s to be right at the top of quality tree and the tone in the vid only reinforces that

Absolutely lovely - very similar to my original ‘76 (now long gone) but a luxury version! And from one of BC’s most trusted sellers. I’m on my phone - is this a one piece body? Also, what’s the weight (the ‘76 was very heavy)? 

Possibly slightly off-topic but I use passive ATC monitors at home (for programme not bass guitar) and they always sound better when they’ve been running for half an hour. I don’t experience the same with bass through a Berg 210. Back to topic, I always treat new drivers/cabs fairly gently for the first few days (just impulse rather than any understanding of the science) - I blew speakers fairly frequently in the ‘79s and ‘80s. I suspect that contemporary designs - especially at the higher end - are much more robust

The Alembic configurator is fun and one can pay more than twenty times the price for something just as custom and nearly as ugly. Though Alembic struggle to meet these lead-times

12 hours ago, juliusmonk said:

It indeed is... maybe your chance to try 5-strings 😊 it’s also a 34” which is not that usual so it feels more compact than most other 5ers

I've been down that route many times only to come back to 4s - I'd be delighted if 5s worked for me and the Luthman would be my first call... and bump - a gorgeous instrument!

I keep coming back to this - really lovely (but I don’t play fives). An exquisite instrument at a great price IMO

Very cool and unique!  I had a Shuker and the quality of work was outstanding

Looks lovely - great antidote to the rubbish that Fender (especially CS) puts out

The finest pre I’ve ever used (and I’ve tried, tested and used a lot - it’s a bit of an obsession). These are beautifully designed, heavily over-engineered and sound amazing. Super clean and accurate but with an impressive warmth. There’s a kind of subtle but immensely musical compression - a liquidity in which each note is held perfectly and abutted to the next without any degradation of attack. Almost impossible to find now - the Thomann stock sold fast! If I was to choose just one pre, it would be this (by a very large margin)

Thanks all for the very kind words re: my post above - the WA is extraordinarily impressive - it can certainly do everything that the Noble can and much more besides.  It's been a bit of a revelation.  The form factor isn't as convenient as the Noble but the review accolades appear to be richly deserved.  I think that the WA could make pretty much everything sound good/better

On 29/08/2019 at 13:42, Jus Lukin said:

Very cool! I was thinking of have an 1176 type in a live rig, and perhaps even a Pultec EQ, too!

Are you running the Klark Teknik in the loop?

I can strongly recommend the Warm Audio - a superb Pultec clone - it’s displaced the Noble for now

3 hours ago, StuartB said:

How are you defining 'collector grade'?

I'm sure that Si will reply more fully but for me, in very simple terms, it's (a) originality of all parts, (b) unmolested condition of those parts, and (c) condition of the finish.  Thus for me, the bass in the question meets the basic criteria 

I've always liked the look of this one - pity Wals don't suit me at all (and I've spent a long time trying)

Excellent pre, extraordinary bargain (in my opinion, of course)

22 minutes ago, Bigwan said:

At 350 euro I would imagine so. I think if I was wielding the soldering iron I could do it for 1/10th of that...

What is the little speaker cab by the way?

The cab’s a CVA with a B&C coax 8” driver  - I think it’s a high-end pro install unit found in clubs and venues. It works beautifully as a full range small bass cab with excellent resolution (a bit like a good studio monitor). I suspect you’re right re the soldering iron - a £50 buffer unit would probably do the job but might not look as pretty. I was alerted to actives/buffers and passive basses by Chris May - I have one of his PJs with an internal Overwater designed East buffer. Beautiful and difficult to return to straight passive after using it. The ASC just appears to give ‘more’ of the character tone of any given passive bass. Not like taking a duvet off the speakers but maybe a chiffon scarf

3 hours ago, Bigwan said:

What's the ASC-20? Can't find any info on it...

Apologies, it’s an Alembic Active Super Cable as seen here:

https://www.station-musicshop.de/epages/64398533.mobile/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/64398533/Products/3694&Locale=en_GB

It works! Though I suspect there’s a cheaper way of achieving similar!

As with all of Martin's work, just beautiful - such an elegant and refined realisation of an updated classic

Absolutely lovely - as an Overwater player, I can strongly recommend.  Some very expensive options on this, including the MOP inlay - I had this on an Overwater a few years ago and it was beautifully executed.  This looks like an outrageous bargain to me - good luck with the sale!

Just now, scalpy said:

Don't want your Noble, eh????!

hahaha, not sure I'd go that far, though I doubt there'd be much problem in arranging a sale (they really are as lovely as their reputation and price would suggest, and the form factor is brilliant for both stage and studio)

Baby rig in my studio/office - the little ASC-20 gets more use than the Noble (frankly the ASC is an amazing bit of kit but there's probably a much cheaper way of achieving the same - though the ASC's box is lovely)