Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

tvickey

⭐Supporting Member⭐
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    292

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by tvickey

  1. tvickey
    Nice! What is the power rating and impedance of one of these 4x10" vintage cabinets? Do they have Speakon input connections in the back?
  2. tvickey
    Thanks for asking! We recorded five songs over two days. Drums first, with 'scratch' tracks laid down for everyone else. We laid the real bass down after that, using about 3-6 takes for each song. I had the opportunity to hear cleaned-up versions of the bass when the guitarist laid down his bit. Sounding really good... the bass definitely has a real GK sound to it, with a lot of depth and a little bit of growl here and there. Still waiting for the final 'draft' of the mix to be sent back to us from the sound guy... and we need to go back into the studio to do another 10 or so songs. I was wondering to myself if I should bring a 15" into the studio... and record on both the 10" Ampeg and the 15", in addition to the direct out. Just to see if it makes an even better bass sound. But, already sounding really nice!
  3. tvickey
    Used a Gallien-Krueger Legacy head into an Ampeg 4x10" cabinet, which then went into three tracks (direct output from the head, AKG D112 MKII mic, Shure SM57 mic). Sounds really good so far.
  4. tvickey
    Ready to head to the studio tomorrow to start recording with the rest of the guys. In addition to these Warwicks, I'm bringing the GK Legacy head and will use that together with a cabinet in the studio. The head has a direct out (pre- or post-eq), and the studio has AKG D112 and Shure SM57 mics. Should sound really great I hope.
  5. tvickey
    Right, so I can now confirm that the black gunk on the fretboard is not from the strings. I just took a clean cloth and rubbed it down a couple of the strings that I removed and got basically nothing. Clean.
  6. tvickey
    This looks like some kind of machining residue to me... don't know. Now I need to wash my hands before and after playing.
  7. tvickey
    🤣Smells like fish drizzled with lemon now!
  8. tvickey
    The fretboard on this one is Wenge.
  9. tvickey
    A world of difference with the Ernie Balls... the low-B is there and sounds great. While taking off the factory strings, I realized that whoever initially put them on didn't leave enough length for decent windings around the post for the low-B. It was one winding of a really tapered string. I always aim for three tight winds around the posts, as in my photo here.
  10. tvickey
    Thinking to myself, "Should I put lemon oil on the new fretboard? Nah... that's silly, right? It's a brand new bass so it must be clean. Oh wait, what's that dark residue on the fretboard? OMFG" I've occasionally played basses for a really long time before changing strings and oiling the fretboard, but I've never seen anything like this. I don't know what those strings were, but they were s*%t and had to come off for sure. Garbage, absolute garbage.
  11. tvickey
    So, the package from the distributor arrived. They sent me a Rockcare fretboard protector and a new pack of Black Label strings. But these new Black Labels look like Black Labels... and have the plain brass (uncolored!) balls at one end, with the twiddly / spiraling bit on the other. I've decided not to put these on, and just go with my usual (Ernie Balls). Had they sent me the Warwick EMP bass strings I might have used those... but they didn't. Anyway, now that it's the weekend I'll re-string the bass, do a full setup with adjustments, and hope it sounds much better.
  12. tvickey
    For some reason the light reflecting off the metal bridge made it look like there is some kind of discoloration, but there isn't! Bridge is a nice solid dark grey / metal color.
  13. tvickey
    Thanks @mrtcat, that is very interesting. I checked the Bass Direct website just now, and the new Corvette 5 $$ that they just got in also has those same strings. Look at where the strings make contact with the machine heads on the bass. They really don't look like Black Labels on that end either (compare with my earlier photo of the LX4 GPS).
  14. tvickey
    The black stealth bass arrived. I opened the case, immediately took this photo, and thought to myself, "It's almost too pretty to play. What if it gets hurt? Could I gig this? Yeah... definitely." It is also a superb sounding instrument.
  15. tvickey
    I've looked in the gallery, but I cannot find any basses at all that have colored ball ends. Are you able to point out an example? Or are you just referring to the tapering on the low-B?
  16. tvickey
    If one wanted to avoid using tapered strings altogether, perhaps this wide-slot saddle insert would be better than what is on the LX5 for the low-B now.
  17. tvickey
    Yes, I discovered that a short while ago too, after googling around a bit.
  18. tvickey
    The other important information is that the ends of the strings going into the tuners on the LX5 (for A, D and G at least) do NOT look like the ends from the Black Label strings on my GPS LX4 Streamer (photo below). At that end they also look like D'Addario strings. 😂
  19. tvickey
    The next conspiracy theory: Is it possible that D'Addario strings are made by the same basic out-sourced manufacturer as the Warwick Black Labels, say somewhere in China? Was there a limited-term packaging mix-up? Perhaps at the Warwick factory the strings are delivered as large quantities of singles with E, A, D, G being mis-labeled D'Addarios, and the B genuine Black Label?
  20. tvickey
    Believe me, I thought about taking these strings under a microscope and comparing them to D'Addarios. We could get the alloys in them analyzed... I'm happy to send them off somewhere.
  21. tvickey
    BTW @Silvia Bluejay: I like your profile banner. This is almost what I have on my bass, except the low-B ball end is not purple. 😂 Looks like you're left-handed?
  22. tvickey
    I had this same thought as well @Silvia Bluejay. Will the new pack of strings that I receive in the post have colored ball ends? I think not, but hey I could be surprised... Maybe D'Addario bought out Warwick strings and now supplies them all? Does this mean an improvement for the Black Labels? When will they start making the low-B have a purple ball end? So many questions!
  23. tvickey
    Update: The distributor intervened and reassured me that this is a bespoke bass built just for me. This is consistent with the serial number on my bass, which includes an M = December and a 19 = 2019. So indeed it appears to be newly built and it is very unlikely that it has taken some strange convoluted route through Germany, or spent a large fraction of its time up on a shop wall. The distributor is sending me a fretboard protector, as well as a new set of strings. The explanation (provided by the distributor) is that some Warwick strings now have colored ball ends,. This information differs from what Warwick just told me earlier this morning. I encouraged them to make the community aware with some twitter / facebook posts, and perhaps an insert that comes with the bass ("hey, our Black Label strings now feature colored ball-ends!"). Beware: your new Warwick bass might arrive with strings that look like D'Addarios (except the low-B, which does not yet have a colored ball end).
  24. tvickey
    I'm still waiting to hear back from Peach Guitars (who sold me the LX5), but a quick google of the model number on my certificate returned this webpage from Zoelch Musikhaus (screen snapshot attached), where a GPS Streamer LX5 in cream white with black hardware had recently been in stock. The mystery deepens and there are now more questions... Is this where my bass came from? Did Zoelch Musikhaus put D'Addarios on some of the strings before returning it to Warwick? Why did it get a new 'mugshot' photo taken with the D'Addarios on when passing through Warwick? Why didn't Warwick just put on new strings? Should I ask for a small refund, as this was possibly not a true 'custom' build?
  25. tvickey
    Thanks for your comments and input, everyone. Warwick now confirmed via email that none of their strings have colored ball ends (but this community already knew that!). Response was basically, "Our Black Label strings do not have colored ball ends, none of our strings have colored ball ends, why would you need that?" @Monkey Steve: Interesting about your fretboard protector and the strap buttons. Regarding the strings on my bass, I posted the Warwick factory 'mugshot' photo earlier in this thread and there you can very clearly see that the bass strings have colored ball ends! Still a big mystery... and a mis-matched set!
×
×
  • Create New...