Paulhauser

26 minutes ago, DiMarco said:

 

@Paulhauser wow that Spector looks very tasty! About the JP: You get used to the 19mm string spacing pretty quick. I play five string basses with various string spacing and actually feel the 19mm works easier once you get used to it. I do not have big hands by the way so I think it is mainly a mentality thing.

 

Thanks for the compliment about my Spector, all glory goes to Stuart and crew, I'm just the caretaker 🙂

As for spacing, I've been there, done that and enough time, basses and experiences passed that I understood my needs and preferences. Sure, I can adapt to almost anything (and my gigging Spector has 19mm but I play that with a pick so that's another story) but in this day and age where we bassists are blessed with an abundance of product to choose from or even have one made and tailored to our own needs one doesn't need to make compromises as long as finances and availability allow. I just feel at home a lot more with tighter spacing, that also goes to my 5'ers, too (17mm)

While I use a BEAD tuned 4 string Spector for my main gig and record with my 5 string Spector NS-5XL so basically all my 'professional' work does not use sixers I have a special place in my heart for them as I love the extended range and actually also the aesthetics of them, too. But they have to be sleek and compact otherwise they won't stay. I liked my Yahama TRB6II and TRB6PII but the necks were too wide and so were the bodies. So anything over 17mm spacing is a no for me (but still I wanna have a Yammie Patitucci at some point even if I know it won't fit) 

So all things considered I currently have these three six string basses, I have them for quite a long time now so they are keepers. 

Spector US Forte

Ibanez Prestige SR3006 and 5006 (with a heavily customized Spector in the middle)

13 minutes ago, Bunion said:

I haven’t tried a great array of Spector’s but  I have tried a great variety of basses over the years and I have to say my 77 with sunbeams is an absolute pleasure to play. 
ive ordered some fat beams to try out with it too. 
My other Spector has Blue steels for a bit more bite, it also doesn’t have the tone pump trim pot so hasn’t the versatility of the 77. 

Cool! Nowadays I'm using either HiBeams / Fatbeams or EB Slinky Cobalts (these are great!). They all sound awesome on my Spectors (and others, too)

3 hours ago, Eldon Tyrell said:

I know, I know but I have a loooong wishlist and GAS is a dangerous and costly disease 😉 Moreover, there is only so much space in our "living" room and I have already been shown the yellow card by my best half. 

Well, it surely is not a bright thing to mess with the Missus especially when shown the yellow card so I get it 🙂 

(Fortunately - for me at least- I have enough space in our office room thus no objections so far....)

3 hours ago, Bunion said:

Your quite right Getting drunk and looking at the classified ads is deadly 🤣😂 

however this time I was quite clear headed, I saw this model when spector set them free into the wild and was determined to catch one. 

Well I don't know you, I only read what's down in your signature 😄

I wrote this elsewhere in this forum but I think some of the best basses that ever came out of the Czech workshop are these two, the 1977 and the 1979.

I don't play 4 string basses. Or rather, my main gigging bass is a Euro 435 tuned to BEAD but that is another kind of 4 string. And I use my other 5 string Spectors (pictured above in this thread) for recording and gigging as I seem to have to have the low B. So in a way I don't have a practical reason to own two 4 stringers that I only play for fun, but I happen to have lots of fun playing the along with some of my fav songs and that is fair enough of a reason to own them (being privileged as no monetary nor space issues could go between us)

1 hour ago, Eldon Tyrell said:

 So, sadly the 77 and another Forte will have to go soon (wink wink ;- )

Ohh come on you know you are gonna regret THAT. 

2 hours ago, Bunion said:

Just got myself one from @Alfie Noakes and I’m finding it hard to put down even though I’ve been playing mostly fretless this last 6 months. 
I’ve got my eye on your 79 too @Paulhauser 😏

 

Nice score, quite a bit of figuring on that one. Seems like you weren't drunk when making this purchase (= very cear minded and clever decision 🙂 )

As for my '79 I have no plans putting up for sale soon, but even if I did me being in the EU a purchase from me would be a hassle now post-Brexit. 

21 minutes ago, barrycreed said:

I have admired the Spector body shape for a while and the headstock. Wonder if they ever did a p pickup only bass? I suppose you could just yank out the j pickup! 😛

Yes they did, it is called Euro 4 LE1977 and it is a wonderful bass, happen to have one. 

edit:

And the new Ian Hill Signature is also a single P 

https://www.spectorbass.com/product/euro4-ian-hill/

10 minutes ago, Graham said:

They do seem rare used, which speaks to the quality

Actually there about are 450-460 pcs of NS-5XL's produced between Stuart Spector started the 35" 5 string NS-5 line and his retirement so there aren't too many to choose from. 

Of course there are Forte5's and the bolt-on fivers but strictly speaking on the NS-5XL, that's the number. Needless to say that the NS-5XL continues to be built after SS sold the company but still in very small numbers, I think now they are around the 500+ mark overall.

On 30/04/2021 at 10:32, Graham said:

I might be in a position to spend a bit of money on a bass later this year, what's the going rate for a used NS5-XL these days?

That's a tricky question as these don't come up for sale used very often. I can't seem to find any used NS-5XL in the EU right now and after quick check none in the UK, too.

There was a beauiful violet NS-5XL for sale here a few months ago with some info on the pricing 

53 minutes ago, DiMarco said:

I haven't played any of the five or four string basses since I got my six string last week.
Just wondering... Is this an addiction?

 

I think that it’s more of an issue of having a honeymoon really. Maybe you are spending all your available time with your new bass because it is new not necessarily because it has six strings - although that might be the key reason 🙂

Six string basses are great by the way, I do enjoy having a run on mine occasionally 

On 24/04/2021 at 22:23, M@23 said:

Sadowsky appears to have become such a confused brand. I know this gets mentioned every time the brand does now, but they’ve gone from a simple, easily identifiable product range, where there was guaranteed quality top to bottom to something where the bottom rung is/was a catalogue of errors and a top line that’s not even made by the master luthier whose name is on the headstock. 

On 28/04/2021 at 17:35, Sibob said:

The whole process from start to finish has been a marketing disaster quite frankly (IMO), which is a shame, because clearly Sadowsky is one of the top names in the bass world.

These two posts summed up pretty much what I have been observing. I hold Roger in high regards, had and used a few of his basses (both Metro and NYC) and a RV5 Metro in white is still on my list but really... I am following all of this with a sunken heart. It all could and should have been going differently. 

6 hours ago, three said:

The videos of US Spector production show just how much hand carving and finishing is involved (despite extensive use of a CNC) and I suspect that this is where most of the differences arise.

Yes, I think this is one of the main reasons apart from maybe customization at some basses, where the customer requests something specific like the neck profile. First I was a bit surprised to be honest, I sort of expected these being exactly the same (and I had another NS-5XL which again was also non-identical) but now I see this as every one of these being a bit different, like having their own personality as opposed to uniformly manufactured mass produced instrument (which I also happen to like for different reasons)

Since replies are always better with pics, here is one with the two in question being on the left.

15 hours ago, three said:

I noticed the other day that my Spector Shortys have differently shaped headstocks.  One was built in 2011, the other in 2015.  The end of the headstock on the 2011 is entirely flat and that on the 2015 is bevelled/angled from front to back (please see the images).  I've no idea why this is the case or whether it's something that is more common on the later Shortys.  I think it's quite a nice aesthetic touch.  Anybody have any idea why the change might have been made? 

While I don't know the specific reason for the change I can say that US Spectors seem to have some differences even within the same modell lineage. My current two NS-5XLs have differently carved neck heels, different headstock depth, peghead angle and body top carve. Also the neck profile is slightly different. The basses are three years and 97 serial numbers away from each other.....

I'm not a professional player as it's not my main source of income but I try to have a professional approach to gigs and part of it is that I don't want to waste anyone's time, including techs, bandmembers and especially the audience. Also my main gig has a setup with back rear screen projection, samples, clicktracks etc and the timing is tight. So should anything happen to my equipmnent or basses I want myself to have it solved quickly and without practically anyone noticing - that is my 'policy'. Therefore I take 2 basses to most of the gigs that I do, I think I can remember only two from the last few years I only took one (plus spare strings etc.)  For about 15 years and hundresds of gigs I pretty much exclusively use my Specor Euro basses and I neved had problems, no string breaks, nothing. I always take my double gigbag with two Spectors and have the spare one ready onstage out of sight so if after all anything does happen I can quickly solve it. 

My bank account wants to say "thank you" for keeping it off limits for me by UK sale only 🙂

Stellar bass and the best Spector color 🙂 GLWTS!

2 minutes ago, Eldon Tyrell said:

Wow. That looks great and yes, this is the proof that nothing is impossible. Congrats!

Thank you. It has an ash back btw and since the pic was taken I have put in X series 45TWs. There is a NBD thread about this bass that I done back when I got it. 

44 minutes ago, Eldon Tyrell said:

Cheers, mate. "Normal" Fortes come with matte finishes and the Aguilar OBP-2 or Darkglass TC preamp. However, upgrades such as the Haz 9V or 18V and nowadays gloss finishes are possible (BD recently had a Forte 5 in gloss plum crazy). I think even crown inlays are doable but I quite like the "naked" no-frills look. However, fancy wood tops are still a no-no for the Forte.   

This is my Forte 6. I think it has quite a fancy top (but opinions may vary) , so yes, nothing is really impossible with these. And I love the plain ebony board on this one. 

50 minutes ago, Eldon Tyrell said:

Speaking of addiction, in case you haven't seen my NBD threat, here is my new Forte 4 (EMG PJx, Haz 9V, alder wings, gloss black finish (still quite unusual for the Forte model) and super light). This beast has some serious oomph and infinite sustain. You hit a string and it literally rings forever. Cool stuff. What's best? Early AIC and Queensryche vibes come for free 😎

 

Congrats here, too 🙂 I took pleasure of your NSD thread and it looks like a fabulous instrument, quite a lot for a 'Forte' (seems like most of the Fortes  are really NS-2/5/6 minus the crown pearl inlays)

23 hours ago, Noisyjon said:

So, I joined the Spector club the weekend just gone!

This one is a beauty and a great addition to the fold. Cannot wait to rev it up with a band!

Congratulations, welcome to the club! Wonderful new bass you have and I can't recall many Euros that I've seen in this satin blue finish. Looks really nice! Have lots of fun with it! 

6 hours ago, Eldon Tyrell said:

Cheers. Yes, still have the other two too.  5 Spector basses in total at the moment: 3 Fortes and 2 Euro basses (Mike Starr LE and 1977 LE). I think I will stop buying any more and instead start saving money for a NS-2 with a finish like this one:

Nahhh, you can still have more, no need to stop. 

As for this pic, I have to say Spector really upped their game with coloured finishes since the Korg takeover. I mean it's not like they didn't have nice basses in the Stuart / PJ years, more to the contrary, but most of those gems relied on the natural beauty of the woods used and to be honest they did not seem to need any color finishes. Of course there were always those with the bahama blue, amber or such colors but it's good to have variety and extra color schemes which they offer now. 

Congratulations! Looks the business 🙂

Btw do you still have the other two? 

@danny-79 this is a Tonepump Jr which is a Far-East made version of the Tonepump and it has no trimpot, never had.  

I have two.

1. Double pickups, placed á lá Spector NS-2 or NS-5XL. The can be either P/J or dual coil/dualcoil (EMG DC ot TW) Works really well for me and the music I play (rock, progressive metal, fusion music) Also very useful for me on its own, especially for tapping. 

2. Jazzbass JJ (both '60 and '70) I'm not using my jazz much but this is one of the quintessential bass sounds for me especially soloed (not in band context, that is)

I'm a bit biased as my main instruments are Spectors and I really love the ergonomics and the sound they have.

If you are already thinking of getting a Spector I can't recommend enough for you to go and get one, they fit perfectly the music you described but also can be used for pretty much anything else (the neck pickup in itself with some eq'ing and light playing fits to mellow music really well, like a P bass but with more mids and definition)

The Euro models are not cheap, might be lucky and you'll get one within the budged but you shouldn't expect to pay a lot more for a used one. They are extremely well made and high quality in every way. Again, can't praise them enough. 

Good luck!