Paulhauser

@ead how do you like these '77 and '79 and what is your opinion about them?

Thinking about getting a '77 and while I like the '79 too, I already have another Spector 4 string with PJ pickups. 

Any difference you think worth mentioning between this two (apart from the obvious pickup P placement difference plus the additional J)?

Many thanks!

Stuart started in the second half of the 70's and the biggest exposure his brand got was in the heyday of the 80's glam/rock/metal when many of the then prolific or higher profile bass players from those styles used and were seen using Spectors. For example the guys from Winger, Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, Queensryche etc and that sort of continued to the '90s with Alice in Chains, Pantera, Metallica,  so the biggest visibility of the brand was mostly conneted to hard rock / metal bands. 

edit: and behind the scenes Spector basses were used on many more recordings, I've read that Spector was some of the most recorded bass in the '80s being a preference of producers. 

I have short hair, no tattoos, but I do play rock/metal and have a couple of Spectors - they are my main recording and live instruments.

My experience is that the NS Spectors are some of the most versatile basses around but it is is true that they always featured more rock / metal players in their marketing than players from other genres. 

I have / had two Ibanez Prestige SR basses wit these curved top Barts in them and they sound great. 

These two basses were sounding a bit different mainly due to the woods and construction but the Barts sound great in both of them.

(One was a SR1005 with neck through maple neck, rosewood board and maple wings the other being a SR5006 with bolt on wenge/bubinga neck with wenge board and mahogany/wenge body)

Can't comment on the EQ as I used both of them in flat or passive.

Also can't comment on the Nordstrands but based on my experiences plus the huge depreciation you can suffer when buying the 2600 new I'd definitely buy the 4500. 

On 20/11/2019 at 18:00, Ted Theodore Logan, III said:

...makes it a dang sight harder to let anything go though... 

It's not that hard to let go anything, but letting go a Spector...now that is hard. Especially one like this. 

I've never tried this exact model but had two FGN Neo jazzes and they were some of the best made basses I've ever had so the quality is great and if you liked the one you had tried then go for it. The MM is quite close to the bridge so I doubt it is very much useable in its own  but together with the J it has to have a massive sound 

I'm agree with what others said above:

- I would not buy a bass with reparied neck/headstock/any sizeable crack on wood elsewhere like the fingerboard or the body/top. 

- If one of my basses would suffer such a damage I had it repaired with some of those luthiers here who can do a great jobs then I'd keep it for lifetime. 

It is now sold.

57 minutes ago, Jb_reborn said:

Is this still available?

I have put this on hold for a buyer but it takes forever for him to get the money together so the amp is still available technically. 

I think this is one of the best designs Warwick has and I like it a lot. But for me it suffers the same design "flaw" of putting the beidge far away from the bottom end of the neck thus making the fretboard and especially the first positions to far to the left (when in playing position) just as with the original Thumb. And I don't know how much the different location of the strap pin helps with this in the case of the SC as on the original Thumb the top horn is also quite short. I sold my '91 NT5 Thumb for this reason, my arm was tired of reaching out, the nut was farther left than on my 35" Spectors and those don't have very long top horns either (longer than the Thumb's though)

But of course this is just a personal observation and preference. 

8 minutes ago, pierreganseman said:

 

master tone and extra mini switch are custom options.

Thanks Pierre! 

BTW when are you selling your white 60's to me? 😄

2 hours ago, baessist-z said:

Thank you so much! Btw Here's the Controls: 

    Front Vol/Rear Vol, Master Tone, Mini-Switch(Active/Passive), MID, Treble/Bass

   Btw, I ❤️ the Abalone inlays of your M265. So Gorgeous! 👍😍

Interesting.... mine has the same controls bar the master tone. 

Mine is front vol, rear vol/push-pull active passive, mid, bass/treble stacked pot. 

Yes, I love the abalone inlays too!

4 hours ago, baessist-z said:

Congratulations to your new M265 Custom! 🙂

Indeed! I also purchased a Bnew Atelier-Z e#286 Evolution 5s , Last 29th of September 2019. Untried too, but my previous bass is a used Atelier-Z m245 4s so I have an Idea already , but this time Atelier-Z e#286 has more advance Electronics, equipped with Bartolini Xtct + Bartolini MCT375. It has Master tone (can be used both in active and passive mode) and the delight of MID control knob. Overall I'm very happy with my purchased. It exceeded all my expectations. Indeed this Atelier-Z E286 is certainly an upgrade and worthy for it's model name "Evolution". 

Atelier-Z is ❤️

Thank you! And congratulations to you, too! Wonderful bass you have there, enjoy! I'm sure it sounds fantastic! What does the switch do? 

4 minutes ago, Chopthebass said:

That is super nice. I actually like the uncluttered ebony. Does it have EMG preamp too? Its odd how there is no easy access battery box.

Thank you! It has the Aguilar OBP2. Yes, the battery is in the main cavity but it's not an issue for me to open it every once in a while. I will most probably not be using this bass live so I don't have to worry about changing a dead battery in the heat of the gig 🙂

I recently took possession of this US made Spector Forte 6. The Forte model was introduced in the early 2010's as a no frills version of the US NS basses. Cutting down on options, no fancy woods or inlays therefore making the production streamlined the aim was to offer a straightforward and a bit more affordable version of the NS models. Still made by the team of Stuart Spector (before his retirement) and co, Fortes are essentially the same as the US NS models but in Forte 'versions'

Now to the contrary of all above this Forte 6 has more features than some of my US NS-5XL basses and certainly more than normal Fortes. Flamed maple top, ash back are the body woods, ebony (!) is the fingerboard, tuners are the same as the NS custom models, preamp is Aguilar OBP and the pickups are EMG 45DCs. 

It is a wonderful sounding bass, powerful but not aggressive, clean and very even in all registers and there is a depth and richness to the sound. The no inlay ebony board is a wonder in itself, the neck is comfortable for a sixer and the whole thing is an incredibly well built, ergonomicly designed and sweet sounding bass. I have owned and currently own US made NS-5XL Spectors and this is up there with the best of them. 

Enjoy the pics!

This is now on hold!

Strings: my experience is as some said above: buy a 5 string set and use the BEAD strings out of it. You'll have a lot more variety in terms of gauges and brands/materials as 4 string BEAD sets are few and would not cost less than an average 5 string set. 

Setup: I have a few 4 string basses turned to BEAD and in all cases some of the nut slots needed to be worked on but apart form that nothing more complicated than a normal setup. The only thing to watch out is some bridges will also have a problem with thich gauge strings (those in which you need to get the strings through)

Open for cash offers!

12 hours ago, ezbass said:

Thread resurrection time with a demo of the Rick fiver...

I respect them for putting all the effort into this video but there isn't much point in reviewing a 5 string Rickenbacker without playing the B string much at all. 
 

With all the brands and options to choose from at this price level this bass is leaving me unimpressed to say the least. The headstock is meh, the font/branding too.

I mean you name a bass bite and the best thing you can come is a headstock which looks like part of it is bitten off and a similar logo on the neck plate? 

Nonetheless all the best to them and hope they can get a niche market with the short lead time and customization. I'm not sure this is really important but maybe so for some folks. 

Also D'Addario makes the piccolo set of 52 42 32 20 (EXL280) so getting two other single nickel strings gauged  80 and 100 from them would do the trick and it fits to long scale necks (34" works for sure as I gave used these)

Update: after owning and using this bass for 16 months I have to say this is a keeper and as such it effectively killed my GAS for super 5 string jazzes. 

The feel of the neck is especially lovely, it is high gloss finish but has such a warmth and ease to it, unbelieveable. 

As I've said I'd bought this bass untried and unheard, never ever even had an Atelier Z in my hands but I wish all the "blind" purchases would be such spot on like this. 

Can't recommend Atelier Z's enough, they very well worth their prices!

2 hours ago, TheGreek said:

Not sure about the headstock personally.....

While the original 4 string Spector headstock - a.k.a. “Gumby” has a cult following I think the Platypus kind of headstock that the Euro and US NS basses have are one of the best 5 string headstocks in the industry for me. I actually prefer it to the Gumby - but all my Spectors except one are 5 strings...

16 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Do you remember where from?

Sure. It was from muziker.sk , a slovakian e-commerce site that grew big on instruments and related products and now they seem to branch out to other stuff. I think I bought about 6-8 sets of DR strings at that time. It seems currently they dont have those prices but worth to keep an eye as I must have been bought from them on good prices about three times in the last few years. (Probably my only purchases from them...)

12 hours ago, WHUFC BASS said:

 

The Spectors I've seen (Euros only) come with D'addario Pro Steels which really are a great standard string for use on any bass. I'd recommend them for any bass. If you can afford it, the D'addario NYXL strings are even better. Superb strings with a great tone. The holy grail of bass strings for me are DR Hi-Beams which (when I can afford them) I always go for. They're just so bright and last a hell of a long time. They also compliment the Spector sound perfectly.

+1 on the DR Hi Beams. Those are my preferred strings to be used on my US and Euro Spectors. While their normal price is a bit on the high side there are deals to be found, I got my 0.45-.130 Hibeams for around £30 a set which is a quite ok.

They sound great, feels great and last good (but not great) I love how my Spectors sound with them