Chris2112

I will agree that the upper fret access on the NS body shape is not the best, but the overall shape and balance really works for me so I would persevere with one. You can still get around them fairly quickly if you want, this lad manages alright... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-IScNYSWuc

Just the later ones?

The Pentabuzz does have a very distinctive voice. It has the most 'mwah' and bloom of any fretless bass I've known, but it gives so much tonal and dynamic control the player just through how you attack the strings. Absolutely thunderous low end too. Do you have any pics of that Modulus?

If my Pedulla were fretted it would be a much closer bet. My brother has an MVP5 which is really something. I'm just more into frets than I am into fretless. As for competition with Status, I don't think so but they would appeal to the same sort of buyer - someone who wants more than just a P or J design, someone who likes hi-tech materials and modern tones. Stefan Heß followed his own vision for making a bass and it just happened to share some of the materials Status use. However, I do find them rather less 'obvious' than a Status, in the way that the signature Status sound tends to stand out. With the Bartolini pickups mine has, it sounds more like a Modulus. Very modern, articulate and direct but quite organic and woody. My Bogart has a headstock too, so the 1st position will feel more familiar to those unused to a true headless. Out of the two, I prefer Bogart. I do love Status basses, having owned a few, and I no doubt will own more in future.

My SKC Bogart Blackstone takes the top spot here. I've owned some great five string basses and it's a close run thing with my Pentabuzz. It just has such a great tone. The feel of it is also delightful but it's a million miles away from a 'traditonal' feel with it's wide, flat neck. The bridge pickup running solo is absolutely mint. If it has any downsides, it's that it takes a bit of practice to learn how to restring it. It's a piece of p iss once you've learned the trick, but I was fortunate to have some friends on Basschat tell me that the trick was to pull the string taut with pliers when locking them in. It's also not particuarly adjustable, as it has no truss rod so the relief is built in. The action is pretty low, but not as low as some of my other basses. The tuning is naturally very stable, the neck never moves, there are no dead spots and every note on the neck is very consistent. The strings need a change now, with fresh strings it sounds amazing but with dead strings, it sounds crap. At least that pressures you to change strings.

Hi Eude, It must surely be a set neck for me. I was really wanting to emulate the cool rear facing on my old 4 string (see TheGreek's post above). I always thought that was a bass that looked better from the back than it did from the front. The body wood I am not yet settled on but that flamed sycamore just blew me away. The top must be quilted maple with a really bright, golden appearance. That just sings of boutique quality to me. I fully expect it will make for a heavy bass, being a six string. Unless a Yamaha John Patitucci model falls into my path, I can't think of anything else that would so readily tick the boxes for me. It sounds as though the top spec electronics are the ones I would be best off choosing. I had fully expected that my specification would have put me in 'Uber' territory anyway. I had chosen a spec on a fretless Skelf model a few years ago, but ended up buying a house instead. Having just spent a tremendous amount on getting an extension built, I should have just commissioned the bass! 😂

Glad I googled Rachel Bolan before asking who she is! I love the finish on the bass but the red inlays are not to my taste.

He can afford to buy another!

Rudy has an extremely long resume and a reputation for being one of the nicest guys in rock. He may not be a top player but his credentials for getting the job done in the settings he plays are up there. For his new Spector bass though, I remain unconvinced. To me, it just doesn't look right with the bridge staying where it was. Re-carving the NS shape to give more access to the upper frets seems like the ideal solution but I can imagine it would be a costly process over the usual shaping methods used at the Czech facility. Moving the bridge spoils the visual balance of the bass and I bet will make 1st position feel like a real reach. I'm not usually one to complain about 'bridge over torso' basses where 1st position is offset, but this will surely be quite a reach. Euro and above Spector basses uniformly sound great (though I'm less keen on the Aguilar equipped basses, perhaps). However, Rudy's bass didn't sound all that great. I don't know if it was just the tone in the video, or the annoying static hum that got worse at certain points. It was quite noticeable when he flipped the bass over to look at the back.

Yes, I bought it from Greeneking in 2010 or 2011. IIRC, he was selling it to but another ACG. In the same fashion, I also got a sense of what I really wanted from an ACG with that bass and that informs my current thought process. @ead I'm up in Northumberland, probably some distance away from you but not that far from ACG in Moffat. It's good to know to the luthier I am considering is only a short-ish drive away. @EMG456 Thanks for the insight. It sounds as though there are a lot to get to grips with in that circuit and surely the chance to produce lots of great tones too. I will have to write to Alan direct and discuss this further, I think.

Very cool. There is no such thing as a bad Spector!

I'd prefer to canvas the board first, before wasting a builder's time with a speculative inquiry. I'd be happy to hear thoughts from ACG owners on what they like and dislike, anything they would change when ordering in future. I quite well know what I like, but it never hurts to draw on a wider experience base.

Evening all, I have been thinking of ordering a new ACG bass (a Recurve singlecut 6 string like the one pictured at the bottom of my post). I owned the first Harlot Singlecut years ago and could quite fancy getting back into the club, only with a bass crafted to my preferred specification. I know that the pickup choices range between the B series (wooden covers with engraved logo) or the MC series pickup, with those distinctive Ken Smith-esque bobbins on show. When I was last playing an ACG, the MC series did not exist and I have rather missed out on the distinction between the two pickups. My old Harlot had the EQ01 preamp with two flicky switches that did little other than make the bass sound thinner and less pleasant. I recall a discussion with Alan when I had that bass where he had said he would probably stop fitting those switches because he didn't see much use in them. I apologise that I cannot recall what the function of those switches was. I see now that the EQ01 is now accompanied by the DFM preamp, but despite reading the blurb, I'm not convinced I entirely understand this new module. I gather that the low pass filter range has been reduced by an octave, which is supposed to give enhanced control of the mid frequencies and tame some of the high end. Whilst I was a massve fan of the preamp my bass had fitted, I did typically roll the brightest frequencies off slightly and make it a midrange burp machine, which is typically what I always do. I am one of these lads that likes to have the bridge pickup running exclusively. Can anyone in the know suggest which of these pickup and EQ combos I would be best focusing my attention on? I really just want a serious midrange presence. My speculative specification is as follows: Recurve singlecut, 34" scale, quilted maple top over sycamore body, neck of maple with wenge or macassar ebony stringers, matching headstock veneer, x2 pickups, both positioned close to the bridge. Assymmetrical neck, ebony fretboard, no radius and 19mm spacing, with a thin front to back profile, black hardware. Something sort of like this: I have a few other things in mind, maybe a Status Stealth 6 string or similar, but I really liked the last ACG so they are fairly close to being what I want to focus in on. Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated.

I've tried Mastodon's Smith and it may be the easiest playing bass I've ever held. Effortlessly low action with a super smooth, fast and shallow neck. It is certainly a keeper. Ken's philosophy of knowing what works and building what works has given his basses a tremendous level of consistency. What is notable about them is that they have been so accepted and embraced by recording and sound engineers in the US. They are about the only boutique bass around with a reputation for 'plug in and go' ease-of-use to rival that of a Fender and as much as I love boutique basses, I'm aware sound men don't always share my enthusiasm. The Smith sound has it all from the moment the power hits the amp - soft, musical highs, prominent mids and sturdy fundamental with the whole thing being wrapped in a natural buffer of soft compression.

Who was behind Finnbass? Was it BigBeefChief? I do remember his inane posting on this forum. There are always a few who desire to be 'edgy' and push the limits of what is acceptable, usually resulting in a ban. 'Makisupastar' on Talkbass was another absolutely prolific poster of rubbish. He had a startlingly high post count after a very short time on the site, and was always trying to push the limits of just what he could get away with saying. I just checked on Google to see where he had went, the first thread that popped up was one from two years after he had joined remarking that he was in the top 5 post count (some feat). On the subject of moderation standards, they vary but I think BC is about as good as it gets. It's still 'small enough' in terms of active members for mods to be accountable and fair, and of course their status is publicly known. Compare to that say, a Facebook group. I was given an admin warning (snort) by some twit on NoTreble or something a couple of weeks ago, when in polite discussion with some unknown, he referred to me as 'dyslexic' for not agreeing with him over a point of semantic dispute. When I called him out for the crass insult, he deleted it and noted that I had been given a mod warning for my part in the argument whilst also apologising for using the term 'dyslexic' as an insult. I did ask if he would also give himself a mod warning but received no reply, I guess that's not a two-way street. 😂

I had heard about the remixed track list years ago but at the time, there was no public version available and folk were saying you should recompile the album in a mixing programme to blend the tracks together rather than just skipping around the selection on your stereo. I was never a fan of the idea, since all it appeared to achieve was mixing all the crud and filler in with the few tracks that were worth listening to.

Indeed, I still hear those irritating sonic cat repellent things too, they make a very high pitched noise when you pass them.

If you're ever in any doubt as tho whether or not ear plugs work, try riding a fast motorbike without them. I use Auritech ear plugs when riding and they make a massive difference in cutting down wind noise. I wouldn't ride without them.

Discussion was a lot more open a few years ago. Politics was shut down as a topic because it was so divisive. That and the place was absolutely flooded with nonsense threads about Mike Huckabee. A bigger loss in the shutdown of open debate there was the loss of the gun threads. There were some really excellent topics on gun ownership, collecting and shooting and reams of information. Now, it is all verboten. I had a post deleted a while back because I jokingly said I'd use a shotgun to defend my bass collection from a burglar. Even mentioning a gun in passing is now banned! 😂

If I'm honest with myself, I think Tool have been on a downhill slope for years now. 10,000 Days was really bland and sounded like a selection of songs that weren't good enough for Lateralus. But then again, Lateralus was an over-long dirge fest with only a few great moments. It sounds as though this new record is more of the same, which is disappointing. The thing with Tool is that their big three albums, from Undertow to Lateralus, each contains a couple of great tracks and then a load of filler. But the high points are exceptional, as good as prog rock gets. The benefit of Tool going o. Spotify means that I can now do what I have talked about for years, which is putting all their best songs into one playlist and essentially making a Tool mega album. I have also found the continued obsession with Justin Chancellor intriguing. He has a number of extremely dedicated fans who have spent thousands trying to replicate his unremarkable tone. I always thought that Tool were a great band with a top drummer and a great singer bookended with a serviceable guitarist and bassist, who just happened to write the odd brilliant song.

The point was made after Adam Neely posted on BC to defend clickbait titles as a necessary evil, highlighting the wider issue that some great content of real musical value will be buried if it doesn't have a clickbait title to satisfy YouTube's homepage algorithm. We also know that videos that are incorrectly flagged and then later reinstated never make 'clicks' like they would if they had not been flagged as once they're 'old's they don't get put into YouTube's promoted selection algorithm. That is a serious issue for anyone who makes their living by making YouTube videos, and whilst we might like to slate the worst of YouTube, it still provides seriously amazing niche content that is far beyond what you can find on TV. Various parties have used this trick to meet their own ends, I recall that some games developer used copyright claims to suppress bad reviews on a video game until the point where the bas reviews would fall off the front pages and no longer receive much viewership. OTOH, that poster was probably a troll and I would have used stronger language if not for the filter.

If that was my post you're referring to, I would reiterate that that poster was an idiot. Anyone using a fake YouTube account to make false copyright claims to get videos they don't like taken down is an idiot, and the reasoning he gave was feeble. TB is a great resource. I enjoy using it and I post there more than on BC. I started using TB around 2004 or so and I've enjoyed it ever since, though I took a significant hiatus for a few years when I wasn't really playing bass and when I returned, it had indeed changed for the worst. One of the biggest issues is just the size of the place. The most populous forums are now dominated by megatheads and club threads, which can be a pain to navigate. However, given the scale of the place and the information to hand, it is worth taking the time to get to grips with it. I agree with a previous post noting that the place is now infested with P bass lovers, but that trend has taken over the bass world as a whole. It seems even beige comes on trend every now and again. The moderating is still inconsistent. I don't get in trouble but I see that the place still has a problem with super-moderators who believe they are the life and soul of TB. The issue still comes back to those mods being community members and using their mod tools to settle arguments. I'm sure that has a potential to happen anywhere, but some of the TB mods are particularly humourless and don't like dissent. In general, the tone of the place is different and I think a lot of that stems from the larger scene for serious players in America. A lot of users there have been to music school and studied jazz. With the general discourse being mainly Americans talking to other Americans, it can seem a bit dour at times. On the other hand, I skip through a lot of Basschat threads when they descend into long strings of increasingly bad jokes and puns. Every forum has it's way, and learning how to get on there ensures the best experience.

I've always liked the look of the Matt Pulcinella Level 5 fretless that they have in the used section. The price has come down slowly, and I'm sure a telephone call could secure it for less than the asking on the website, as it's been there for months. I'd love to have a go on it but I'm nowhere near Bass Direct.

Arriving in that busted up state does rather reinforce the old adage 'buy tat, get tat'.