OLP Tony Levin

[Rayman]

Here's a quick review of my first impressions of the bass, in a kind of Harmony Central style way.

Build Quality:

Only a few issues, the lugs that hold the bridge screws in place aren't flush to the body of the wood, resulting in a small gap under the bridge at one corner. The nut looks like my 6 year old daughter cut and fitted it, shocking. The pickup is held up with foam, which as usual has been screwed down low, squashing the foam and meaning that if you want the pickup closer to the strings, you can't do it. The screws come up, but the pup stays put, so new foam or springs is required. Generally everything fits together pretty well, pickguard, neck pocket etc all sit together well, and the tuners seem smooth, and keep the bass in tune pretty well. The finish is a nice flame veneer, but there are quite a few flaws in the veneer itself, not the laquer though, that's fine. The control knobs are fairly straight, but jesus! What a racket from the treble pot, the loudest hiss you ever heard, and unuseable in a gig situation it was that bad. I ended up rolling the treble right back to kill some hiss. That leads me on to;

Sound:

The sound is not at all what I expected. What I expected was a fairly thin, tinny sound, with loads of mid but lacking bottom end. What I got was the pole opposite. This thing has loads of bottom end rumble, as much thump I'd say as my Stingray can offer and maybe more. What it's lacking in is top end, not at all what I expected. The awful hiss from the treble pot means that you can't have the pot beyond flat without creating a terrible white noise. Now this hiss doesn't happen as much when I play at home through my Tascam CD-BT1, but live through the amp it does. Having been in contact with Mr Levin himself, he tells me that one of the models he recently tried had the pots wired up wrong, so maybe this is the case with mine, I don't know.
Through the Tascam, The tone is really nice, fat but punchy enough, with the bass and mid boosts flat, and the treble rolled up to full, but as I say, you can't do that live because of the racket from the treble pot. The low B is tight and punchy though, very nice.
So this thing has a nice warm thump, very powerful sounding, but still with a punchy click, nice for playing jazz/hip hop/rock, which is what I wanted, however there is a noticeable lack of clear top end, whether that's down to the EQ or the pup I don't know, but the general tone choices seem limited at this time.


Overall opinion:

Well the reviews on www.harmony-central.com sum the bass up well. It's generally a great bass for the cash. Very nice to play, very comfortable, I played it all through a couple of rehearsals no problem at all. In fact, I switched to the jazz for a song, but thought "where's my bottom end gone?" So I switched back.
The tone is really nice, fat, punchy, BIG sounding, but lacking top end for me.
The general fit and finish is good for a bass at this price, but definately needs tweaking here and there, and in a couple of cases, ie the nut and treble pot, they need replacing. The neck was nice, straight out of the box, but needed a twist or two on the truss rod to bring the action down a bit.
THIS IS NOT A STINGRAY. As long as you accept that this is a bass in it's own right, shaped like a 'ray, then you'll be happy. It's comfortable, sounds nice, and is worth having in your arsenal if you want an entry level 5er. I'm very pleased with it.

Edited January 18, 2008 by Rayman

[markytbass]

What amp were you playing the bass through?. Have you taken the pickguard off yet?, it would be interesting to see what pots etc they have used.

Good review.

[pete.young]

Whereabouts are you, Rayman ? It might be fun to compare the Levin with my passive MM3. I'd have to say that there's no sign of the quality control problems with the nut or the bridge on mine.

[Machines]

I'm under the impression there is no shielding at all with the Levins hence the problem.

[Rayman]

Amp wise I'm using a little Roland DB500 combo, monster sound for a little amp, and I've used it for the past 3 years now. No I haven't had the pickguard off, but I did have a glance under the pickup to see if I could raise it a bit with some more foam. It seems tidy enough, if a little basic in quality. I guess the pots will be the same. I'm not really very tech orientated, and would leave pot replacements to my tech. However, I'm not sure how much I want to spend on the thing by way of upgrades.

I'm in Stockport Pete if your ever around, you're most welcome.

I think you're right Matt, one of the problems I'd heard about these before I got this one was how noisy they were, and how sheilding should be the first job.

[yorks5stringer]

I tried a 5 string version and found the neck too narrow for my fat fingers.....

[Rayman]

I can understand that, the spacing at the nut is less than a stingray, but my fingers aren't exactly nimble either, and so far it feels fine to me.

[Hit&Run]

[quote name='Rayman' post='123417' date='Jan 19 2008, 03:24 PM']I'm not sure how much I want to spend on the thing by way of upgrades.[/quote]

I'm not sure either, but I got myself a levin just before Xmas. I reckon I'm gonna pimp mine up a little, I got a bartolini pickup off ebay for less than £40 delivered. It's second hand but in good nick. I was looking at an OBP-3 preamp for it as well, they're not even that much from the states.

I do find mine a little neck heavy; what do you reckon Rayman?
Or is it my shiny-backed strap?

[Rayman]

No I wouldn't say I'd noticed it being neck heavy, but then I used to have a Thunderbird, so maybe I just don't notice it anymore!!

I've been using my TL at home through the CD-BT1 via headphones, and it's great for that, I love the tone, so maybe I'll just use it for that and use the 'ray and the jazz live. I'm reluctant to spend money on it, but I have a MM eq on offer to me, and that's a possibility when I've got some cash. A used replacement pup is a good idea too, as long as it fits, as I'm not over impressed with the build quality of the one on the bass, but it sounds ok, we'll see.

[Hit&Run]

the bart pickup looks made to measure, which is nice

[pete.young]

The Nordstrand pickup replacement is made to measure, and is supposedly a lot better than 'nice'.

[Hit&Run]

[quote name='pete.young' post='128088' date='Jan 25 2008, 11:10 PM']The Nordstrand pickup replacement is made to measure, and is supposedly a lot better than 'nice'.[/quote]
I've already got the bart, so that's the end of that!

However, I was thinking about a J/MM set of Nordys to go in a different bass. They're meant to sit nicely with east preamps.

[garyguitarist]

Hi I have got a broken mini bass potentiometer ( bhk is printed in the back of it ) on my OLP Tony Levin bass . Does anyone know which value pot I I need to replace it? thanks Gary