fraff Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 (edited) A recent F/S thread has has reignited my GAS for one of these beasts. Anyone have experience of them within a fairly 'heavy' psych/rock band set up? I guess my main question is how 'vintage' do they sound? I love me Sandberg as my main gigging bass and I can get a good P sound out of it which works live (perhaps less so in the studio), but obviously it doesn't have that late 60s vibe that I'm thinking about. So, I'm hankering after something that gets me that late 60s birth-of-rock edge. Anyone with experience of the Decade think it will cut it? Or indeed any other recommendations? Remembering of course that don't have the funds for a late 60s J or P! Thanks everyone Ian Edited January 10, 2011 by fraff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kolossusuk Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 [quote name='fraff' post='1083975' date='Jan 10 2011, 10:17 AM']A recent F/S thread has has reignited my GAS for one of these beasts. Anyone have experience of them within a fairly 'heavy' psych/rock band set up? I guess my main question is how 'vintage' do they sound? I love me Sandberg as my main gigging bass and I can get a good P sound out of it which works live (perhaps less so in the studio), but obviously it doesn't have that late 60s vibe that I'm thinking about. So, I'm hankering after something that gets me that late 60s birth-of-rock edge. Anyone with experience of the Decade think it will cut it? Or indeed any other recommendations? Remembering of course that don't have the funds for a late 60s J or P! Thanks everyone Ian[/quote] There's one here. looks interesting......... [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Lakland-Skyline-Decade-Active-Bass-Guitar-NEW-/180610481069?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2a0d393bad"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Lakland-Skyline-Deca...=item2a0d393bad[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KK Jale Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Like the looks, like the pickups. But check the weight. The only one I tried was a collarbone-bender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraff Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 [quote name='kolossusuk' post='1084141' date='Jan 10 2011, 12:55 PM']There's one here. looks interesting......... [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Lakland-Skyline-Decade-Active-Bass-Guitar-NEW-/180610481069?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2a0d393bad"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Lakland-Skyline-Deca...=item2a0d393bad[/url][/quote] Cheers! Not sure I need an active for what I do - hardly ever use the active circuit on my Sandberg TBH. Have seen a new passive one for £900 which is a nicer looking sum! [quote name='KK Jale' post='1084161' date='Jan 10 2011, 01:13 PM']Like the looks, like the pickups. But check the weight. The only one I tried was a collarbone-bender.[/quote] 8lb 14oz from what I can see. I could live with that I reckon, doesn't sound too bad. Thanks both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 (edited) [quote name='fraff' post='1083975' date='Jan 10 2011, 10:17 AM']A recent F/S thread has has reignited my GAS for one of these beasts. Anyone have experience of them within a fairly 'heavy' psych/rock band set up? I guess my main question is how 'vintage' do they sound? I love me Sandberg as my main gigging bass and I can get a good P sound out of it which works live (perhaps less so in the studio), but obviously it doesn't have that late 60s vibe that I'm thinking about. So, I'm hankering after something that gets me that late 60s birth-of-rock edge. Anyone with experience of the Decade think it will cut it? Or indeed any other recommendations? Remembering of course that don't have the funds for a late 60s J or P! Thanks everyone Ian[/quote] Well, it would depend on what you mean by 'vintage' and ''heavy' psych/rock'. First, although you can [i]approximate[/i] P and J sounds on the Decade, it is definitely not a Fender. It does an excellent reggae/dub sound on the neck pickup and on that pickup with some bridge pickup added does approach a psych/rock sound - it could be compared with the sound Jack Casady of Jefferson Airplane was getting with his Guild Starfire with the Hagstrom Bisonic pickups, although bear in mind here that Casady is, I think, overloading a Versatone valve combo as well as a pair of Fender Dual Showmans - bass solo at 2.26: You can get a smoother non-overdriven sound too of course which has some characteristics of a Gibson bass without the mud. Here are some interesting links: I suspect that the white Decade (which will be a US model not a Skyline) may have a swamp ash body rather than the mahogany body of the Skylines. I think the mahogany possibly gives a darker sound. This is a dark sounding bass, especially on the neck pickup. Edited January 10, 2011 by EssentialTension Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 [quote name='fraff' post='1084185' date='Jan 10 2011, 01:36 PM']Cheers! Not sure I need an active for what I do - hardly ever use the active circuit on my Sandberg TBH. Have seen a new passive one for £900 which is a nicer looking sum! 8lb 14oz from what I can see. I could live with that I reckon, doesn't sound too bad. Thanks both.[/quote] Mine is 9lbs and maybe 1oz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 There is an ergonomic issue which some people on TB complained about. The top horn is short and finishes at the 13th fret rather than about 11th fret on a Precision. So the Decade hangs further to the left on the strap and the first fret then feels further away than you would be used to. With a good thick strap you can hang it to the right and, in my experience this is not a problem. The Jazz style necks on these (and owners of the one that sold this week on BC will I'm sure agree) are fabulous - very true, very fast, excellent binding and fret work. The Chisonic pickups are unusual I feel. They were influnced by Hammon Engineering's Dark Star pickups which were themselves a reverse engineering of the Hagstrom Bisonics (hence Chisonics) found in the Guild basses of the late 60s. The early Decades were fitted with Dark Stars as standard. I don't myself think that the preamp version is necessary. The pickups have a high output and a wide frequency response and are sensitive to where you play the strings and how hard you dig in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 (edited) And here's Dan Lakin talking about and playing the Decade: [url="http://www.gearwire.com/lakland-decade-walkthrough.html"]http://www.gearwire.com/lakland-decade-walkthrough.html[/url] Edited January 10, 2011 by EssentialTension Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraff Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 Dave you're a star! Will have a good root round all those links. Thanks a million. Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 [quote name='fraff' post='1084701' date='Jan 10 2011, 07:31 PM']Dave you're a star! Will have a good root round all those links. Thanks a million. Ian[/quote] You're welcome. These are in my view great basses but they are also idiosyncratic basses with their own character. Although my go to bass is almost always a Fender P, I'd find it hard to part with the Decade. You'll want to check out the [url="http://www.lakland.com/ac_decade.htm"]sound samples at Lakland[/url] too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingnutkj Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 I found that there was quite a bit of variance in the weight of the two I looked at. I first saw one in Newcastle, picked it up and was immediately struck by how heavy it was. I was still interested in the design to look for another one somewhere else, and found a lovely example elsewhere, which I'm very, very happy with. When I was back down in Newcastle over Christmas, I went back into the shop and confirmed that theirs is indeed a lot heavier than mine. When I tried mine out, I also tried out a few other basses they had in the shop - Fender Roadworn P and 60th Anniversary Jazz, and Epiphone Jack Cassidy. To my ears, the Chi-sonic pickups were a lot fuller-sounding than the rest. They were all great basses, but I felt that the were each missing something from the tone that was all present in the Decade. Admittedly, it wasn't the most objective analysis, because I really, really wanted it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraff Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 Well, I finally have my hands on my Decade - thanks ShaunB! Early days, but I'm loving it so far - warm, phat, but still able to cut through pretty well - only played it at one rehearsal so far, so still a fair bit of tweaking to my board to balance things nicely across my various dirt boxes. The neck's a pleasure, a smidge wider of cause than the 1.5" nut width on my Jazz and Sandberg, but not so much that it makes my small hands stretch too much. Mine can switch between single coil/humbucker too, for phat/phatter fun. And what's more, the guys in my band love the look of it too, which is saying something for a bunch reared solely on Gibsons and Fenders! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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