Review of a Thomas Martin Concerto DB

[Charling]

I originally wrote this for the DB forum over at Talkbass, a longtime lurker here I didn't think to post the review here as well, but the service I recieved from the Martins was so exempliary I thought it only right to address the lack of prescence this family of bass makers has on the net by posting the review here as well. Hope you enjoy! -

Recently I bought a brand new Thomas Martin Concerto bass direct from the Luthiers in Oxford, UK. These guys (Thomas, his son George and their team) have been making fine bases for a long while now and alongside making new basses have dealt with some of the biggest-hitters in the old-bass world.

John Pattituci plays one of their basses and so does Thomas Martin himself, a fine classical player and master of the music of Bottesini, among others.

Their flagship model is all hand built in their workshop in oxfordshire, and runs at about £12k (inc. VAT), though I have seen mention of someone buying one for $15k, which is a bargain if that is still the case!

The Martins' slightly more student offerings are the Concert and smaller Concerto models. These bases are very similar to the higher priced counterparts but have the front and back carved in Hungary and then the rest of the work completed back in their workshop. The prices are £6k for each (though that is inclusive of VAT).

I have been looking at a new bass for about a year, my quirky old German plywood thing has earned its worth literally 100 times over in the years I have been gigging it week in, week out. Its a bit of a monstrosity that wouldn't compete even with a basic stentor or zeller model but I grew to love it and get it to make the sounds I wanted!

Initially I had planned on getting a small upgrade to one of the 1 to 2k carved basses by the above mentioned companies. The Paul Bryant bass piqued my interest and at £3500 I decided that I could just about stretch to that and was about to go and have a look at it when I saw the Thomas Martin range.

I had looked at various old basses, but came upon the difficulty that there are not that many worth a second look at that price range in the UK. You start to get a few nice Rubners and the like at 7 or 8k but other than that most of the instruments at, for example, the contrabasse shoppe for around 5k were similar to the Martins, nicely made new basses with the added premium of a contrabasse shoppe setup and fee.

The Martins attracted me as I could deal directly with the maker and the bass would be setup to my spec by the same person that made the bass etc.

So, I travelled to Oxford on a whim, not a short journey (by UK standards anyway!) and was not expecting to be particularly wowed, I was sure it was a nice bass but didn't expect quite how it would grab me from the first couple of notes.

I found George Martin to be incredibly open, friendly and enthusiastic about everything bass related. We discussed my needs amongst other things and I was soon invited into the bass showroom where I found myself surrounded by one of the most amazing selection of basses I have seen. Plenty of oddities, rareties and no doubt many of them cost the sort of money I am unlikely to ever have at my disposal!

The bass I was to look at is their concerto model, a small 3/4 with a string length of 40" and the slimmed shoulders in the Quenoil style. It was initially set up with quite a high action but even so I found it an absolute joy to play, and it sounded fantastic. I am an audio engineer for half my income, along with gigs and sessions, so I'm pretty discerning when it comes to the sonics of an instrument. I have become used to, in all stages of the recording process, accepting the bad characteristics of a lot of instruments and amplifiers etc. and finding a way of dealing with them in the mix. I rarely hear anything that is 100% on the mark for me sound wise but I have to say the little Martin was a good 95%. Thats pretty exceptional for me!

The bridge was not completely finished when I saw it, but was set up with Jazz in mind. Thats what these basses were designed for essentially, though they are of a quality that they would do a fine job under the bow as well as a great student option. The bass was set to have quite a modern, springy sound, plenty of growl and Spiro's as standard. The first ten minutes I played it I was sure it was a contendor for my money, then we talked some more before George let me alone for a half hour.

I don't remember the thought process that occured in my head at that time but I remember when he came back in the room I said straight away 'I don't think theres any reason to search any longer' and shook hands a second later. Something about the bass made me smile on every note!

So I bought it, discussed setup and he even threw in a case and a Realist pickup for free, as well as cutting a nice deal. I picked it up a week later with all the work done and got to work learning the instrument!

Those of you with much experience of VERY nice Bass' can take my views accordingly, as I have played many REALLY nice ones but not for more than a few tunes at a jam, or for 10 mins round a friends or similar. That said I have to admit that nothing I had played in my price range came close to this in any way, there was always some kind of compromise to be accepted with buying.

Not so with the Martin, its is a JOY to play. Incredibly even across the fingerboard, the tone in each area of the fingerboard blossoms in all the ways you would want with no uninspiring spots or weak areas. Its not got the biggest lows in the world, that being the setup I opted for and also the size of the bass. However they will sound fine recorded, and amplified is never an issue in that respect I have found. The detail in the low is all their for arco, its very rich and complex, just not very loud.

Other than that the bass sings, its remarkably loud for a little un and has a huge amount of punch for general walking duties. Once the band parts for a solo you can hear all the detail and nuance in the tone and it just sings, I find myself just hanging on one pedal note for half a chorus just enjoying the sound. Its so direct and clear that you can get away with the sort of stuff normally only reserved for horn players

I played the first gig with it with a great piano player, and after one song apologised that my dexterity on the instrument was not quite there yet (I ended up opting for a higher action than before) and he said 'It sounds F-ing amazing though!'. I took that as a very good sign, as the normal bass player in one of his trio's has a bass that came to £80k.

As for playability, its great. I am still working on getting the same dexterity I had on my old bass of many years but somehow it still seems much easier to play. I don't go for the super fast stuff that I did just yet, but nevertheless everything I try seems to come off and feel SO much better than before. It's like bouncing around on a silk bouncy castle, in a slow walk I find myself perceivabley looking forward to each note just for the feeling on my fingers. As well as that the design and setup is so inuitave that I find myself able to make huge jumps with confidence ALREADY, despite a scale change of almost 3 inches. I was almost laughing tonight playing mr PC in a particularly raucous fasion, jumping from low to the high G string F and beyond over and over at breakneck tempo, and watching it all unfold with ease. It made me able to listen to NHOP and think 'yeah thats possible' haha!

All this and its within the first 50 hours of the bass' life, after which George tells me it will start to settle and get better, more even etc. I'm excited to experience this.

So to summarise, this was a big investment for me, earning only from music and in a dire time (especially in the uk) for the job. But it was a leap of faith that never felt unsafe in the buying process and has since proved that it was the right choice. After seeing many basses I wasn't expecting to be wowed but when I first played it there was a little thought in the back of my mind that said straight away 'this is my bass', and I can't argue with that , even if it was quite a lot over budget! It compares to the experience I've had playing friends basses worth MANY times over, and while the improvement in sound from those basses is perhaps noticeable I feel I've gotten a bass that comes very close for a fraction of the price. When you are talking of tens of thousands of pounds I think thats a pretty bold statement.

I wanted to write this review because in searching for info here and elsewhere on the web I couldn't find a whole lot about Martin basses. The small bits of info I could find were positive but there wasn't a lot of detail and to read something like this would have made the decision a lot easier. George, Thomas and the team are very honest buisinessmen making fine instruments with no compromise. I fully endorse their statement that you will find no better new bass for the money than the one I bought. I also got to see the workshop where it was 'born' and the whole team in their were enthusiastic, friendly and helpful. If you are looking for a fine new bass I recommend checking out a Martin.

SInce buying the bass I have also visited a friend of mine who is a very fine Luthier and respected maker of double basses. He regulalry works on the best instruments in the country, and he confidently echo'd the statement that I could not have done any better for the money by quite a large margin.

And this is all for their lower end model, I can imagine their flagship model would sing like nothing else in its range, maybe its time I started saving for one of those

Sorry for the obscenely long post, I wanted it to be complete to address the balance of the Martin bass' presence on the web Feel free to ask any questions!

O

[jwbassman]

Here, here - I've recently bought a Martin too (just over 3 months ago) and would happily support all you've said about them - mine is their 3/4 Concert model (it's strung with Evah Pirazzi Weichs). I dealt with George and he was fantastic, really helpful and accommodating even to a novice like me. Adjusted the bridge and fitted a Bass Balsereit too, after letting me take it on approval for a week and have my first lesson on it.

I too sold literally everything I owned to fund my purchase, do I regret it... absolutely not, my wife tells me the bass is the new love of my life, she's probably got a point. I've had three lessons so far and gigged it a couple of times now and whilst I'm in no way technically proficient (fumbling around in the 1/2, 1st and 2nd positions) the joy it brings is hard to put into words - it has transformed the quintet I play with so much so that the guys will not let me play bass guitar any more...

I would highly recommend taking a trip to Oxford if you're considering a new bass

For those that are interested here's a shot of me with the Martin from the gig on Saturday...



There are a couple of videos from the gig on [url="https://www.facebook.com/thejazzrascals?filter=2"]facebook[/url] too!

All the best


John

Edited June 25, 2012 by jwbassman

[bassace]

He's dead right of course. When I first played my Martin a good bass player was in the audience and at the end he came up to me and said, that's the best bass sound I've ever heard.' I told him he'd made my day to which he replied 'well, you've certainly spoiled mine!'.

[mtroun]

How does the Martin compare to the Upton and the Bryant?

[bassace]

Ah. I had the Upton first and it was a bit difficult to amp. This often happens to complex basses and that is why some people favour hybrids or laminate basses. So, for the band that I get most of my work from I reverted to the Meinel that I had most of the time. Also I found the Upton a bit heavy to lug around, that is why I am talking to Upton about making me a lightweight 5/8 bass for gigs. Initially the Martin was a tad disappointing but it has since opened up a lot. Acoustically it's not as strong as the Bryant but it amps really well on anything I connect it to. It also has a lot of attack, or 'thump'. The Bryant is a real singer with a lot of sustain and is great for trios/quartets. Again, being a somewhat complex bass it was initially difficult to get the very best amplified sound. Like the Upton it prefers a 10" speaker. I have recently bought a Genz Benz 10" Shuttle combo and that has what I've been looking for for a long time, a tight solid bass sound but without the boom. I haven't tried it with the Upton yet but I'm confident that it'll sound great. So I don't really favour one bass over the others; choosing a bass shows up the many different characteristics that are inherent in DBs.

I'm sure that I'm not betraying a confidence in mentioning that jwbassman visited me to try the Bryant and Martin together before he committed himself to choosing a Martin. I wouldn't like to second guess why he made his choice but I'm sure that Martins' lifelong aftersales service that was offered had a lot to do with it. And George's sheer enthusiasm is very hard to resist. I've had an opportunity to play it and he's got a great bass there.

Just as a PS, my particular Martin was roughed out in Hungary, and the Upton in Eastern Europe although they are 100% USA now. In buying the Bryant I had a craftsman made all English bass. And that's nice.

[mtroun]

Thanks for the info,

I'm going to see Paul Bryant and his instruments next week as I'm visiting the midlands, I'm tempted to visit the Martin shop in the near future as well. The Bryant instruments do seem incredible value for money, I must say.
I'm getting incredibly fed up with my Stentor so I'm sure anything would be a vast improvement, though actually I've played a fair few basses in violin shops that have sat there for a long time and were totally uninspiring to play on, either pizz or under the bow.
My friend has a Martin Penning bass, absolutely beautiful instrument, flawless workmanship, stunning playability, refined sound. If I had the moolah I'd be all over it. Met him recently as well and he's a top bloke.

[Beedster]

I've had my Martin Concerto about 9 months now and I have to say I'm extremely happy, it really is a lovely instrument.