Basschat Cool-Wall

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1357059270' post='1916945']
[b][i]Most[/i][/b] of the time?
[/quote]

oooshhhh!
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ4Og9LNJpk&playnext=1&list=PLE57610EF70DA4FE4&feature=results_main"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ4Og9LNJpk&playnext=1&list=PLE57610EF70DA4FE4&feature=results_main[/url]
f*** face is optional.....

[cloudburst]

Really thinking of going for the XL-2 for the following reasons:
- I'll be at the institute from September doing a course so the XL-2 would be easy to transport to and fro (as opposed to the Bongo which lives in its hard case)
- For some reason I've really bonded with my Bongo and would like to keep it mint, so the Steinberger could take the abuse of being in college every day
- It would hold its money for me as well if not better than having the money sat in a bank

Does all this seem like sound logic?
Or am I just trying to convince myself?
Is there a Steinberger-specific downside of any sort?

CB

PS: Is that Robbie Shakespeare in the photo?

Edited January 1, 2013 by cloudburst

[Kiwi]

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1357059270' post='1916945']
[b][i]Most[/i][/b] of the time?

I like the Steinbergers, but then again the Status series II is kind of a Steinberger with wooden wings... But on big guys like myself, those small bodies look slightly ridiculous
[/quote]
They sound [i]completely[/i] different though. Rob Green told me he doesn't believe in the need for big lows on stage. My Steiny sounds immense. The warmest instrument I own without question so its no surprise they have been popular for dub and reggae.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1357059505' post='1916951']
oooshhhh!
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ4Og9LNJpk&playnext=1&list=PLE57610EF70DA4FE4&feature=results_main[/media]
f*** face is optional.....
[/quote]
That is the best justification I can think of for not owning one.

[Kiwi]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1356894239' post='1914869']
In the meantime here's how one sounds in the right hands :

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qMAUSr8GaE[/media]
[/quote]

Hate to say this but that sounds suspiciously like an Alembic Series bass on the bridge pick up!!

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEPrsuuYLTE[/media]

What do you think? (Skip to 3:10 in the clip above).

[BetaFunk]

Jamaaladeen Tacuma was the first person i ever saw play an XL. If the sharpest dressed bass player in town had one then that's good enough for me. Both still seriously cool after all these years.

[BetaFunk]

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1356897278' post='1914938']
Fenders were uncool to the point of being only slightly higher in the bass pecking order than firewood in my experience of the early 80's. Its ironic today to look around and see so many young players who have the exact opposite opinion 30 yrs later.
[/quote]
Couldn't have put it better myself. I suppose bass guitars like most other things are either in or out of fashion. I bought a Hofner Senator Bass in 1990 for £140 and it sat in that guitar shop for months before i bought it. Look at the price of them now.

[Roland Rock]

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1356902607' post='1915031']
Zon VB is, in my opionion, a far better all round bass than the XL2, especially from an ergonomic perspective (both seated and standing).

The XL2 is one of the few rare high end bases I've never fancied owning - and I like headless basses as well!

As Kiwi has mentioned, Kubickis are great value at the moment and the ergonomics of these are great
[/quote]

All very true, but since when did practicality = cool? ;-)

[molan]

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1357070341' post='1917175']
All very true, but since when did practicality = cool? ;-)
[/quote]

I have to agree - after all, I used to own one of these;

[Dingus]

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1357068807' post='1917135']
Hate to say this but that sounds suspiciously like an Alembic Series bass on the bridge pick up!!


[/quote]
I can see what you mean , but I have never heard of Jamaaladeen Tacuma using an Alembic .Anything is possible , of course , but Jamaaladeen was famous for using for the Steinberger at the time , and as far as I know he used it exclusively on that album except for one track he used a fretless on . One thing is certain however - I STILL WANT A STEINBERGER !

Edited January 1, 2013 by Dingus

[BetaFunk]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1357073317' post='1917255']
I can see what you mean , but I have never heard of Jamaaladeen Tacuma using an Alembic .Anything is possible , of course , but Jamaaladeen was famous for using for the Steinberger at the time , and as far as I know he used it exclusively on that album except for one track he used a fretless on . One thing is certain however - I STILL WANT A STEINBERGER !
[/quote]
I first saw Jamaaladeen Tacuma when he was with Ornette Coleman's Prime Time. He played a Rickenbacker way back then and made it sound like no other Rickenbacker on earth.

P.S. I think that you are right in wanting a Steinberger!

Edited January 2, 2013 by BetaFunk

[EMG456]

[quote name='cloudburst' timestamp='1357064862' post='1917068']
Really thinking of going for the XL-2 for the following reasons:
- I'll be at the institute from September doing a course so the XL-2 would be easy to transport to and fro (as opposed to the Bongo which lives in its hard case)
- For some reason I've really bonded with my Bongo and would like to keep it mint, so the Steinberger could take the abuse of being in college every day
- It would hold its money for me as well if not better than having the money sat in a bank

Does all this seem like sound logic?
Or am I just trying to convince myself?
Is there a Steinberger-specific downside of any sort?

CB

PS: Is that Robbie Shakespeare in the photo?
[/quote]
OK, you've asked so I'll answer as impartially as I can

Downsides to a Steinberger XL2.

Have you played a headless before? I ask because for a few days/ gigs/ rehearsals there can be a tendency to hit the wrong notes due to a combination of there being no headstock and next to no body to reference things to. So maybe going for a note away up at the dusty end, I often frightened myself for the fist couple of days by hitting a note say two frets out. You quickly get used to it. I now have an assortment of headed and headless 4 5 and 6 string basses and go easily between them all.

The bass also hangs differently on a strap. The pivot plate that the strap attaches to on the back of the bass is mounted slightly up and to the left (on a right hand bass) from the bass's centre of gravity. With the pivot set very free, the bass will settle at a slightly neck up angle. If you want a specific angle, you can tighten up the pivot plate so it will hang on the strap at anywhere from completely horizontal to completely vertical. I keep it pretty free but I certainly acknowledge that this at first can give you a feeling of insecurity when moving large distances on the neck because of the ease with which the bass pivots. Once again, when you get used to it, it becomes second nature to freely adjust the angle of the bass to suit different techniques - slap, fingerstyle on back pickup, fingerstyle on front pickup etc.

The strap pivot is designed to accommodate a very standard playing position- anything from medium height to low and the bass will hang slightly to the right hand side of the body with the neck angled out slightly from the player's body - just like a Fender or most other basses. I like my basses quite high on a strap and more across the front of my body. I found that the standard strap pivot did not work for me like this so I use left hand pivot plates on my right hand basses. These are very difficult to find now so if you like to wear the bass high, this may be an issue. Of course as the topic of this thread concerns coolness, I'm assuming you won't want to wear the bass very high!

The only other thing I did to my main L2 was to pad under the pickups with foam. The EMG SS or HB pickups mount with only 2 screws through the faceplate and so can have a tendency to wobble a little in use. Folks may not be aware that the L series body is essentially hollow on either side of the solid neck beam so a bit of padding between the bottom of the pickups and the beam made them a bit more solid feeling to me. Interestingly, I have not felt the need to do this on any of my other L series basses so maybe it was just part of the process of getting used to them for me.

Some say that adjusting action and intonation on the Steinberger bridge is fiddly. I don't find it so and the instrument is so stable that you will only be doing it once anyway. Loosen the two grub screws on the side of the bridge which lock all the saddles together. Then slide each saddle back and forth to set the intonation (this is the bit that some folks don't like because there is no screw adjustment). Set the height and angle of each saddle with the two saddle grub screws. When you're happy, lock the whole assembly together again with the two side grub screws. Revisit in 20 years or if you change from conventional strings to piano core strings or if your tastes in action height change.

A lot of XLs are missing the battery cover off the back because people didn't understand the principle of it. There are sources for these in the very active international Steinberger community.

That's it for me - only other downsides are you'll get less practise tuning your bass and you'll be doing a lot of explaining to people who'll want to know what it is, how you tune it, when you're going to be able to afford the rest of it... etc. etc.

To answer your other three questions;

Yes - it seems like sound logic
Yes - you are trying to convince yourself
Yes - it's Sly and Robbie.

Cheers

Ed

[Vinny]

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1356895093' post='1914889']
[i]Sub zero:[/i]
Steinberger XL2's: They look fantastically purposeful and elegant. The ergonomics aren't to everyone's liking but the same could be said for the Lamborghini Muira and that didn't stop it being cool either. I'm in the process of building a rack for mine so I can mount it on the lounge wall and it really does look the business when lit properly.
[/quote]

Don't forget to use really big bolts and to drain the fuel and oil out first.

[JTUK]

er...no, not in a million.

But a friend of mine always takes his on the plane as it is a very easy carry in a gig bag and is ultra stable.
That and a Sansamp and he is gigging...

Still wouldn't make me get one tho.

[cloudburst]

Vinny, as funny comments go, post #37 is world class :-) :-) :-)

CB

[fretmeister]

Sub Zero!

But still not as cool as the Status Streamline I'm selling if you want something easy to carry.... and that you can get plenty of spares for!

[Dom in Dorset]

I thought Steinbergers looked awful and that I wouldn't be seen dead with one....until I tried , then bough the Honher copy.
The only thing more cool than a Steinberger would be a double neck Steinberger, the onlyn thing cooler than that would be a Steinberger double that only has strings on one neck.

Edited January 2, 2013 by Dom in Somerset

[Kiwi]

[quote name='Vinny' timestamp='1357149723' post='1918238']
Don't forget to use really big bolts and to drain the fuel and oil out first.
[/quote]
To the quotes page with you. [Dammit]

[drTStingray]

Cloudburst, this really is an iconic bass of the 80s......to be seen all over Top of the Pops at the time. And they also sound great as well.

I suspect you may get a bit of stick at the Institute over your choice, however?!

[cloudburst]

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1357159222' post='1918467']
Cloudburst, this really is an iconic bass of the 80s......to be seen all over Top of the Pops at the time. And they also sound great as well.

I suspect you may get a bit of stick at the Institute over your choice, however?!
[/quote]

Agreed on all points DrT. Especially the last one! And loving your sig :-)

CB

[Conan]

[quote name='Vinny' timestamp='1357149723' post='1918238']
Don't forget to use really big bolts and to drain the fuel and oil out first.
[/quote]

Well spotted young man!

[cloudburst]

Wellll, when I said I was buying one of these, I spoke too soon. The seller let me down at the last minute. Hey, we're musicians and these things happen eh.

So - if you have an XL-2 or XL-2A and you'd like to sell it to me, the money is here and burning a hole in my pocket.

CB

[cloudburst]

Looks like I've got myself a White XL2. Will let you know what I think on NBD next Saturday (19th). :-)

CB

[Ghost_Bass]

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1356895093' post='1914889']
(...)

Kubicki Ex-Factor: Incredible design and can be picked up for virtually pocket money right now. They didn't need to make a 5 with the fingerboard extension but if they did, I would have one.

(...)
[/quote]

They did make a 5 string, i know it for a fact as a friend of mine has one.

Look at the first bass on the stand in the back

[EMG456]

[quote name='Ghost_Bass' timestamp='1358244554' post='1935281']
They did make a 5 string, i know it for a fact as a friend of mine has one.

Look at the first bass on the stand in the back

[/quote]

That's not an Ex-Factor, that's a Key Factor 5 - I know because I have one!

Ex-Factors tune at the bridge with a massive proprietary system which was never adapted for 5 strings.
They also have a shorter scale -32" I think with 36" scale being used for the two extra frets on the E string, allowing it to go down to a D. Ex-Factor necks are made with many thin laminated maple strips.

Key Factors tune at the headstock using special Schaller mini tuners which have guitar- sized buttons. Also due to the narrow width of the headstock (same width as the neck) some of the tuners are wound the opposite way from normal although all the buttons turn in the normal direction. Key Factors are 34" scale and the necks are one piece maple with a rosewood or maple board. Key factor bodies have a flat top with none of the elaborate sculpting seen on the Ex-Factor.

Kubickis have a really interesting tone circuit with various different passive modes and two different active modes. Like Steinbergers, they are also great basses.

Ed

[cloudburst]

What's the general consensus on the white XL2?

Does it occupy the same spot on the cool-wall as the more prevalent black L2 and XL2?

Is it an iBass? :-)

CB

Edited January 15, 2013 by cloudburst