Steinberger Spirit stick bass - serious sustain

[Jenny_Innie]

I bought a headless Steinberger Spirit stick bass on here a while back. I wanted something small and light to keep in the car as a gig backup.

I play a Precision and have never had a need for a backup. Until Saturday there, when I was again standing in for a friend's Dad at a party. I forgot to pack the main bass and turned up at the gig with the backup bass only. Oops.

So, I used the Spirit. I have to say it was fun and got lots of comments from people. I didn't go much on the sound. Thought it was a bit weedy and made me sound a bit distorted during the gig. However, listening back to the audio recording, it sounds pretty cool in the FOH mix. A couple of Zoom recorders out front.

Two things I would say. Firstly, I'll need to do something with the strap to push the body to the right a bit. I see the Synapse model does this with a strap button extension thing. I can probably get one of those and fit it to this somehow.

Secondly. Wow! What a sustain you get on the Spirit. Monster. It was a bit of a problem on some song parts, as the note just wouldn't die. I adapted alright after a song or two - but it is different.

Gotta say I like it. I'm surprised, but what a wicked bass for the money.

[BassBus]

Glad you have seen the light. Welcome to the headless side.

[TheGreek]

I had one for a while - completely underwhelmed...

[lefrash]

I recently got a 2nd hand steinberger spirit bass. Absolutely love it. Sound wise it's decent enough, certainly different to my jazz bass.

Great fun bass. Not been in public with it yet though. Haha

[police squad]

Occasionally I get my old Steiny XL-2 out. used to have a hohner B2A. I love the headless thing, it's cool

[Ed_S]

I bought one for exactly the same reason; usually play a Precision and rarely have any issues but wanted a backup that wouldn't take up much room. Try to use it at rehearsal every now and then so it doesn't feel too strange to switch over to it, but it still takes a couple of songs to adjust. That aside, I often find myself thinking that for a cheap bass it sounds pretty damn good! Only problem I had with mine was that it wouldn't intonate properly in Eb tuning using the gauge of strings that came on it (the saddles just wouldn't go any further) but I bought the D'Addario heavy gauge set and they worked - just!

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Used to have a hohner stick bass ( professional b2a?). The action was brilliant . Could even do a small bit of acceptable slapping. If you slap, you'll love it . My only concern was the pickups. They were emg. But the sound just did not cut it IMHO .
Not clear enough, no definition.

My SteinBerger on the other hand , is such a professional sounding bass. The spirit series seem to take criticism for some reason. I saw a couple. Of demos on you tube and they seemed fine to me. Good for metal, and the drummer will love you

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

One other thing; I wonder if there is much difference between active/ passive steinberger s
and the passive only ones?

[tauzero]

[quote name='Jenny_Innie' timestamp='1425932155' post='2712498']
Two things I would say. Firstly, I'll need to do something with the strap to push the body to the right a bit. I see the Synapse model does this with a strap button extension thing. I can probably get one of those and fit it to this somehow.
[/quote]

I've seen a Hohner B2 modified to sort this out - they'd just moved the strap peg from the back of the neck to the bit of body just above the neck. Ah, here it is:

[url="http://classicandcoolguitars.co.uk/basses/hohnerb2aprov.htm"]http://classicandcoolguitars.co.uk/basses/hohnerb2aprov.htm[/url]

Shall have to do that to my B2AV too.

[Paul S]

I did it to my B2A and, for such a small change, it improves the balance no end.

It is still a bass that tends to play mind games with me if I haven't played it for a while. Headless, no body, 24 frets all conspire to make me want to play a couple of frets sharp until my head gets round it all again.