Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

What happened to Zoot basses?


project_c
 Share

Recommended Posts

Got my Zoot Performer bass out tonight and couldn't put it down for about 4 hours, it's an active ash / rosewood 4 string with a double-j pickup at the bridge, very light, loads of snap and dynamics, great sounding preamp, I could not get a bad tone out of it.

It made me wonder what happened to this brand, lots of people were loving them a few years ago, and you hear nothing about them these days.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1441497428' post='2859362']
Mine is for sale here :)
[url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/249351-will-now-post-iceni-zoot-active-and-with-hipshot-detuner/page__gopid__2859361#entry2859361"]http://basschat.co.u...61#entry2859361[/url]
[/quote]

Very nice bass, I did see that. If I had more room in my studio, I would buy every Zoot out there. London home = limited space = strict one in / one out policy. Otherwise I would have already bought it off you.

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1441496274' post='2859356']
Not sure why they aren't so popular, but they do still exist!

[url="http://www.purple-chili.com/iceni-zoot/"]http://www.purple-ch...com/iceni-zoot/[/url]
[/quote]

Looks like that site hasn't been touched in 5 years, it could really do with a re-design.. That chilli logo looks very dated. And the online shop is ..offline. Maybe that's all it is, people search for Zoot and it all looks a bit neglected. Perhaps I should offer to re-design it for him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They are still there, Mike lives a few minutes drive from me and does any work on my gear I need doing, see him every few months usually and he always has a few new builds hanging around in the work shop for people, he also built me a new neck recently for a project I was working on. From talking to him I think he is just happy taking on as much as suits him and the stuff he finds interesting. He has a ton of amp builds going on, plenty of people like me getting work done on basses and as i said there is always a Zoot or 3 in various stages of completion.

The site isn't the most up to date but drop him an email and he will get strait back to anyone looking for a bass or some work, still top quality as you would expect too.

Edited by Bearfist
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='TheKcrimsonKing' timestamp='1441580831' post='2860080']
I wasn't even aware they existed until I saw Squarepusher play one, what are they like?
[/quote]

My experience of them is 100% positive, the one I currently own is very light, the pickups sound amazing, the preamp is versatile, the neck is nice, and it's pretty easy to play, I barely have to dig in if I want dynamics. The body shape is very comfortable and it balances perfectly. I'd personally change the headstock shape if I could, but it's not something that bothers me massively. There are people here on BC with much nicer Zoot basses than mine, there was a thread many years ago with lots of different examples, i'll dig it out at some point.

[quote name='Bearfist' timestamp='1441609879' post='2860117']
They are still there, Mike lives a few minutes drive from me and does any work on my gear I need doing, see him every few months usually and he always has a few new builds hanging around in the work shop for people, he also built me a new neck recently for a project I was working on. From talking to him I think he is just happy taking on as much as suits him and the stuff he finds interesting. He has a ton of amp builds going on, plenty of people like me getting work done on basses and as i said there is always a Zoot or 3 in various stages of completion.

The site isn't the most up to date but drop him an email and he will get strait back to anyone looking for a bass or some work, still top quality as you would expect too.
[/quote]

Good to hear.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've always had good experiences with Mike, he's done a bit of work for me on basses like adding a J pickup to an old white Precision. Good work with a lot of stories from Mike if you ask :).
My (now departed) friend Lincoln had a FunkMeister 5 which was very cool, probably the first 'super Jazz' I tried

Si

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It amazes me to see with the couple of Zoot basses for sale on here recently - MacDaddy's being one I'd noticed a couple of times - how far the asking price has come down with no sale forthcoming. They really are great basses, and I can't believe they've not been snapped up at such bargain prices.

Mine has been with a tech for months having a couple of things sorted out. I'm looking forward to getting it back this week, it'll be almost like a new bass day again!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 10 months later...

Mike's gearing up to increase his output again, I understand. He's still most certainly active and capable of turning out basses like this, which I picked up yesterday from him:

[URL=http://s120.photobucket.com/user/Myrtle2014/media/Zoot%20Custom/WP_20160722_09_23_39_Pro_zpseldsho1h.jpg.html][IMG]http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o168/Myrtle2014/Zoot%20Custom/WP_20160722_09_23_39_Pro_zpseldsho1h.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...