Who here has tried a Lightwave bass?

[Shockwave]

Hey guys.

I am currently looking at a 5 string lightwave fretless on the bay.

Has anyone owned a lightwave equipped bass? I find the concept amazing, But how does it sound? Is the quality of the actual basses any good? I want everything from a double bass sound to jazo esq nasality. Will these basses do justice?

Cheers in advance!

Rob.

[budget bassist]

BigRedX has a fretless lightwave, from what i saw and heard from the bass bash it's a very nice bass but i'm sure he'll be along any moment to inform you on the finer details

[aj5string]

I'm watching that too :-p

[OutToPlayJazz]

There's a video review on bassplayer.tv Also some sound samples on the Lightwave site. Don't know if others will agree, but the Sabre basses sound very artificial, almost synth-bass like.

[BigRedX]

As budget bassist says I have a LightWave Sabre A:





It's a very light bass because nearly the whole body is hollow - the top half is semi-acoustic chamber and the bottom to take the extensive LightWave electronics. Mine is from one of the earliest proper manufactured batches and construction is OK, but not as good as a more conventional bass in the same price bracket.





There are a lot of sounds possible from this bass partly from the electronics and also from the fact that you can use pretty much any bass strings. I the current range there's two different pickup versions - LightWave plus piezos and LightWave plus neck magnetic pickup. The sound from the LightWave pickups is very full and even with the controls on flat much bassier than magnetic pickups with a strong fundamental. The ectronics for the LightWave system are very versatile and inside the control cavity there are trim-pots for balancing the volume of each string individually. The sound from the secondary pickup can only be added to the LightWave sound so you can't have it on it's own. I don't know if you'll get classic Jaco J-bridge sound, I haven't really tried as I have two more conventional fretless basses that do that sort of thing effortlessly. However with the right strings, you can certainly get a decent faux URB sound out of it. Mine is currently set up to do this and strung with TI Jazz Flats.

The two downsides I find with the bass are the slightly flimsy construction and the fiddley and un-ergonomic bridge design that means that if you want to experiment with different strings, you're going to find yourself spending a lot of time setting the bass up after each change. To se what is involved I recommend that you download and read the [url="http://www.lightwave-systems.com/Support/SaberUserManual.pdf"]user manual[/url]. On my version the action adjustment is particularly user unfriendly (it's better on the current bridge design), plus the action adjustment is wider than the optical sensor adjustment, so it's possible to find yourself having lowered the action the where you want it not being able to get the sensors to line up with the strings. I've had the neck off mine 3 times so far to adjust the shims to overcome this problem. This is a pity as this is one bass where string experimentation can yield rewarding results, but at the same time involves lots more work than a more conventional bass.

IMO a second-hand 5-string in good condition shouldn't be more than £500 for a recent model and less for one with an earlier bridge design. Also if you're buying one from the US you'll also need to get a 240-110V step-down transformer for the battery recharger.

LightWave have supplied their pickup system to a number of builders in the past including some serious high-end designs from Ritter, Sei and Zon. The LightWave own brand basses are good to try out to see if you like the system, but ultimately if you're going to be a serious user, I'd consider either going for one of the better makes with the system or getting the electronics transplanted into something custom built.

If you'd like me to have a look at the listing you're interested in either post here or PM me a link and I'll try and give you some more info.

[Shockwave]

Thanks for all the info!

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=310087000985&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=021"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...A:IT&ih=021[/url]

Heres the bass in question, is this the newer or older bridge?

I would still like more information on useful tones. What sort of magnetic pickup/bass does it sound like most?

For all the effort you have to put into the bass would you say it was rewarding enough, or would you recommend a more traditional magnetic pup bass? Such as a Gary willis Ibanez?

Cheers.

[BigRedX]

That looks like the newer version bridge but without a close-up pic it's impossible to say for sure. The newer versions allow you adjust the action with a allen key and without having to remove the string. On mine because the whole saddle rotates to screw up and down you have to slacken off the string to do this and height can only be adjusted in half-turn increments.

Sound-wise there's lots of tones available, whether there will be all the ones you want is another matter. The controls are master volume, bass, mid, mid frequency and piezo volume. There should also be a switch to give two piezo tones. I've found that there can be a hole in the frequency range between the highest mid and piezo which may be a problem for getting some sounds. I don't use the piezo much because it generates too much handling noise with my playing style. Also because mine has an unfinished maple? board, it's never been strung with anything more abrasive than half-rounds.

That eBay listing has been running for a couple of weeks now and despite what they say the price has not been significantly reduced. Factoring shipping and VAT/customs at the moment it's at the upper limit of what the bass is worth. I'd be tempted to wait for it to come down by at least $100 unless you are sure it's the bass for you.

[far0n]

I used to own a Lightwave Classica. Lovely sounding bass guitar, fab fundamental tone, but very weird and harsh top end. Almost like it was distorted even though it wasn't. Top end cut off sounded something like 3 KHz bit frustrating really. 35" scale, due to the semi-hollow body it was stupidly neck heavy, impossible to play sitting down or standing up for that matter. String volume balance was a never ending struggle and the string spacing was a rather wide 19mm if I remember right. Apart from that it was great !!

[Happy Jack]

Thread Resurrection!

Got a Lightwave Sabre VL (fretted) last night and only had time to play it for an hour or so, but so far I'm well impressed.

The light weight may make it feel a bit flimsy to some (I'm used to vintage Hofners ) but it's really comfortable on the shoulders, tonal flexibility is excellent, the neck is nearly as good as a Lakland, and I'm looking forward to playing this properly over the weekend.