A trip to the Gallery

[Gwilym]

hello all,
This is just a little post to share my thoughts after my first visit to the Gallery in quite some time, since around the time they had the new extension added, so over a year maybe. I had a free pass and had the whole afternoon to "waste". Here my story...

I had two reasons for heading up there. Firstly to drop off my Sei Jazz 5, which I'm going to have pimped with a new preamp. It's currently passive, and I like the tone a lot, but think a active pre will give the bass some more versatilty of sound. I'm not sure what exactly yet, I'll discuss it with Martin Peterson next week, but something quite transparent that will complement the pickups, so we'll see what happens.

Secondly, I wanted to try out a few amps/cabs. I've mainly been using my GK combo for the past 18months, as the band I'm in was acoustic oriented (hence I'd sold my old head/cab). Now we've got a drummer, the GK won't cut it so I need more beef. Ideally it will also be small and light enough to put it a gig bag and carry to rehearsals so I can use it rather than the usual stuff you get in the typical rehearsal studio.

So I started out my Sei Jazz with a Epifani 502 (yes I know, not particularly small or light weight) through a Shroeder 1210 (1210L i think). This was a nice enough sounding rig, but a bit mid-heavy and not very warm sounding - not really to my taste. So up next was the MarkBass Little Mark through the same Schroeder. For me, this was much more like it. Punchier, bass-ier and warmer and much more pleasing to my ears. Enough so, that I stuck with the MB for much of the rest of the afternoon while I tried out a load of other basses though the same set up.

Later on I also managed to play the Epifani PS600 and the GK Fusion (briefly) through a Epifani UL-410. The Epifani PS600 head seemed much more at home through the Epifani cab, than the 502 did through the Schroder i.e. punchier, bass-ier and warmer! (I'm sure the same would apply to the UL502 as well). Also the GK Fusion sounded very nice through the UL-410, but i only really played it for a couple of minutes, while I was making up my mind

So I got my mits on as many of the (mostly) non Fender style basses in the time I had:

F Bass BN5 - verrrry nice! Did I say how awesome this was? Ash body, 3piece maple neck. Fantastically comfortable to play, and no matter how hard I tried, I could not get an unusable tone out of it. A fantastically usefull preamp. 3 band boost only EQ. Vintage tone/(Preamp on/off), 2 x Vol (with single coil/humbucking push/pull). Just tone, and more tone!

F Bass BNF5 - as above but fretless, and also sounded just as good, but my fretless playing is a bit cack handed without the fretlines.

Ibanez GWB35 Gary Willis Signature model - outstanding fretless for the money (or even double/triple the money), and is bang on my GAS list now. Played as well as pretty much any fretless I've played before. It's got to be the "budget" fretless to have if you like the tone (which I did).

[url="http://www.thebassgallery.com/alembicelan.html"]Alembic Elan 5[/url] - not the right bas for me sound wise or ergonomically. Maybe it just was the set up, and me not being used to the filter based pre-amp.

[url="http://www.thebassgallery.com/lulljazz5.html"]Mike Lull Jazz 5[/url] - nicely put together high end jazz, sounded like what I might have expected. A bit too "Fender-ish" though, so I only gave it a quick blast.

[url="http://www.thebassgallery.com/overwaterpercp5.html"]Overwater Perception 5[/url] - this seemed like a really nice sounding bass, but the neck was a bit wide for my tastes so I didn't play if for long. Really worth a play though if the neck works for you.

Schack 5 - used, and I can't find it on the web site. However this was my second favorite after the BN5 (of the basses for sale). Looks wise it's reminiscent of the Tobias body design. The body looked like it was bubinga i think. It had a really full snarly/growly tone, and it was very tempting!

Also I bumped into Urb, and he was kind enough to let me have a quick go on his Sei single-cut 33" scale 5 string. It sounded fantastic, and I didn't even realise it was 33" scale until Mike told me. In fact I was thinking it was 35". Lovely bass!

So, at this point I was running out of time, and GAS was getting the better of me, and I couldn't get that lovely BN5 out of my head, and my CC got a hammering. It's just as well that I don't go up there very often too!

Amplification will have to wait until my next visit, but the MarkBass/Schroeder combination sounds like a very good solution for my needs. I'm going to do some research to see who else has been using this rig, and their experiences of it.

So anyway, big thanks to Alex @ The Gallery for his time and patience. And also to "F Bass" for making such fantastic instruments. I'll try to get some pictures posted up soon

[Kiwi]

Great stuff Gwil, I'm very fond of the F-basses too. Very growly and versatile and I was gassing like mad for Bassjamms when he had it for sale. I haven't been quite as impressed with the Ibanez Gary Willis myself but people do rave over them.

[4000]

So they stock Schroeder now? Hmmm. When I'm out of my current penniless phase I may actually get a chance to try some out at last. Many people have told me they're exactly what I need, light but very aggressive. I just hope they're aggressive in the right sort of way.

Edited October 26, 2008 by 4000

[Platypus]

Gwil, What GK combo do you have ? If its a MB150 and you are looking to sell it,I would recommend that you put it on eBay. I had a MB150S for sale here at £320 for a few weeks, without much interest. I put it on eBay and there were 46 peeps watching it within a couple of days and it sold for £401. A 150E with a case went for over £500 recently.

P

[thegallery]

hi gwilym

it was a bit manic on saturday... im glad we found you something to splash your cash on... is an awesome bass i must say...was tempted myself by it you lucky devil

see you soon

al

[Gwilym]

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='315413' date='Oct 26 2008, 10:31 PM']Great stuff Gwil, I'm very fond of the F-basses too. Very growly and versatile and I was gassing like mad for Bassjamms when he had it for sale. I haven't been quite as impressed with the Ibanez Gary Willis myself but people do rave over them.[/quote]

horses for courses eh? It did remind me of your Pentabuzz though (playability more than sound).

[quote name='4000' post='315446' date='Oct 26 2008, 11:12 PM']So they stock Schroeder now? Hmmm. When I'm out of my current penniless phase I may actually get a chance to try some out at last. Many people have told me they're exactly what I need, light but very aggressive. I just hope they're aggressive in the right sort of way.[/quote]

Yeah, Alex had the 1210 and a couple of 21012's in stock i think. From what I heard if you've got a amp that suits the cab, and the Mark Bass definitely seemed to, then you might like them.


[quote name='Platypus' post='315450' date='Oct 26 2008, 11:23 PM']Gwil, What GK combo do you have ? If its a MB150 and you are looking to sell it,I would recommend that you put it on eBay. I had a MB150S for sale here at £320 for a few weeks, without much interest. I put it on eBay and there were 46 peeps watching it within a couple of days and it sold for £401. A 150E with a case went for over £500 recently.

P[/quote]

thanks Platypus, funny you should say this, because I very nearly suggested the same to you when I saw what price you were asking! I'm not planning on selling mine though, as it will still be very usefull to me. £500 quid second hand for the MB150E is incredible though - I got mine new for only £40 quid more than that from the Bass Merchant when Mike Walsh was still running it.

What I should have said as well, was that the main lesson I learned (or re-learned), at a time when it's very easy to buy unseen over the internet, is that nothing beats going into a decent shop and playing/listening and forming an opinion thats not (solely) based on GAS driven by reading about the next big thing on internet forums

[Gwilym]

[quote name='thegallery' post='315470' date='Oct 26 2008, 11:50 PM']hi gwilym

it was a bit manic on saturday... im glad we found you something to splash your cash on... is an awesome bass i must say...was tempted myself by it you lucky devil

see you soon

al[/quote]

cheers Alex

[urb]

Hi Gwil

Lovely to bump into you as well, I was thinking you might have reported back here with you findings, but damn I'm very happy for you and your purchase, I'll add my thoughts on the F Bass on that thread it's a beast of a bass and an absolute beauty to play... congrats

Cheers

Mike

[urb]

I'd also like to add I just that I just acquired an Epifani UL 210 which paired with my UL502 sounds, to my ears anyway, like the EXACT sound that I have been looking for, for a few years now.... it sounds simply incredible, I'm going to pair it with a UL112 so I have a sweet little mini stack and more than enough volume for pretty much any gig I am likely to play at the moment.

I'll try and write a review of the Epi stuff as I know many people here either have the head or speakers but the two combined are a match made in heaven... I find it hard to stop playing once I'm plugged in now, and with the Sei and my fretless it is just pure joy...!

M

[Golchen]

I tried the Willis fretless myself last week. Apart from the fact that it confirmed that the sun will burn out before I ever manage to get anything remotely acceptable out of a fretless, it looked great, felt really great to play, and I really liked the (ebanol?) fretboard. If ever I was going to get shot for not learning fretless, that is the bass I'd go for.

[Count Bassy]

I bought a second hand GWB35 from someone off here about 4 months ago and I love it. Excellent feel, well balanced and hangs well (ie I'm used to a 32" scale and I still found the far end easy enough to reach), good tonal range despite having just the one pick up, and I like the fact that it has fretlines.

The only problems I've had are that it gets a bit hissy with the treble turned rightup, one of the saddles used to work its way down while playing (now solved), and that the tone pots are bit scratchy (easily solved).

[ashevans09]

Only ever managed to make one trip down to the gallery, though I got to play with some very pretty amps and ended up buying a load of epifani stuff so I'm extremely happy . I'm trying to avoid coming back because I can't start spending money I don't have!

They're awesome

Can I have a discount now?

Edited November 11, 2008 by ashevans09