Elwray Infinga 4 Bass - Reviews

[gary mac]

1 hour ago, Marcoelwray said:

Thanks for the picture! Tip top.

@gary mac thanks, let it be played!

I don't really mind one or two ding or dong, I prefer to gather more opinions

Well hopefully it won't be picking up any dings whilst it's in my care. 

I'll try to get some video footage of it in action tonight.

 

Marco. Although there was an explanation of the controls somewhere in this thread, can you enlighten me further as to exactly what is what? 

[Grangur]

Yes,  @gary mac, When gigging, you need to be careful with the switches as switching the wrong one kills the output dead.

[Guest Marcoelwray]

3 switches.

(When I say neck it's the closer to the neck)

Neck : on/off neck pickup

Middle : series/single coil/parallel bridge pickup

Bridge : on/off bridge pickup

Tone and volume.

I like switches because you can easily change all the tone of the instrument with a very tiny movement. 

Hope it's clear

[gary mac]

That's great, thanks 

[Guest Marcoelwray]

32 minutes ago, gary mac said:

That's great, thanks 

My pleasure.

I'm quite impatient for that video I have to say...

[timhiggins]

This looks like a very cool bass ..have i missed the chance for a go while its in my area ? 

[Guest Marcoelwray]

8 minutes ago, timhiggins said:

This looks like a very cool bass ..have i missed the chance for a go while its in my area ? 

You need to arrange that with others in the passaround.. it is definitely not too late as long as it's in UK for an indeterminate time, where are you based?

@TheGreek can you put him in the list mate?

[TrevorR]

10 minutes ago, timhiggins said:

This looks like a very cool bass ..have i missed the chance for a go while its in my area ? 

Sure it could be squeezed in. Whereabouts are you?

[TrevorR]

8 hours ago, Marcoelwray said:

3 switches.

(When I say neck it's the closer to the neck)

Neck : on/off neck pickup

Middle : series/single coil/parallel bridge pickup

Bridge : on/off bridge pickup

Tone and volume.

I like switches because you can easily change all the tone of the instrument with a very tiny movement. 

Hope it's clear

I’ll be having a proper test drive further down the line but I had a good look at the bass at the Bass Bash and despite how lovely the bass is,  the pickup switching arrangement is one thing I was not convinced by. Here s my thought...

Set aside the series/parallel switch, the two on/off switches aren’t a simple ergonomic solution to me. They give you four pickup options. Three of those are useful (neck, bridge, both) and one of those isn’t useful for me and, actually, has active downsides - both off. Why should I want both pickups off? Maybe to mute the bass while it’s sitting on the stand. But I have a volume control for that or, more likely, an in-line tuner pedal which mutes the signal. So in practice the “off” setting is entirely redundant and unnecessary for me.

AND there is always the risk of accidentally turning the bass off mid song and having to work out in a panic why? Pedalboard died? Cable broke? Amp died?  DI box bust? Oh, no. I’ve just turned the bass off.

But a standard three way switch gives you all the useful functionality of the two on/off switches in a single switch... neck, both, bridge. A much more straightforward and usable arrangement for me. 

Edited October 6, 2018 by TrevorR

[Guest Marcoelwray]

Yes, indeed. I understand perfectly. In the future I think I will get rid of the series mode, I just don't find it useful in my instruments.

Maybe a 3 knobs control is enough (vol,blend,tone) and a 2 pos switch for single coil / parallel switching the humbucker. I'm still struggling to find a simple way to control the bass, and complete in the same time. Thank you for your feedback on this.

[tthiggins]

1 hour ago, TrevorR said:

Sure it could be squeezed in. Whereabouts are you?

I'm sort of between Grangur and Gary mac Braughing north of Hertford ..I'm intrigued by this bass but if it's already moved on not to worry 

[Grangur]

16 minutes ago, tthiggins said:

I'm sort of between Grangur and Gary mac Braughing north of Hertford ..I'm intrigued by this bass but if it's already moved on not to worry 

No, good timing. @gary mac has gigs to do. I don't know when he'll be finished, but I go on holiday 20th Oct to 5th November. So how about if you have it after Gary. I'll collect it from you when I get back?

I'll have it for a few days and take it to @TrevorR

Either that or @tthiggins can make arrangements to get it to Trevor?

Edited October 6, 2018 by Grangur

[TrevorR]

1 hour ago, Marcoelwray said:

Yes, indeed. I understand perfectly. In the future I think I will get rid of the series mode, I just don't find it useful in my instruments.

Maybe a 3 knobs control is enough (vol,blend,tone) and a 2 pos switch for single coil / parallel switching the humbucker. I'm still struggling to find a simple way to control the bass, and complete in the same time. Thank you for your feedback on this.

No you mistake me... I think that the series/parallel switching is a great idea. I was just saying that two switches  [pickup selection switch + series/parallel] was better than the 3 switches and gives exactly the same functionality.

[TrevorR]

1 hour ago, Grangur said:

No, good timing. @gary mac has gigs to do. I don't know when he'll be finished, but I go on holiday 20th Oct to 5th November. So how about if you have it after Gary. I'll collect it from you when I get back?

I'll have it for a few days and take it to @TrevorR

Either that or @tthiggins can make arrangements to get it to Trevor?

Sounds like a plan! But you still need to pop in for a go on the Wals @Grangur

Edited October 6, 2018 by TrevorR

[Grangur]

8 hours ago, TrevorR said:

Sounds like a plan! But you still need to pop in for a go on the Wals @Grangur

Hmm...  Having listened to the BC podcast, and the reputation of Wal,  it's possible this visit could be expensive.  

[Guest Marcoelwray]

9 hours ago, TrevorR said:

No you mistake me... I think that the series/parallel switching is a great idea. I was just saying that two switches  [pickup selection switch + series/parallel] was better than the 3 switches and gives exactly the same functionality.

No, no, I understood very well. But I was thinking and writing at the same time... That's all me

[gary mac]

I took delivery of the bass on Friday evening when @Grangur kindly delivered it to me at a gig. I didn't play it there and then, as I thought it preferable to familiarise myself with the controls and switching possibilities at home.

Others before me have already described the timber, hardware and components used, so there's no need for me to do the same. What I will say, is that the quality of workmanship, timber and hardware is all very good. It is not without faults however, but again this has been detailed by Rich @Grangur

What I will say from the off, is that this style of instrument, although very attractive, is not one that I would go for, that's not a criticism of the build but just my preference. I suppose it's about my more conservative taste in basses, to me a more standard  P or J bass just looks and feels right in a function/pub covers band, which is the type of gigging that I'm involved in. Having said that I took it along to last night's gig, with a view to just playing a couple of numbers, only to find myself really enjoying playing, what is for me a very different style of instrument and keeping it strapped on for the entire first set. 

Importantly for me, it was very shoulder friendly and balanced very nicely on my strap. Initially I felt a bit disconcerted by the thickness of the neck up in the first position. Actually I don't think I've encountered a bass with such a thick neck profile but once I forgot about that and just got on with playing, it wasn't a problem, nor was the radius which is flatter than my usual preference.

Sound wise it was impressive, although I have to confess that I didn't really experiment much with the settings, there wasn't time, we didn't even get a sound check. To me, that makes it all the more impressive really. For the record, I think I had both pick ups on and with the middle switch in the down position (can't recall what that actually does), volume control up full and the tone rolled slightly off. The only adjustment that I made was with the tone control, this is something I always do on my P basses, to suit certain tunes. Anyway, it was punchy, articulate and had a pleasing growl going on. It could certainly be heard, loud and clear over an enthusiastic drummer and two guitars.

Although I was happy with the sound, I have to say that I'm not convinced by the controls and think that the switching options are somewhat confusing. Having said that though, as mentioned earlier, I normally play basses with just two knobs, so it could well be down to my short comings in understanding the relationship between the pickups and the various options available. My preference would be for a simpler form of rotary blend/volume control for the pick ups, along with a tone control for each.

 

Have to admire Marco for his building skills and then sending his creation out to be critiqued by us lot.

This bass, with a few tweaks, a little attention to the frets and nut could be a real winner. I've enjoyed my couple of days with it and thank Marco for the opportunity to try something a little different.  

 

[Guest Marcoelwray]

@gary mac

Thanks for that feedback! Like I said, that's a derouting bass at first look and touch, but once you start playing it, this disturbing things like thick neck doesn't seem to be a problem anymore.

I hope you had the time to take some pictures if not a video, otherwise it's not so bad, I'm glad you enjoyed it for one complete gig.

Coming from a "classical bass type" guy, that's quite a compliment!

Anyway, thank you very much for your contribution to improve ElWray's basses quality. I take every word as I said before, to make more "user friendly" basses.

Cheers

Marco

Edited October 7, 2018 by Marcoelwray

[timhiggins]

On 02/10/2018 at 21:19, TheGreek said:

She's moving...Richard collected the Elwray bass this evening. We had a chat about what I liked and how, if it was mine, I'd change to suit me. He'll do the same. Don't forget to add yourself to the list.

Elwray Bass pass around

BC User name	Name	Location	Date received	Passed to
TheGreek	Mick Tomazou	Hatfield, Herts	28/9/18	Richard (Grangur) on 2/10/18
Grangur	Richard Bower	Bishops Stortford	2/10/18
GaryMac	Gary Mackay	Hoddesdon
TrevorR	Trevor Raggatt	Staines, Middlesex
timhiggins	Tim Higgins	Braughing ,Herts
			
			

 

[gary mac]

@timhiggins Drop me a pm Tim and we can make the necessary arrangements. 

[BreadBin]

No-one in the West interested? 

(apart from me!)

[Grangur]

There seem to be a few people who've got dropped off the list. Some time ago we had:
 

@Bridgehouse  - Peterborough, Leicester/Nottinghamshire
@Geek99 - Coalville, Leicester
@honza992 - Nottingham
@fiatcoupe432 - Kingsbridge, Devon
& now we have @BreadBin

Please, @BreadBin can you tell us where you are?

As it happens, on Wednesday this week, I'm driving down on a 3 day trip to Bath, Bristol, Exeter, then on Southampton. It would have been good it I could have taken it. Maybe I can wangle to do a similar trip next month, when others will have finished. 

Edited October 8, 2018 by Grangur

[BreadBin]

I am in the Trowbridge, Wiltshire area but have transport and am happy to meet up somewhere convenient for others. Bath would be fine, for example 

[Grangur]

Ok, to keep this idy, here's the list at this time. This isn't necessarily the order for receiving the bass, as logistics for moving the bass without using a courier may influence it.

@timhiggins - Puckeridge, Herts
@TrevorR - Staines, Middx
@Bridgehouse  - Peterborough, Leicester/Nottinghamshire
@Geek99 - Coalville, Leicester
@honza992 - Nottingham
@fiatcoupe432 - Kingsbridge, Devon
@BreadBin  - Trowbridge, Wilts

[gary mac]

@Grangur Tim has made contact about collecting the bass from me this week, so if you're planning on taking it to @BreadBin let me know a bit sharpish.