BrunoBass Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 (edited) Whilst trawling the internet for a nice used Precision my eye was caught by this stunner and I knew instantly I had to have it. The seller was half an hour away from me so I picked it up a few days ago. Do I need another J type bass? Not really, but you know how it is... I knew nothing of RMI basses and a bit of Googling hasn't thrown up much information, other than the fact that these are designed in the UK by Mark Ramsay and built in South Korea (possible the Samick factory). The build quality is excellent. I did find online a vague spec though, which informs me that the hardware is all Wilkinson, so no complaints there. Electrics wise the active circuitry is engaged by the pull/push master volume, plus there's a pickup pan, and three band EQ. There is also a kill switch. The body is basswood, neck is maple with a 38mm J type nut width and shallow C profile, with an Ebanol fingerboard. The best thing about this bass though is the pickups, which are amazing. They are G&B Tonemasters which I believe sometimes appear in Cort and Ibanez basses too, and they're so good I want to buy another set to put into my bitsa Jazz. They've got big output, great clarity across all frequencies and strong continuity across all the strings. They're almost too powerful but with a bit of EQ adjustment they can be bought under control. They give me the modern Jazz Bass tone I've always craved, and there's also (to my ears at least) a Stingray type springiness. For a modern sounding J this bass is ideal, and works very well in my rock covers band. Looks awesome too, 190 quid well spent. Edited March 11, 2019 by BrunoBass 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borntohang Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 Congrats on the new bass - pretty sure I was keeping an eye on that one myself but unfortunately I'm not in the market right now. It's a cool looking shape and I haven't seen them for sale over here before. Got any clips? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrunoBass Posted March 11, 2019 Author Share Posted March 11, 2019 2 minutes ago, borntohang said: Congrats on the new bass - pretty sure I was keeping an eye on that one myself but unfortunately I'm not in the market right now. It's a cool looking shape and I haven't seen them for sale over here before. Got any clips? Thanks - not yet but hoping to have soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleabag Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 Just looked at his webby and those basses are fabulous. They all seem to be £1400 or more, so why is the Boomslang so cheap ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrunoBass Posted March 11, 2019 Author Share Posted March 11, 2019 (edited) 8 minutes ago, fleabag said: Just looked at his webby and those basses are fabulous. They all seem to be £1400 or more, so why is the Boomslang so cheap ? Not sure... the Boomslang isn’t made anymore, RMI look like they’re more into the high end boutique stuff these days, not really anything I’m interested in to be honest. The one I picked up was originally on at £275 but it went down to £190. I saw one on an Australian used bass site for Aus$800 (about £420) so there’s some variance in asking price. It’s a very high quality bass, if it had a ‘name’ on the headstock they’d probably command much higher prices. Edited March 11, 2019 by BrunoBass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleabag Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 Yup, could be his early work, doing variations on Fenders maybe, but seems he's gone much further upmarket now. Still, yours still sounds like a real bargain from a quality builder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrunoBass Posted March 12, 2019 Author Share Posted March 12, 2019 Yes, in fact I posted a photo of my bass to their Facebook page and Mark responded saying it was their first ever model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassApprentice Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 Seems they still do some Fender-y stuff. With the high end stuff he does, wonder what mad stuff you could spec. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrunoBass Posted September 2, 2019 Author Share Posted September 2, 2019 I’m bumping this up again in case anyone can shed any light on RMI basses and might’ve missed the original post? I fired a few questions about the bass to RMI’s Facebook page but got no response. I’m interested in when this model was made, original RRP etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 Wow looks like a fantastic looking thing, I love that Ebanol fingerboard! Looks almost pitch black to me, so mean looking! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrunoBass Posted September 11, 2019 Author Share Posted September 11, 2019 On 02/09/2019 at 19:47, razor5cl said: Wow looks like a fantastic looking thing, I love that Ebanol fingerboard! Looks almost pitch black to me, so mean looking! It plays very well, is very light and sounds terrific, definitely worth grabbing one if you ever get the chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil___lien Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 2023 bump!! I used to own an RMI Quantum Dominic Di Piazza Signature 6 string.. even wrote a NBD article on here: Actually, he told me the other day he still had one bass in stock. I am not in a position to buy anything right now.. but i highly recommend his basses & would order one to my specs if i could... Here are the specs of the bass: Translucent aqua burst high-gloss polyester finish Pearloid fretboard inlays Deeply inset bolt-on construction (7 bolts) with recessed neck heel for unhindered playing Slim 35mm deep semi-chambered, stepped-level body (for lowest action) 3-piece wedge body construction (hard maple centre / Vietnamese walnut / pink mahogany) Exotic poplar birdseye top 24 medium-gauge frets 33" scale 16.5mm string spacing at the bridge 43mm nut width Flat rosewood fretboard (no radius / like classical guitar) Apex scarf neck construction (3-piece hard ash, hard maple, nato mahogany) Maximum-stability U channel Martin-style truss rod + 2x KTS titanium reinforcement bars (Japan) RMI dual-coil humbucking CNC-wound pickups in wooden shells (poplar birdseye / maple) Mini 3-way coil selection switch per pickup: parallel, single-coil, in series Preamp (9v) with 3-band EQ + pull / push for passive / active switch on Volume control Hipshot A-style brass bridge Hipshot Ultralight Y-key aluminium tuners Weight is around 4Kg (based on the 3.8kg verified weight of the earlier model) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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