NBD - Dream Bass Ken Smith Content, photos now added!

[Mastodon2]

Ok, so this is copy-pasted from another bass forum, but for a lengthy review of the Ken Smith BT5 that I recently purchased from Ped as well as a few words on my Eich Bass Board that I also purchased as a result of Ped, please read on. 

For as long as I've known about (the other bass forum for middle class Americans) , which is the better part of 18 years now, I've wanted a Ken Smith, particularly the older BT shape models which I prefer to the newer shapes. I used to play electric guitar and my switch to bass was fairly recent, I've been buying my dream basses. I think I've always secretly been a bassist, I always coveted exotic basses more than exotic guitars and I always loved the role of bass in a band, but that's a whole other story. Here we are, in 2019 and I'm now a bassist.

I actually posted last month in the "What will your next bass be?" thread, that my next instrument would be a Ken Smith. I've always loved the design ethos, the exquisite craftsmanship and forward-thinking design Ken's basses had and have. I think they sound great in live and studio recordings, though I'd never heard or even seen one in person until I purchased mine.

Last Sunday night, my brother (who is a long-time member here, India_Sierra) sent me a link to a classified ad for a Ken Smith BT5, for sale near York in the UK, which is about 2.5 hours drive where I live in the north of England. The few pictures in the ad looked great, the price seemed very, very fair for the condition of the instrument and as the seller was the owner of the website the classified was hosted on, I felt confident to make the trip down with the full asking price in cash, knowing the bass would be as-described. As it happend, the bass was in virtually perfect condition with barely a mark on it. It has clearly been loved dearly and pampered over the years.

So here we have it, a 1991 Ken Smith with koa top and back, mahogany core and maple layers. The neck is maple and morado. It's the old skool 2 band EQ with all original electronics, all the pots work smoothly with no noise at all and the jack socket was recently replaced. The action is super low but so playable - it gives just the right amount of buzz when you dig in hard but otherwise is easy to play clean. It requires so little strength and physical input that it just feels effortless to play.

One of the big draws for me was the Ken Smith sound. There is a characteristic and quality to his instruments that no other bass has, it's present in every Smith recording I've heard.

I know Ken has been famously picky about which woods would be offered, he has his ideas about what works in combination to get the best sound and I have to say, I believe in his wisddom. Despite being a large instrument, with quite a large but thin body, the resonance and sustain of this thing is incredible despite it not being particularly heavy. It's very loud and resonant unplugged and harmonics ring out with such clarity and purity. The build quality is flawless. The attention to detail, the thoughtfulness of the design, the amazing way the neck joins the body almost imperceptibly, that famous brass nut, it's beyond superb.

Plugged in, it gives that instant Smith sound. I keep it flat on the EQ, pickups balanced 50/50 and volume on full and it just sounds so perfectly even and balanced, with a rich quality to every note. I struggle to put into words exactly what this quality is; it's neither a dark bass, nor a bright one, it's warm but extremely clear and articulate. It isn't harsh, but it's not mushy or soft. I think it is perhaps best described as "balanced". I think a good balance in the sound of a bass is perhaps the most important property I look for, tonally, in a bass. For me, every note must be as loud as resonant as every other note, there must be no dead spots, no strings louder than one another. There must be no booming, overpowering bass and no harsh treble. The Smith delivers on this perfectly. Another remarkable trick is that there is no volume increase when slapping - a bit of black magic I haven't quite figured out yet, I could happily slap on this without needing a compressor to stop volume spikes. It's as if it has some magical in-built compressor.

I see now why Ken's basses became one of the session bass industry standards. The EQ is as flexible as two band can be and remains musical throughout the settings, it doesn't quite have the extreme (and IMO generally unusable) extremes of EQ that some modern preamps have. No matter what you do to it, it still sounds like a Smith, so it's not a hugely versatile bass, but I don't need it to be - the sound it makes is so pure it sits perfectly in many, many genres. If I played bar-room blues or heavy metal, which I don't, the Smith wouldn't be the right choice, but for gospel, latin, jazz fusion, funk, pop etc, it's fantastic.

The electrical package is one of those things Ken just got right. There's a reason people who buy Smith basses don't tend to want to change preamps or pickups, everything is just so perfectly matched, it just works exactly as it should.

The bass came with the original Smith teardrop case and what appears to a 1991 strap, judging by the age of it. I purchased another Dingwall racing strap in brown leather and some Dunlop straploks for the recessed locks. The Dingwall straps are fantastic by the way, I have one on another bass in my collection, but the leather is so thick that getting Dunlop straploks on is a two man job.

I know it's early days for me and this bass, but in contrast to another recent thread where a user lamented his dream bass just not working for him, the Smith is perfect for me. Smiths have always held a mystique for me and I've always wanted one. I am glad and grateful for the opportunity to make this happen and of course, I must thank India Sierra for pointing me to the advert - I spent less than 30 seconds in considering to buy it as the vultures were already circling in the for-sale thread. I think it was on sale for less than an hour before I snapped it up.

As it happens, when I tried the bass at the seller's house, he was using a headphone setup, with headphone running into a digital bass synth / amp unit and an Eich Bass Board underneath his office chair, powered by what looked like a little TC Electronics head. The Bass Board, if you haven't seen it, is a board that you stand on, or sit on with a chair as you play. It has two incredibly powerful drivers which take your amp signal and turn it into vibrations that you feel through the board, but the attenuation of the vibration is so perfect that you can literally feel the music in your body as you play.

The Bass Board is also incredibly quiet - standing on it gives the impression of playing bass in front of a cranked up huge rig, if you've ever played a huge rig or been to a really loud concert where you can feel the bass in your whole body, that is what this gadget gives you. It has useful applications for people using IEMs during gigs who miss the feedback of "feeling" the music from their amp, but I just liked it for home practice. The engineering is spot on, when standing on it felt like I was standing in front of a huge rig, yet when not standing on it, I noted that the vibration bleed coming out of it was absolutely minimal. It has a headphone input too so it could be a great option for players who have family who get irritated by bass vibration shaking the house.

I play a Markbass Ninja 1000W into a Markbass Ninja 2x12 at home, I've got some wattage to spare, so I've purchased myself a Bass Board for home use. I don't spare the decibels at home, but even at moderate volume levels the Bass Board creates an illusion of playing really loud, as if you've just walked on stage at Madison Square Garden (or the Baked Potato if that's more your thing). Sadly the speakon cables I had at home aren't long enough to connect it to my Ninja 2x12, so I've had to order another cable and I can't use it until that arrives. If you ever get the chance to try one of these Bass Boards, I urge you to do so, particuarly if you play live with IEMs and no amp as a monitor on stage with you. Even if you just want to make your home practice session feel like you're doing the closing set of the Montreux Jazz Festival, this thing will not fail to make you smile.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far. I hope if you have a dream bass, that you are able to make it happen. Life is too short to settle for less.

If you have not played a Ken Smith then you absolutely must. I've been lucky enough to play and own some fabulous instruments and this is better than them all.
 

Edited July 19, 2019 by Mastodon2

[Al Krow]

On 19/07/2019 at 15:38, Mastodon2 said:

I've been lucky enough to play and own some fabulous instruments and this is better than them all.

That says it all. They really are that good aren't they?!

Congratulations! 

[ped]

That’s a good read and I agree with everything you said. Especially how much ‘weight’ there is behind the notes. Plucking an open string in this feels like it vibrates your whole body, yet it’s smooth and high fidelity. 

I always played it passive to be honest - sometimes engaging the pre if I wanted something extra or to tone down. I think the mark of an excellent bass is that it sounds perfect flat or bypassed. 

Take good care of the bass and enjoy it

[akabane]

From another Smith lover, GREAT new bass! Congratulations

It will give you hours and hours of joy!  

 

EDIT: And I love it being a '90s BT 2-way preamp. Those things sound even punchier (if possible?!) than the 'newer' 3 way pre!

Edited July 22, 2019 by akabane

[itu]

Those enormous dots... Other than that, the Smith is kool.