Industrial Radio midi bass midibass revamped

[Quatschmacher]

Just had a look and it seems they’ve made these a bit cheaper by taking out the screen and selector switch (and possibly the passive tone control, which is a bummer).

Looks like the P and PJ will be added and if they’ve decided to make those available in ash and alder then I might well get one after all, if the exchange rate didn’t continue to suck.

https://industrialradio.com.au/

[skidder652003]

That midi port looks well fragile!

[BigRedX]

8 minutes ago, skidder652003 said:

That midi port looks well fragile!

A locking D connector? A good deal more robust than your typical modern computer grade connector. 

[bartelby]

31 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

A locking D connector? A good deal more robust than your typical modern computer grade connector. 

whilst the connector is quite robust, cables of that type aren't the most flexible.

I guess this is more of a studio bass than live.

[Quatschmacher]

17 minutes ago, bartelby said:

whilst the connector is quite robust, cables of that type aren't the most flexible.

I guess this is more of a studio bass than live.

Nope, Men Imitating Machines use one live. 

[bartelby]

48 minutes ago, Quatschmacher said:

Nope, Men Imitating Machines use one live. 

Do they move about the stage much?

[Pea Turgh]

4 hours ago, bartelby said:

Do they move about the stage much?

Depends what machine they are imitating.  Fax, not so much.  Bailer, look out!

[BigRedX]

23 hours ago, skidder652003 said:

That midi port looks well fragile!

And technically it's not a MIDI port. 

22 hours ago, bartelby said:

whilst the connector is quite robust, cables of that type aren't the most flexible.

I guess this is more of a studio bass than live.

Roland have been using multiway cables with considerably less robust connectors in their MIDI guitars fro decades. There should now be the technology available to create a decent stage-worthy flexible 15-way plus screen cable to go with that plug. Van-Damme make a flexible/coilable Cat5e that is significantly more durable than your average office networking cable. It's all do-able.

On the other hand the connector used isn't particularly elegant looking. And the bass itself is hardly the most innovative of designs.

[Quatschmacher]

3 hours ago, BigRedX said:

On the other hand the connector used isn't particularly elegant looking. And the bass itself is hardly the most innovative of designs.

It’s what’s inside that counts and jazz and precision basses have an almost universal appeal so I can see why they chose those designs. If you wanted something more exotic looking then you could check out frettrax instead. 

[Kiwi]

I visited Steve Chick in 2009 on my way through to NZ.  Back then he had Charles Cilia making the basses for him.  Charles is an outstanding luthier, his guitars play like butter.  The basses he made were OK but didn't do much for me personally and they weren't cheap as they were handmade, faithful replicas of a preCBS jazz bass owned by a friend of Steve's. So Steve has been spending a lot of time thinking about how to make the technology more accessible pricewise and one way was to use prefabricated parts which he completes the necks and does extra body drilling for the wiring.

 

On 30/09/2019 at 16:08, BigRedX said:

And the bass itself is hardly the most innovative of designs.

It's intentional.  He wants the technology to be accepted by as many players as possible so the rationale is use a standard bass that everyone is familiar with tonally. 

[EMG456]

I’m amazed he’s still going after all these years- more power to him. 

Away to dig out my Wal. 

[BigRedX]

3 hours ago, Kiwi said:

It's intentional.  He wants the technology to be accepted by as many players as possible so the rationale is use a standard bass that everyone is familiar with tonally. 

And there is an equally valid argument that the sorts of people who are after a properly functioning MIDI guitars and basses are after something a bit more interesting looking. I certainly wouldn't want to be seen on stage with a "normal" looking instrument no matter how fantastic the sound creating facilities are. 

And while I am familiar with the sorts of sounds that other musicians are able to get out of a Jazz bass, most of them aren't ones I am after, and when I did own a Squier Jazz one of the biggest disappointments for me was that no matter what I did with it and what modifications I made it always sounded "weedy" to me when compared with the Overwater and Gus basses I was also using.

[Kiwi]

3 hours ago, BigRedX said:

And there is an equally valid argument that the sorts of people who are after a properly functioning MIDI guitars and basses are after something a bit more interesting looking. I certainly wouldn't want to be seen on stage with a "normal" looking instrument no matter how fantastic the sound creating facilities are.

Validity based on principle or pragmatism?  Traditionally gigging bassists just wanted something reliable and predictable that helped them nail the track as quickly as possible because they're on the clock.  Consistency allowed engineers to eq the bass quickly and get predictable results.  Fantastic sound creation potential just made things more complicated, especially when a knob might get knocked accidentally while playing...although having said that Alembics were very popular Nashville studio basses for a while in the 80's.  

I think there is a difference between a player's personal, creative aspirations and the realities of working for someone who is paying the bill for studio time.  As Madonna famously said 'time is money and the money is MINE!'.  At least according to Nile Rodgers.

[itu]

If those instruments are handmade, the price of the electronics is far less than I thought.

If the shape of the body is an issue, I suppose the neck could be fitted to another body with some effort, including routing... maybe some aftermarket body would be fine or a visit to a local luthier.

(I have a Misa, and that is one different beast.)

[Kiwi]

5 hours ago, itu said:

If those instruments are handmade, the price of the electronics is far less than I thought.

If the shape of the body is an issue, I suppose the neck could be fitted to another body with some effort, including routing... maybe some aftermarket body would be fine or a visit to a local luthier.

(I have a Misa, and that is one different beast.)

The current ones are hand assembled from Warmoth parts, not hand made.  The electronics both inside the body and in the neck itself are extremely complicated. Each fret is divided into 4 pieces. Each fret piece is electronically isolated from the others and anyone attempting to bugger about would need to know the right way to reconnect everything after disassembly, there are no instruction manuals included.

[prowla]

I like the hex screws holding the bridge on...

[BigRedX]

13 hours ago, itu said:

If those instruments are handmade, the price of the electronics is far less than I thought.

If the shape of the body is an issue, I suppose the neck could be fitted to another body with some effort, including routing... maybe some aftermarket body would be fine or a visit to a local luthier.

(I have a Misa, and that is one different beast.)

I don't really get on with bolt-on necks. I tolerate them on my Bass VIs because there are no alternatives. 

However if I was going to splash the sort of money required for an Industrial Radio MIDI bass I'd want something that was more tailored to my requirements rather than the one size (doesn't) fit all instruments they currently make.

[Quatschmacher]

3 hours ago, BigRedX said:

I don't really get on with bolt-on necks. I tolerate them on my Bass VIs because there are no alternatives. 

However if I was going to splash the sort of money required for an Industrial Radio MIDI bass I'd want something that was more tailored to my requirements rather than the one size (doesn't) fit all instruments they currently make.

As I said, there are other options:

http://frettrax.com/

You can get the system retrofitted to any bass or buy one of theirs. 

Edited October 3, 2019 by Quatschmacher

[BigRedX]

2 hours ago, Quatschmacher said:

As I said, there are other options:

http://frettrax.com/

You can get the system retrofitted to any bass or buy one of theirs. 

Doesn't work with open strings according to the web site (one of the few bits of information it actually does give). So really not an option for me as a lot of my bass style is built around open string drones, and alternating open and fretted string riffs.

Also: 

Quote

FretTraX is being made available as a retrofit to appropriate instruments

Quite what counts as an appropriate instrument isn't mentioned, in fact over all the web site is far too light on actual information to tempt me. I have asked for more details but I am yet to receive a reply...

[Quatschmacher]

3 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

Doesn't work with open strings according to the web site (one of the few bits of information it actually does give).

True, though they intend to add it. 

Actually, switching off open string triggering helped to improve the playing when I played an IR bass earlier this year. 

[itu]

16 hours ago, Kiwi said:

The current ones are hand assembled from Warmoth parts, not hand made.  The electronics both inside the body and in the neck itself are extremely complicated. Each fret is divided...

OK, this Warmoth connection changes the story a bit.

Yes, I know this split-fret technique since its coming to markets in the 1980's. Wal, Valley Arts, and Peavey among others and all by the honorable Mr. Chick. If I had the money, I would buy one IR, that might be the one and only J in my flock. I might route the neck pickup cavity to adapt a humbucker. Or just tinker the neck to some more interesting body.

(I have a bad day: I split from my Modulus. Although to a good home, it hurts.)

[BigRedX]

15 minutes ago, itu said:

Yes, I know this split-fret technique since its coming to markets in the 1980's. Wal, Valley Arts, and Peavey among others and all by the honorable Mr. Chick. If I had the money, I would buy one IR, that might be the one and only J in my flock. I might route the neck pickup cavity to adapt a humbucker. Or just tinker the neck to some more interesting body.

Split frets were used on the Vox Organ Guitar in the 1960s.

[itu]

I do agree, but they were not related to MIDI.

[Quatschmacher]

5 hours ago, itu said:

OK, this Warmoth connection changes the story a bit.

Yes, I know this split-fret technique since its coming to markets in the 1980's. Wal, Valley Arts, and Peavey among others and all by the honorable Mr. Chick. If I had the money, I would buy one IR, that might be the one and only J in my flock. I might route the neck pickup cavity to adapt a humbucker. Or just tinker the neck to some more interesting body.

(I have a bad day: I split from my Modulus. Although to a good home, it hurts.)

They do make P and PJ versions too. 

[Quatschmacher]

I’ve formally put together a spec and ordered a PJ! James has been incredibly patient and helpful with all my requests and I’ll be ending up with a bass which has (almost) everything I asked for:

I didn’t want to forgo the passive tone control or the “normal” jack socket so they have agreed to let me have stacked volume pots for the magnetic pickups, a passive tone control and a front-mounted jack socket (along with the extra knob for MIDI volume etc.).

I’ll be paying my deposit soon and then will have to wait up to a year for it to be made. That’s going to be a long wait but will hopefully be worth it. It’s pretty exciting.