NBD Vigier Excess 1

[ped]

Just landed - I've been after a black and maple one for ages but the series 1 (with scratch plate) versions are quite hard to find compared to the series 2 models. I ordered a custom scratch plate from TinyTone who were great and pretty quick too. BC member @wright/watt had a spare excess plate which he kindly sent me so it was used as a template. The black plate arrived the same day as the bass!

 

The bass is really interesting and I can see how Vigier have taken their idiosyncratic left of field approach to a bass which is more traditional in terms of shape and feel. It still has those Vigier staple touches such as the supercar shape, unique electronics and graphite 10/90 neck without a truss rod.

 

As soon as it arrived I took the strings off (it's been a while since I've had a quick release bridge on anything so that was easy) and gave it a clean, changed the plate (bit of a mission given how the pickups are attached to the plate using bolts) and knobs. Chucked some Elixir 40-95s on it (the 10/90 neck is designed to be dead straight with this gauge string) and I've been getting to know it this afternoon.

 

First of al lit's very light. Seller said 3.3kgs which I can believe. It's made from two pieces of ash with a very thin coat of paint - the grain texture is visible below. The neck has a satin feel and having settled after its ride here it's got almost zero relief. 

 

The pickups are two Benedetti single coils which I'm quite familiar with, having had them in various versions in a number of Vigier instruments. They can be a little noisy, so here there's a hum cancelling circuit which is adjustable through a hole in the scratch plate. It works pretty well, and hum is vastly reduced and consistent throughout the pickup pan range. Since installing a mesh router in my office I can get hum at certain angles but generally it's quieter than a standard jazz bass, certainly with the pickups soloed. 

 

The controls are vol, pan, bass +/- 10db and treble +/- 10db. Weirdly the controls aren't centre dented which threw me at first. Honestly there's so much sizzle onto I find a neutral setting is bass on 0 and treble on -10. With pickups roughly centred there's a 60s spacing jazz bass with a bit more bite and a thoroughly growly bottom end. The highs are a little more focused and less 'open' than my Celinder, and my fave found is slight front pickup bias which gives a nice Rickenbacker style clank. 

 

I think the front pickup might need to go a little lower, but owing to the design I will have to use some washers behind the bolts - that'll mean removing the pick guard screws again which I can't face this evening! The bridge is nice, a little tarnished (actually the whole bass has marks, bumps and wear on it which I really don't mind) with an interesting system - intonation is a bit of a faff because you have to move the saddle with the string slackened and it's tricky to get right. There’s no saddle screw/spring which looks nice though. Once set everything bolts into place nice and securely. 

 

What else to say.. well what was nice was that I emailed Patrice Vigier a while back asking about the Excess range (I've never had one despite being a vigier fam for 20 odd years) and took the opportunity to congratulate him on his retirement. He said 'It's all been possible because of musicians like you' which I thought was nice. Good vibes. 

 

Just some quick  snaps for now!

 

 

[Reggaebass]

I don’t know much about those but it’s certainly a lovely looking bass 👌

[CookPassBabtridge]

Loving the pickguard, think it really suits the body shape. Bass looks in great nick for a series 1 too.

[White Cloud]

Congratulations! An awesome find for sure. Enjoy it!

 

I've been a huge Vigier fan for 40 years and adore them. 

[itu]

Dear @White Cloud, what's your 5-string? As they are rare, I am always interested to see/hear about them.

[White Cloud]

7 hours ago, itu said:

Dear @White Cloud, what's your 5-string? As they are rare, I am always interested to see/hear about them.

Hi itu: it's a 1990 Passion III deluxe.

 

It has an alleged connection to Alphonso Johnson. Best 5 string I've played.

🙂

Edited November 12, 2022 by White Cloud
Additional details

[ped]

Now I’ve had it a few days and really got to ‘know’ it I’m super happy with the bass. 
 

The action is ridiculous - I like a super low G string and this goes so low that there’s barely any gap, with no untoward rattle or choking. The neck is really thin front to back (one advantage of having no truss rod) and the bass is super light. 
 

Sounds wise, the pickups are 60s spacing but the neck sounds really similar to a full graphite construction it lends a delicious top end and snap to the sound. I’ve had the 10/90 before in a five string passion but I’m not really a five player so I didn’t have that long. 
 

I think the bass is actually a perfect blend of elements from my favourite basses over the years (this is my 31st, not much in comparison to some of you!)
 

I’ll take some decent pics later. 
 

 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

I love these basses, although sadly I've never played one - although I have seen Geezer Butler and Roger Glover using them from several feet away 😁

 

I remember reading about them in Bassist magazine when I was just starting out and loving the look. I remember the Vigier ad featured a beautiful teal green with mirror scratchplate. Why they dropped the scratchplate is a bit of a headscratcher, it looks far more graceful with it.

 

Another thing I remember is the references to a Rickenbacker-esque sound, in both the Roger Glover interview and the Bassist review, but I've never heard the similarly myself.

@ped - any chance of some sound clips?

[Bigwan]

Vigier make some of the best basses on the planet IMHO. I'm kind of sad that I've just discovered them myself in the last 18 months and now Patrice is retiring! 

[ped]

57 minutes ago, Bigwan said:

Vigier make some of the best basses on the planet IMHO. I'm kind of sad that I've just discovered them myself in the last 18 months and now Patrice is retiring! 

 

Yeah I' love to see what else he'd bring to market if he carried on. 

 

@Cosmo Valdemar yeah sure I'll definitely record something in the next week or so. I always like to record a new bass to compare how it sounds from a third person pov! I think that teal/mirror bass was sold on here actually a while back. I agree that the scratch plate really suits the bass. The series II are far more common and have a slightly fatter body and some interesting finishes. I think they're the same electronically, except the Roger Glover sig, and the latter ones have Delano pickups instead of the Benedetti single coils, which I have always thought are fantastic in every bass I've had with them - and as far as I know unique to Vigier (although I've seen traditional P and J Benedetti pickups in basses by other small builders in Europe)

 

The hum cancelling in this bass is pretty useful actually. Rather than having stacked single coil pickups, the hum eliminator works so that even when panning between pickups there's no difference in noise. That means is's hard to tell when the pickups are exactly 50/50 but also means you can use each individually with no buzz. 

[White Cloud]

3 hours ago, ped said:

 

The action is ridiculous, the neck sounds really similar to a full graphite construction it lends a delicious top end and snap to the sound. 

 

 

Nailed it Ped. I agree wholeheartedly!

[LukeFRC]

Very nice - is there a touch of Rickenbacker in the sound it makes?

[Misdee]

 

That's a lovely bass,Ped. Plays great, sounds great, looks great, light weight. What more do you need? Sounds like a keeper to me.

 

I remember being particularly enamoured of Vigier basses when the Bass Center at Wapping introduced them to the UK in the mid-1980s. The have always had that  distinct Gallic design trait of being effortlessly stylish yet understated and functional. 

 

I don't think any of them sound like a Rickenbacker, but Vigiers have always stood out  in comparison to a lot boutique basses in having a fairly gutsy sound that is suited to dense, heavy music. That's maybe why rock players have gravitated towards them over the years. To be fair, I have never found any bass that sounds like a Rickenbacker except a Rickenbacker. That's probably because no one has been brave  or clever enough to recreate something that is as individualistic, compelling and eccentric as a Rickenbacker bass.

[thodrik]

Nice!

I must check the serious number on my Excess but it is definitely from the same year! Though curiously all of controls on mine are centre dented. Frankly I really like the non-chrome knobs. I also prefer the look of the basses with a pickguard, though mine does not have one. 

In terms of sounds, to me I have always though that the bass seemed like a hybrid between a dual pickup Musicman, a Rickenbacker and Jazz bass. Definitely not another Fender Jazz clone. 

Also, agreed that getting intonation right is a bit finnicky. Also I find that the treble control must be used very sparingly. Generally I have never had the Bass control above the centre point and treble is usually just about a quarter turn from 'off'. I find that the coolest sounds are by panning the pickup blend slightly towards the bridge. Having the tone controls not 'boosted' generally helps with the single coil hum and noise. 

In terms of set up I generally lower the front pickup a bit as when the pickup blend is at the centre point the front pickup can be very overpowering. 

In terms of the stability of the neck. I have used my bass since 2004 in all kinds of tunings and gauges. Presently strung with Elixirs  in drop C (130, 95, 70, 50) with pretty high tension. No issues whatsoever, Quick change of nut and I could have it back in standard tuning with a 100-40 set without any worries. Unless there is a defect (which is highly highly unusual) the necks are incredibly stable. 

I have an Arpege five string (newer bolt on design) which is a more 'state of the art' design. However, personally I prefer the styling of the Excess models in that they are solid, bomb-proof gigging machines.
 

Edited November 14, 2022 by thodrik

[bassbloke]

I used to own a Passion Delta metal fretless.  Wonderful instrument, although the body cracked and needed repairing.  The bass centre had a blueburst fretted 5 and black fretless 4 on special offer and it is to my eternal regret that I didn't snap them both up.

 

The neck on both was wonderful. Lovely and slim.  The only issue I had was that the active circuit was a little quirky.