NBD: ****** ******* ** (AKA Status Buzzard B2)

[Misdee]

Not really the bass for a jazz gig. 

 

What you have done by acquiring this bass has some kind of equivalence with a middle aged man leaving his wife for a busty blonde half his age. Not really very sensible but tremendous fun for a while.

 

I can tell just by looking that this bass is going to be a monster. A new set of Rotosound  RS66 is an absolute must, by the way.

 

Edited yesterday at 15:08 by Misdee

[Beedster]

20 minutes ago, Misdee said:

Not really a bass for a jazz gig. 

 

What you have done by acquiring this bass has some kind of equivalence with a middle aged man leaving his wife for a busty blonde half his age. Not really very sensible but tremendous fun for a while.

 

I can tell just by looking that this bass is going to be a monster. A new set of Rotosound  RS66 is an absolute must, by the way.

 

Can’t argue with any of that 🙂

[Cosmo Valdemar]

1 hour ago, Misdee said:

Not really a bass for a jazz gig. 

 

What you have done by acquiring this bass has some kind of equivalence with a middle aged man leaving his wife for a busty blonde half his age. Not really very sensible but tremendous fun for a while.

 

I can tell just by looking that this bass is going to be a monster. A new set of Rotosound  RS66 is an absolute must, by the way.

 

I reckon a bass of this calibre deserves far better than Rotosounds 🤣

[Beedster]

6 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

I reckon a bass of this calibre deserves far better than Rotosounds 🤣

 

You'd probably right, although I'm not looking for this thing to sound all that nice 👍 

[LeftyJ]

Wow, I never realised these were THAT big. The upper strap button is at what, fret 16? Bloody hell! 

What are the electronics in the B2? I tried finding it on the Status Graphite website but couldn't find specs of the B2. I'm guessing it's probably a Board 300 series preamp but with the volume pot taken off the circuit board, since the other controls appear to be pretty much in the same spot. 

[Beedster]

57 minutes ago, LeftyJ said:

Wow, I never realised these were THAT big. The upper strap button is at what, fret 16? Bloody hell! 

What are the electronics in the B2? I tried finding it on the Status Graphite website but couldn't find specs of the B2. I'm guessing it's probably a Board 300 series preamp but with the volume pot taken off the circuit board, since the other controls appear to be pretty much in the same spot. 

 

It is a big instrument, I felt like I was 14 again, picking up a bass for the first time!

 

I think the electrics are quite common on Statii, the only major difference might be that the mid are controlled by a sweepable frequency control with a three-way switch allowing cut/off/boost. It seems quite crude given there could have been both frequency and level options (there's no shortage of space after all), but I suspect like any other circuit, you quickly adapt and find a way of making it work. There's a slight glitch with this mid circuit which is going to require a visit to Status (if Rob's willing and able to do so), to get it checked over as while it might simply a pot in need of a bit of a clean, it might need a little more. 

 

Takes 3 x PP3 !!!!!!!! 

 

   

[Cosmo Valdemar]

3 hours ago, Beedster said:

 

You'd probably right, although I'm not looking for this thing to sound all that nice 👍 

Don't worry, your distortion will remove any undesirable niceties 🤣

[Beedster]

24 minutes ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

Don't worry, your distortion will remove any undesirable niceties 🤣

Something like that, as someone suggested earlier, I’m not gonna be using this baby for jazz gigs 🤔

[LeftyJ]

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

I think the electrics are quite common on Statii, the only major difference might be that the mid are controlled by a sweepable frequency control with a three-way switch allowing cut/off/boost. It seems quite crude given there could have been both frequency and level options (there's no shortage of space after all), but I suspect like any other circuit, you quickly adapt and find a way of making it work. There's a slight glitch with this mid circuit which is going to require a visit to Status (if Rob's willing and able to do so), to get it checked over as while it might simply a pot in need of a bit of a clean, it might need a little more. 

 

Takes 3 x PP3 !!!!!!!! 

 

The mid cut/off/boost switch is standard on the Board 300 preamps (300/301/302/303). My 2002 S2 Classic has the Board 300, and my 2011 S2 Classic has the Board 303 (which is still the most recent update of this circuit, and is still in use in the current Series 23 basses. In both my basses it operates on 18V (so 2 PP3's). I recon the 3rd battery in yours might be to power side LEDs, and the biggest of the two switches turns them on and off? Mine don't have LEDs and only have the smaller switch for the mids. 

 

The variable mid level control you describe is currently only available on the Chris Wolstenholme models. You're probably right in thinking this should be fairly simple to add 

Edited yesterday at 11:39 by LeftyJ

[uk_lefty]

Stunning bass. One of these would be a "dream bass" for me.

[Wolverinebass]

Congratulations @Beedster! Superb! It's one of those basses that no matter what you thought you like beforehand, you end up liking it regardless. I've on occasion had people round to the studio and no matter who they are or how dyed in the wool they are of a "precision with flats" kind of person, every single one of them without fail has had a grin so wide after playing my Buzzard you would have thought that they just found out they won the lottery. Does it look mad? Yes. Does it work ergonomically? Also yes. Does it sound amazing? Yes.

 

I've played a couple of B2's and they're really, really good. Both versions are instruments that inspire one to play better and invariably you do because of it. I favour an action so low as @Cosmo Valdemar says that a lot of people can't believe it's possible to set up a bass like that and have it still playable.

 

@LeftyJ about the mid range. The 300 series boards do a cut/boost between 300Hz and 3Khz. The Buzzard does boost only between 200Hz and 10kHz. It could be argued the 300 board is more flexible, but of course that's not what the buzzard is meant to be. It's meant to be the most aggressive cutting bass ever made, and it is. You can in effect use the mid range as a treble/presence boost as the treble is localised at 7kHz. Or you can use it as a kind of wah effect by using the lower portion of it.  The mid range control on the Chris Wolstenholme basses is different in that the boost can be tailored in terms of level. The buzzard is a fixed 10dB boost as is the 300 series boards. It's 3 batteries as it's an 18V circuit and one for the LEDs. The back switch turns them on/off. The other switch does the mid range boost.

[Beedster]

1 hour ago, Wolverinebass said:

Congratulations @Beedster! Superb! It's one of those basses that no matter what you thought you like beforehand, you end up liking it regardless. I've on occasion had people round to the studio and no matter who they are or how dyed in the wool they are of a "precision with flats" kind of person, every single one of them without fail has had a grin so wide after playing my Buzzard you would have thought that they just found out they won the lottery. Does it look mad? Yes. Does it work ergonomically? Also yes. Does it sound amazing? Yes.

 

I've played a couple of B2's and they're really, really good. Both versions are instruments that inspire one to play better and invariably you do because of it. I favour an action so low as @Cosmo Valdemar says that a lot of people can't believe it's possible to set up a bass like that and have it still playable.

 

@LeftyJ about the mid range. The 300 series boards do a cut/boost between 300Hz and 3Khz. The Buzzard does boost only between 200Hz and 10kHz. It could be argued the 300 board is more flexible, but of course that's not what the buzzard is meant to be. It's meant to be the most aggressive cutting bass ever made, and it is. You can in effect use the mid range as a treble/presence boost as the treble is localised at 7kHz. Or you can use it as a kind of wah effect by using the lower portion of it.  The mid range control on the Chris Wolstenholme basses is different in that the boost can be tailored in terms of level. The buzzard is a fixed 10dB boost as is the 300 series boards. It's 3 batteries as it's an 18V circuit and one for the LEDs. The back switch turns them on/off. The other switch does the mid range boost.

 

Many thanks @Wolverinebass 🙏

 

Yep, that all sounds like what I'm starting to experience! I am a Precision with flats kinda guy, but then this is a different type of instrument all together. I'm going to give it a very good clean at the weekend and then start looking at the action (there's a couple of minor repairs needed also). 

 

The mids when engaged are are, well, present aren't they! It's like standing at the end of the runway as a jet takes off. it was reading about the tone - plus it meeting all my other 'Bass 3' criteria - that really convinced me that this was the way to go (I'm moving on a couple of equally lovely yet less sedate basses to pay for it). Of course, a bass so well designed and engineered that action can goes madly low is never a bad thing either. I'm looking forward to hearing this through some Mesa tubes very soon 👍

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

It's like standing at the end of the runway as a jet takes off.

There is something in the liner notes of Quadrophenia that likens The Ox’s tone to being like a VC10.

[Beedster]

24 minutes ago, ezbass said:

There is something in the liner notes of Quadrophenia that likens The Ox’s tone to being like a VC10.

 

And that's exactly the tone I'm going for. I tried winding up a LOT of tubes and several cabs with new roundwounds on a maple board Precision recently. It got close, but no VC10. I suspect the B2 through the same rig is going to less VC-10 and more this....

 

[Wolverinebass]

2 hours ago, Beedster said:

 

Many thanks @Wolverinebass 🙏

 

Yep, that all sounds like what I'm starting to experience! I am a Precision with flats kinda guy, but then this is a different type of instrument all together. I'm going to give it a very good clean at the weekend and then start looking at the action (there's a couple of minor repairs needed also). 

 

The mids when engaged are are, well, present aren't they! It's like standing at the end of the runway as a jet takes off. it was reading about the tone - plus it meeting all my other 'Bass 3' criteria - that really convinced me that this was the way to go (I'm moving on a couple of equally lovely yet less sedate basses to pay for it). Of course, a bass so well designed and engineered that action can goes madly low is never a bad thing either. I'm looking forward to hearing this through some Mesa tubes very soon 👍

Yeah. The mids if used in the upper third are outrageous in how brutal that switch is. It really is proper chainsaw through a megaphone time. I used to use it as a solo boost from time to time just for fun.

 

I would imagine you'll have fun playing it with a Mesa! It's a very different thing to a "normal" bass, but once one understands why it is as it is and lean into it, you'll discover things about your playing you'd never really heard or tried to do before. Plus, it'll probably make you laugh a lot with all the stuff you'll be able to do with it.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

58 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

And that's exactly the tone I'm going for. I tried winding up a LOT of tubes and several cabs with new roundwounds on a maple board Precision recently. It got close, but no VC10. I suspect the B2 through the same rig is going to less VC-10 and more this....

 

I saw one of those fly when I was a kid. I'm still astounded at how something so vast was able to fly so gracefully.

[Beedster]

9 minutes ago, Wolverinebass said:

Plus, it'll probably make you laugh a lot with all the stuff you'll be able to do with it.

 

That, like the Modulus Flea 20 years ago, is exactly why I bought it 👍

[Beedster]

11 minutes ago, Wolverinebass said:

Yeah. The mids if used in the upper third are outrageous in how brutal that switch is. It really is proper chainsaw through a megaphone time. I used to use it as a solo boost from time to time just for fun.

 

I would imagine you'll have fun playing it with a Mesa! It's a very different thing to a "normal" bass, but once one understands why it is as it is and lean into it, you'll discover things about your playing you'd never really heard or tried to do before. Plus, it'll probably make you laugh a lot with all the stuff you'll be able to do with it.

 

It's the ability to have the chainsaw through the megaphone at the same time as the viscera-shifting bass that really appeals though 

[Beedster]

12 minutes ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

I saw one of those fly when I was a kid. I'm still astounded at how something so vast was able to fly so gracefully.

We saw the final flight of the Vulcan a few years back. Several thousand people rammed onto a cold beach in north Kent. People were tracking the flight on their phones, and it suddenly went quiet. Everyone looked left to see an ominous - almost buzzard like - shape baking over the Thames estuary.

 

It flew towards us and banked left showing the crowd the awesome silhouette/profile (and bomb doors). The entire crowd was silent, still, and tense until it had flown another 20 second or so, allowing us to experience the blast of the engines. At that moment, no joke or exaggeration, several thousand people were struggling to hold it together, there were Dad's trying to pretend not to cry to their kids, kids screaming with excitement at each other, and a few older folks for whom this was the end of an era proudly letting the tears fall. It was a pretty unexpected and powerful moment.

 

You can even see the Vulcan/Buzzard similarity....

 

 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

That must have been incredible! 

[LukeFRC]

21 hours ago, Beedster said:

Something like that, as someone suggested earlier, I’m not gonna be using this baby for jazz gigs 🤔

Would be interesting though

[Beedster]

43 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

Would be interesting though

 

......well, it's an extremely good instrument for Jazz, extremely low action allowing greater technical ambition (for me anyway), huge tonal variety, and an audio range more associated with ERBs. Just not what I bought it for  

[Shaggy]

Absolutely stunning bass Chris; very individual but I can see how it would appeal to you on so many levels, and Status build quality is impeccable.  I guess it needs a "bespoke"  case?

 

Having moved to playing Warwick Streamers a few years ago after a several decades of playing big vintage basses (mainly Gibbo RD Artists) I have to say I often miss the sheer physicality of playing a big bass! (coincidentally, the RD Artist was developed with John Entwistle's input, with him in mind as a signature type instrument, but I believe he distanced himself from it before launch.  A shame, as despite its flaws - mainly weight - it was a stylish, wonderful sounding, and innovative bass).

 

And - just wanted to be the first to say this - we'll all be looking out for the FS thread, maybe in the New Year........??? 

   

 

[Beedster]

Yep, this is a very large instrument, and yes, I get the draw of physicality, it's in part why I love to play upright 👍

 

And the new-year sale? Who knows, if I like it it'll stay, if I don't, or I can't tame it, it might go. It's certainly going to be around for the duration of the current project. Time will tell........... 🤔

[Beedster]

...and I have to say big thanks to Rob at Status, who's helping my identify what might, or might not be, a very slight issue with the electrics on this