Ken Smith Burner , opinions pleae

[spencer.b]

Always had a soft spot for Ken Smith basses , love Andrew Gouche and Pattitucci but I've never been a fan of the figured wood look , just seen the fiesta red burner on bass direct and I'm in love! 

Any one played them , got one ?

[visog]

Yes! They caught my eye too - beautiful. Just to point out these ones are built in Japan under licence, not the New York Shop like John Patitucci's.

 

I think Hadrien Feraud endorses these Japanese ones though and if they're good enough for him...

[spencer.b]

Great aren't they , yeah built in Japan and I understand that burners always have been although there a few early US ones apparently 

[LLOYDWT]

The Hadrien Feraud Burners are great basses, but sonically quite different from the Patitucci/Melvin Lee Davis tone that the US-made BTs are known for, though they can be EQ'd into the same ballpark.

 

If you're wanting to scratch that 80s-Pattituci itch, I'd go for an 80s/early-90s BT5 or BT6, but you'll need to deal with the "coffee-table-bass" aesthetic and the heavier-than-the-sun weight. but if it's the body shape you want, the Burners are amazing basses.

 

 

[itu]

I've heard there may be exceptions, but Burners are mostly bolt-on.

[spencer.b]

2 hours ago, LLOYDWT said:

The Hadrien Feraud Burners are great basses, but sonically quite different from the Patitucci/Melvin Lee Davis tone that the US-made BTs are known for, though they can be EQ'd into the same ballpark.

 

If you're wanting to scratch that 80s-Pattituci itch, I'd go for an 80s/early-90s BT5 or BT6, but you'll need to deal with the "coffee-table-bass" aesthetic and the heavier-than-the-sun weight. but if it's the body shape you want, the Burners are amazing basses.

 

 

Thanks for that mate , are the US ones brighter then ? I guess I'm looking for more the jazz bass end of things , more punchy mids than sparkly highs

[Mikey D]

Love my HF Burner 5 I bought fairly recently from Bass Bros. Sold as used but technically brand new from Japan. Appreciate you may not like the tabletop looks but I've wanted a burl bass from almost when I started playing. 

 

I was originally waiting out for a sea foam e-series (which they've just built one...) but this came up. 

 

I thought the e-series were meant to have a slightly lower price point but notice current ones have come in at basically the same price. I do like the aesthetic though with the scratch plate.

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 19:50 by Mikey D

[spencer.b]

That's lovely mate , what's the difference with the e series? Are they the solid colour ones?

[LLOYDWT]

1 hour ago, spencer.b said:

Thanks for that mate , are the US ones brighter then ? I guess I'm looking for more the jazz bass end of things , more punchy mids than sparkly highs

 

Smiths of all flavours are all about the mids. The Burners are more "Jazz bass" than the Americans, but they're still very *SMITH* (I think it's all in the pickup positions). The modern Burners I've played are naturally woollier, whilst my BT6s are more focussed and "forward sounding." They can both do the pre-transient punch for that thing all Jaco fans are chasing but without the need to solo or favour the bridge pickup (which gives all Smiths more depth, IMO). My BT6s, and the other US Smiths I've played, have a more pronounced compression, but they're still really dynamic.

 

I used to like a really scooped sound, but the Smiths have such musical mids that sit so well in any mix that they've really dictated my tone since buying them.

 

If you're ever Ipswich way, you're welcome to try mine.

[peteb]

I used to have a bright red 4 string bolt-on neck Japanese Burner that I bought back in the early 90s for £520. I ended up selling it for just under a grand about 13 or 14 years ago. 

 

It was a great bass - sweet sounding, very light and played really well. Virtually every bassist I knew used to ask if I still had it whenever I bumped into them. It was the bass that I wished I had found several years before, when I switched from Fenders to active basses. I played a lot of gigs with it throughout the 90s, but in those old rock days I used to give my basses a bit of stick onstage and I was always worried that I was going break the damn thing (that headstock angle)! I was constantly re-adjusting the truss rod and in the end I retired it and got a couple of Streamers, which felt much more robust. 

 

I finally sold it when I decided I needed a P bass for a blues band. Predictably, I now pretty much exclusively play Fenders and FSOs these days, going full circle back to when I first started gigging! 

 

[spencer.b]

1 hour ago, LLOYDWT said:

 

Smiths of all flavours are all about the mids. The Burners are more "Jazz bass" than the Americans, but they're still very *SMITH* (I think it's all in the pickup positions). The modern Burners I've played are naturally woollier, whilst my BT6s are more focussed and "forward sounding." They can both do the pre-transient punch for that thing all Jaco fans are chasing but without the need to solo or favour the bridge pickup (which gives all Smiths more depth, IMO). My BT6s, and the other US Smiths I've played, have a more pronounced compression, but they're still really dynamic.

 

I used to like a really scooped sound, but the Smiths have such musical mids that sit so well in any mix that they've really dictated my tone since buying them.

 

If you're ever Ipswich way, you're welcome to try mine.

Thanks for that mate , great info

[Mikey D]

12 hours ago, spencer.b said:

That's lovely mate , what's the difference with the e series? Are they the solid colour ones?

Basically yes. They are single wood, I think ash and painted. Rather than multiple woods with figured top. Both Burners are made by Sleek elite in Japan. Other Ken Smith's US made as the other posts detail. The e-series also have OEM tuners not Gotoh from what I've seen. I thought the bridge had a different spacing but that seems to be just on a few other ones out there as these say they are also the 17.5 ones.

[OliverBlackman]

18 hours ago, peteb said:

I used to have a bright red 4 string bolt-on neck Japanese Burner that I bought back in the early 90s for £520. I ended up selling it for just under a grand about 13 or 14 years ago. 

 

It was a great bass - sweet sounding, very light and played really well. Virtually every bassist I knew used to ask if I still had it whenever I bumped into them. It was the bass that I wished I had found several years before, when I switched from Fenders to active basses. I played a lot of gigs with it throughout the 90s, but in those old rock days I used to give my basses a bit of stick onstage and I was always worried that I was going break the damn thing (that headstock angle)! I was constantly re-adjusting the truss rod and in the end I retired it and got a couple of Streamers, which felt much more robust. 

 

I finally sold it when I decided I needed a P bass for a blues band. Predictably, I now pretty much exclusively play Fenders and FSOs these days, going full circle back to when I first started gigging! 

 

There was a red 5 at the bass gallery recently for £1500 which I think is about right. Unfortunately I couldn’t justify it!

[peteb]

22 minutes ago, OliverBlackman said:

There was a red 5 at the bass gallery recently for £1500 which I think is about right. Unfortunately I couldn’t justify it!

 

I would have thought that these days, £1.5k would be a really good price (especially from a London based shop)! A very nice bass. 

 

[Bass Direct]

Biased opinion here potentially, being as we sell these AND we are big fans of Hadrien's playing.

 

Massive fans of these basses, they are beautifully made with some of the best setups I have ever played.

 

The necks are thinner in dimensions in terms of the back to front measurement, pretty lightweight and versatile enough tonally

[Bass Direct]

Just a heads up, we have filmed a short video on the 5 Burners we have in today, keep your eyes peeled

[kuetsum]

Post 2012 Burner is good bass

 

But they will not be the same as a US Ken smith 

Even though you go for a humbucker version (it's not a kent Armstrong)

 

The fiesta red one is very sexy.

 

 

 

[spencer.b]

4 hours ago, kuetsum said:

Post 2012 Burner is good bass

 

But they will not be the same as a US Ken smith 

Even though you go for a humbucker version (it's not a kent Armstrong)

 

The fiesta red one is very sexy.

 

 

 

I must admit having now done a deep dive on Ken Smith basses the US one in the classifieds at £4500 is tempting me too !

[kuetsum]

54 minutes ago, spencer.b said:

I must admit having now done a deep dive on Ken Smith basses the US one in the classifieds at £4500 is tempting me too !

In order to get you in a deeper hole, 

US KS is capable to run in single coil mode 

If that's what you after.

 

 

[Bass Direct]

13 hours ago, kuetsum said:

Post 2012 Burner is good bass

 

But they will not be the same as a US Ken smith 

Even though you go for a humbucker version (it's not a kent Armstrong)

 

The fiesta red one is very sexy.

 

 

 

Well no, they are completely different, not better or worse  

 

[Bass Direct]

7 hours ago, kuetsum said:

In order to get you in a deeper hole, 

US KS is capable to run in single coil mode 

If that's what you after.

 

 

But it will never sound like a true single coil due to magnetism

 

[itu]

16 minutes ago, Bass Direct said:

But it will never sound like a true single coil due to magnetism

Please open up this comment a bit more. Would love to hear details.

[Bass Direct]

4 minutes ago, itu said:

Please open up this comment a bit more. Would love to hear details.

A true single coil pickup will always sound more 'open' and 'natural', than a dual coil that has been split in half

[obi 2 kenobi]

Hi, where can we see the Bass Direct Ken Smith video?

 

[Bass Direct]

3 minutes ago, obi 2 kenobi said:

Hi, where can we see the Bass Direct Ken Smith video?

 

It is currently being edited, hang fire for a while and keep check on our social media accounts and Youtube