GAS...

[Bassassin]

Couldn't stop myself:

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160385763735"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=160385763735[/url]

Another 4-string fretted bass. Oh yes. I need another 4-string fretted bass.

Still - f*cking hell!!!

Jon.

[OldGit]

Oh well done, sir!
Played one of those in the Bass Merchant last weekend. Very nice. Glad I didn't spot that myself

[Ou7shined]

Nice one. A hoor of a bargain too.

[Happy Jack]

Strangest looking RickenFaker I've seen in a while ...

[BigRedX]

Jon, congratulations on your purchase - that's a pretty good price too. Can you report back on the output of the pickups? I have the 5-string version of this which is pretty good except the output is really weedy compared with all my other passive basses, so I'd be interested to hear a second opinion.

[Bassassin]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='680971' date='Dec 11 2009, 08:44 AM']Strangest looking RickenFaker I've seen in a while ...[/quote]
Ironically one of the cheapest too! This will look nice with my Ibanez EDA, Tokai Talbo & Yamaha SBV.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='681001' date='Dec 11 2009, 09:24 AM']Jon, congratulations on your purchase - that's a pretty good price too. Can you report back on the output of the pickups? I have the 5-string version of this which is pretty good except the output is really weedy compared with all my other passive basses, so I'd be interested to hear a second opinion.[/quote]
I was gobsmacked at the price (and usually I struggle to make myself pay more than £50 for anything) but I've lusted after one of these since they were launched. RRP is something ridiculous like £899, and as far as I can tell, they don't exist north of Watford!

The 5-string version got a [url="http://hinesitedistribution.enticom.co.uk/UserFiles/File/Helix%205%20Review.pdf"]very positive review in BGM[/url] (which described the pups as "vibrant & powerful") so I'll be interested to see how it stacks up, and will report back.

Just hope the seller packs it well!

J.

[maxrossell]

Them's some crazy-looking pickups. What are they?

[Bassassin]

[quote name='maxrossell' post='681193' date='Dec 11 2009, 12:03 PM']Them's some crazy-looking pickups. What are they?[/quote]
They call them "Alumitones" and are meant to be an alternative to conventional pup design - this is what the Lace website says:

[quote]These Alumitones® are a “current driven” design, rather the traditional voltage based pickups, allowing the musician a higher fidelity or “broad-band response” that helps to create a tighter top-end, more mid-range and a huge bottom end. This passive pickup outperforms many active systems, and the sonic output level generally exceeds that of similar preamp equipped basses. With today’s increased environmental concerns, Lace® also wanted to create a lightweight, advanced pickup that doesn’t contribute to pollutants caused by discarded batteries. “By using the Alumitone, ® the need for conventional pickups with a preamp and battery are eliminated, and you lose almost two pounds of weight, without compromising output or performance,” states Jeff Lace.[/quote]

Remains to be seen if they live up to these claims - and if [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=21194"]BigRedX's review of his fretless 5[/url] is anything to go on, it's debatable. I'm also struggling a little with the idea of these "eco-friendly" pickups being installed in a bass made largely from a protected species of tropical hardwood - but whatever.

J.

[BigRedX]

I'll be interested to see/hear what you think.

I should point out that the model reviewed in last month's BGM is a revised version over the model I (and from what I can see you) have. Certainly the bridge is much improved from the one on mine.

I'm suspecting that there are inconstancies in the output of the Alumitone pickups, as from all the reviews and reports I've read people are saying that the output is either very good or very low. My Helix is definitely in the low output category - in fact it probably has the lowest signal level of any of the basses I own active or passive. I don't expect it to compete with the massively loud output of my Gus basses, but it ought to be on par with my Wesley or the Squier I used to own, and it's not even close.

Of course it might be the price I'm paying for being an early adapter. My Helix is Fretless 5 #0002!

[Bassassin]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='684994' date='Dec 15 2009, 11:44 AM']I'll be interested to see/hear what you think.

I should point out that the model reviewed in last month's BGM is a revised version over the model I (and from what I can see you) have. Certainly the bridge is much improved from the one on mine.

I'm suspecting that there are inconstancies in the output of the Alumitone pickups, as from all the reviews and reports I've read people are saying that the output is either very good or very low. My Helix is definitely in the low output category - in fact it probably has the lowest signal level of any of the basses I own active or passive. I don't expect it to compete with the massively loud output of my Gus basses, but it ought to be on par with my Wesley or the Squier I used to own, and it's not even close.

Of course it might be the price I'm paying for being an early adapter. My Helix is Fretless 5 #0002![/quote]

From the reading I've done, the current pickups are redesigned - the new "Bass Bars" appear to be higher output & I'm not expecting mine to be particularly loud! Anyway I have to admit aesthetics account for something like 95% of my purchasing decision here, and the older-style pups with the staggered bars do look better!

Mine was dispatched yesterday so with any luck I should have it Thursday or Friday. I'll keep you posted.

J.

[BigRedX]

Well?

[Bassassin]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='689308' date='Dec 19 2009, 07:01 PM']Well?[/quote]
Not too bad, considering. Think I might be getting a cold but vitamin C supplements & wrapping up warm usually keep 'em at bay.

Yourself?




In other matters, I did start to compose a brief assessment of my initial impressions of the Lace Helix, on this very thread a few hours ago, but abandoned it in order to go & get some lunch. So I suppose it would be only reasonable to resume!

It turned up yesterday, safe & sound and exactly as described. Apart from a bit of dust & a couple of absolutely miniscule lacquer chips on the back (the sort you can feel but can't really see) it's as new. I guess from the zeros & single figures in the serial number (LBN4F0005-08) it's an early model, although I'm not sure how the serials work.

The first thing that struck me was the weight - or lack of it, compared to the leaden planks I usually play. As a gentleman of a certain age whose back is complaining more & more at the burdens it's expected to support, this is a Good Thing.

For such a skinny, lightweight little bass, the neck's surprisingly chunky - not what I was expecting at all but not a bad thing, it's pleasantly substantial. Fretwork's pretty good quality, as is general finish - apart from a few scruffy areas here & there - as has been previously noted. It plays well enough as it is - the previous owner described himself as a beginner, so I'm guessing this is the out-of-the-box setup - but will need a little work to play the way I'd like. The nut slots are cut far too high, there's zero neck relief & the action's fairly high, possibly to compensate for that. Add all this to a pretty hefty set of strings, and it plays cleanly but is quite hard work compared to what I'm used to. So more on playability once I've had it on The Slab.

So anyway, I then took it downstairs, hung it on a strap, plugged it in & cranked it up. Then I cranked it up some more, and then a little bit more, just for luck. I found I could just about hear it then. Yep - it's pretty gutless, running it straight into the amp, I had to double my input & output gains to get a similar volume level to a conventional passive P or J setup. Just as well it sounds quite nice, then. It's very clear - "detailed" & "HiFi" are the words a BGM reviewer might use, very solid & well-defined low end, & despite needing to pump up the volume in order to actually hear it, there's little hiss, hum or background noise in evidence. Should record well.

I then stuck it through my Korg multi FX & ran through the patches I frequently use. This made a massive difference to the output level - much more so than with an "ordinary" bass, and the Helix still sounded nice. Problem is, I don't want "nice". I like an aggressive, growly & slightly overdriven tone, which is what I use effects to accentuate - but the Helix just sounded polite! OK - I think part of this is to do with the setup - I use a pretty heavy-handed r/h technique, usually playing closer to the neck than the bridge pup, add this to a lowish action & much of "my sound" is attributable to strings clattering off the frets - and with the way Lacey's currently set up, that ain't happening. So again, more on this once I've addressed setup issues.

I did have to spend a little while fiddling with strap length to get the bass to feel comfortable. Neck dive wasn't really a problem, using a wide, suede-backed strap, but finding a height where my right forearm felt like it was in the proper place was a slight annoyance. I've ended up with the bass slightly higher than I would usually have it - and as a consequence, my right wrist a little more bent. Not too sure about this...

I'm happy with what I paid for this bass - but the UK RRP for this is £899. I can see & think of absolutely nothing about this that could possibly justify a nine hundred quid price tag. It's made in China, hardware is decent unbranded budget stuff, apart from the magic voodoo pickups, electronics are bog-standard passive V/V/T, timber is decent but not jaw-dropping, and standard of finish is the good side of average, all things considered. £900 would be a f*ck of a lot to pay for this.

It's very much early days - I need to give it a decent fettling & have at least a good rehearsal or two with it before I can give a verdict - but at this stage I'm by no means sure it's a keeper.

Except, it looks [i]amazing[/i]...

J.

Edited December 19, 2009 by Bassassin

[Ou7shined]

Nice wee review there Jon. Let's hope you get a bit more output once you drop the strings a bit.
Hope you don't get this killer cold/flu/man flu I've contracted - it's a right bastard... everything hurts.

[BigRedX]

Thanks for the review Jon. You pretty much echoed my thoughts. Looks like your bass comes from the same batch as mine (SN LTN5F0002-08). I'm not entirely sure how the serial numbers work either but I'm guessing that TN5 means through neck 5-string and BN4 is bolt-on 4-string. 08 will be the year of manufacture. It remains to be seen whether each model is individually serialled meaning mine is the second fretless 5 string or if it's the second production Helix.

I think the detailed Hifi sound of the pickups probably suits the fretless more than a fretted bass where I can imagine them being a bit too polite. I does seem weird that the Alumitone pickups are being touted as not needing a pre-amp when as we both know they need all the extra gain they can get!

Looking at the bass reviewed in BGM, it does appear that Lace have made some improvements, and I have to admit as much as I like the look of mine, the matt black model is even better looking IMO. However as you said the price tag is way off the mark. I think I paid somewhere between £300-400 for mine including shipping and import from the US. I think £500 would be an absolute maximum for a new model in a shop here though.

[Bassassin]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='689399' date='Dec 19 2009, 09:28 PM']Thanks for the review Jon. You pretty much echoed my thoughts. Looks like your bass comes from the same batch as mine (SN LTN5F0002-08). I'm not entirely sure how the serial numbers work either but I'm guessing that TN5 means through neck 5-string and BN4 is bolt-on 4-string. 08 will be the year of manufacture. It remains to be seen whether each model is individually serialled meaning mine is the second fretless 5 string or if it's the second production Helix.[/quote]Mine's a neck-through too, so unless there's been a major cock-up on the serial sticker front, BN isn't bolt-neck. Makes sense that 08 would be the year & the 4-figure part the production sequence, so it's likely that one of the letters might be month of production - perhaps the F - since mine demonstrates that it clearly ain't for "fretless"!

The matt black does suit the style well - but I particularly like the combination of the woody, stripy neck-through construction and the injection-moulded looking curvaceousness of the styling - that's what made me GAS after one in the first place. If anything I think they should have taken it further - perhaps rounding off the sharper corners of the body edges, and layered timber on the wings, exotic wood facings - a proper paradoxical Hippy Sandwich! It'd also look a little bit more like a £900 bass - and on that subject, I do realise it's the typical lazy importer's 1:1 dollar/pound conversion that's the problem with the very steep RRP.

Anyway until such time as I get an hour or two to give it a good setup & then a proper knockabout with the band (if I can endure the jibes at having bought [i]yet another[/i] bass) that's pretty much it for my current appraisal. I will report back in due course, probably with some pics to accompany - although it does look exactly like yours, only with fewer strings & more frets...

J.