acidbass Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Wow, that is a truly spectacular bass. Congrats on your new arrival Steve! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutToPlayJazz Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Congrats, Steve! That's a really individual and personal bass for you. And such a versatile machine, too. With the midi system, the possibilities for music making must be virtually endless Rich. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 [quote name='GreeneKing' post='416721' date='Feb 22 2009, 04:59 PM']Yes the wiring looks like it took some patience to get done I'm loving the Kiwi in MoP too. A very sweet piece of work. Ped do you have the new V Bass yet? If not is it worth the move? Oh and I hope the photo wasn't taken while it was falling off its stand Peter[/quote] Hi Peter, I haven't gone for the new Vbass yet because it is quite expensive... it has a couple of new features that would be fun but not worth the upgrade for me personally. You can get the original for around £300 now and the new one is somewhere around a grand, so the value of the old one is outstanding. The new one is still a good price considering what it can do, though. Did you read the recent Bass Player review? I must admit I prefer the format of the old unit too as a single pedal; the new one is a desktop type affair which would be more awkward for me. Looking forward to trying the Shuker through it though. I really liked Kiwi's Axon, great fun playing drums on the bass but the lag was too much as we hadn't set it up properly, but potentially very cool. Cheers ped Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted February 22, 2009 Author Share Posted February 22, 2009 Jon's just sent me some of the pics he's going to use on the website. They really put mine to shame [attachment=20735:thebestpic.jpg] Here's one, the rest are going in the gear porn section. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merton Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Gorgeous bass Steve, love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 Congrats CK, absolutely stunning. Must be quite a worry when you commission something so personal, so I am really pleased it all worked out for you. One string to many for my limited talents I'm afraid, but I'll be really interested to hear how the midi works out for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted February 24, 2009 Author Share Posted February 24, 2009 Thanks chaps:) The MIDI side still has a way to go because of this string contact issue with the piezo saddles. I don't think I can really set the bass up properly in regard to sensitivity until then. Jon is going to continue messing about with two spare piezo saddles he has until he's worked out how best to modify them (or he's at least clear on what Graphtec need to do). I even ended up popping the top off the E string last night as I was grappling with a contact issue...might go hunting for PSD design strings this week perhaps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted February 26, 2009 Author Share Posted February 26, 2009 OK update. Now the post-coital glow has subsided, I've decided that even though the bass might have a little settling in to do, I'm not all that happy with the sound of the Delano SBC's. I'm not saying there's anything necessarily wrong with them but I wanted warm pickups and these babies just aren't delivering. The bass doesn't sound solid enough to me. In fact the only time I've had a satisfactory sound out of the pickups is when I've recentred the mid sweep as low as possible and boosted both the mids and bass to the maximum on the bass. Then it started to sound quite nice. I've spoken to Jon about it and discussed the possibility of Andy at Wizard rewinding the neck pickup to give the bass more oomph. There's also too much mid scoop in the sound when both pickups are on (perhaps because the pickups are so similar in voicing) so I'm hoping that tweaking the neck pickup might reduce the scoopy character a little more. I'm also aware that the Shuker preamp is only being fed by 9v at the moment, because Jon didn't have enough space to put the other 9v battery. Normally I might feel a bit guilty about being demanding but after waiting this long for it, I feel like I have a right to satisfaction. Jon said he's going to talk to both Wizard and also to Newtone about some custom PSD strings for the bass while we wait for the piezo saddles to be redesigned with larger transducers so better string contact is possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 [quote name='Crazykiwi' post='420461' date='Feb 26 2009, 10:25 PM']OK update. Now the post-coital glow has subsided, I've decided that even though the bass might have a little settling in to do, I'm not all that happy with the sound of the Delano SBC's. I'm not saying there's anything necessarily wrong with them but I wanted warm pickups and these babies just aren't delivering. The bass doesn't sound solid enough to me. In fact the only time I've had a satisfactory sound out of the pickups is when I've recentred the mid sweep as low as possible and boosted both the mids and bass to the maximum on the bass. Then it started to sound quite nice. I've spoken to Jon about it and discussed the possibility of Andy at Wizard rewinding the neck pickup to give the bass more oomph. There's also too much mid scoop in the sound when both pickups are on (perhaps because the pickups are so similar in voicing) so I'm hoping that tweaking the neck pickup might reduce the scoopy character a little more. I'm also aware that the Shuker preamp is only being fed by 9v at the moment, because Jon didn't have enough space to put the other 9v battery. Normally I might feel a bit guilty about being demanding but after waiting this long for it, I feel like I have a right to satisfaction. Jon said he's going to talk to both Wizard and also to Newtone about some custom PSD strings for the bass while we wait for the piezo saddles to be redesigned with larger transducers so better string contact is possible.[/quote] I was about to ask you how you where getting on with the Delanos mate, sorry to hear they're not quite your thing. Jon's pre is pretty transparent when set flat, so getting the pickups right should be your first point of call. Maybe some custom made pickups by the Wizard might be the way to go, I reckon some overwound Jazz style pickups would match up very nicely with the pre. I think the 18V option does make a difference too though. With my six string, I just solo the front pickup, notch the bass up a bit, and back the treble off slightly and it sounds huge! That is with EMG DC's though... Newtone will definitely be able to hook you up with anything you want string-wise too. Keep us posted Eude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcgraham Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 That's a shame CK. Pickups are difficult things, you just can't tell what they're going to be like until they're in the bass. And with a custom job that makes things a tad irritating. Perhaps speak to Delano about what you're looking for and see if they have any suggestions? Do you have series/parallel/single coil possibilities for these? My apologies if you've already mentioned this. I just find that the parallel setting on my Kent Armstrongs when both set to centre have a really Ken Smith-esque scoop to the sound, which is nice, but the series setting sits soooo much better in the mix without any eqing. Maybe look at that? Rewinding sounds like a good plan though. Let us know what you decide. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted February 27, 2009 Author Share Posted February 27, 2009 [quote]I was about to ask you how you where getting on with the Delanos mate, sorry to hear they\'re not quite your thing Jon's pre is pretty transparent when set flat, so getting the pickups right should be your first point of call.[/quote] I think they'd work well in a warmer bass but the maple Jon uses is super dense and the neck is super rigid. I can hear the bass unamplified and there's not a lot of difference between it and other basses so I think the pickups are probably the place to start. [quote]Maybe some custom made pickups by the Wizard might be the way to go, I reckon some overwound Jazz style pickups would match up very nicely with the pre.[/quote] I do like the sound of parallel wired coils in humbuckers though. Originally Jon and I discussed quad coil SBCs to allow me to switch between single coil and humbucker because the single coil mode sounded pretty good on the neck pickup. I went for SBC's because the Delano site claimed the following: [i]The DELANO SBC6 HE/S-4 is a no compromise, strictly highend quad-coil humbucking pickup, that offers you great, classy sixstring bass tone throughout the entire range of your instrument and beyond. We were pretty happy with the performance of our standard SBC6 HE/S, but we wanted to integrate the option of an additional single coil style string sensing pattern, with no hum, off course. But what you get is far more. When properly positioned, you can get for example two different JB type™ (60ies or 70ies)single coil voicings out of the very same SBC6 HE/S-4 bridge pickup, on top of our dead-on humbucker sound. Can you imagine what a pair of DELANOs might do for your tone?[/i] [quote]I think the 18V option does make a difference too though. With my six string, I just solo the front pickup, notch the bass up a bit, and back the treble off slightly and it sounds huge! That is with EMG DC's though... Newtone will definitely be able to hook you up with anything you want string-wise too.[/quote] I\'d agree about the 18v and I could hear the difference quite clearly myself. If a third battery is installed, Jon just has to find somewhere else to put the battery powering the neck LED's! Newtone seem to be a very special and small scale operation offering some eye opening bespoke options. Custom strings for less than Elixirs or DRs!! [quote]That's a shame CK. Pickups are difficult things, you just can't tell what they're going to be like until they're in the bass. And with a custom job that makes things a tad irritating. Perhaps speak to Delano about what you're looking for and see if they have any suggestions?[/quote] Well yeah but its probably unreasonable to expect everything to be perfect first time on a custom instrument and part of the price of going custom is about the service. Especially when Jon's operating outside his comfort zone. I'm sure Jon will talk to Delano but the limitation is that we can't use different pickup covers now the routing has been done. [quote]Do you have series/parallel/single coil possibilities for these? My apologies if you've already mentioned this. I just find that the parallel setting on my Kent Armstrongs when both set to centre have a really Ken Smith-esque scoop to the sound, which is nice, but the series setting sits soooo much better in the mix without any eqing. Maybe look at that?[/quote] Absolutely, this was one of the things I discussed with Jon on a number of occasions but the quad coils weren't fitted to the bass in the end. Jon seemed a little confused by the quad coil thing as I think he wasn't clear on the difference between the pickups he'd fitted (which have 2 pairs of coils in each side of the humbucker) and the quad coil SBC. Make no mistake, I think the bass definitely has potential in terms of the midrange and treble response but it just needs more guts in the lows and lower mids. I'm after that Smith-ness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peted Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Yikes, that must be quite frustrating to wait so long for your custom bass and it not be quite what you were after. I hope that Jon can do the necessary to get the sound you've got in your head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 This was such a highly tailored and one-off spec that I guess there was always a risk that the first attempt wasn't going to be exactly what was required. The good news is that you have a stunning piece of woodwork and finishing on which to try the options. Let's face it, we all go through the 'I wonder what pickup x will sound like in my...." question with stock basses, so in a highly customised bass like this, there was a distinct chance that something would have to change after delivery. Anyway, if it gets too much for you, I'll take it off your hands for a tenner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johngh Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Kiwi Just read you comments about the sound of you bass. I know you liked mine which is very similar to your's when you played it and mine has EMG's. Might be an option ? John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted March 6, 2009 Author Share Posted March 6, 2009 I thought about it John, yes. But I think it might actually be cheaper to get Andy at Wizard to rewind the neck pickup given I'm happy with the sound of the bridge pickup. Playing the bass, the A and D strings seem a little more compressed than the other strings, I'm inclined to think this is the wenge effect, although I couldn't discount the settling in process yet, either. Jon's also going to reduce the neck width at the nut a little more, in line with the Spector so there's not quite so much stretch to the E string. I've also installed the AX100 software editor on my desktop and although its a little buggy, I've been able to adjust the sensitivities a lot more easily than if I'd used the tiny LCD display on the unit. The bass tracks surprisingly well although I don't think Billy Sheenan will be out shopping for one any time soon. Still undecided about its live potential though. I'll probably need to play around with it a little more, I think. However the split string facility is a total riot, there's one standard setting on the Axon called 'Jazz Trio' which has an upright bass and hihat/snare accents on the lower 4 strings and a Fender Rhodes on the top two strings. So its possible to sound like a trio by alternating between accented bass notes and melody. I just need to find a cheap MIDI interface for the laptop now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctor_of_the_bass Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Having just spent some time with Steve in my studio, this bass has to be seen to be believed! Superlative (or should that be `shukerlative'!). Nice to see you again m8! Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted March 6, 2009 Author Share Posted March 6, 2009 [quote name='doctor_of_the_bass' post='427243' date='Mar 6 2009, 02:55 PM']Having just spent some time with Steve in my studio, this bass has to be seen to be believed! Superlative (or should that be `shukerlative'!). Nice to see you again m8! Nick[/quote] Bloody hell Nick! Did you dive onto the PC just after I left?! Oh blimey, forgot to ask you about whether you had and cheap MIDI interfaces in stock too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ant Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 looks tasty, ive just found out that mine is almost done, just waiting for pickups apparantly!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctor_of_the_bass Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 [quote name='Crazykiwi' post='427250' date='Mar 6 2009, 03:07 PM']Bloody hell Nick! Did you dive onto the PC just after I left?! Oh blimey, forgot to ask you about whether you had and cheap MIDI interfaces in stock too...[/quote] Oh yes, straight online m8! Not sure whether the boys stock anything like that - will ask 'em! Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted March 7, 2009 Author Share Posted March 7, 2009 [quote name='doctor_of_the_bass' post='427301' date='Mar 6 2009, 04:11 PM']Oh yes, straight online m8! Not sure whether the boys stock anything like that - will ask 'em! Cheers[/quote] Its ok, I've taken care of it now, but thanks OK update on the bass. I spoke with Andy at Wizard and he was a diamond, just said stick something in the mail to him and he'll tell me what can be achieved. I put a set of Elites from Nick dad's shop yesterday and we both commented that the bass has quite a distinct stingray character but with more upper honky mids and less lows. One of those things that made me go 'hmmmmmmmm...' I might send him the pickups from the red Celinder as well. I also updated the firmware for the Axon AX100 today. The editor interface has proven to be a bit unreliable through the MAudio Delta 1010 I use and I corrupted the firmware the first time I tried. So I repeated the same steps again but used the slow update option and it seemed to work. I also got a Roland JV1080 in the post yesterday and when I opened it up my heart leaped as I found an expansion card had been left inside and it was actually the expansion card I'd been told to look out for - the vintage keys module. So I might end up selling one of my EMU units (the Vintage Pro). I had a quick whizz through the JV1080's patches last night and there are some really nice ones, especially for bass. Gorgeous fat, warm, synthy sounds. So I'm in two minds about letting the Yamaha CS6R go as well. The good thing about the Yamaha is that its been designed for trance music so there are some really long evolution times possible with pads when I get my head about how to exploit it best... ...anyways. I've agreed with Jon to carry out the following modifications: 1) Reduce the width of the neck at the nut further so that its more like the Spector 6 - reason being is that when I stretch for the E-string my left hand has to make an awkward adjustment in angle when I change from positions on higher pitched strings. This is because the neck is too wide for the length of my fingers. 2) Rewind the neck pickup so its fatter and deeper 3) Consider routing a chamfer directly under the bridge units to increase the break angle of the strings over the transducer elements. (The strings can sound a little uneven in volume at the moment) Jon will need to take a view on this because the central issue is that the transducer elements aren't big enough for bass strings. 4) Install an extra battery cavity so we can run the 18v preamp. 5) If it's ready, install the 3 band Shuker sweep eq so I can nail those frisky mids 6) Swap the acoustic and MIDI vol knobs around 7) Replace some of the knobs with small ones 8) See if there are any black switches available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 [quote name='Crazykiwi' post='428099' date='Mar 7 2009, 04:52 PM']Its ok, I've taken care of it now, but thanks OK update on the bass. I spoke with Andy at Wizard and he was a diamond, just said stick something in the mail to him and he'll tell me what can be achieved. I put a set of Elites from Nick dad's shop yesterday and we both commented that the bass has quite a distinct stingray character but with more upper honky mids and less lows. One of those things that made me go 'hmmmmmmmm...' I might send him the pickups from the red Celinder as well. I also updated the firmware for the Axon AX100 today. The editor interface has proven to be a bit unreliable through the MAudio Delta 1010 I use and I corrupted the firmware the first time I tried. So I repeated the same steps again but used the slow update option and it seemed to work. I also got a Roland JV1010 in the post yesterday and when I opened it up my heart leaped as I found an expansion card had been left inside and it was actually the expansion card I'd been told to look out for - the vintage keys module. So I might end up selling one of my EMU units (the Vintage Pro). I had a quick whizz through the JV1010's patches last night and there are some really nice ones, especially for bass. Gorgeous fat, warm, synthy sounds. So I'm in two minds about letting the Yamaha CS6R go as well. The good thing about the Yamaha is that its been designed for trance music so there are some really long evolution times possible with pads when I get my head about how to exploit it best... ...anyways. I've agreed with Jon to carry out the following modifications: 1) Reduce the width of the neck at the nut further so that its more like the Spector 6 - reason being is that when I stretch for the E-string my left hand has to make an awkward adjustment in angle when I change from positions on higher pitched strings. This is because the neck is too wide for the length of my fingers. 2) Rewind the neck pickup so its fatter and deeper 3) Consider routing a chamfer directly under the bridge units to increase the break angle of the strings over the transducer elements. (The strings can sound a little uneven in volume at the moment) Jon will need to take a view on this because the central issue is that the transducer elements aren't big enough for bass strings. 4) Install an extra battery cavity so we can run the 18v preamp. 5) If it's ready, install the 3 band Shuker sweep eq so I can nail those frisky mids 6) Swap the acoustic and MIDI vol knobs around 7) Replace some of the knobs with small ones 8) See if there are any black switches available.[/quote] Hi Steve The bass does look wonderful - big congrats BTW - I'm just hoping after all the above shopping list has been completed you get to play the thing...! A labour of love indeed - but hey at least you know what you want, hope you can get it all tweaked to perfection. Cheers Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted March 7, 2009 Author Share Posted March 7, 2009 [quote name='urb' post='428171' date='Mar 7 2009, 07:16 PM']Hi Steve The bass does look wonderful - big congrats BTW - I'm just hoping after all the above shopping list has been completed you get to play the thing...! A labour of love indeed - but hey at least you know what you want, hope you can get it all tweaked to perfection. Cheers Mike[/quote] Hi Mike, thanks! A lot of the above has been based on my playing already. The string spacing, neck depth and playability is pretty good. The balance is good, it looks stunning, and Jon did a great job with those electronics. As the instrument ages I hope it will get a little growlier as the neck relaxes and with a deeper sounding neck pickup I hope it will also sound funkier. Certainly the bass has potential and I hope that the electronics tweaks will move a step towards realising that a bit more. There's gob loads of growl when I turn up the mid control! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 [quote name='Crazykiwi' post='428176' date='Mar 7 2009, 07:25 PM']There's gob loads of growl when I turn up the mid control! [/quote] Kewl! M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-soar Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Hi Steve, is there any news about the bass? BTW, I'd love the Mesa amp for the Stereo in the cellar but I've got nowt to sell to spring the cash. It would sound cool with my DB680, oh for Gods sake, take it off sale, it's doing my head in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted April 25, 2009 Author Share Posted April 25, 2009 [quote name='steve-soar' post='472279' date='Apr 25 2009, 05:14 PM']Hi Steve, is there any news about the bass?[/quote] Yes! As a matter of fact I've been pestering Jon on a weekly basis about it. Turns out that there was a defective coil in the neck pickup, according to Andy at Wizard. He's fixed it and suggests that the bass will probably sound a whole lot fatter. Jon doesn't have a clue how it ended up like that because the coils are set in epoxy. So I will have to go up there and play the bass to see what kind of improvement the repaired coil delivers. The neck was relatively straight forward to narrow down. Jon managed to do it without taking the stainless steel frets out which was good otherwise there would have been a whole load of extra faff involved. I asked for the neck to be refinished in satin which Jon was happy to do because, again, it means less faff with finishing. I don't know whether he's routed an extra battery cavity yet but the new Shuker 3 band sweep eq is unlikely to be ready. So Jon is going to put connectors on the end of the pickup wires so I can install the pre myself in NZ. I'm half tempted to install the U-retro out of the Spector in there out of curiosity, too. He's also managed to find some smaller knobs and they're going on as well now the controls have been swapped about. The only thing I haven't asked after are the Newtone custom, exposed core strings...but the bass is almost ready to collect. Jon just needs to spray the strat body he's had for the last 12 months and I'll be able to collect quite a few bits from him. [quote name='steve-soar' post='472279' date='Apr 25 2009, 05:14 PM']BTW, I'd love the Mesa amp for the Stereo in the cellar but I've got nowt to sell to spring the cash. It would sound cool with my DB680, oh for Gods sake, take it off sale, it's doing my head in. [/quote] LOL The Mesa is the ultimate. G'warrrrn, you know you want it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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