| BASSIX RC Interchangable
Hey guys
Well I finally bit the bullet and bought my first EUB over the weekend.
I decided on the Bassix RC Interchangable after reading lot of opinions on it etc. It has far surpassed my expectations.
I went and visited the luthier Alan Hatswell, (really really nice bloke) and tried a few of his models. I was blown away. The original plan was to decide features and then have Alan build me a bass with the combination I chose. However I fell in love with one particular bass that had everything I wanted apart from the colour was not exactly what i wanted (blond, I wanted Black) but thats minor, and so i bought the one that felt right (very important with instruments i think).
Ok so whats it like. Well firstly it striking looking, a big fat spine, which attaches then to the spike, then there is a further molded side piece, so in all a 3 part modular construction. With his interchangable range he is now offering 4 different moldings from just shoulders to full body. I went with the Top Shoulders plus knee hybrid, as i felt it had the best trade of of size vs support. The only downside on appearance is the fauz wood paint job, its not bad, but it obviously does not compare to a factory finish from someone like say Yamaha. I don't care but mention it for completeness. I should mention here the bass is made of composites, however miraculously these a) look like wood (in regards the fretboard) b) feel like wood (everything) and even begin to warm up as you play. Not that horrible coldness that some graphite necks can have.
It plays beautifully, I have tried both the Aria's, both Yamaha's a couple of NS designs and a few other things in my quest for the perfect EUB. None of them come close in playability. This thing is a joy, and yet still retains that fundamental Double Bass Tone, with no sacrifices.
Alan strings his bass with Presto's i was going to ask for them to be replaced by Spirocores (he will provide you with your string of choice out the box) but having tried the Presto's i was won over. They also seem to really suit the Bassix character, and are great for Pizz, i have not tried them with bow yet, but they are apparently a good hybrid.
I chose to have it with the EQ option (it comes with 2 bridge mounted piezo design pickups one under each leg) I think they are similar in design to the realist. This is great because with the treble rolled off and the bass slightly boosted you get the classic double bass tone, wonderful for jazz etc. However bring the treble up to about midway, and suddenly you can start to get those D&B sounds out of it, still double bassy but with a little honk, push it a little futher and you can get the more fretlessy sounds similar to the NS design bass's.
Conclusion. This is a lot of bass in a flexible package which at the basic (scuse the pun) level is very affordable. The bass on its own with the shoulders or hybrid shoulders plus knee is £995. Unbelievable in my opinion. Custom colour + £100, EQ +£100, Half body and full body moldings + £100. So basically I paid £1195 for mine.
So this is less than a Yamaha SLB2 and is about 4 times the instrument. The only downside is while it comes with a case (combination of Fleece socks for the spike and endpin and a canvas bag to put them all in) I personally feel a better case solution could be found. I am currently researching SKB's golf cases as I think they would work rather well with the addition of some foam padding.
I am a very happy man. I just need to find a teacher now becuase my thumb technique needs work, and one tune my band does has this great solo I wrote on EB, but the rest of the song sounds amazing with the DB, I always had that in my head when writing the parts and I want to be able to perform it on DB. Have the parts down but not the solo yet.
Anyone know any good teachers around London?
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Last edited by funkgravy : 07-25-2007 at 07:50 AM.
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