NS Design WAV4 megathread part II

[Gary Lynch]

The WAV 4 is a cake walk. Intonation is a breeze. It is a great practice instrument for a first timer at both fretless and double bass. In time you may graduate to include a DB in your line up.

[carlospppena]

Hello All:

Anybody did the blend pot of the two piezos??? That would be it!!! In the EU-CR threads everybody reports on blending them to some extent. It should not be a difficult modification.

Please, let me know.

Best Regards,

Carlos ´Pepe´ Peña

[carlospppena]

Hi:

Would a Boss GT-10B would be a good preamp for a Wav4???? I mean to go direct to the PA???

Best Regards,

Carlos Peña

[Francois Blais]

According to their website, the input impedance is 1 megohms, so I'd say yes, it should be okay.

[frede]

Originally Posted by carlospppena

Hi:

Would a Boss GT-10B would be a good preamp for a Wav4???? I mean to go direct to the PA???

Best Regards, Carlos Peña

I got the K&K Pure XLR Preamp from Bob. Combines all the great features of the legendary Pure Preamp - Bass, Mid, Treble & gain controls - with two key upgrades... a balanced XLR output and a phase switch! Perfect for pluging into a PA. I also use it on the Engelhardt when I plug into the board.

[Gary Lynch]

Update;

After stringing the WAV 4 with the Obligatos, I adjusted the saddle all the way up, the highest it would go. I found it does not adjust up very high but it was a heck of a lot better than how it came. Now with the adjustment at full height and the new strings, it plays pretty darn good. It's a great practice tool for playing riffs that are tough on my double bass.

[bluegrassboy]

That's identical to my setup. IMHO, the bridge goes "high enough". High enough to let those Obligatos bloom when you're playing pizz, and perfect for arco. Congrats, and enjoy!

[Gary Lynch]

It's amazing what strings and a saddle ajustment can do.

[JBuckley]

I got my Amber Burst Wav 4 today. I could barely sleep last night knowing it was going to arrive today. I only had a few minutes to play unamplified in my office with my boss staring at me with a real micromanagey look on his face, but tonight I'm taking it to practice. It's just frakkin' beautiful! I never saw the old stands, but the upgraded one seems super sturdy and it connects really well. It's going to be really hard to get anything done at work today with this thing sitting next to my desk, taunting me, just begging to be played. Maybe I'll take an early lunch.

Thanks, Bob and Mark!

[carlospppena]

Hello All:

I got my wav4 from bob and mark today. Bass is beautiful. The setup of the action came just perfect (for me). The bass sounds great. This is a limited edition blue bass. I am in love.

Mark and Bob, thanx tons. Service is flawless. We all knew...

Best regards,

Carlos Peña

[Matthijs]

Originally Posted by Gary Lynch

It's amazing what strings and a saddle ajustment can do.

I have to second that. I did two live rehearsals with my bigband in the back of a bar with the original strings. E and A string actually did o.k. but the D and G sounded thin, even with my Fishman preamp EQ and over an ancient Dynacord tube amp and cab. I had to avoid playing in thumb position. Now with the obligato's it's all grown up and sounds good all over the neck.

I did ruin the tuner for the E string though. I did a failed experiment with Tomastik Spirocores, the tension squeezed the ends of the peg together. To get the obligato E string in, I had to bend the peg outward again. Even though I was very carefull, when I wound up the e string one half of the peg snapped. It still holds the string and I am able to tune it, so for now I'm leaving well enough alone. In the near future I'll have to replace the tuners.

[Gary Lynch]

I hope NS DESIGN will offer some type of excellent tuners as an available after purchase product. The head is not very large and at this point I do not know what is out there that is substantially large enough but still would retro fit on the head.

[JBuckley]

I searched the thread for an answer to this and tried the advise given, but I think I've done all I can without asking for help. My E and A strings were both buzzing a bit on the first through 5th notes. I raised the bridge action and tweaked the truss rod a bit and it seemed to have taken care of the E string, but I'm getting really frustrated with the A. I've raised the action higher than I really want it, and the truss rod seems really tight and I'm a bit nervous about tightening it too much. The buzz is slightly better as long as I'm not plucking too hard, but it's still noticeable.

I'm really new to the world of EUBs and never really did any setups on my EBG. Would I be best off taking it to be professionally set up? I'm open to any suggestions or tricks any of you might have.

Thanks.

[ClaytonH]

I was able to "try out" the Wav at my local shop but was so into it i forgot to ask for a bow to see how it sounds. Dose anybody know or have some recordings of the wav with the bow? Can't go back cause they're closed all weekend.

[Bob Gollihur]

Originally Posted by JBuckley

I searched the thread for an answer to this and tried the advise given, but I think I've done all I can without asking for help. My E and A strings were both buzzing a bit on the first through 5th notes. I raised the bridge action and tweaked the truss rod a bit and it seemed to have taken care of the E string, but I'm getting really frustrated with the A. I've raised the action higher than I really want it, and the truss rod seems really tight and I'm a bit nervous about tightening it too much. The buzz is slightly better as long as I'm not plucking too hard, but it's still noticeable.

I'm really new to the world of EUBs and never really did any setups on my EBG. Would I be best off taking it to be professionally set up? I'm open to any suggestions or tricks any of you might have.

Thanks.

Rather than tightening it you should be loosening it the rod. When the board is too flat (which happens by tightening the rod) you may get buzz. By loosening the rod and allowing more relief in the board, you will likely reduce buzz.

If not, the fingerboard may need more work, especially if you have changed strings from the originals.

[bluegrassboy]

Originally Posted by ClaytonH

I was able to "try out" the Wav at my local shop but was so into it i forgot to ask for a bow to see how it sounds. Dose anybody know or have some recordings of the wav with the bow? Can't go back cause they're closed all weekend.

I've bowed mine occasionally. Of course, it depends on the strings and the setup. As mentioned earlier, I use Obligatos and have raised the action. Bowing is no problem and it sounds great as long as you have the pickup switch in the correct position.

[ClaytonH]

Originally Posted by bluegrassboy

as long as you have the pickup switch in the correct position.

Pickup switch?!
The one i tried hat two knobs and a dinky little post that you could not get your fingers on.

Is it the dinky little switch?

The bottom one is the thats a post.

[bluegrassboy]

Yes, that little "dinky" switch is the one. Up for arco (bowing), down for pizz. It has to do with the sustain. In the down position, the sustain is longer, much like a bass guitar. In the up position, there is less sustain when the string is plucked because a bow creates its own sustain. I'm not sure how it works, but I understand it was the result of some high speed photography of what happens when a string is bowed versus plucked. I think the most authentic upright bass sound comes with the switch in the arco position. So, I leave mine there most of the time, whether I'm bowing or plucking the string. Hope that helps...

[dunic]

does the wav-4 have the same 'characteristics' as the upright in this youtube clip? it looks like a NS design eub but it doesnt look like a wav-4.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xHwheTDZyU

cheers

[bluegrassboy]

That's an NS Design bass, but it's not the WAV 4. It's the five string in their CR series. I believe the pickup system is different on those basses, but someone on here who knows more about those (Bob Gollihur?) can explain.