As I was clicking through TalkBass during the holidays, I was showing my wife something on-line when the Barker ad clicked onto the screen. "Wow, what's that?" she asked, and I briefly explained what (I thought) the Barker Bass was. She reminded me that I had been looking for an electric upright (yeah, sure, like I
needed to be reminded of that
) and asked me why I didn't get one.
Dutifully, I explained that they were a bit on the expensive side, and she suggested that I check on Ebay for a used one. I explained that they were very hard to find used, and clicked on Ebay to prove the vastness of my intelligence .... of course, that was exactly the time that Barker was selling several prototypes of the newer B2, along with the "Brian Ritchie" proto. (Fortunately, my wife already knows that I'm basically an idiot, so it wasn't really all that embarassing
)
At any rate, I never did end up with any of the Ebay basses, but more research into the Barker Bass really started me to wonder if it could do what I needed it to do, i.e., fill the DB role while maintaining an electric slab presence. Bottom line, after some on-line conversation with Lee Barker and real-life chat with Dwayne Dixon (IotaNet), yesterday a Barker B1 5 string fretless (#0076) was delivered to my house.
Now, only having had the bass for a few hours, I wouldn't even pretend to give it any type of review yet ... that will come after some real-time gigs are under its belt. But I kind of thought that I'd take a few (lengthy
) minutes to jot down my initial thoughts.
When first unpacking the bass, I was struck by the security of the packaging material. Very intelligent design, the bass is really protected from damages. Even though the boxes obviously took a few good hits during shipping, the bass itself was pristine. Also, I am impressed with the quality of the gig bag, which was the first thing I saw when opening the box ... I'm pretty sure it'll hold up well during repeated use.
It took me about 45 minutes to fidget with the stand height and angle of the bass to get it in what I think is the ideal position. Time will tell, but it really felt extremely comfortable to me. I spent about and hour or so playing it last night once the height/angle thing was straightened out (BTW, a quick mark on the stand with a magic marker gives me a good reference point for future set-ups) and it was instantly comfortable. I don't think it took me more than 5 minutes to adjust to the vertical orientation, but in fairness I am a DB player so I am used to playing in the upright position.
While playing, my wife came into my rehearsal room (also my office and spare bedroom
) and said "Why are you playing so loud?". I looked down at my 20 watt Peavey MicroBass practice amp, something no one would ever consider to be loud and told her "I'm not". Actually, what she was experiencing was the deepness of the tone that was resonating through the house, even through my trusty, but admittedly crappy, MicroBass. It's very nearly impossible to describe the lows this bass kicks out
I'll be working this bass tonight and tomorrow, so early next week I'll post up some real time gig info. But I'll say this, at first blush I'm amazed at what I'm hearing .....
And, of course, some token pics as mandated by the TB brotherhood (pics courtesy of IotaNet, I'll get some more posted soon) ....
