The Ken Smith Club

[franklinpc]

Just found another one at www.bassspecialties.com check it out is pretty.

[larryelwood]

Originally Posted by larryelwood

Hey all,

I just recently acquired this beautiful Artist Series Ken Smith Burner from 1991. Killer bass. Plays like a dream. Sounds fantastic. Cuts through the live mix very well!!

Can i get a #?

Hello Vision, wondering if i might be able to get a club #?

[vision]

Originally Posted by larryelwood

Hello Vision, wondering if i might be able to get a club #?

Yep, I'll do a numbers update sometime today...

[vision]

Updates, adding j.kernodle and larryelwood!

1 - Vision
2 - Bass Viking
3 - Jules Forcella
4 - 123eraniod
5 - bottomzone
6 - gsdito
7 - Ari
8 - SLaPiNFuNK
9 - CTbass&birdsong
10 - greenbass
11 - PaulErik
12 - Reuben
13 - mrbassman_de
14 - Jaycephas
15 - wolldav
16 - T-MOST
17 - Fretlessboy
18 - rodneyat
19 - Just Thumpin'
20 - Halftooth
21 - metalstorm
22 - black.rose1402
23 - dustdbass
24 - nalapit13
25 - Danny R.
26 - azwhofan
27 - pedulla-2007
28 - kraigg007
29 - Phil Smith
30 - BIGREDSIX
31 - Alaska Bass
32 - tidnab
33 - eaflyaway
34 - Big Bottom
35 - Vakmere
36 - kerrycares
37 - jebmd
38 - Sean Baumann
39 - Hollywars
40 - Shelly
41 - JOEP054
42 - BSR6P-Bob
43 - pmaraziti
44 - bigbassdaddy
45 - pjmuck
46 - JensWest
47 - JOHNNY LONG
48 - j.kernodle
49 - larryelwood

[franklinpc]

hey guy has anyone try a smith with an avodire body?? or any of u have any idea of how this wood sounds??? im trying to get my first smith, the that ill probably get is aBSR5M with avodire wings. thank u.

[franklinpc]

Nevermind i just got a new bsr5mw tiger maple , peace

[franklinpc]

looks like nobody cares about this forum anymore, i guess i found it late.

[Saluki]

My new to me Smith neck thru will be here tomorrow. First smith experience

[bigbassdaddy]

BTW, what's up with Brian at thelowend.com -- he seems to be hoarding all the cool Smiths and trying to re-sell them at outrageous prices!

http://www.thelowend.net/thelowend/used-basses.html

The BT 6 with the Ebony is most excellent, methinks.

[franklinpc]

Originally Posted by Saluki

My new to me Smith neck thru will be here tomorrow. First smith experience

Whats up man!! so did u receive the smith?? do you like it??

[Saluki]

Originally Posted by franklinpc

Whats up man!! so did u receive the smith?? do you like it??

I did receive it, but with work and my gigging schedule I have not played it much. TBer Vic and I are always trading stuff to check out and he gigs more regularly, so he actually has it right now. He dropped some new strings on it, which it so badly needed and lowered the action a bit, so I am excited to get it back and really test it out. He gigged it last night so we may get to see what his impressions are.

It is a cool bass, though. It is a BSR MS series but it has some real nice upgrades. The wings apppear to be 3 piece, with flamed maple top and back, with what I believe is a mahogany core. It also has accent lines, black hardware and the series/parallel switches. It was finished in late 09 and has the newest 18v preamp. TBer Vic says it is 9.7 lbs, so not to bad on the weight side as fars as smiths go. From the time I have spent with it I do dig it. Will try get some good pics and more review as I have not found too much on the MS series.

[Saluki]

Originally Posted by franklinpc

Whats up man!! so did u receive the smith?? do you like it??

Couple of pics.

[Sean Baumann]

Nice looking smith. Get Vic to post his comments here, I'm interested in his opinion. What kind of strings did he put on there for you?

[Saluki]

Originally Posted by Sean Baumann

Nice looking smith. Get Vic to post his comments here, I'm interested in his opinion. What kind of strings did he put on there for you?

They are the Ken Smith tapered strings, Stainless Steel. Vic loves SS strings and I like 'em on some and prefer nickels on others. I believe this bass will do well with the SSs.

[Sean Baumann]

Ah yeah, same as I use.

[Vic]

The gig last night was "interesting" to say the least, but at least my ability to check the Smith out wasn't thwarted.

Yeah, the Smith "ping" was all there in spades. This is really a TOTALLY different sound than I'm used to, so unique. It's very mid focused and forward, but it's also got a bit of a scoop in the upper mids, then a fairly strong high end sizzle. Doesn't seem to have the big huge bottom of a J style bass or even some other hippie sammich basses. These are a lot more like the Sadowsky Modern/24-Fret 5, etc, which makes sense given the design, pickup location, and type.

It cuts through a mix just exactly the way you'd think it would with such a mid focused tone. It also doesn't have any issues with stage boom with that tight low end. That scoop in the upper mids/lower treble takes away from the grind, so the high end can get kinda' masked unless you EQ it or slap it, but, that more subdued grind is also why you can go back and forth between slap/fingerstyle without messing with the EQ... at least for the high end. I did find I needed to boost the lows a bit for slap, even when fully blended, which is also kind of a new experience for me. I'm more used to the case where you only have to boost low end when favoring or soloing the bridge pickup.

The series/parallel switch were really cool, but if I was getting a Smith, I'm not totally sure I'd spend the money on them. I believe the "native" tone of a Smith is with the pickups in parallel, so the "new" tone in this one is series mode. Now, as most folks know, when you go series, you ad a lot of mid grunt, some gain, and the high end seems to mellow out some as well.

I really felt this was the wrong direction to go with this particular bass, really too much of a good thing, at least IMHO, BUT, I did find it somewhat interesting to put the neck pickup in series and either solo it or blend it with the parallel bridge pickup. I really didn't like the bridge in series mode.

Keep in mind all these impressions were with a fairly neutral rig setting and with little or no EQ on the bass. Anything I said above which could be taken as negative, could probably be dealt with at least for the most part with EQ and technique. I just wanted to know what the native sounds were in it.

The neck profile is interesting. I'll pose this more as a question. The BSRJ I had for a while had a fairly shallow C neck profile. Felt pretty "fast" if you know what I mean. I really dig that. The neck on this one was noticeably deeper... really a bit more of a medium C... something along the lines of a Peavey Cirrus bass. Not unpleasant at all, but I did prefer the shallower profile.

So here's my neck profile question: Does he use different neck profiles on different models? Otherwise, all you Smith dudes, what are your neck profiles like?

One thing I do love about Smiths though, is the 18mm spacing and the fact that they are one of those basses that can take a crazy setup. Just an effortless play, and despite the weight on this one (albeit typical Smith) being a bit thick for my prefs, the thinner body design of Smiths does sorta' help. Not all the way in my case, but it does.

I'd really love to compare this one with a GN with the ebony board. My intuition tells me that'd be even more pingy, which, in my case, would probably yet again be a too much of a good thing, but you never know. The Pau board on this MS is just beautiful, and I would think it would balance out the strong personality of the Smith just slightly, and in a good way.

So I'm really on the fence about this tone. I'm not sure if it fits me personally or not, but there you go.

[rodneyat]

You really did hit the highlights of a Smith, Vic. I've owned a number of them in different wood combinations and still own one. I do not see myself getting rid of it. But, if you do play many different styles of music, you can probably not use the Smith to cover them all. I'll probably get flamed by that comment. So, it is really just my opinion. I've owned a couple of Sadowsky Modern/24-5s as well. In general, I prefer the Smith. The sounds are VERY similar in many respects. I do find the Smith slightly more flexible because of the series/parallel switches and mid control. Like you, I really like the neck in series and the bridge in parallel. Series does take away some of the "classic" Smith tone. Also, by cutting the mids a bit and playing closer to the neck will give you some more "un smith" tones. The board does have a good bit of affect. Having owned a few with different boards. I prefer the ebony on a Smith. I have found the body woods and finish to make a huge difference with a Smith. The Walnut/maple/Walnut sandwich works best for my ears. The maple/walnut/maple sandwich is a bit too harsh for my ears. And the Elite series with the lacquer finish will also add a lot of high end sparkle and a very quick attack and bite.

In the end, they are still great basses and an awesome tool to have in your shed.

Originally Posted by Vic

The gig last night was "interesting" to say the least, but at least my ability to check the Smith out wasn't thwarted.

Yeah, the Smith "ping" was all there in spades. This is really a TOTALLY different sound than I'm used to, so unique. It's very mid focused and forward, but it's also got a bit of a scoop in the upper mids, then a fairly strong high end sizzle. Doesn't seem to have the big huge bottom of a J style bass or even some other hippie sammich basses. These are a lot more like the Sadowsky Modern/24-Fret 5, etc, which makes sense given the design, pickup location, and type.

It cuts through a mix just exactly the way you'd think it would with such a mid focused tone. It also doesn't have any issues with stage boom with that tight low end. That scoop in the upper mids/lower treble takes away from the grind, so the high end can get kinda' masked unless you EQ it or slap it, but, that more subdued grind is also why you can go back and forth between slap/fingerstyle without messing with the EQ... at least for the high end. I did find I needed to boost the lows a bit for slap, even when fully blended, which is also kind of a new experience for me. I'm more used to the case where you only have to boost low end when favoring or soloing the bridge pickup.

The series/parallel switch were really cool, but if I was getting a Smith, I'm not totally sure I'd spend the money on them. I believe the "native" tone of a Smith is with the pickups in parallel, so the "new" tone in this one is series mode. Now, as most folks know, when you go series, you ad a lot of mid grunt, some gain, and the high end seems to mellow out some as well.

I really felt this was the wrong direction to go with this particular bass, really too much of a good thing, at least IMHO, BUT, I did find it somewhat interesting to put the neck pickup in series and either solo it or blend it with the parallel bridge pickup. I really didn't like the bridge in series mode.

Keep in mind all these impressions were with a fairly neutral rig setting and with little or no EQ on the bass. Anything I said above which could be taken as negative, could probably be dealt with at least for the most part with EQ and technique. I just wanted to know what the native sounds were in it.

The neck profile is interesting. I'll pose this more as a question. The BSRJ I had for a while had a fairly shallow C neck profile. Felt pretty "fast" if you know what I mean. I really dig that. The neck on this one was noticeably deeper... really a bit more of a medium C... something along the lines of a Peavey Cirrus bass. Not unpleasant at all, but I did prefer the shallower profile.

So here's my neck profile question: Does he use different neck profiles on different models? Otherwise, all you Smith dudes, what are your neck profiles like?

One thing I do love about Smiths though, is the 18mm spacing and the fact that they are one of those basses that can take a crazy setup. Just an effortless play, and despite the weight on this one (albeit typical Smith) being a bit thick for my prefs, the thinner body design of Smiths does sorta' help. Not all the way in my case, but it does.

I'd really love to compare this one with a GN with the ebony board. My intuition tells me that'd be even more pingy, which, in my case, would probably yet again be a too much of a good thing, but you never know. The Pau board on this MS is just beautiful, and I would think it would balance out the strong personality of the Smith just slightly, and in a good way.

So I'm really on the fence about this tone. I'm not sure if it fits me personally or not, but there you go.

[Vic]

Originally Posted by rodneyat

I've owned a couple of Sadowsky Modern/24-5s as well. In general, I prefer the Smith. The sounds are VERY similar in many respects. I do find the Smith slightly more flexible because of the series/parallel switches and mid control.

Yeah, I agree that, for this kind of sound, I prefer the Smith to the Sadowsky Modern/24F... even without the coil switches, and part of that is also the fact that it's a boost/cut 3-band instead of a boost-only 2-band. I think that makes a big difference in versatility, which is especially important with a bass with such a strong personality.

Thanks for the other comments, as well, but what about neck profiles?

[rodneyat]

I have actually never really noticed a big difference in neck profiles. I owned 3 BSR GNs (2 fretted, 1 fretless), 1 BSR MW, 1 BSR Elite G(19mm spacing) and a BSR J. Obviously, I live the BSR body style. From what I remember, they were all pretty similar. The GN that I have now I would still call fairly thin front to back. It is a flatter radius as compared to some other basses..I believe it is a 16" radius. The only one that really felt different was the Elite but that would be do to the wider spacing.

Maybe, the BSR J is slightly thinner. I only had mine for a month or so and that was a few years ago. My memory could very well be faulty. Maybe Sean will chime in. He has both a BSR J and BSR GN.

[vision]

Originally Posted by Vic

Thanks for the other comments, as well, but what about neck profiles?

I've played a ton of Smith 5's across the different models and never noticed any difference in neck profile. As to your comparison with the Cirrus neck - the Smith 5 neck is definitely more shallow. It's one of the fastest necks that I've played (which isn't a big deal to me specifically for my playing style, but I've definitely noticed it.) So I'm not sure what's going on with the neck you played that had a deeper profile.