I have to say talking about these little amps with Spectors, Lee was awesome and gave me an incredible deal on a GK MB 200 that I am planning on taking with me to my treatments, I bought a GK neo 112 to go with it and the NS-2 through that little rig just kills. Never given the GK stuff a try before this, and don't get me wrong, still love my other "practice amp, (my SVT and 8-10, ridiculous, I know but that's part of why I love it.) but for how light it is that little thing kills. It's nice having the SVT where I do most of my playing in the office and the GK by the TV when I just want to play on there. Lee Rocks!!
When we get together you can play your Spectors (and mine) through my Aguilar ToneHammer 350 and dual 112 Aggie cabs.
That little amp and those little cabs are SICK. I mean they put out some big sound... and the head weights like 2-3lbs. LOL.
Also, if we can talk Nicki Tedesco into joining us she can bring her mini Ampeg rig. It looks like a child's toy and it has some pretty big tone too.
__________________
***********
SPECTOR® Club #145
Fretless Club #733
Georgia Bassists Honorary Member #1
"They call me the Spector Professor" www.spectorcentral.com
I set my three USA NS-Body Spector Basses circuit controls on "neutral", where basically all the settings are in the center indent.
I placed the volume at full
The balance in the center between the two pickups.
The bass control on the center indent
The treble control on the center indent
I used the MXR M87 Bass Compressor (the same settings on all three basses)
And a Boss CEB-3 Bass Chorus Pedal (with very little effect added - Same settings on all three basses).
I played directly into my MXR Bass+DI and brought that into SoundForge via Midi port.
Lastly, I used SoundForge and Sony Vegas to mix my bass track into an instrumental *karaoke track for Duran Duran's "Save a Prayer"... one of my favorite bass lines from that band. And I really think John Taylor is greatly under-rated as one of the best pop bassists of the 1980's... so I find I like a bunch of his tracks.
What's interesting is to look at the shape of the wav patterns above. The only thing that changed between these three tracks was the bass being played. So there's visible differences in the tone.
What does your ears tell you?
Is there one that stands out to you as sounding better?
Curious to see what you all think.
Man I love it when you guys post tracks. This was fun. And I think my favorite was the Blue Dream. Seemed to have the most obvious Spector tone if it were a blind test I would take this one, no doubt. The other two sounded great and I would have a hard time choosing between the two.
Now I kind of want to check out some Duran Duran. Never really got into them, but this comparison has me interested. What would be a good record to star with for the best bass playing?
Good work Patrick. Hope your recovery is going as we'll as your bass playing! :-)
I probably would have cracked it open if I has the power cord. LOL
I stopped by GC on the way home today and picked up a 1 Spot. Thanks for the recommendation. Plugged it right in to my MXR M-80, which is great because that thing just cooked through batteries. Now I'm counting the days til Christmas and the BK3. The distortion on the M-80 is fun, but I want some of that sick Overdrive.
Different subject... Have you run through Drag The Waters 10 times in the last few days? Haha.
Haha, when they posted Drag the Waters, my face just lit up. The only reason I haven't played it so much is my Rebop is not tuned down to C# at this point. I need to get it adjusted since I put the Circle K strings on it since I am terrible at it and when I go down to C#, I get too much buzz for my liking.
I have been playing it a bit on the NS-5 that is tuned standard and it's not as bad as I thought since Rex doesn't seem to ride the open string on that track so it's definitely doable but I really want to play it in the correct tuning. I also picked up a wah pedal (thanks Mike) since Rex uses it on a few songs and a good amount on "13 steps to nowhere" so I have been messing with that too but that needs to low G# so I really need to get this Rebop5 setup properly.
Rex's tone on Trendkill is just amazing and it's great to hear subtle things like him scraping the pick through Jammit since it would be tough to catch if you couldn't isolate the bass track.
__________________ Club Clement #87 Spector Club #226
Man I love it when you guys post tracks. This was fun. And I think my favorite was the Blue Dream. Seemed to have the most obvious Spector tone if it were a blind test I would take this one, no doubt. The other two sounded great and I would have a hard time choosing between the two.
Now I kind of want to check out some Duran Duran. Never really got into them, but this comparison has me interested. What would be a good record to star with for the best bass playing?
Good work Patrick. Hope your recovery is going as we'll as your bass playing! :-)
Rio
For sure.
From the first track you'll be assaulted with great bass lines.
__________________
***********
SPECTOR® Club #145
Fretless Club #733
Georgia Bassists Honorary Member #1
"They call me the Spector Professor" www.spectorcentral.com
Rio
For sure.
From the first track you'll be assaulted with great bass lines.
If you haven't had the chance yet, try and check out the classic album series video for Rio. It's really interesting ang John Taylor explains how he came up with a bunch of the bass lines for it. He also mentions that he plays 2 different bass tracks in most of the songs which really explains things now since you hear him using fretless on some of the songs but he mentions there is also a fretted bass track.
__________________ Club Clement #87 Spector Club #226
I had a Line6 Lowdown 110 a while back and that was a huge dissapointment. The Markbass 801 is SOOO much better than that one. It interesting that you had trouble with the B string as my markbass 801 handles the B on my Rebop quite well. Perhaps it the HZ passive pups on it that work better with the amp???
Yeah it was strange when I'd play a lower notes from frets 10-1 it sounded muffled??? Like you, I thought how cool the smallness of the Micromarkbass, easy to travel with and set it on a desk or table. But for $485.00 I can buy so much more. The Acoustic B20 is an excellent purchase. Especially for $99! For another $10 I could've bought the B30, but it only had a 110...
__________________
Spector Coda 5XL Deluxe|NS-2000/5
Spector Bassist club #173
Praise & Worship Bassist club #700
Ampeg Portaflex Fliptop Club "dig in and you get the teeth of the mongoose!"
I got it 2 or 3 years ago when I decided I needed something smaller than my old Sunn 1x15 to keep at home while I kept the Sunn at the rehearsal space. Went to GC and it was the only practice amp with a 4 band EQ, most had either a 3-band or some only had bass and treble!! The Acoustic was the only one that had no problem when i dug in and got aggressive with my playing, as you said no crackle, no clipping, no speaker stress just clear tone. It was on sale for $150 down from the original price of $200 so I grabbed it and took it home!
Very underrated small combo, as it is very loud for only 20 watts.
+1! I ran thru a home practice yesterday, and even running it at a lower gain & volume it was really clear.
__________________
Spector Coda 5XL Deluxe|NS-2000/5
Spector Bassist club #173
Praise & Worship Bassist club #700
Ampeg Portaflex Fliptop Club "dig in and you get the teeth of the mongoose!"
Thank you so much for the feedback gents, I appreciate it. My gut is telling me that he is hard up for cash and is looking for a way to scramble some funds together. He has also recently (in the past 3 days) posted other equipment for sale in the classifieds here. I don't feel obligated to accept a return, but I'm always wanting to please and have everyone leave happy. The mods responded to me and agreed with you wholeheartedly. I'll leave it at that.
With that, here's a picture of the NS-2a that TSNS sent me!
Yep, sounds like the guy is feeling remorse about spending some money that he shouldn't had spent. GC is the only store that I know of with a up to 30 day return policy.
That's a beautiful NS-2A! The black just looks so classy and rich!
__________________
Spector Coda 5XL Deluxe|NS-2000/5
Spector Bassist club #173
Praise & Worship Bassist club #700
Ampeg Portaflex Fliptop Club "dig in and you get the teeth of the mongoose!"
I set my three USA NS-Body Spector Basses circuit controls on "neutral", where basically all the settings are in the center indent.
I placed the volume at full
The balance in the center between the two pickups.
The bass control on the center indent
The treble control on the center indent
I used the MXR M87 Bass Compressor (the same settings on all three basses)
And a Boss CEB-3 Bass Chorus Pedal (with very little effect added - Same settings on all three basses).
I played directly into my MXR Bass+DI and brought that into SoundForge via Midi port.
Lastly, I used SoundForge and Sony Vegas to mix my bass track into an instrumental *karaoke track for Duran Duran's "Save a Prayer"... one of my favorite bass lines from that band. And I really think John Taylor is greatly under-rated as one of the best pop bassists of the 1980's... so I find I like a bunch of his tracks.
What's interesting is to look at the shape of the wav patterns above. The only thing that changed between these three tracks was the bass being played. So there's visible differences in the tone.
What does your ears tell you?
Is there one that stands out to you as sounding better?
Curious to see what you all think.
I like the tone from the Black Pearl the best. To my ears, the tone sounds more open, full, articulate, clear, but warmer.
Great job Patrick! Thank you for the sound demo!
__________________
Spector Coda 5XL Deluxe|NS-2000/5
Spector Bassist club #173
Praise & Worship Bassist club #700
Ampeg Portaflex Fliptop Club "dig in and you get the teeth of the mongoose!"
My ears tell me I like them in this order: Black Pearl, Blue Dream, Water-Cured Redwood. All sound good to me in different ways. I like the bite I can hear from the Black Pearl but there's still some nice "meat" to it.
Yes, this order for me also.
__________________
Spector Coda 5XL Deluxe|NS-2000/5
Spector Bassist club #173
Praise & Worship Bassist club #700
Ampeg Portaflex Fliptop Club "dig in and you get the teeth of the mongoose!"
Someone mention a NS2a?.....in black?
Boom! I have one too. This is my fav right now. Sporting the SPECTOR tonepump with DR lo riders. Although I didn't originally order it for this bass, I'll probably stick my SPECTOR HAZ in here when it arrives. It's "Spector HAZ worthy". Attachment 306838
+1! When It's funny how my taste in colors have changed in the 4 years in our club here...I used to not like Black but now I find it very classy.
__________________
Spector Coda 5XL Deluxe|NS-2000/5
Spector Bassist club #173
Praise & Worship Bassist club #700
Ampeg Portaflex Fliptop Club "dig in and you get the teeth of the mongoose!"
Thanks JPS. So here is my NS2005...and number request. Booyah!
Sweet looking natural! I like the satin finish on this! Makes the maple wood look softer and a pinch of red hue. Welcome to our club!
__________________
Spector Coda 5XL Deluxe|NS-2000/5
Spector Bassist club #173
Praise & Worship Bassist club #700
Ampeg Portaflex Fliptop Club "dig in and you get the teeth of the mongoose!"
When we get together you can play your Spectors (and mine) through my Aguilar ToneHammer 350 and dual 112 Aggie cabs.
That little amp and those little cabs are SICK. I mean they put out some big sound... and the head weights like 2-3lbs. LOL.
Also, if we can talk Nicki Tedesco into joining us she can bring her mini Ampeg rig. It looks like a child's toy and it has some pretty big tone too.
Patrick...I'd like to ask a favor from you. Would you post a soundclip playing Black Pearl and Blue thru your Aguilar rig please? I'd love to hear that combo of Aguilar. I'm highly interested in the duo 112 Aggie!
__________________
Spector Coda 5XL Deluxe|NS-2000/5
Spector Bassist club #173
Praise & Worship Bassist club #700
Ampeg Portaflex Fliptop Club "dig in and you get the teeth of the mongoose!"
SPECTOR® Club # 324: EURO 4LXReBop5DLXFM Fender Jazz Bass Club #1075 American Standard Jazz 1980 Aria ProII SB900 MESA-Darkglass Microtubes B3K-Markbass
The Acoustic B20 is an excellent purchase. Especially for $99! For another $10 I could've bought the B30, but it only had a 110...
The Acoustic was the only one that had no problem when i dug in and got aggressive with my playing, as you said no crackle, no clipping, no speaker stress just clear tone. It was on sale for $150 down from the original price of $200 so I grabbed it and took it home! 
GC is the only store that I know of with a up to 30 day return policy. 
Thank you for the sound demo!
