Valenti 5 string Precision Bass
Specs:
warmoth alder body
warmoth maple neck w/ rosewood
Nordstrand NP5 neck/FS5 bridge
Aguilar obp-2 preamp with active/passive
weight: 9lbs
build time (deposit to receipt): just under 4 months
I ordered this around mid October 2005, and got it around second week of February. Haven't had as many gigs in last few months as usual, plus I don't like to write a review as soon as I receive something. There's some duplicated text here from the Geddy Vee review, for some things that applied to both basses.
I had received the Geddy Vee five string jazz from Nino the month before, the work here was of a similar high quality. Very nicely set up, fastidiously neat wiring in cavity. Again, I slightly adjusted the pickup heights to suit my playing style - usually playing over the bridge pickup, favouring it slightly with the blend pot. Similarly, I replaced the Sadowsky strings with Ken Smith Rock Masters (.045 to .130, taper B).
As with the Geddy, the neck is very comfy and easy to play. Being alder, this bass is also warmer sounding than the Geddy Vee. I generally prefer not to have stacked knobs, so I did without a tone control in this bass. The obp-2 preamp has the treble at a higher frequency than normal (6.5khz) which can sound harsh for boosting, but does a very nice job when cutting treble.
I debated whether to go for 3 band mid control instead of bass/treble, but I think in the end I made the right decision. In the past, I used to use a lot of house rigs so I appreciated having onboard mid available. But these days I'm mainly using my own rig so I can set my sound on my amp and adjust necessary on the bass. As with all Aguilar onboard preamps, a little goes a long way with the bass boost - it's like it goes from 0/10 to 4/10, with nothing in between - it would be nice for it to be a bit more granular in it's control. But that's nothing to do with Nino's work.
I played this bass out the other week at a covers gig at a bar in Westchester.
I was playing through my Thunderfunk amp into Epifani UL-112. The sound was deep and punchy, not as crisp as the Geddy Vee but with plenty of articulation. The preamp was flat just about all the time, I cut the treble slightly from time to time for slap stuff since the strings were brand new at the time and still a bit bright sounding
I'm not 100% sure if I'm going to keep this bass. But that's no reflection on Nino - he made me exactly what I asked for, and did a great job of it. But I think that I fundamentally prefer the sound of an ash bodied bass. In fact, I have Nino building me a 4 string ash bodied P/J bass at the moment...
I've attached some clip samples, playing quality not as good as could be
Recording setup: bass->Tascam US-122 interface -> Cubasis
For each clip, first half is recorded with preamp flat and then with treble cut slightly and bass boosted slightly.
Here's a link to the Geddy Vee review thread:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=237310
I recorded the same licks as I did with that bass, so you can compare and contrast both basses.
Linear Mode
