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Hanewinckel Vintage Reactor 5
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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Average Rating
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100% of reviewers
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None indicated
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10.0
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Description:
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* 3-piece, bolt-on maple neck
* Birdseye maple board
* Poplar body
* Bartolini J pickups
* Bartolini 3-band preamp w/vol-blend-bass-mid-treble
* 3-way midrange selector toggle
* Hipshot bridge and tuners
* Dunlop straplock system
* Poly finish, Sunset Orange Pearl on body/cover/headstock face
* Long B headstock
* 34" scale
* 7 lbs.
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Author
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boogiebass
Registered User
Registered: August 2000
Posts: 3578
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Review Date: Sun May 29, 2005
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Top-end to die for, fast neck, lightweight
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Cons:
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None
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* GIG
Small restaurant/bar with carpeted floor. Euphonic Audio iAMP 350 Combo with extra CXL110 cab. EQ was virtually flat with Contour 2 pushed and a slight boost at around 100 for punch. Bass was set dead flat with volume at around 80% on the pot, both pickups equally selected.
* SOUND
This will seem like an exaggeration, I suppose, but this bass has the best, brightest and most "alive" slap tone I've heard to date. Startling, in fact. The Bart J's are designed for brightness and they give it up in spades on this lightweight Poplar body with Birdseye Maple board. The EA rig is all about clarity and the top end is smooth and maybe even a bit on the dark side (especially compared to Bergantino tweets, for instance). But this bass just cuts through like a knife. I had to be really careful with G string pops as the sound would just overpower everything if I wasn't careful. The overall sonic character is very J bass--growly with a strong, solid low-end but...man, what an upper register! The best description I can come up with is that this one just have a very "alive" sound. It's not all just pickups, either. You can really hear that ping when playing the bass unplugged. Pete commented that it's like you can hear the roundwound windings more! I have to agree. In any case, this is the best lightweight funk bass I've had in my hands so far.
* PLAYABILITY
Because of the light weight and balance on a strap, this bass is a joy on a gig. The neck is slim and fast. Front-to-back profile is about medium--neither super flat nor chunky. 24 frets and upper register access is easy. Large, easy to see black side dots make this instrument a breeze to see where you are on the neck, even on a dark stage, I imagine.
* COMPARISONS
1. Hanewinckel Pro Fusion 5
Somewhat heavier than the orange bass, it also sports soapbar pups. Despite its bell-like upper register, it can't touch the slap tone of the orange one.
2. MTD 535
I no longer own this bass but it was a good one. Playability and weight are rather similar but the Hanewinckel beats it in both categories. The MTD also had dead spots on its one-piece neck. No dead spots on this one. The Hanewinckel actually shares some similar sonic character with the MTD but is lighter with better overall slap tone (remember: this is the best I've encountered to date).
3. Ernie Ball MusicMan Stingray 5
Known for its slap tone, this bass had a thicker slap sound but lacked the clarity and overall balance of the Hanewinckel. Way heavier, too. And in the low registers, there's no competition. Of course, the Stingray is a production instrument and really doesn't belong in this comparison with a handmade, high-end bass like the Hanewinckel. I threw it in anyway!
* SUMMARY
Light, beautifully constructed with a J Bass-style tone that really works in a band setting pretty much summarizes this bass. And then there's that slap tone...
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Hanewinckel basses and Thomastik-Infeld strings
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