132 days ago, I put in an order for a Miezo 18, and last night it arrived.
5 string, 17mm spacing
Raintree body, ovangkol fretboard
Bartolini dual coil pickup
Just volume/tone pots, no frills.
I am a weird bass player, and this is my weird bass.
I make dark ambient/drone music with synths and occasional bass parts (or electric kalimba). I need a compact instrument that won't get its headstock bashed into gear racks, and I favor a shorter-than-short scale length.
So the Miezo is ideal for me:
- ideal form factor. It stays close to the body, safe from getting bashed while I lean over and tweak faders or alternate lines between touchpads and the bass. And I love the fret spacing. And it just looks cool, a bit exotic and unusual and that makes me happy.
- ideal tone. Solid yet clear. Sounds great on its own, and is also a good platform for effects processing and clean pitch tracking to control synths. (There is a little buzz with the tone knob up fully and some compression applied... but less than the Ibanez Mikro and it's easy enough to filter out in my DAW.)
- ideal pitch range. The standard tuning for this instrument is BEADG an octave above a regular 5-string, but it drops to ADGCF with no issues. Cello range. Perfect for my music, and the range I tended to play in with other basses anyway. If I need to go lower, there are decent octave-down plugins.
I love that the two woods are matched so well; if it weren't for different grain direction it would look almost like one piece of wood. I love the feel and response of the tuners, much better than standard ones and worlds better than U-Bass tuners.
The included gig bag (made for the Miezo) is nice and I won't feel the need to upgrade to another case. I do need to change the bulky padded strap I have since it's awkward with that bag though.
Communication with Maurizio was good -- he offered advice and options on going for the 16 vs 18, wood choices and possible upgrades, always answered emails pretty quickly, sent several build process photos once the first couple of steps had been taken, and quickly cleared up a paperwork issue with customs (which I'm not sure actually delayed shipping at all, since I got it two days before the estimated delivery date). There were also photos of the instrument shared on Instagram which I thought indicated he was particularly proud of how this one came out, despite being a simpler build than many of the others around the same time.
...
"But is it a bass?"
Yes, absolutely. It feels like playing a bass, it sounds like playing a bass, and it's played with the same techniques. The pitch range overlaps with the majority of 4-string bass range even without an octave-down effect. Granted, its shape may be stretching the definition of bass guitar, so it could be a ... bass dulcimer? Bass lyre?
"Weight?"
About this much. More than a hollow body U-Bass. Probably less than the Ibanez Mikro, but more than the Mikro would weigh if you removed its neck. It feels solid and concentrated, but comfortable.
...
Things I need to get used to:
- roundwound strings. I've got tapes on the Mikro and I feel like they're more forgiving of messy fretting technique. But I like the tone with these and would rather improve myself than mess that up.
- neck shape. It doesn't feel weird, but it's forcing me to not wrap my thumb around the neck like I used to... so that's probably a win.
- 5 strings. More strings to mute. The lowest string is more challenging to fret as you go closer to the bridge, but that's easily solved by (A) practice and (B) playing higher strings anyway.
...
This will definitely be my #1 bass from this point on. For fretless and a mellow thumpy piezo sound, I've got the UBass. The others are probably going to collect dust unless I turn them into experimental platforms of some kind.
5 string, 17mm spacing
Raintree body, ovangkol fretboard
Bartolini dual coil pickup
Just volume/tone pots, no frills.
I am a weird bass player, and this is my weird bass.
I make dark ambient/drone music with synths and occasional bass parts (or electric kalimba). I need a compact instrument that won't get its headstock bashed into gear racks, and I favor a shorter-than-short scale length.So the Miezo is ideal for me:
- ideal form factor. It stays close to the body, safe from getting bashed while I lean over and tweak faders or alternate lines between touchpads and the bass. And I love the fret spacing. And it just looks cool, a bit exotic and unusual and that makes me happy.
- ideal tone. Solid yet clear. Sounds great on its own, and is also a good platform for effects processing and clean pitch tracking to control synths. (There is a little buzz with the tone knob up fully and some compression applied... but less than the Ibanez Mikro and it's easy enough to filter out in my DAW.)
- ideal pitch range. The standard tuning for this instrument is BEADG an octave above a regular 5-string, but it drops to ADGCF with no issues. Cello range. Perfect for my music, and the range I tended to play in with other basses anyway. If I need to go lower, there are decent octave-down plugins.
I love that the two woods are matched so well; if it weren't for different grain direction it would look almost like one piece of wood. I love the feel and response of the tuners, much better than standard ones and worlds better than U-Bass tuners.
The included gig bag (made for the Miezo) is nice and I won't feel the need to upgrade to another case. I do need to change the bulky padded strap I have since it's awkward with that bag though.
Communication with Maurizio was good -- he offered advice and options on going for the 16 vs 18, wood choices and possible upgrades, always answered emails pretty quickly, sent several build process photos once the first couple of steps had been taken, and quickly cleared up a paperwork issue with customs (which I'm not sure actually delayed shipping at all, since I got it two days before the estimated delivery date). There were also photos of the instrument shared on Instagram which I thought indicated he was particularly proud of how this one came out, despite being a simpler build than many of the others around the same time.
...
"But is it a bass?"
Yes, absolutely. It feels like playing a bass, it sounds like playing a bass, and it's played with the same techniques. The pitch range overlaps with the majority of 4-string bass range even without an octave-down effect. Granted, its shape may be stretching the definition of bass guitar, so it could be a ... bass dulcimer? Bass lyre?
"Weight?"
About this much. More than a hollow body U-Bass. Probably less than the Ibanez Mikro, but more than the Mikro would weigh if you removed its neck. It feels solid and concentrated, but comfortable.
...
Things I need to get used to:
- roundwound strings. I've got tapes on the Mikro and I feel like they're more forgiving of messy fretting technique. But I like the tone with these and would rather improve myself than mess that up.
- neck shape. It doesn't feel weird, but it's forcing me to not wrap my thumb around the neck like I used to... so that's probably a win.
- 5 strings. More strings to mute. The lowest string is more challenging to fret as you go closer to the bridge, but that's easily solved by (A) practice and (B) playing higher strings anyway.
...
This will definitely be my #1 bass from this point on. For fretless and a mellow thumpy piezo sound, I've got the UBass. The others are probably going to collect dust unless I turn them into experimental platforms of some kind.
