Anyone use or try a Bossa bass?

[KJung]

This line of basses just came up over on the Alleva thread. Stevie Wonder's bass player uses one along with his Alleva. Beautiful looking instruments, and kind of a unique preamp. There is a switch that seems to change the blend control to an 'inner/outer coil' balance when in single coil mode. That's kind of interesting. It almost seems like a '60's to 70's kind of positioning thing when moving from inner to outer coils in the 'tapped' humbucker pickups.

I did a search and found virtually nothing.

Hussain Jiffry is the distributor (SMOKING bassist who I had the pleasure of seeing with Dave Weckl a while back). Nice cat.

The prices seem pretty good... about $2,500 or so for a pretty 'tricked out' one.

I'm more curious than anything else at this point.

Thanks!

 

[KJung]

Here's the picture of Nate with his Bossa.

 

[JAUQO III-X]

I remember trying out my share of Bossa basses and I have always been impressed with the quality and attention to detail and all the ones I've played sounded good and reeked with versatility.

Nate Phillips (from Pleasure,The Dazz band, Jeff Lorber. etc.) has been using them for well over a decade.

 

[KJung]

I remember trying out my share of Bossa basses and I have always been impressed with the quality and attention to detail and all the ones I've played sounded good and reeked with versatility.

They look interesting to me.... 34" scale, full 19mm spacing, that cool 'coil tap' thing, and the option for a J style body. Thanks.

 

[JAUQO III-X]

They look interesting to me.... 34" scale, full 19mm spacing, that cool 'coil tap' thing, and the option for a J style body. Thanks.

For a while they were really struggling to find their place in the states and I think that is still the case.

 

[KJung]

For a while they were really struggling to find their place in the states and I think that is still the case.

+1... they seem pretty much unknown here. I found one retailer that seems to have had a few of them, but it seems like Hussain (again, just a wonderful player.. now touring with Sergio Mendes) seems to be the 'sales agent' in the US.

I usually don't dig the 'fancy J' type look, but that bass Nate is playing is pretty cool looking, and the 'standard' scale and bridge spacing is a requirement for me at this point.

I'm not even looking for a bass, but these do intrigue me.

Do you know Hussain? He subbed for Tommy Kennedy with Weckl's band for part of a tour a number of years ago, and just NAILED that gig. He was reading that stuff... amazing... wonderful tone.. tight, but gritty and growly also... I dug it a lot!

 

[Daniel L.]

Never played one, but I always liked the finish on this one. They kind of remind me of Fbass.

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[Georynn]

I played one in a music store a few years back. I loved it, solid ash body wood covered pickups, very nice neck feel... went to the house to get money , BAM it was sold... It was a great price too...

 

[lefty007]

2005 BP Magazine review:

http://www.bassplayer.com/article/bossa-bus-5/Mar-05/7088

Funnily enough, there is an article of Hussain about Bossa, the Brazilian style.

http://www.bassplayer.com/article/samba-feel-bossa/jul-06/22032

So Hussain plays Bossa with a Bossa.

 

[JAUQO III-X]

I do not know Hussain personally but I am familiar with his playing and yes I have to agree, he is an extremely talented musician.

 

[KJung]

http://www.bassplayer.com/article/bossa-bus-5/Mar-05/7088

The website describes that particular model as 'made for the US market' and 'voiced to the mids'. That would not be my thing... shy top end and lot's of low mids. Been there, done that

The OB and OBJ models look very cool.

 

[XavidmanX]

I owned a Bossa for a little while and it was a good bass. With the ebony board it had a nice clean, punchy tone with some good snap on the top end. It wasn't ideal for popping and slapping, compared to some of my more modern sounding basses, but it definitely got the job done.

I would love to try another one but they are so rare. It's still on my list of basses I will buy again when I win the lottery.

 

[Bryan R. Tyler]

I have a couple episodes of Studio Jams (from BETJ) with Nate Phillips using his Bossa, and his tone just kills.

 

[JAUQO III-X]

It wasn't ideal for popping and slapping, compared to some of my more modern sounding basses

All the ones I played were perfect for the application of mentioned techniques and because of their versatility the modern tone was right there if I needed it.

 

[hands5]

I have a friend here in the Tampa Bay area that has been playing them for the last couple of years and was generous enough to let me play one of his for a brief period,and while I thought it was a real nice bass, it really didn't knock me over because the tone was scooped and kinda thin for my taste,but I will admit that the construction of the instrument was superb

 

[smperry]

I played one a while back and was impressed but not blown away compared with other basses in the same range, but that was years ago. I think there were samples of one on the alt.guitar.bass website for a while.

M

 

[Zooberwerx]

Here's mine which pretty much makes me the coolest f'n dude on the thread so far *guffaw*.

Mine doesn't have the coil selector, though. Nice basses. I see them pop up on rare occasion in the $1000-1200 range.

Riis

 

[ibanezcollector]

didnt someone on the boards here save a Bossa bass from a flood damage or something like that..

 

[Dave Hill]

I remember playing this one, but I don't remember it blowing me away. I don't think it had the coil tap either.

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[maconbass]

I saw Nate Philips with Jeff Lorber several years ago and again with Gerald Albright a few years later. Although I was impressed with his playing, the tone didn't blow me away. I agree with "hands5". It seemed very scooped and thin to me.