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Anything else close to a Ken Smith 6?

#81
Roy Vogt said:
At this point you can definitely get a Carvin LB76 with radiused humbuckers or regular humbuckers as on the Icon 6. Come to think of it, an Icon 6 will fit the bill, although I felt like mine was closer to an Old School USA Tobias, personally.
Of course, if you're really wanting a Carvin 6er, I'd get this one. I just got the fretless with hard as nails fretboard so I have a matched set. Nothing like a little healthy self-interest! ;)
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i have a carvin 6 and a smith 6, and while they are both great basses they feel entirely different because carvin does not offer the wide spacing on the 6 like the smith has (otherwise i'd have another one). not sure if this is a factor in the OP's decision.
 
#82
shwashwa said:
i have a carvin 6 and a smith 6, and while they are both great basses they feel entirely different because carvin does not offer the wide spacing on the 6 like the smith has (otherwise i'd have another one). not sure if this is a factor in the OP's decision.
Click to expand...

Not too much but the bass I am getting has 18mm spacing which is perfect. The Smith is 17 if I remember correctly.
 
#88
Ok I finalized a down payment and I will probably be getting this bass in 3-4 weeks.

Anyway, I went with a very rare bass that I would not have discovered if it was not for this thread leading to me calling some friends and doing some research before pulling the trigger.

Once I heard the bass I knew it was what I wanted. Additionally, the looks are perfect too (for me). I find the look of a bass to be important for me because it is part of your stage presence, so I never really skimp there. Especially with all the options we have now. The bass I went with is the Bacchus Handmade DX6.

6dx1-jpg.jpg






This bass does not sound like a Ken Smith, but is the most tonally versatile bass I have heard. The slap tone is one of the best, which usually equates to a finger tone lacking mids, but not this. The Bartolini preamp can be dimed (treble/bass and mid) and not distort, which a lot of bass pres can not handle. The serious mid presence in the bass does have it sit with a Ken Smith though, which is what I love about KS's.

The other thing I love about the Bacchus is the craftsmanship. It is on par with any American made boutique bass that I have seen. The wiring (some pics of that in a bacchus thread here) is the cleanest I have witnessed, especially appreciated after navigating the Lakland Skyline 5502, which was not bad, but not nearly as clean as Bacchus. I also love the idea of combining a Bartolini pre with the J style pup configuration, which is something that Bacchus does on a lot of their handmade line basses. It results in a really modern tone that IMO takes the Jazz tone to another level.

In all honesty I am very excited about the Bacchus line in general. A J bass with quality mid range presence is the ultimate dream tone for me. If this bass delivers like I believe it will in the studio, I will most likely be buying one of their handmade passive J's as well and using them exclusively.

To be more specific, a Jazz bass has really nice low end and barking highs. A Sadowsky preamp puts that tone on steroids, but you lose low mids and warmth that I find very important when soloing or trying to cut through a mix the way I want to do it.

After talking to some friends that used them, I kept hearing the same thing - amazing wood selection, amazing necks, "easily worth 2-3 times what they sell for".

Can't say enough about how impressed I am with what the upper tier Japanese boutiques are cranking out right now. IMO, they may very well be surpassing a lot of US boutique makers.

Once I get the bass and put it through the paces, I will do a complete review of it in a new thread. If I don't like it, I can send it back. But I feel very confident that this was the right choice - financially and tonally as well.
 
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Reactions: Arthur U. Poon, Ace Of Bass and Dr. Cheese
#89
AngelCrusher said:
Ok I finalized a down payment and I will probably be getting this bass in 3-4 weeks.

Anyway, I went with a very rare bass that I would not have discovered if it was not for this thread leading to me calling some friends and doing some research before pulling the trigger.

Once I heard the bass I knew it was what I wanted. Additionally, the looks are perfect too (for me). I find the look of a bass to be important for me because it is part of your stage presence, so I never really skimp there. Especially with all the options we have now. The bass I went with is the Bacchus Handmade DX6.

6dx1-jpg.jpg






This bass does not sound like a Ken Smith, but is the most tonally versatile bass I have heard. The slap tone is one of the best, which usually equates to a finger tone lacking mids, but not this. The Bartolini preamp can be dimed (treble/bass and mid) and not distort, which a lot of bass pres can not handle. The serious mid presence in the bass does have it sit with a Ken Smith though, which is what I love about KS's.

The other thing I love about the Bacchus is the craftsmanship. It is on par with any American made boutique bass that I have seen. The wiring (some pics of that in a bacchus thread here) is the cleanest I have witnessed, especially appreciated after navigating the Lakland Skyline 5502, which was not bad, but not nearly as clean as Bacchus. I also love the idea of combining a Bartolini pre with the J style pup configuration, which is something that Bacchus does on a lot of their handmade line basses. It results in a really modern tone that IMO takes the Jazz tone to another level.

In all honesty I am very excited about the Bacchus line in general. A J bass with quality mid range presence is the ultimate dream tone for me. If this bass delivers like I believe it will in the studio, I will most likely be buying one of their handmade passive J's as well and using them exclusively.

To be more specific, a Jazz bass has really nice low end and barking highs. A Sadowsky preamp puts that tone on steroids, but you lose low mids and warmth that I find very important when soloing or trying to cut through a mix the way I want to do it.

After talking to some friends that used them, I kept hearing the same thing - amazing wood selection, amazing necks, "easily worth 2-3 times what they sell for".

Can't say enough about how impressed I am with what the upper tier Japanese boutiques are cranking out right now. IMO, they may very well be surpassing a lot of US boutique makers.

Once I get the bass and put it through the paces, I will do a complete review of it in a new thread. If I don't like it, I can send it back. But I feel very confident that this was the right choice - financially and tonally as well.
Click to expand...
2 questions. first, wow did you order that? i went to their site and it is very confusing. not user friendly at all. and 2, does that also come in 24 frets?
 
#91
shwashwa said:
2 questions. first, wow did you order that? i went to their site and it is very confusing. not user friendly at all. and 2, does that also come in 24 frets?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'd suggest going through a Bacchus dealer. It would make life a lot easier for you. They only made this 6 string for one year so I think the answer there would be no. I personally don't mind not having 24 frets, since I have a high C, but thats just me.
 
#94
Dr. Cheese said:
I like that a lot! Please post clips when you get it!
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Thanks, I will for sure. Check this out :



Same guy playing a Ken Smith for comparison :



You can hear that the Bacchus has more high end definition, but still has that nice warm mid range to it when he switches to finger style. That to me is very rare to have in a Jazz bass.
 

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