• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Are Landing basses THAT good?

#101
I see what you mean about the chrome/vintage thing, but for me black is always where its at.

If you might remember that ash/natural SX ss J that I have.... I am in the process to swapping that to a black body with black pg, black bridge etc.

For me once I went black I never went back. ;) :ninja: :cool:
 
#107
Well, I'm seriously thinking about ordering a Landing L30P. I want a short scale P-bass. I was going to go the SX route but I've read about too many problems with them quality wise.

Jimmy recommended this:
an L30P with a Seymour Duncan quarter pounder (I want to get as close to that classic Fender chunky punchy P tone as I can).

The only thing is, I can't decide on which finish or picguard to get. Any suggestions (I'm totally blind by the way)?
 
#108
Yes! I have suggestions. If I were you, I'd get a semitransparent blonde finish (or just straight blonde if Jimmy doesn't do the trans) with tortoiseshell pickguard and a rosewood board. THE pimpest look for a guitar IMO!

And as it concerns pickups, I'd recommend (based on experience) the Nordstrand NP4. It's brought an incredible musicality to every P I've installed it in. Maybe not overall as 'ballsy' as the Quarter Pounder, but it has a broader tonal pallette to offer. And punches like hell if you want it to!

You will love this bass...
 
#109
wideyes said:
Yes! I have suggestions. If I were you, I'd get a semitransparent blonde finish (or just straight blonde if Jimmy doesn't do the trans) with tortoiseshell pickguard and a rosewood board. THE pimpest look for a guitar IMO!

And as it concerns pickups, I'd recommend (based on experience) the Nordstrand NP4. It's brought an incredible musicality to every P I've installed it in. Maybe not overall as 'ballsy' as the Quarter Pounder, but it has a broader tonal pallette to offer. And punches like hell if you want it to!

You will love this bass...
Click to expand...

Dude, you're making me drule!

Does Jimmy offer a blond or semitransparent blond finish because he sent me a list of finishes and blond or semitransparent blond wasn't on it. Is blond called something else maybe?

Hmmm, I wonder why he didn't mention the NP4... Does he use Nordstrand pickups? Is the NP4 passive? I'm wanting to get a similar tone as an American Standard P-bass if that's even possible.

Anyone else want to chime in? I'm curious to see what everyone thinks would make a good looking Landing L30P bass.
 
#110
I've had both the NP4 and SD quarter pounder pups in different basses. They are VERY different from one another. The NP4 has alot of upper/mid & treble, while the QPs are more of a scooped sound. I personally prefer the QPs as I prefer a tone without much high-end, but I can see why many like the NP4... it also sounds quite good, just not my thing. The NP4 is much more of a 'alive' and present pup than the QP. Another pup that you might consider is the DiMarzio model P. I like that one most of all. However, if you are really serious about achieving a more traditional P bass tone I would go with the NP4. Its much closer to that, while the QP and Model P are not really in the same tonal family. Heck if you really want the vintage P sound why not just get a genuine Fender 62 RI?
 
#111
Yeah, come to think of it I think he would call it 'Vintage White'. Good examples on his site are here:
Invalid Link Removed

The first and fourth one are both, I believe, Vintage White. The first is really a pimped out "light" version, while the fourth is a brooding "dark" version. Both make me literally drool. If you can get him to do this color in semi-transparent, I guarantee you'll have the pimpest P-bass you've ever seen. Even if he sticks to solid, I just find this color to be "it" for me.

As for the NP4, he probably doesn't stock them standard, but I see no reason why he wouldn't be cool with you ordering one. It is indeed passive. IMO, if you're getting a +1000$ bass, you should spring for a pickup that really sings! The sound a 1/4 lber makes is IMO simpler and you could get a similar sound out of a cheaper bass. That's totally my opinion and others would probably flame me for saying that. The NP4 is designed to be "vintage, with none of the disadvantages of vintage", and it is really a sweet pickup! Although I suppose the 1/4 lber might be closer to the tone you'd expect from an American Standard off the shelf. That's speculation on my part.

Ok, maybe I should stop whispering in your ear now! I'm living vicariously through you. Whatever you go with, you'll love your Landing bass 100%, I'm quite sure of that.

(But PS: I'm playing my p-bass with DR Sunbeams, and I can honestly say my p has never felt so alive! Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Flats are also incredible with a p if you want to go flatwound).

Oh boy oh boy oh boy...
 
#112
Re: Bassist's post, I think he's dead on. It all depends on what you're looking for. One of the reasons I'm so sold on the NP4 is because I played it through flats for years, and now through relatively mellow nickel rounds, which lessens the highs and upper mids of this pickup. Maybe a player of steel rounds would find it to be a bit edgy, or maybe you just really want some deep extension from your p. The Dimarzios are really popular, and I can really see why so many people rave about them. Of course, not quite my bag, personally :D
Nice thing about a P is, it's just going to sound good if you put even halfway decent parts into it. Mmmmmm, p-bass...
 
#113
Hey guys, sorry, but I might have to be a party pooper here. My experience with Jimmy is that he is very particular about the alignment of his pickups. When I first approached him about a passive jazz and asked if he could put Nordstrand or Fralin in them he totally nixed the idea because the pole spacing would not line up on his basses correctly. The reason he likes EMG so much is that they have rails. So it took a while for me to find an appropriate set of passive rails that he would deem worthy of going into a Landing. I was first going to go with Delano but when Larry from Aero said he'd build a set to Jimmy's specs, we went with that. Now I don't know what he's gonna say about a P bass and I'm curious to know what he's doing for :::Bassist:::'s single coil P. I was a little frustrated at first but now that I know Jimmy better am glad that he has certain specs/guidelines/standards to follow. Maybe he'll have a different approach with you, but this is IMHE. I see no reason why you can't swap out later, though.
 
#114
I approached Jimmy with a single Darkstar idea and he fully agreed. Alot of his basses have DS pups as an option. Generally, he is very easy to work with IME, but he really sticks to his principles on certain issues. For example, I REALLY wanted a zero fret on the tele bass he's making for me. He's one who is opinion is that the zero fret does nothing, but from my experience the open E on my Stambaugh sounds nice and focused and I attribute that to it's zero fret. Even after offering him an extra $100 and getting close to begging, he still would not do the zero fret. He assures me the zero fret will not make a difference. I guess I'll find out when I get the bass. I think since Landing is not extremely well-known, he is very particular in making sure that the basses that have his company name on it are up to his standards and vision. At the end of the day its his reputation on the line if a bass turns out poorly because of some crazy specs requested by a customer. So in that sense sticking to his standards is very understandable.

With P pickups you can definitely swap them out later. Another thing you can do is order some no hole pickup covers. That way you would not see the poles not lining up perfectly.
 
#115
GassieBall said:
Hey guys, sorry, but I might have to be a party pooper here. My experience with Jimmy is that he is very particular about the alignment of his pickups. When I first approached him about a passive jazz and asked if he could put Nordstrand or Fralin in them he totally nixed the idea because the pole spacing would not line up on his basses correctly. The reason he likes EMG so much is that they have rails. So it took a while for me to find an appropriate set of passive rails that he would deem worthy of going into a Landing. I was first going to go with Delano but when Larry from Aero said he'd build a set to Jimmy's specs, we went with that. Now I don't know what he's gonna say about a P bass and I'm curious to know what he's doing for :::Bassist:::'s single coil P. I was a little frustrated at first but now that I know Jimmy better am glad that he has certain specs/guidelines/standards to follow. Maybe he'll have a different approach with you, but this is IMHE. I see no reason why you can't swap out later, though.
Click to expand...

Ah. Well, that makes sense to me (kinda). I don't agree with the overall logic, but it makes sense.

Well, I think I fully managed to overbear Jade Stolar with my overzealous p ideas anyway. He'll probably just go with the 1/4 lber and be happy with his bass!
 
#116
wideyes said:
Yeah, come to think of it I think he would call it 'Vintage White'. Good examples on his site are here:
Invalid Link Removed

The first and fourth one are both, I believe, Vintage White. The first is really a pimped out "light" version, while the fourth is a brooding "dark" version. Both make me literally drool. If you can get him to do this color in semi-transparent, I guarantee you'll have the pimpest P-bass you've ever seen. Even if he sticks to solid, I just find this color to be "it" for me.

As for the NP4, he probably doesn't stock them standard, but I see no reason why he wouldn't be cool with you ordering one. It is indeed passive. IMO, if you're getting a +1000$ bass, you should spring for a pickup that really sings! The sound a 1/4 lber makes is IMO simpler and you could get a similar sound out of a cheaper bass. That's totally my opinion and others would probably flame me for saying that. The NP4 is designed to be "vintage, with none of the disadvantages of vintage", and it is really a sweet pickup! Although I suppose the 1/4 lber might be closer to the tone you'd expect from an American Standard off the shelf. That's speculation on my part.

Ok, maybe I should stop whispering in your ear now! I'm living vicariously through you. Whatever you go with, you'll love your Landing bass 100%, I'm quite sure of that.

(But PS: I'm playing my p-bass with DR Sunbeams, and I can honestly say my p has never felt so alive! Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Flats are also incredible with a p if you want to go flatwound).

Oh boy oh boy oh boy...
Click to expand...


I wondered if he called blond something else because blond is like a standard colour for a P-bass if you know what I mean.

I'll have to ask Jimmy if he can order a NP4 for me. Do you have any clips of your P-bass? I'm curious to hear how it sounds with the Sunbeams.

What would you consider relatively mellow nickel roundwounds? My ESP B50 has SIT powerwound nickels, my Fender Jaguar has Fender Superbass 7250 NPS, and my Birdsong Cortobass has Curt Mangan nickels.
 
#117
::::BASSIST:::: said:
Another thing you can do is order some no hole pickup covers. That way you would not see the poles not lining up perfectly.
Click to expand...

I don't think he's worried about the looks as much as the performance. The way he was talking to me, I think he was more concerned about the magnetic field discrepancies with pole pieces that do not line up. I don't think he will bite with the NP4's if the poles don't line up properly. Hopefully, I'm wrong.

As for the zero fret, I think the issue is that he doesn't frequently do true hand-made custom basses. He does more a basic design with customizable options. Doing a zero fret would mean doing a whole different neck to get the scale right which would mean a change in production issues. That's my guess.
 
#118
Yeah you're probably right re the zero fret.

I'm not so sure the poles lining up exactly right makes that much of a difference. I have had basses that ended up going that way and I noticed no difference tonally. For those who are very particular it does not look 100% right, but really I dont see it as a big deal personally.
 
#120
GassieBall said:
As for the zero fret, I think the issue is that he doesn't frequently do true hand-made custom basses. He does more a basic design with customizable options. Doing a zero fret would mean doing a whole different neck to get the scale right which would mean a change in production issues. That's my guess.
Click to expand...

Bingo. I think this is 95% the likely truth behind it. From looking at the Landings, he does seem to have some very standardized construction models, and the necks are probably part of that. Also, (and this always interests me), I notice a lot of 'custom makers' will frown upon doing builds that make them feel uncomfortable. That's all well and good, I suppose, because they don't want to raise the chance of an inferior product. But it interests me the rationale they'll come up with to avoid out and out saying that they don't feel comfortable doing a build. Even stand up guys like Jimmy. Just something I've noticed.

Jade, I'd be happy to record some soundclips for you! I'll try and get those together tonight or over the weekend. I'm really stoked about the tone of my p at the moment with its current configuration. I'm actually pretty new to nickel rounds, but have to say that the Sunbeams really do it for me. I was surprised how good they sound. They're round core compression wound and have a really pleasing clarity to them. They don't have the sharp crispness you'd expect from a shiny new steel round, but I find them to be warm and very articulate. Both my Sunbeams and my TIs are nickel wound, and I think it's just gonna be my sound for the forseeable future. Sounds to me like you have more experience with nickel rounds than I do!

One thing I can really say about the NP4: I feel it really brings out the sound of the string. Some pickups I feel have their own voicing no matter what string you use, and while the NP4 definitely does have its own sound, a string change is all you need with this pup to have a whole different bass on your hands.

I'm a real Nord advocate, though, so go figure.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back