• 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.

Double Bass Best new double Bass maker.....?

#21
Sid King's Hachez bass is an absolute dreamboat - I don't know that I've seen anything to touch it for my taste. Someday, I hope to have the means to justify checking out some of Arnold's higher-end offerings.

TOO MANY BEERS said:
I think adding range to a DB, regardless of how you do it, takes a lot of oomph out of the sound. Especially noticeable when playing pizz. I've never felt comfy walking a line on an instrument that had an extension. The bone-rattling growl on the bottom is missing.
Click to expand...

And I think you need to go listen to WARMBUTTOCK's clips again before you come back and amend that statement. :)
 
#22
Tbeers said:
But this is coming from a person who won't even put an extension on his bass. I think adding range to a DB, regardless of how you do it, takes a lot of oomph out of the sound. Especially noticeable when playing pizz. I've never felt comfy walking a line on an instrument that had an extension. The bone-rattling growl on the bottom is missing.
Click to expand...
But have you ever bowed one? ;)
 
#23
Chris Fitzgerald said:
And I think you need to go listen to WARMBUTTOCK's clips again before you come back and amend that statement. :)
Click to expand...

i'll second that.
and my previous teacher (who happened to be from boulder colorado) had a very nice german bass that he converted to five strings when he had it put back together.....he found it in pieces in a music shop in KC (but never found the neck) and sent it somewhere to be put back together. he had it made to support a low B since it was all apart already and a new neck needed to be made anyway.
talk about growl and sustain on the low B.....good lord, that was an awesome jazz bass.
 
#24
Chris Fitzgerald said:
And I think you need to go listen to WARMBUTTOCK's clips again before you come back and amend that statement.
Click to expand...
It's just a matter of taste. In fact, I seem to remember Paul himself writing that he chose his Bohmann for its evenness throughout the registers, not for a big sound. The tone that I strive toward is... I dunno what the word is, visceral? Something ballsy like McBride, Ray Brown, or even Drew Gress. If there is a recording of Warburton that exemplifies that sort of fat, powerful sound, then by all means point me in that direction. I have thus far considered Paul's tone closer to, for example, Red Mitchell....

And jallenbass, yes I have bowed both 5-string and low-C extension basses. I have played a few with extensions that have produced an earth-shaking amount of sound on that open C. But as far as I could tell, with the stopper down the "open" E never quite reached the same level as it does on a normal 4 string instrument. I have played only two 5-string basses, one of them being the aforementioned Pollmann. Neither bass really did it for me, arco or pizz. If I had to choose I would prefer an extension, but for jazz playing my only satisfactory option is a regular range instrument.
 
#25
Tbeers said:
My impression of the Pollmann 5-string was that it just did not put out very much sound. Especially the E string was a big disappointment.

But this is coming from a person who won't even put an extension on his bass. I think adding range to a DB, regardless of how you do it, takes a lot of oomph out of the sound. Especially noticeable when playing pizz. I've never felt comfy walking a line on an instrument that had an extension. The bone-rattling growl on the bottom is missing.
Click to expand...

Let me tell you this. I recently converted my Hungarian Bass to a 5er. When I picked it up, I compared it to the Pollmann side by side. The Pollmann was still a little louder and deeper. I like the sound quality better of my Bass but both of them have a Huge sound. These 5ers can compete in sound volume with all of my powerhouse Basses including my Dodd, Martini and Prescott. I see no weakness on the E or B string at all. When I first took the Pollmann home, my wife asked me to stop playing as it was shaking the walls. She doesn't mind the Hungarian as much because it is sweeter and fills the house with sound rather than knock the walls down like a 'Howitzer'. The 5er Hungarian is louder than my 4-string Gilkes and the Gilkes cuts through an Orchestra.
 
#26
calvinmarks said:
That's cause Pollman's garbage. You're paying 25,000 dollars for a corse, toneless sound.
Click to expand...

Oh please. I have a friend who owns a Pollmann that absolutely kills. It is one of the better basses that I have had the fortune to play. You can't make a general statement on a maker without playing several instruments.
 
#28
calvinmarks said:
My teacher is a luthier and is in the Toronto Symphony, he's really not a fan of Pollmann basses. I brought one to my lesson a while back that was somewhere ion the price range of 28,000 from Heinl's (not that I could ever afford that), and he was really dissapointed with it (as was I.) We compared it to a chinese instrument with a one piece back selling for half that price, and it truly showed how overpriced that specific Pollmann was. I've tried a few, but I've just never found a good one to be honest.
Click to expand...

A Chinese Bass for $14,000.? Wow, that's more than my Super 800 model Shen by far. Maybe you should have called me?
 
#30
calvinmarks said:
The fact that it was Chinese is irrelevant. All the parts were german, the wood was extremely high quality. The only thing "asian" about it was that it was constructed in China and put together by a Chinese luthier. I don't know what the stigma with Chinese basses are. It sounded excellent, isn't that all that matters? It may not have a fancy name like Pollmann, but it sounded fantastic. And 14,000 grand is hardly anything to laugh at, that's a LOT of cash.
Click to expand...

I think 8-10k is the tops for the best from China being Shen 800-Rogeri or other. Using German or other wood may add 1k at most. The good Chinese wood is some of the best I have seen. I am ok with Chinese maple and spruce if it's of high quality.
 
#35
Tbeers said:
Who is Hachez?

Just curious!
Click to expand...

Couldn't find his site directly. I believe he used to work at or with Robertsons, but is now on his own. Here's a link to the 2000 VSA Competition results, not that purchasing decisions should be solely based on that, but I think his was the first bass to ever win a gold medal.
Invalid Link Removed
 
#36
Ben Rose said:
Couldn't find his site directly. I believe he used to work at or with Robertsons, but is now on his own. Here's a link to the 2000 VSA Competition results, not that purchasing decisions should be solely based on that, but I think his was the first bass to ever win a gold medal.
Invalid Link Removed
Click to expand...

Dans not the kind of guy to have a website. If I was forced to vote for the best new maker it would be for Dan. [besides me of course] His basses are awe inspiring.
 
#38
j.s.basuki said:
I don't see why Chinese wood can be inferior in quality than German Wood? I have tried a Chinese made solid carved DB in one Singapore shop, for only US$ 3000 with a better sound than my German made bass! I will go there again in my next trip just to get this bass.
Click to expand...

I ate an apple that just cost me $.50, it was much better than an orange I ate the other day.
 
#40
Tbeers said:
Who's that guy in Canada who made the elephant-head scroll bass? His work looks very impressive.

Arnold Schnitzer's instruments are worth their volume in gold (they don't really weigh that much, so I think volume is better).

I played a 5-string Pollmann that belonged at the time to Volkan Orhon and I wasn't amazed.
Click to expand...

I was wondering where you played my 5-string Pollmann. Just curious. Because I still have it.

Volkan Orhon
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back