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Double Bass Blast cult

#501
Mike Ash said:
Let me put my 5 cents in
I do own Jason Burns king bass and I find it usable for all kinds of work including jazz and rockabilly
Of course I did not pay $4500 for it,I bought it from some dude who could not play the bass in the case real cheap(under $1400)basically new with flame paint job
It’s decent for its price and nice slim neck with balanced no buzz fretboard
Good tone for jazz and rockabilly
You can build this bass by using various parts or even old basses
Kay and Engelhardt sounds the same
Bottom line is ,do not pay over $2000 for any laminated bass
Click to expand...
Unless you are making your own plywood, and using some pretty innovative construction ideas, you cannot build the new Blast Cult basses, at all, that's my 2 cents. The setups are also really beyond what you can buy with a new bass. King was many moons ago...
 
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#502
I'm sorry, this all just sounds like the usual marketing hyperbole that comes from King, Blast Cult or whatever the company is called atm...

I got a full custom plywood bass made in Germany (which isn't known for the lowest production costs) for around 3k€ with a custom paint job.

Now, think about what you have to pay for some bass from Blast Cult for 5kUSD after maybe 3 years...
 
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#505
These were high on my radar until I took possession of a medium scale fretless electric bass guitar that never should have shipped out. Eventually got it worked out but by the time I had a servicable instrument I was pretty let down on the whole thing. The next guy got a pretty good deal.


I really hope for any customers they do better work with the uprights than they did for me on a much simpler type of construction.

They do look cool.
 
#508
As cool and a great of an idea as the Blast Cults are I just think they're too much money. Especially given some of the feedback on this thread and some other places. If I were to get back into an upright for slapping I'd just contact Bob Gollihur and order a swingmaster with all the goodies. Heck, for $6950 you could order two and have some cash left over.
 
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#509
Their website is confusing for a company that's pitching master luthiery. They look more interested in slapping their logo on cheap consumer goods than they do instrument building. I would be hesitant to drop 7-gur on a bass being built by a company that also sells pocket knives and skateboard wheels. Are they in the branding business, or the luthiery business?
 
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Reactions: HateyMcAmp, Seanto, KUNGfuSHERIFF and 2 others
#512
Oh J....

I really hoped my first post would be my last post in this thread.

Even though some people may chime in with smart comments like "specialised tool" and so on, I think that a price of close to 7k USD for nothing else than just a plywood bass is just grotesque. May it be that the plywood is glued together by virgins under a full moon, it still doesn't justify this price-tag. I took a normal bass and turned it into my own special bass that's best suited to my need at a much lower cost.

Just to put his in some kind of relation: I paid about 700 EUR (790 USD)for my first bass (some cheap Strunal) which I bought almost 30 years ago; in today's money it would be more like 1.100 EUR (1.230 USD). I needed the usual setup with new strings, bridge, pickup etc. which cost me about 300 EUR (340 USD). A paintjob, sorta botched, took another 450 EUR (500 USD) out of my pocket... So at the end I was at a total cost of around 1.850 EUR (2.050 USD) for the bass that I have been playing the last 2 decades.

Due to the setup and taking care while handling the bass I never had any problems with this bass on stage. Ok, during rehearsal 6 moths ago, my bass fell over and landed on the fingerboard which then flipped off; that was a repair of 40 EUR. No breaking of the front or sides, neck, whatsoever, maybe because I didn't buy into some marketing stuff that told people that the basses are "unbreakable"...

I'm sorry, the bass is made out of wood... Even if it's just plywood (or Super-Duper-Hyper-Virgin-Plywood), it tends to break rather easily...

So best way to avoid repairs is not to use gorilla glue or some weird adhesive but to be sensible when handling the instrument.

The bad thing is, many people buy this unbreakable thing and then end up with a bass that's hard to repair due to the bad construction... Out of all the King/Blast Cult Basses (1 King/3BC) I know of here in Germany I know that all the BC suffered major damages like broken neck etc. and were rather expensive to repair.

Hoping that this will be my last post in this thread...
 
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#513
I've been critical of this company, but honestly the 7k price tag seems about right at this point. Demand is far outstripping the supply on these, and they have these specialized made to order custom finishes which can't be cheap or easy. Hopefully that price will make it so they can take less orders but fufill them in a more timely matter. Also Jason Brown is a real deal luthier who will doubtlessly to build on the good (striking looks, nifty electronic systems) and correct the design flaws (gorilla glue.)

Now would I buy one? No way. Those of us who follow DB stuff are pretty aware that money like that can get you a LOT of bass, and these are personally not my holy Grail.
 
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#516
Just a quick update. I am parting ways with Blast Cult. Not going to get into details but let's say it is not a good fit for me. I am not able to give the company the attention it needs, as well as address my own clients, so I made the choice to wholly embrace my own shop, and clients, where I already feel very fortunate and comfortable. It was worth a try, and I do wish Blast Cult all the best!
Jason Brown
 
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#520
Red Brown said:
Just a quick update. I am parting ways with Blast Cult. Not going to get into details but let's say it is not a good fit for me. I am not able to give the company's attention it needs as well as address my own clients, so I made the choice to wholly embrace my own shop,and clients, where I already feel very fortunate and comfortable. It was worth a try, and I do wish Blast Cult all the best!
Jason Brown
Click to expand...

Well, that hurts
 

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