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Brubaker Brute Club

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#81
a2zbassman said:
My neck on the JJX had a lot of fret buzz right out of the box. I had to set the action about as high as the bridge would go resulting in super high action and bad intonation. I emailed Kevin and found out it had a two way truss rod . . . tweaked and played with that for a couple days . . . then reset the bridge and intonation . . . better . . . but still got a lot of buzz when playing med-hard . . . changed out the strings to DR's and re-set-up . . . much, much better. Now it's very playable. It also seems to have gotten even better now in the winter . . . have to wait and see what happens again in Spring and Summer
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You can see earlier in this thread that I bought mine used, from Supertanker.

My customer service story with Brubaker is one that I'll be repeating whenever I can.

The action was a bit high for me and the saddles were pretty low (I was a little disappointed because I had been reading about these things being conducive to setup with super low action - I was expecting it to play itself), and I didn't want to mess around with it myself. I was prepared to take it somewhere for setup.

Since they're nearby, I made contact and Kevin ended up doing my setup free of charge.

It was neat to meet the guy who's name is on your bass and see the operation, basses and guitars in process, etc. As a bonus, as most here seem to know, Kevin is an extremely cool guy, giving of his time and expertise.

I might have to hit you up later for info on you Delanos.

I went to the store for strings and ended up with Ken Smiths because they were the only set on the self that was 40 to 120. It's weird, I'm not in love with the G string...no life, no punch.

I got a set of DR Fat Beams after doing some reading here, so I'll be checking those out soon.
 
#82
hello
I can read few things about the Brute, I've been hesitating for getting one because of all those enthusiasts comments and reviews I can read. But I live in europe, and no way to test one here.
Anyway, I got myself some money and decided to go ahead.
Then I received ot a few days ago...

First I though "no doubt, it's MIC", cause was a bit afraid when I looked at it .That's stupid but that's was the feeling when I saw the back of the neck .
Then I tested ...
The fretboard is... so perfect ! exactly what I was expecting for, and I do thinck it's a real ergonomic success : very light weight, perfect handing.
The bridge pickup sounds great, with a lot of character but I'm not that convinced by the neck pickup sound ,a bit "dry" I thinck, and miss a bit of dynamic. Thinck it desearves a delano or something.
Anyway I'm glad , I got mine now and it looks great. I'm a bit tough because I paid it a bit expensiver than the US price, but I hope to keep it for a while. :cool:
 
#83
liquidsunshine said:
... I got mine now and it looks great. I'm a bit tough because I paid it a bit expensiver than the US price, but I hope to keep it for a while. :cool:
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Congrats and welcome to the group!

Any pictures to post?

I'm surprised that you felt you could tell it was MIC when you looked at the back of the neck. I have to say, I'm not an expert, but I have to believe that was a psychological matter where something you saw confirmed something you already believed. I.e., it wasn't an independently formed conclusion. I can't imagine that if you believed the bass was built in Korea, that you would have looked at the back of the neck and said "Hey this was obviously made in China!"

I think there's a stigma problem. It's not as though this bass is made by a company operating to clone some other bass with a nearly singular goal of rock-bottom price. It's not made behind the motivation of some random Chinese company. It's built by a Chinese contractor at the direction and to the standards of Brubaker Guitars.

It is likely the same end-result as if the same task of larger scale production were contracted out to a similarly capable company in Japan, Korea, Germany or the US. The price is what would be different.

I was given to understand that Brubaker is contracting with a company that cares very much about what they're doing. They want to and are internally motivated to do well. They have the capability to build the basses in numbers that Brubaker doesn't and at the best possible combination of quality and cost. Further, the basses go to Brubaker after they are built for check-out, setup, and any fretwork that's necessary.

Anyway, I glad you're happy with your Brute. I think most of what you have to say is good testimonial.
 
#84
drpepper said:
Congrats and welcome to the group!

Any pictures to post?

I'm surprised that you felt you could tell it was MIC when you looked at the back of the neck. I have to say, I'm not an expert, but I have to believe that was a psychological matter where something you saw confirmed something you already believed. I.e., it wasn't an independently formed conclusion. I can't imagine that if you believed the bass was built in Korea, that you would have looked at the back of the neck and said "Hey this was obviously made in China!"

I think there's a stigma problem. It's not as though this bass is made by a company operating to clone some other bass with a nearly singular goal of rock-bottom price. It's not made behind the motivation of some random Chinese company. It's built by a Chinese contractor at the direction and to the standards of Brubaker Guitars.
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Hu... just forget about it:hmm: you're just right.

The bass is awesome.MIC or MIK or whatever it's a great bass,I do thinck it's gonna be a main gear in my setup.
The little fear in at the begining is just because of tiny little things in the finish work and the wood junction at the back of the neck, but it's not a 2000$ bass .
I'm just gonna change the neck pickup for I don't know what, Maybe Delano or a Crel pickup.Then it's gonna be the beast.:hyper:
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the picture are not great... it's made in France .:hiding:
 
#87
liquidsunshine said:
maybe the shadow...
Click to expand...

I think you're right.

So, are you a club number type?

On a self-serve basis (since DaveTomasi isn't around), I'd say you're #11 if you want -

J. Crawford - 1 (Retired)
Supertanker - 2 (Retired)
a2zbassman - 3
orlando123 - 4
DaveTomasi - 5
JayCY - 6
coop - 7
vision - 8 (Retired)
stoneboy26 - 9
drpepper - 10
liquidsunshine -11
 
#88
I went to Kevin's booth at the NAMM show yesterday. I have
to say I was floored by the Brute series. I expected his hand
made basses to be great, but I can't get over what he can
offer in an "offshore" bass. Killer neck profile, low action,
good balance, and a "Music Man/Jazz" pickup set that might
sound better (for me) than a Lakland.
 
#89
I jammed on the Brute at NAMM today too. I was absolutely floored by the tone. Steve Jenkins and I jammed on the red and black 5 string. Steve pretty much bought it on the spot. I'm looking for something with a little narrower spacing but may need to get one of these beasts! BTW...Steve was probably the nicest most down to earth musician I met there this weekend. Walked around together and talked for over an hour. Anyway...that bass is the real deal, and Kevin is a really cool dude.
 
#90
drpepper said:
I think you're right.

So, are you a club number type?

On a self-serve basis (since DaveTomasi isn't around), I'd say you're #11 if you want -

J. Crawford - 1 (Retired)
Supertanker - 2 (Retired)
a2zbassman - 3
orlando123 - 4
DaveTomasi - 5
JayCY - 6
coop - 7
vision - 8 (Retired)
stoneboy26 - 9
drpepper - 10
liquidsunshine -11
Click to expand...

all right I'm The 11 !
 
#91
Hmmm.. Guys.. What do you think about the J neck pickup of the Brute bass? I thinking of replacing them. Do you think this is decision is wise? Because it seems that the neck pickup has lower output than the MM pickup. I also notice one thing, The blend knob is more like a pickup selector to me. It doesn't the two pickups together. Should I replace it with an Aguilar preamp or something else? What do you guys suggest?
 
#92
JayCY said:
Hmmm.. Guys.. What do you think about the J neck pickup of the Brute bass? I thinking of replacing them. Do you think this is decision is wise? Because it seems that the neck pickup has lower output than the MM pickup. I also notice one thing, The blend knob is more like a pickup selector to me. It doesn't the two pickups together. Should I replace it with an Aguilar preamp or something else? What do you guys suggest?
Click to expand...

This is all normal about the neck pickup ; it's a single coil and the MM is a double.
But actually, I agree with you ; it deserves to be upgraded, I'm also thinking about replacing the preamp by something else ; I actually took the Brute yesteday for a recording session it appeared obviously in comparison with another.Anyway I like the MM sound, witch got some character.
I also got a little problem witch I did'nt speak about ; the Jack plug is a bit defective and I need to pull the wire otherwise the sound is really weak and I got sometimes a buzz when I play a note. This is not grave, it just need a check up, but I must fight a little to get the right sound and itinfluenced part of my opinion about the sound.
 
#93
JayCY said:
Hmmm.. Guys.. What do you think about the J neck pickup of the Brute bass? I thinking of replacing them. Do you think this is decision is wise? Because it seems that the neck pickup has lower output than the MM pickup. I also notice one thing, The blend knob is more like a pickup selector to me. It doesn't the two pickups together. Should I replace it with an Aguilar preamp or something else? What do you guys suggest?
Click to expand...

I can't make a direct suggest other that to try to get some comments from DaveTomasi and a2zbassman (maybe pm or email if they're not around).
 
#95
5stringplayer said:
Hi Guys. I've been looking for a Brute 5er and can't find a dealer in NC. any ideas? would like to have one in the Mederteranian????? OR one in white with a white pickguard.
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I really do like the the Mediterranean. I'm glad I don't look at other colors and wish I had them instead. I would take a2zbassman's black with Mediterranean pickguard is a hot second though. I think white on white would be a special order.

Is your decision to buy a Brute firm enough to buy online/direct or do you need to see one at a retailer? Judging from the list (which may need updating), you're not going to find a dealer.

I'd say contact Brubaker. That'd get you a definitive answer.

Good luck
 
#97
I can't tell haw mutch long, but I've already changed it, in doubt, because I heard a bit saturation in pickups. But I don't thinck the battery involved ... I can't tell.


I've got another question : did anybody already put off the pickguard ? I did it, but it's quite tough to do ; actually I had to put the neck pickup off !
 
#98
liquidsunshine said:
I can't tell haw mutch long, but I've already changed it, in doubt, because I heard a bit saturation in pickups. But I don't thinck the battery involved ... I can't tell.


I've got another question : did anybody already put off the pickguard ? I did it, but it's quite tough to do ; actually I had to put the neck pickup off !
Click to expand...

I can appreciate that you haven't had yours long enough to know about the battery, but thanks. I can't say I've tried to take the pickguard off.

I've had mine approximately 2 months. It came with a battery obviously of unknown age. I had to replace it about a month ago (probably less than) and that one just went out. Anything is possible as far as an individual battery issue (like that was a bad one), but it was out of a freshly opened pack, so that seems unlikely.
 
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