Club Alleva Coppolo (Part 9)

[Bass7755]

Man all this talk sure makes me want to play Ken's LG just to see the difference...

Another very suprising gig night for me last evening. Had a happy hour gig at a very large local club last night, that has a notoriously high hollow stage. I've honestly always had significant issues getting my sound right on this stage. I'vfe tried every bass and amp combination, an amp stand, gramma pad you name it.

This was my 11 piece band and it's a crazy place hunderds of people packed out at happy hour...So I decided to pull out the KBP5 with Jamerson flats for the last set. Bam there you go it just works. I am such a J bass guy and so not into flat wounds that it's hard to grasp but this bass just comes alive in a live setting. Especially pulling out the old school motown, Stevie stuff.

Very wierd mixed feelings, I am so drawn to the KBP5 and every time I play it on a gig I am more impressed.

I traded my LM-5 for ctufankjian's (Chuck) KBP5 this week.
It's with my repair guy now getting the jack replaced.
Chuck is a great guy and the faulty jack is not his fault (Sh!t
happens). Anyway, I was supposed to get the bass back on
Monday but with the snow storm we had last night
it will probably be Tuesday before it's ready.

I was a P bass guy for most of the 70's and 80's so it will
be like coming home....maybe.
Dan

 

[Chef]

I've found one other thing to like:
the four ply pickguard!

It's thickness makes the edge a nice place to rest my thumb when playing over the neck pickup.

 

[Andrew Jones]

I'm really disappointed with the black beauty strings on the RA. I've learned that they are coated low riders in 45-105 makes a string that is not nearly as slap friendly as I hoped.They're also very compressed sounding. They look so freakin bad ass though.

Newest family pic.

The P is nitro alder/delbergia and is sporting GHS Stainless Steel precision flats = Happy thumpy w/ some sustain

The white J is nitro alder/indian. Ken Smith Compressors which are a nickel, ground wound 044 - .105 = awesome combo

The Sunburst is nitro delbergia/alder has Nickel Low riders 40-100 ,,,,to slinky. I will bump up to 45-105 youguys are right though I think that string with a couple of months on it will be great on this bass.

Black bass is Poly maple/alder has the BB 45-105. I will switch to Hi beams 45-105.


So I'm trying to get a nice progression of tones from thump to twang all while complementing the axes natural thing.

 

[sps500]

WOW Andrew! Nice collection...

 

[ryanowens]

Here it is again! I have had the bass for several months and I am really loving it! It records amazing and is a joy to play live. While this is not MY signature model, this is exactly what I would want if I had one. The sound of a Jazz in the package of a precision!

 

[esoxhntr]

Hey Ryan, gotta say I've always kind of liked that Willie Weeks bass. Could you comment a bit on what it sounds like and what kind of music you are using it for?

 

[esoxhntr]

Beautiful collection Andrew. Clearly the next addition is some sort of bright metallic finish, yes?

 

[Andrew Jones]

While I think about a LPB or CAR bass, truth is that the future might hold more solid classic colors,,,,, not that there's anything wrong with that

 

[esoxhntr]

In all seriousness - if your LM was an RA, I'd be thinking a natural ash LM with black pickguard and blocks. Alas, it's not...

I think Hi Beams are a god next choice for your LM - that should resolve the compression issue.

 

[KJung]

While I think about a LPB or CAR bass, truth is that the future might hold more solid classic colors,,,,, not that there's anything wrong with that

Nice basses! I don't remember seeing a picture with all of them. Beautiful.

Yes, those 'coated' strings are not happening soundwise, IMO. As I've posted, the Hi Beams are too 'hollow and shrill' sounding on my RA (PERFECT on the LM though). If you find the same, try the Lo Rider Nickels. They really resulted in me digging the RA a bit more.... still very zingy, but with more meat that fills in that bit of 'scoop' that the RA's seem to have built into their voice (based on mine anyway)!

 

[ryanowens]

Hey Ryan, gotta say I've always kind of liked that Willie Weeks bass. Could you comment a bit on what it sounds like and what kind of music you are using it for?

Sure. The sound to me is like a great 60's jazz. I have a 1965 Jazz that I consider the standard for what I like and this AC nails it. Now that is without the preamp, I love being able to reach down and add a bit of highs and really cut through or roll back the tone and boost the bass a bit to fill out the bottom on a more open tune.

To hear the kind of music I play you can check out our site here: Invalid Link Removed

The feel of the bass is great. I'm not sure what the radius of the fingerboard is but it feels very comfy! The neck is a P bass width and obviously thicker than my skinny '65 jazz neck, but it feels very comfy and has not needed any tweeking after being all over the country the past few months.

There has been a few mentions of the coated DR's and I'm not sure if the different colors sound different, but I use the Bootsy Coated DR's 45-105. These are the silver colored coated strings. I think these strings are great and really sound the best after a few shows. They last forever and feel nice under my fingers. I don't know how to describe how they sound right when you put them on, but I do like them better after a bit of use.

This bass is not going anywhere anytime soon. As a matter of fact it has me putting my 2 USA Laklands (osborn and Decade) up for sale as I just don't play them anymore... I think my collection is currently well stocked but a AC p bass and a 5 string AC would be nice.

the collection:
1965 Fender Jazz sunburst
1965 Fender Precision white
Alleva Coppolo Willie Weeks
Hofner Club bass
Epiphone Jack Cassidy
Fodera Matt Garrison

for sale:
Musicman stingray 5 white/maple
Lakland USA osborn ash/maple
Lakland Decade Candy Apple Red Rosewood

retired:
Warwick Dolphin Pro 1 (played all through college)
Fender Precision Bass Lyte (played all through high school)

 

[Vic]

Yes, those 'coated' strings are not happening soundwise, IMO.

I also don't like them at all, but I have read where some folks do like the way they tame the high end. The thing that bugged me most about at least the DR ones is, unlike the Elixir type coating, the DR colored strings didn't feel slickerier to me... in fact, they seemed sticker. Man I hated that. The other thing is, I hated how the coating came off and got all over the fingerboard and eventually all over. The coating wears off before the string is really dead IMHO. There are other colored strings out there, but I haven't tried them. I don't really look for that kinda' novelty anyway, so no biggie.

 

[ryanowens]

I also don't like them at all, but I have read where some folks do like the way they tame the high end. The thing that bugged me most about at least the DR ones is, unlike the Elixir type coating, the DR colored strings didn't feel slickerier to me... in fact, they seemed sticker. Man I hated that. The other thing is, I hated how the coating came off and got all over the fingerboard and eventually all over. The coating wears off before the string is really dead IMHO. There are other colored strings out there, but I haven't tried them. I don't really look for that kinda' novelty anyway, so no biggie.

Was that for the colored strings? I would give the Bootsy Coated strings a try if you want a coated string. I have never had a set where the coating came off on the bass. We used Elixers for several years before switching to DR's and they are different. To me the DR's feel more like a bass string while the Elixers felt more like a coated string.... slicker and wet feeling if that makes sense.

I wouldn't call it a novelty string because to me they actually serve their purpose and last a lot longer, to me it would be a novelty if it was coated and still didn't last...... but I guess that has been your experience. The cool think about all the gear and strings and basses that we all talk about here on talkbass is that since we ALL play differently, have difference chemicals oozing out of our fingers and have different (pickup to bass to cable to pedals to amp to cab) setups, we will NEVER get the same result from person to person. I love that.

There are not absolutes, if it works for someone else it might not work for you..... no matter how "good" the gear is.

I do know what I like for my gig: (Fender or Alleva Coppolo into an Aguilar rig) seems to work every time

But I also love hearing what everyone else is getting out of their setup too.

man I never actually type more than a few sentences here on talkbass, am I getting sucked it?

OK, counseling session over.

Much Love.

 

[YCBass]

I am using Black Diamond 40-120's right now and they're great... Specially since they're nickel underneath and not ss, I just really don't like ss on any bass. I've had them on a about a month now and the coating is still intact. I will try DR's next.

 

[jonno1707]

I know the XL170's are great and affordable Nichol options but has anybody check out the D'aDario Pro steels SS?

 

[svtb15]

I dig your playing on all the RSB stuff... Welcome to the Alleva famiglia!

Sure. The sound to me is like a great 60's jazz. I have a 1965 Jazz that I consider the standard for what I like and this AC nails it. Now that is without the preamp, I love being able to reach down and add a bit of highs and really cut through or roll back the tone and boost the bass a bit to fill out the bottom on a more open tune.

To hear the kind of music I play you can check out our site here: Invalid Link Removed

The feel of the bass is great. I'm not sure what the radius of the fingerboard is but it feels very comfy! The neck is a P bass width and obviously thicker than my skinny '65 jazz neck, but it feels very comfy and has not needed any tweeking after being all over the country the past few months.

There has been a few mentions of the coated DR's and I'm not sure if the different colors sound different, but I use the Bootsy Coated DR's 45-105. These are the silver colored coated strings. I think these strings are great and really sound the best after a few shows. They last forever and feel nice under my fingers. I don't know how to describe how they sound right when you put them on, but I do like them better after a bit of use.

This bass is not going anywhere anytime soon. As a matter of fact it has me putting my 2 USA Laklands (osborn and Decade) up for sale as I just don't play them anymore... I think my collection is currently well stocked but a AC p bass and a 5 string AC would be nice.

the collection:
1965 Fender Jazz sunburst
1965 Fender Precision white
Alleva Coppolo Willie Weeks
Hofner Club bass
Epiphone Jack Cassidy
Fodera Matt Garrison

for sale:
Musicman stingray 5 white/maple
Lakland USA osborn ash/maple
Lakland Decade Candy Apple Red Rosewood

retired:
Warwick Dolphin Pro 1 (played all through college)
Fender Precision Bass Lyte (played all through high school)

 

[Vic]

Was that for the colored strings? I would give the Bootsy Coated strings a try if you want a coated string. I have never had a set where the coating came off on the bass. We used Elixers for several years before switching to DR's and they are different. To me the DR's feel more like a bass string while the Elixers felt more like a coated string.... slicker and wet feeling if that makes sense.

Nah... my whole point was I'm not really looking for coated strings, so it's ok that there isn't a set out there that I really like as much as plain SS. And at least IMHO, the coated DR's felt stickier than the plain SS's, and especially nickels, so for me, it was a "downgrade" in feel.

I wouldn't call it a novelty string because to me they actually serve their purpose and last a lot longer, to me it would be a novelty if it was coated and still didn't last...... but I guess that has been your experience.

The novelty I was referring to was the color, but I guess you can just get silver or whatever too. And yeah, I think the string itself does last a bit longer, but the ironic part is, the coating, at least for me, started to disintegrate before the string wore out, and that's what I objected to. I don't mean to suggest it was immediate, just that the coating became the weak link in the chain, so it ended up being kind of a moot feature for me in the end. YMMV tho of course, and apparently has.

 

[peterpalmieri]

Here it is again! I have had the bass for several months and I am really loving it! It records amazing and is a joy to play live. While this is not MY signature model, this is exactly what I would want if I had one. The sound of a Jazz in the package of a precision!

I love that bass. I have to say from a comfort stand point the KBP5 just sits perfectly and feels more confy then my LG5.

Anybody know if Jimmy is going to do the Willie Weeks in a 5 string?

 

[peterpalmieri]

I think you should put a set of flats on the J. So you know clearly what is the P and what are the flats.


Aj

To be clear I've got a set of Labella "Jamerson" flats on my KBP5 and I ordered another set over the weekend from juststrings to try on my LG5.

These are also known as 0760M5 or Original 1954 Fender Style.

(52,73,95,110, 128)

 

[jonno1707]

Man that's a weird gauge combination...