Club Alleva Coppolo (Part VI)

[peterpalmieri]

Basically its all about stiffness and sustain and different degrees of fundamental/over tones.The extreme would be the Labella Jamersons. The other,,TI's.

BTW I think the bass on the Youtube has a new set of Labella not sure if their the Jamerson guages.
Aj

Wondering if I shouldn't pick up a few sets of strings in advance of the bass arriving just in case the TIs don't work in my favor. I guess the Labellas would be a good start any specific guage? I think I have a set of nickels and steels in the house I'll have to check...

 

[Andrew Jones]

IMHO I say play it with the TI's for a month. Live/in a mix.

Their tension is so low it's like a round wound.Kind of. You really have to fight a big set of flats. Untill you get used to them you might drag, get tense, ect. Your attention might be more on the playing differences than the sonic changes. I think you'll dig the added fundamental in the mix,most people do.

Then switch the strings between your basses. So if you've fallen in love with the P you'll know it not that you've fallen in love with flats!

I have a different kind of strings on all my basses.I find that strings define so much character of the sound that its the way I get the biggest differences.IMHO Marcus Millers bass with a old set of flats will sound more old school than a 1960 stack knob with brand new high beams.I see them as used rounds,new Rounds,ground rounds and flats. I try to pick the appropriate bass for the character of the string ( or is it...) If I have 4 axes that is what will be on them.


Aj

 

[marc40a]

RE: Flats - I'm a big fan of Fender flats. They're relatively inexpensive and have high tension. You can rock a light or medium light gauge with low action and still get good punch.


Now regarding AC basses... my biggest concern as a potential buyer is the neck radius. 10" is pretty extreme for a fiver. While i'm sure it feels great in hand I'm most concerned about the the responsiveness of the middle strings. The pickups appear to be flat. Can anyone speak to this point?

In this regard it seems that it might be similiar to a vintage J. Which, in my opinion, tend to have hot outer strings in comparison to the A & D.

 

[KJung]

RE: Flats - I'm a big fan of Fender flats. They're relatively inexpensive and have high tension. You can rock a light or medium light gauge with low action and still get good punch.


Now regarding AC basses... my biggest concern as a potential buyer is the neck radius. 10" is pretty extreme for a fiver. While i'm sure it feels great in hand I'm most concerned about the the responsiveness of the middle strings. The pickups appear to be flat. Can anyone speak to this point?

In this regard in seems that it might be similiar to a vintage J. Which, in my opinion, tend to have hot outer strings in comparison to the A & D.

The Alleva pickups (at least the ones I own and have played) have lower poll pieces at the outer ends of the pickups. While the G and D string do seem a bit fatter than on some basses, the response from string to string is actually very even. The Alleva's aren't about that 'big' B string and 'thin, hi fi G string' thing to my ear (at least the two that I have and the couple others I've played). Each string seems to be a very nice logical extension of each other string to my ear.

The 10" radius on a 5 is something though. It really does a good job (to me) of making a modern 5 string bass feel a little bit like an older 4 string bass.

One of the things it does if you slap at all is bring the G and D string VERY close to the guard. This isn't a problem for me (the other way around is more of a problem), but it does feel very close down there.

I dig it, and have no trouble switching back and forth between the more 'familiar' feeling 12" radius of the Sadowsky 5 and the more old school feel of that 10" radius on the Alleva.

 

[Andrew Jones]

RE: Flats - I'm a big fan of Fender flats. They're relatively inexpensive and have high tension. You can rock a light or medium light gauge with low action and still get good punch.

+1 fender flats are a great string...love them.


On the radius thing.. it's one of the main reasons why I love the Alleva's.Before I owned I had the same concern while my bass was being built I got the bass and forgot all about that.Jimmy made some staggered poles for Paul Turner and work them into the production line some time back.If you search the first AC club threads you'll find it.



Aj

 

[DrGroovenstein]

+1, the one reason I pick to keep my Alleva over my old Sadowsky was the 10" radius. It really is very comfy.

 

[KJung]

Hey guys. Per the discussion about strings for the LG a while back in this thread, and per the advice of a few fellow TBers, I finally put a set of DR Lo Rider Nickels (45-125) on my LG5.

I totally dig stainless steel roundwounds, and I've yet to hear anything better (for my tone) than Hi Beams on an ash/maple Jazz Bass. However, the more older school and organic LG seemed to be calling out for a different approach!

I'll let them settle in for another day, and then put up a clip. So far, I totally dig them. They have very similar low end and mid voicing to my ear as the Hi Beams, and since the Hi Beams are a unique stainless steel roundwound with that round core, they feel about the same on the smoothness scale (I always desribe the Hi Beams as a stainless steel string that feels like nickel).

The main difference at this point is a slightly tighter tension feel (not a bad thing there), and the shifting of the high treble zing of the Hi Beams to a more upper mid/lower treble growl, which really fits the more organic, woody tone of the 60's inspired LG. It's interesting to me that the voicing of the Lo Rider nickels seems to be in a similar place as the Sadowsky Blue Label steels, but without the aggressive upper mid 'harshness' to the tone. I guess for those of you who use nickels, this is all obvious, but what the heck.

Very nice so far! The LG just purrs and GROWLS with these strings, versus the more upper treble pure zing of the Hi Beams. Nice!!

Just FYI. We will see if they last as long as the Hi Beams. If so, these might be keepers on this bass. With the LM, it's Hi Beams or death for me

 

[peterpalmieri]

Hey Ken thanks for the update and I'm glad your giving in to trying Nickels on your LG-5. To me if your really going to a period correct tone in theory these should get you closer.

As I stated earlier for years I have been a nickel guy dating back to '95. For me and my somewhat agressively voiced LG5 the Hi Beams just work better, I hope you have a better experience, I wouldn't describe my LG5 a serious early 60s vibe as you know, but a great bass none the less.

BTW a little off topic, I have settled into my LG5 and find that it sits somewhere between the voicings of a 60s and 70s Jazz. In the basement tests it never quite cops either tone perfectly but on a versatile gig that's going from Ella and Sinatra all the way up to present I am finding it invaluable...

Hope the Nickels work for you!

 

[KJung]

Hey Ken thanks for the update and I'm glad your giving in to trying Nickels on your LG-5. To me if your really going to a period correct tone in theory these should get you closer.

As I stated earlier for years I have been a nickel guy dating back to '95. For me and my somewhat agressively voiced LG5 the Hi Beams just work better, I hope you have a better experience, I wouldn't describe my LG5 a serious early 60s vibe as you know, but a great bass none the less.

BTW a little off topic, I have settled into my LG5 and find that it sits somewhere between the voicings of a 60s and 70s Jazz. In the basement tests it never quite cops either tone perfectly but on a versatile gig that's going from Ella and Sinatra all the way up to present I am finding it invaluable...

Hope the Nickels work for you!

+1 It's going to be hard to pry me off the Hi Beams with the LG, but I'll give a couple sets of these a try. I'm not really interested in even a relatively 'accurate' vintage 60's voice as I am with the 70's ash/maple thing (and even there, I guess I'm just interested into getting in the general tone universe there versus an exact match to a specific Fender or whatever).

However, so far the nickels not surprisingly move the LG a bit further from the LM tone, so I'm digging it.... a little warmer and fatter and growlier when you dig in versus the somewhat wider and modern sounding Hi Beams.

We shall see!!!

 

[tommixx]

Hey Ken thanks for the update and I'm glad your giving in to trying Nickels on your LG-5. To me if your really going to a period correct tone in theory these should get you closer.

As I stated earlier for years I have been a nickel guy dating back to '95. For me and my somewhat agressively voiced LG5 the Hi Beams just work better, I hope you have a better experience, I wouldn't describe my LG5 a serious early 60s vibe as you know, but a great bass none the less.

BTW a little off topic, I have settled into my LG5 and find that it sits somewhere between the voicings of a 60s and 70s Jazz. In the basement tests it never quite cops either tone perfectly but on a versatile gig that's going from Ella and Sinatra all the way up to present I am finding it invaluable...

Hope the Nickels work for you!

First off I am definitely going to say that I agree totally with you about this bass NOT being ether a 60's or 70's flavored bass! I think in that particular case it is a combination of the wood in the body and the woods in the neck. That particular board moves it away from both era I think. Brighter and snappier than most other Rosewoods but still not quite as bright as Maple. It has that percussiveness that Maple has but not quite the bite. When I first got that bass the board was very red and I see over time it has darkened up considerably. I don't know exactly why but that was the most even sounding 5 I have ever played and the 10" radius at least on paper seems a little strange but I actually loved it to....As far as Strings go I LOVE Sadowsy Blue Label Nickels on virtually every bass I put them on...I used to use different strings on different basses sometimes but have found the Blue Labels just seem to work with everything. I also like DRs and was a DR endorser for a long time...I have gone 100% Sadowsky Strings (I even use the Sadowsky Flats on several basses) and I haven't found anything that would make me switch to a different string yet...

Peace,

T

 

[DrGroovenstein]

What strings are folks using on their KBP5s? I know of at least two of you with TI Jazz Flats, but I don't think I really dig those to be honest. Maybe I don't let them break in long enough, but they always sound kind of "doinky" to me.

 

[phishaholik]

What strings are folks using on their KBP5s? I know of at least two of you with TI Jazz Flats, but I don't think I really dig those to be honest. Maybe I don't let them break in long enough, but they always sound kind of "doinky" to me.

I don't really like the way TIs sound when they are new either. They need a good bit of break in time. I feel they sound and play best once they have been on the bass for a couple of years. I really hope I never break a string, because I don't plan on ever changing them. The set on my 70's P have been on for over four years and they sound perfect.


Mike

 

[peterpalmieri]

What strings are folks using on their KBP5s? I know of at least two of you with TI Jazz Flats, but I don't think I really dig those to be honest. Maybe I don't let them break in long enough, but they always sound kind of "doinky" to me.

I don't have my new KBP5 yet but it's my understanding that it has TI Flats but they are actually a heavy Jamerson guage. Honestly I didn't realize TI made an array of guages on the flats.... I am very intersted in what other have to say as well...

Pete

 

[Andrew Jones]

I don't own one.......

AND

Almost all of my experience is with 4 strings.


But if we're talking flats (of witch there are many threads in strings) I like Fenders and labella's.

I'd like to go on record that the reason why I like the TI's is because the have a unique hollow tone that combined with the tension make them Ideal for mimicking a babybass.Those strings with a subtle mute on a lakland sheff make a great Ebass tumbao machine IMHO.


I think if your considering that way you may want to at least consider ground wounds....GHS's and smiths are great.



Aj

 

[fredguy]

What strings are folks using on their KBP5s? I know of at least two of you with TI Jazz Flats, but I don't think I really dig those to be honest. Maybe I don't let them break in long enough, but they always sound kind of "doinky" to me.

I've tried Chromes, Labella 760's, and Sadowsky's on mine. I hated the chromes. The Sadowskys and Labellas are close in sound and feel and it currently wears Sadowskys. The Labellas are well broken in and occasionally go on my LG-5 when I want something different than the Hi-beam tone.

dave

 

[DrGroovenstein]

What did you hate about the Chromes?

 

[peterpalmieri]

The eagle has landed in it's Jamerson splendor. I am jazz bass guy so this is new and very interesting. Great P bass with Jamerson flats made by Jimmy, it's pretty special. Nitro, Dalbergia board....WOW

The crazy thing is the build date says 5/34/08 on the neck plate. I'll assume the photos that have floated around from George's Canadian porch date to around the summer, it then made it's way to Bernie in Indiana and the bass looks no different, seems like it is new out of the box. Bernies vintage G&G case with the Fender orange on the inside is also very cool. Although after I get home today I doubt this case will leave the house again.

This bass is so coming out on my St. Patty's day gig tonight!

 

[Vic]

The eagle has landed in it's Jamerson splendor. I am jazz bass guy so this is new and very interesting. Great P bass with Jamerson flats made by Jimmy, it's pretty special. Nitro, Dalbergia board....WOW

The crazy thing is the build date says 5/34/08 on the neck plate. I'll assume the photos that have floated around from George's Canadian porch date to around the summer, it then made it's way to Bernie in Indiana and the bass looks no different, seems like it is new out of the box. Bernies vintage G&G case with the Fender orange on the inside is also very cool. Although after I get home today I doubt this case will leave the house again.

This bass is so coming out on my St. Patty's day gig tonight!

NICE!!!!

Like so many other posters here, I've drooled over the pics of this beauty!

 

[Big String]

Nice Pete
Funk Machine 5

 

[peterpalmieri]

Nice Pete
Funk Machine 5

Hey Vic, I always see this TB BS 'it looks even better in person' well it does! Slight string height adjust needs to happen this evening and intonation.

Yes Dean this is officially my Funk Machine 5, I like it, dare I scratch that into the back of the bass?

Just got my sets together for tonight - among other things

Proud Mary, Uptight, I Wish, Dancin In the Streets, Domino, Superstition, Sir Duke, Ain't No Mountain High Enough and a 5 song Temptations Medley....