Club Bordwell Part 4

[torqueflite]

What's the control setup on this one? That's a Big Man at the bridge and Big Single at the neck, right?

Close BigMan and Big Split. Switch for single coil of BigMan and VV TB on knobs.

 

[mikezimmerman]

Thanks! Looking forward to your thoughts on the Big Man when you get it. Mine is spec'd with a pair of Aguilar Super Doubles, but I was toyed with the idea of a single Big Man.

Close BigMan and Big Split. Switch for single coil of BigMan and VV TB on knobs.

 

[Cliff Bordwell]

I had some time with the pickup, so I can give you my opinion on the Bigman.
Huge is a general start, but it is big in every area giving you everything you want to hear.
Lows, mids and highs are all there on every note and it's like this pickup walked into the room
and said this is how it's suppose to be done! A little more specific, I really like the texture of the mids,
smooth and alive at the same time. This pickup gives your ear everything and your mind can wander around
listening to different areas as you play... definitely going in my next bass.

 

[mikezimmerman]

Wow, that's quite an endorsement, Cliff! I may have to re-think things...

I had some time with the pickup, so I can give you my opinion on the Bigman.
Huge is a general start, but it is big in every area giving you everything you want to hear.
Lows, mids and highs are all there on every note and it's like this pickup walked into the room
and said this is how it's suppose to be done! A little more specific, I really like the texture of the mids,
smooth and alive at the same time. This pickup gives your ear everything and your mind can wander around
listening to different areas as you play... definitely going in my next bass.

 

[torqueflite]

I had some time with the pickup, so I can give you my opinion on the Bigman.
Huge is a general start, but it is big in every area giving you everything you want to hear.
Lows, mids and highs are all there on every note and it's like this pickup walked into the room
and said this is how it's suppose to be done! A little more specific, I really like the texture of the mids,
smooth and alive at the same time. This pickup gives your ear everything and your mind can wander around
listening to different areas as you play... definitely going in my next bass.

Cliff is being coy but I think he liked it. Is my bass all worn out now?

 

[Cliff Bordwell]

I wiped the drool off.

 

[Cliff Bordwell]

I guess when you write the word "droool" they put a picture of an M&M vomiting now.

 

[torqueflite]

I guess when you write the word "droool" they put a picture of an M&M vomiting now.

Either drool or vomit I am please it has been cleansed.

 

[TapyTap]

Wow, that's quite an endorsement, Cliff! I may have to re-think things...

Have you seen this video? Invalid Link Removed

 

[torqueflite]

Ok, admittedly off the subject. Why is dr00L a bad word but vomit is fine. What if you said something really naughty like Wankle Rotary Engine?

 

[mikezimmerman]

Ok, admittedly off the subject. Why is dr00L a bad word but vomit is fine. What if you said something really naughty like Wankle Rotary Engine?

It isn't a bad word, but it does happen to have an emoji in the system.

 

[mikezimmerman]

Yep, I saw that when the Bigman first came out, and it's one of the things that really got me interested.

Have you seen this video?
Invalid Link Removed

 

[torqueflite]

Had an emoji in my system once, must have spent an hour in the can

 

[mikezimmerman]

Ha!

Had an emoji in my system once, must have spent an hour in the can

 

[TapyTap]

Yep, I saw that when the Bigman first came out, and it's one of the things that really got me interested.

I've thought about having Cliff wire a Nordstrand Dual Coil up the way Carey does the BigMan in his demo video. I wonder how the DC would compare...

 

[torqueflite]

Had a little time today and got some photos done. I like the Bigman a lot but the Bigsplit is also a great sound. It is not as Nasty as the G&L humbucking but is big in sound. The term organic is a good description. The single coil mode works as that is a big single, in this mode is makes less noise than I thought it would. All the sounds from this bass are large but that is what I wanted. It would be interesting to switch the Man and Split as I think that would work as well. The preamp having 2 buffers is a good idea as the pickups are not matched and you never know how well that will work.
As to the rest of the bass it is absolutely fantastic. Wanted a machine that played and had good wood like my Carvin but had a sound like my G&L 2500. Plays as close to as good as the Carvin. Most likely over 500 gigs and countless hours with other playing makes this at this time an unfair comparison. As for its sound it is Wonderfull but a bit different. Nothing sounds like a G&L 2500. Also the wood tops anything I have seen.
A couple notes about Cliff, not just a crafstman but an artist. It is rare to find bass makers who make good looking, good playing, and good sounding insterments. Also finding some who is sane is also very rare. He is also a good businessman. The older I get the rarer that is. Also I did have to sell 2 basses and a lot of stuff that I no longer used but in the end I could afford it. A lot of them would have to hard to do that. Photos-

 

[mikezimmerman]

Thanks for the review! Can you tell us more about the preamp and EQ setup?

 

[torqueflite]

Thanks for the review! Can you tell us more about the preamp and EQ setup?

The preamp is the Audere Classic 2 band with V/V and T/B on 2 shafts. Cliff would rather you had 4 separate pot's and with good reason (the possibility of a blow to the front of the bass damaging the top). Never have cared for midrange controls on an instrument. As far as I can tell the preamp is pretty neutral and a lot of the sound from the old MM basses was due to the colored sound of there preamp I think. Do not use much Eq anyway, just the different pickups and fingers as a habit.

 

[Bobo Fret]

Howdy,

I thought I'd post some specs on my Ball bass. The goals of this build was to have a 4-string bass (most of mine are 5er's now), comfort (some hand arthritis), minimalist aesthetic, and maximum growl potential. Cliff was great in working with me to nail down the specs to what I think should really do what I'm asking of it.

From an aesthetic standpoint, it will look basically like the holly/bloodwood bass pictured below, except with a bloodwood pickguard similar to the wenge guard in the other pic.

Dimensions:

--Scale length: 34"

--CB "Modern" neck shape

--Thickness at 1st: .850 (Standard)

--Width at nut: 1.5"

--Fretboard radius: 16 degrees

--String spacing: .656" (16.66mm) - Narrowest Hipshot A

--Body Thickness: 1.525"


Construction / Neck Details:

--Deep set neck

--Forearm contouring ; Extra contouring to the back

--Zero fret

--3-piece neck: 2x flamed maple, 1x wenge

--Finished with tung oil

--Holly Headstock overlay

--"CB" Headstock shape

--Abalone "CB" inlay on headstock

--Bloodwood accent layer

--Fretboard: Bloodwood

--Nut: Dymondwood

--Fretwire: Medium jumbo stainless steel

--Luminlay Side dots only


Body:

--"Ball" solid body

--Amapola body (ie. African Tuliptree)(Spathodea campanulata sp.) - Cliff's recommendation as a good choice for encouraging growl without sacrificing low end and without over the top weight - I don't really know anything about this wood. Anybody here ever used it?

--Full-faced Holly top .150"

--Bloodwood accent layer

--Bloodwood pickguard

--Amapola control cavity cover

--Tung-oil finish


Hardware:

--Bridge: Hipshot-A type; aluminum

--Hipshot satin aluminum O-ring knobs

--Hipshot Ultralight satin tuners

--Recessed Dunlop Strap locks

--Electrosocket side jack


Electronics:

--2 Nordstrand FatStacks wired in single coil mode – '70's Jazz positioning

--Bloodwood pickup covers; no holes

--Dark Glass Tone Capsule Pre-amp

--9v

--Volume, Blend, Passive Tone, Bass, Low Mids, High Mids

--Active/Passive DPDT

--Series/Parallel DPDT


Gig Bag:

Standard Pro-Tec

 

[eude]

I like the sound of that spec!