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The UPS man came yesterday! I've never been so Bassatisfied in my life.
SCB 5 Fretless, 32" scale
Alder body
Ebony strip
Quilted Maple Top
Dymondwood fingerboard
Pau Ferro Heel: The Pau Ferro was extra from my Big McNeely fretboard; these basses are sisters now!
Maple/Wenge/Maple Neck
Mini fret-lines
Nordstrand Dual Coil PUPs in series
Aguilar OBP-3 preamp
Nobs: Volume/PUP blend/Treble/Midrange/Bass
Front
Heel
Mini-fretlines
SCB 5 Fretless, 32" scale
Alder body
Ebony strip
Quilted Maple Top
Dymondwood fingerboard
Pau Ferro Heel: The Pau Ferro was extra from my Big McNeely fretboard; these basses are sisters now!
Maple/Wenge/Maple Neck
Mini fret-lines
Nordstrand Dual Coil PUPs in series
Aguilar OBP-3 preamp
Nobs: Volume/PUP blend/Treble/Midrange/Bass
Front
Heel
Mini-fretlines
The bass sounds and plays amazingly. I think Alder is my new favorite body wood. Deep and powerful low end but still with most of the punch of Swamp Ash. The 32" scale feels like it was made for me. I had rehearsal last night, and it fit nicely in the pocket.
I've been fairly close to gasless in the past, but I now feel like I'm completely Bassatisfied. It will be a very long time, if ever, before I purchase another major piece of equipment. And if I did, it would most likely be another 32" CB of some kind!
Cliff is an artist at what he does and a pleasure to work with.
I've been fairly close to gasless in the past, but I now feel like I'm completely Bassatisfied. It will be a very long time, if ever, before I purchase another major piece of equipment. And if I did, it would most likely be another 32" CB of some kind!
Cliff is an artist at what he does and a pleasure to work with.
Gorgeous bass mate! Congratulations!
I've been thinking about Alder for a fretless bass lately, I see you reckon it's got enough punch, like Swamp Ash, but how do you think it'd compare to something like Black Walnut or Mahogany?
Eude
I've been thinking about Alder for a fretless bass lately, I see you reckon it's got enough punch, like Swamp Ash, but how do you think it'd compare to something like Black Walnut or Mahogany?
Eude
I'm not that well versed in most woods but from my memory, Mahogany is more low end but not as focused. It's pretty deep sounding but not as articulate. Walnut is also dark but a little too focused (or compressed) for a full body wood. My other CB is a Swamp Ash core with Walnut front and back woods. I like the way it sounds very much. I wondered yesterday if I should have gone with Alder instead of the Swamp Ash. But an Alder/ Walnut combination may have been to dark sounding. I'm not sure, but I do know I love my two CBs!
Please, someone correct my statements about Mahogany and Walnut as needed.
Thanks for that mate!
I'm looking for good natural mid range and articulation, so perhaps Alder is the way to go
Eude
Thanks for that mate!
I'm looking for good natural mid range and articulation, so perhaps Alder is the way to go
Eude
If midrange is what you are looking for, I might consider Swamp ash over Alder, but consult others. Also for fretless: Dymondwood, Dymondwood, Dymondwood fingerboard!
Swamp Ash is cool with me, nice and lightweight too
I've been looking at Dymondwood, but I'm quite keen on something a bit weirder and more acrylic impregnated...
Eude
Walnut is much brighter than Mahogany, but about two shades less bright than maple. My CB has a walnut body, as will my next one. Really dig the sound. Really dig the darker look.
How compressed is Walnut. I was once told it was a bit compressed to use as a body wood core.
OK, I'm now thinking maybe Walnut wings with a Swamp Ash centre block?...
On a side note, do any of you with shorter scale CBB's have any pics of you playing them? Would be interested in seeing how compact they are, it's hard to gauge from just the bass by itself.
Cheers,
Eude
On a side note, do any of you with shorter scale CBB's have any pics of you playing them? Would be interested in seeing how compact they are, it's hard to gauge from just the bass by itself.
Cheers,
Eude
I don't have any pics playing mine at this point. My band has a show in a few weeks, so I should after that.
Compressed as in tonally? Or Compressed as in not a lot of sustain? Based upon the specific flavor of walnut used, you'll get (both tonally and sustain) similar characteristics to soft maple.
Both maple and walnut tend to be more acoustically transparent than other tonewoods, due to a low velocity of sound and a high degree of internal dampening. That is to say that they allow tonal characteristics of the top to be heard without the addition of extraneous coloration and may even serve to attenuate some of the overtones emanating from the top. Again, the specific flavor of walnut is an important factor.
Black walnut, being harder and denser tends to lean more toward the tone mahogany, while softer examples, such as Claro walnut, tend toward greater tonal transparency; getting you closer to maple territory. Regardless, walnut (as an umbrella term) trends between Mahogany/Alder and Maple.
Here's a link to Warmoth's tone characteristic page. It's somewhat useful (though they blanket statement a lot of the woods). Invalid Link Removed
FWIW, "compressed" usually means a perception of more sustain, not less... as if an inline compressor was used... and as opposed to "punch" which is typically used to describe the characteristics of big on attack, but decays more quickly by comparison.
Guess I always think of "compress" as a reduction when I hear it. Also why I do not use a compression pedal (and will soon be putting a brand new FEA up in the classifieds). To answer the original question from the "how much sustain" side of the equation, I think my bass as tremendous sustain, and can't think of not wanting natural, inherent sustain in an instrument. Of course, I'd assume that your choice of fingerboard material, strings, etc etc etc is going to have more of an immediate impact on the sustain of a note than the core.
True, but if you compress the attack, then you can generally work with more gain, and the "sense" is, more sustain. Trust me, compression is an art form. It's very commonly not properly understood. And when properly used, it should not at all take away from good dynamics. But we digress at this point. FWIW anyway.
Sorry. I'll explain what I meant by compressed. I thought that walnut as a body core would be midrange dominant and drop off the lows and highs. I guess I'm wrong, but thanks for the great explanation of Walnut's sound characteristics. My fretted CB has a Walnut front and back but the core is Swamp Ash.
