So I have a couple of BNFs, one traditional 34" with ebony board and bridge, and one 34.5" with a BN body, Dymondwood board, and steel bridge. The Dymondwood one has a great tone, but it's still a bit on the "smooth" side for me; the BNF is rather mild-sounding for my purposes, but it plays so well that I've never been able to send it down the road.
Anyway, this is all context for what came next in my search for a fretted bass that has enough punch and mids to work in a thick band mix.
I hadn't wanted to try a BN due to my impression that it would be too smooth and polite for my purposes, but recently I had heard that the new Deluxe BNs were somewhat more "lively" and less "smooth" sounding than the standard BN series. I've always absolutely loved the ergos of my BNFs, so when I saw a Deluxe that knocked my out visually I decided to roll the dice and take a chance.
So it arrived and I pulled it out of the case after it warmed up a bit. Color me astonished.
Mind. BLOWN.
I brought it to band rehearsal and IMMEDIATELY had the sound that I've always wanted. Thick and "girthy" but *articulate* and with more than a bit of really wonderful-sounding grind. Very musical. Punchy. Even across the board and the strings. And definitely not too polite or smooth.
Also, it has a lot of REAL variety available: every tone that I've yet to find is useful, distinct, interesting, and WORKS. Not to mention the playability of the instrument, or how I just love the way that it looks.
Really, just an absolutely perfect bass for me and what I was looking for.
THIS IS THE SOUND I've been trying to get with a Smith WT, Sadowsky Satin M24, Lakland 55-94, Warwick FNA, Muckelroy HMC5, and various fretless basses, not to mention with a ton of various mid-forward cabs like Baer ML112s, Berg AE210, multiple MAS cabs and a few AudioKinesis cabs -- and amps like WT800, VHF700, Arkham Beast, SA200, Monique700, Puma900 etc. etc.
It wasn't the fault of the cabs.
It wasn't the fault of the amps.
In the end, I just needed to find the right bass.
