If anyone is going to NAMM next week, make sure you swing by the Cole Clark booth and check out the basses they are going to be offering starting this year! They had a couple of bass prototypes with them last year, but this year they have a few new prototypes and will also have one of the "production" models there. Rumor is that production on these basses is set to start at the early part of this year, but I haven't confirmed that.
For those not familiar with Cole Clark, they're an Australian based company that is mostly known for their amazing acoustic guitars. I've been fortunate to enough to play several of their acoustics over the past year and can say without a doubt that they are by far and away the best sounding acoustic when plugged in to a sound system. Cole Clark has developed a "3" pickup acoustic setup that is astoundingly good.
But enough about the acoustics. Here's what I know about these basses. Over the last year or so, Cole Clark teamed up with renowned Aussie bass builder Neil Kennedy and gave him full reign to design a new bass under the Cole Clark name. The basses he came up with are freaking COOL. I love the body shape, neck through, wood combinations and hardware that he used. Everything about these basses is TOP Notch and no corners were cut on the production. IMO, these basses rival anything else on the market right now and I've been through my fair of basses in the last 20 years. All of the woods used are fully sustainable Australian woods.
I am fortunate to be friends with the International Sales Manager for Cole Clark and was able to get my grubby little mits on one of the prototypes after NAMM last year. I've been living with that bass for the better part of 2016 now and I must say that it has become my all time favorite bass that I've ever had. The body is a smaller body, which at first I wasn't crazy about. But when the bass is sub-8 lbs and sounds like weighs 12 lbs, I got over that. The body style also really grew on me to the point that I now think it's one of the sexiest shapes on a bass. Please bear in mind that I've been a Fender guy for last 10-12 years. So changing to something that didn't resemble a J or a P bass was some adjustment. The neck on this prototype is like butter. It's fairly thin front to back but still substantial enough that it never felt rubbery or like it might break in my hands. The ebony fingerboard was beautiful and gave it a great snap too. The action is stupid low too! Which I love. The guts are all aguilar and they roar. 18v of headroom on a 3 band eq with mid-freq adjustment and a vintage tone control wired into the circuit that works in both active and passive modes. It's a super flexible bass.
Specs for The Prototype: (this one will be at NAMM next week)
Body: Bunya
Neck: 3 piece Queensland Maple
Fingerboard: ebony
Hardware: US Hipshot
Nut: Brass
Pickups: Aguilar
Preamp: Aguilar OPB-3 w/ p/p Mid-freq select and VTC added
Weight: sub-8 lbs
My bike and some other Cole Clark Acoustics.
Preshow warm up in the hotel. =)
On stage the first day I had it.
For full disclosure, I am not a paid representative or a Cole Clark artist. I just happen to be good friends with the International Sales Manager. I was fortunate to be able to play this bass and also give Neil (the builder) some feedback (along with some other players here in Nashville) on their ongoing refinement of these basses as they moved towards the production models. I have in no way been compensated or prompted to post this. I just really love their product and wanted to get it out there that these are coming down the pike and will be available to the public soon.
For those not familiar with Cole Clark, they're an Australian based company that is mostly known for their amazing acoustic guitars. I've been fortunate to enough to play several of their acoustics over the past year and can say without a doubt that they are by far and away the best sounding acoustic when plugged in to a sound system. Cole Clark has developed a "3" pickup acoustic setup that is astoundingly good.
But enough about the acoustics. Here's what I know about these basses. Over the last year or so, Cole Clark teamed up with renowned Aussie bass builder Neil Kennedy and gave him full reign to design a new bass under the Cole Clark name. The basses he came up with are freaking COOL. I love the body shape, neck through, wood combinations and hardware that he used. Everything about these basses is TOP Notch and no corners were cut on the production. IMO, these basses rival anything else on the market right now and I've been through my fair of basses in the last 20 years. All of the woods used are fully sustainable Australian woods.
I am fortunate to be friends with the International Sales Manager for Cole Clark and was able to get my grubby little mits on one of the prototypes after NAMM last year. I've been living with that bass for the better part of 2016 now and I must say that it has become my all time favorite bass that I've ever had. The body is a smaller body, which at first I wasn't crazy about. But when the bass is sub-8 lbs and sounds like weighs 12 lbs, I got over that. The body style also really grew on me to the point that I now think it's one of the sexiest shapes on a bass. Please bear in mind that I've been a Fender guy for last 10-12 years. So changing to something that didn't resemble a J or a P bass was some adjustment. The neck on this prototype is like butter. It's fairly thin front to back but still substantial enough that it never felt rubbery or like it might break in my hands. The ebony fingerboard was beautiful and gave it a great snap too. The action is stupid low too! Which I love. The guts are all aguilar and they roar. 18v of headroom on a 3 band eq with mid-freq adjustment and a vintage tone control wired into the circuit that works in both active and passive modes. It's a super flexible bass.
Specs for The Prototype: (this one will be at NAMM next week)
Body: Bunya
Neck: 3 piece Queensland Maple
Fingerboard: ebony
Hardware: US Hipshot
Nut: Brass
Pickups: Aguilar
Preamp: Aguilar OPB-3 w/ p/p Mid-freq select and VTC added
Weight: sub-8 lbs
My bike and some other Cole Clark Acoustics.
Preshow warm up in the hotel. =)
On stage the first day I had it.
For full disclosure, I am not a paid representative or a Cole Clark artist. I just happen to be good friends with the International Sales Manager. I was fortunate to be able to play this bass and also give Neil (the builder) some feedback (along with some other players here in Nashville) on their ongoing refinement of these basses as they moved towards the production models. I have in no way been compensated or prompted to post this. I just really love their product and wanted to get it out there that these are coming down the pike and will be available to the public soon.
Last edited:
