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Do Mike Lull basses actually sound that bright?

Ian774

Ian774

Jan 27, 2007
1,751
3,033
Edinburgh, Scotland
#1
Disclaimer: my ultimate grail bass is (or was?) a Mike Lull P4. I love their look; the build quality seems to be outstanding, and everyone raves about Lull’s instruments.

Now…. The sound. Bear in mind I’ve yet to play one IRL to make my own mind up; but every video of Lull basses I’ve seen online have that very bright; almost metallic sound. There’s no warmth to it…





Is it the way it is recorded? Or do they actually sound that bright? There’s not that typical warm P sound…

And that’s not just the P models; same with the J ones.

I wonder if the use of aluminium (that’s how we spell it here :) ) bridges has an impact….

Please share your experience!
 
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#3
It all depends on the manner in which things are recorded. I can use the same bass and run it through different amps/mic/plugin combos and it'll sound totally different with each one.

IMO the best demo in today's day and age would be a direct signal demo and provide a downloadable MP3.

That way a potential buyer can run that signal through their amp/plugin/modeler of choice and really get a good idea of what the tone will be like in their specific context.
 
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#4
gt96g said:
It all depends on the manner in which things are recorded. I can use the same bass and run it through different amps/mic/plugin combos and it'll sound totally different with each one.

IMO the best demo in today's day and age would be a direct signal demo and provide a downloadable MP3.

That way a potential buyer can run that signal through their amp/plugin/modeler of choice and really get a good idea of what the tone will be like in their specific context.
Click to expand...
Nailed it...Could have not said it better.
 
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#5
Well, part of what you’re hearing is the sound of new strings. I can’t say much about the Lull Precisions (having only tried one for a couple of minutes) but I wouldn’t say the default sound on my Lull M5Vs is overly bright. I suppose they do tend a little more towards a “modern” Jazz bass tone but they certainly don’t sound as bright to me as the basses in those videos. Keep in mind too that Lull offers various options where pickups/electronics are concerned.

I just re-listened to the posted videos and you can hear some high frequency noise at the beginning of each one. It sounds to me as if the highs are being accentuated as a result of the way the demos were recorded. I’ve been gigging my main M5V for more than twelve years and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I bought a second M5V this past summer and it’s also fantastic. Lull makes wonderful basses and Spencer is a pleasure to deal with.
 
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#7
FWIW I owned a Lull P bass for a while and it sounded like a P bass to me. And I mean that in the best possible way. Not at all characterized by brightness.

One of the most playable basses I’ve ever owned. I traded it only because while I love how P basses sound when other people play them, I always come back to Jazz style basses for myself.
 
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#9
I have a Lull P4 with the Fralin pickup in it, and it’s not overly bright. It’s certainly not dark sounding, but it’s not overly bright. I got mine before Lull offered their own pickups.
I also own a Lull M5V, and it’s not bright when I put it in passive mode, but it is a bit bright and “modern” when the Trickfish IPA is engaged. I’m considering switching to a Bartolini or Aguilar preamp, to get a little warmer, “vintage” sound.
If I were choosing any brand of basses on the planet, I’d choose Lull every time.
 
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#11
The video sounds to me like the bass has brand new round wound strings and the tone opened all the way up until the the player starts turning the tone knob, I think this is a AWESOME Video showing off a well built instrument, putting flat-wound strings on this bass would sound like HEAVEN!!!!
Just think in 10 years, 15 years how good this bass is really going to sound with age!!!! Mike Lull instruments are AMAZING!!!!
 
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#12
I've visited the shop a few times and played numerous basses. I think the recording is swaying your opinion--every single bass I played was warm, resonant, and crystal clear. Each one was also meticulously crafted, played well, and was lightweight. They are among the best FSO basses out there, in my opinion.

I would probably own one, honestly, if it weren't for the headstock design. I'm not a big fan. :(
 
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#13
gt96g said:
It all depends on the manner in which things are recorded. I can use the same bass and run it through different amps/mic/plugin combos and it'll sound totally different with each one.

IMO the best demo in today's day and age would be a direct signal demo and provide a downloadable MP3.

That way a potential buyer can run that signal through their amp/plugin/modeler of choice and really get a good idea of what the tone will be like in their specific context.
Click to expand...
This should be a mandate.
 
#15
Back around 2002-2003 I owned a passive Lull P5 with Fralin PJ pickups. High quality bass, and it had excellent P and PJ tones. I mostly sold it out of fussiness: I had grabbed a good deal on one with ash body and rosewood board, but I'm an alder/maple guy.

P.S. The two videos above start out bright to me too, but as correctly noted, it's all in the recording settings... and maybe the engineer has some hearing loss but doesn't realize it! Only partly kidding about the latter. Bottom line: if you scour YouTube I'm sure you'll find Lull demos with tones you enjoy. Edit: the previous post beat me to it.
 
#17
Pickups aren't magic, neither is a bass guitar. When you hear a lot of high end in a tone, that doesn't mean that there's some magical thing that adds high end, but rather that there's not a whole lot that sucks the high end away. The more cable and wire you introduce to a signal, the less high end you'll get, unless you introduce buffers and such.
The big difference between different models of pickups of the same type, is how much high end they'll give. Depending on the amount of windings, the magnet, and the gauge of the wire, you'll have a more or less top end roll off. BUT, and here comes the fun part, most of that difference becomes irrelevant if you have a lot of cable in your chain. The more capacitance you introduce through other means, the less the actual difference in pickups becomes. And I would argue it's pretty much irrelevant already once you plug into your amp...
1734709188349.png

This is roughly where you're at when you add a cable. The solid red and blue lines being wildly different pickups (one having a capacitance of 90pF and one has 140pF, while the cable adds 400pF, which would be around 5 meters of a good quality cable).
Pickups can only do so much, and as long as the strings are solidly attached to the bridge and tuners, you'll get a good range of motion and virutally no difference between instruments.

That taken into consideration, I don't think the bass is at fault for the audio sounding so bright. It's probably just the way they recorded it, potentially changing some stuff afterwards. Perhaps there is some preamp magic happening in that bass. But if you put the pickups close enough to the strings, and you roll off some of that top end, it'll sound plenty warm.
If the bass looks good, feels good, and works, then it is good!
 
#20
If you watch some longer concert videos from Bryan Beller you'll likely see him switch between his main red 5 string Lull j bass and his sunburst PJ, and they have noticeably different tones despite playing them on the same rig at the same gig... the j is definitely bright, whereas the PJ has a much rounder/darker tone that he tends to describe as "chocolate-y."
 
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