Do Mike Lull basses actually sound that bright?

[Jugghaid]

I’m in Scotland dude

Road trip!

 

[Jugghaid]

I absolutely love Lull basses but their demos are very trebly and clanky. You can actually hear the bass acoustically in the demo as well which is a pet peeve of mine. No one is gonna hear the strings slapping on the fretboard when I'm playing live regardless of style. I see this all the time in demos from tons of people and immediately turn off the video. Spencer is definitely not the only one.

Having said that, buy a Lull. You won't regret it. Amazing instruments.

 

[rickdog]

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

When I visited the shop recently (to discuss getting one of my basses plek'd), Spencer mentioned that their standard strings are NYXL rounds. Yeah, a fresh set of those will sound pretty bright.

A friend of mine has a V4, it has well-worn roundwounds on it and sounds killer in a live performance band environment. Not overly bright, but really there in the mix. Not "thin" at all.

Keep in mind that what sounds really bright by itself comes across very differently in the context of the whole band. A while ago I was playing live (with amplified acoustic guitar, and acoustic piano). My bass sounded real bright to me standing in front of the amp; but the keyboard player played that bass for one song while I sat in the audience, and that apparent brightness turned into some really thick and tasty mids, and the low end was not lacking.

The amp is going to make a big difference too. When I tried out some basses in the Lull shop, I was playing through a Monique (is that what was used for the video) and it was really clean and clear. As an experiment, try playing that video through your bass rig, I wonder how that would sound?

 

[MMMiguelito]

Typical bedroom tone/string setting to appeal to the young kid who thinks sparkle and brightness is it. In my world, it aint. But you see it a lot in demos...treble turned way up to get a ...scooped tone that goes nowhere on stage, but yep in the bedroom its sexy. Lull instruments are very good and with dead flats they kill.

Sometimes you need Sparkle and Brightness... Sometimes you don't. Different arrows to put into the quiver.

 

[Spectre Gunner]

I have a passive Lull P4 and a J4. I wouldn't consider either one to be overly bright. If it seems bright then of course I can just turn down the tone knob a little to tame it and sounds nice and warm. The J is brighter than the P but the P has TI Jazz Flats and the J has SS rounds so I would expect the P to be warmer due to the different string types. Also, I prefer a bass to be on the bright side with the tone knob at 100%. You easily roll off the brightness with tone knob on the bass rather than the amp. I think it sounds better to roll off the highs of a bright bass rather trying to add highs by turning up the treble on the amp. Both have Fralin pickups.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Great instruments. Use the strings and EQ settings to get the amount of brightness you want.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Amen to that...What Rob, hope your well Brother...

Sounds fine here