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EBMM reflex & 25th Anniversary Club

#381
It's mint now it is between that or a Fender Custom Shop 60's hot Rod precision bass for 1,400 which is a great deal for a custom shop and it has its certification and case candy tweed case. I missed out on buying a 1973 Fender P bass all original except for case for 899. that is not a typo I found on G Bass and he sold it 2 hours before i called and sold it within 30 min of the listing. On top of going with the music Man or Fender Custom Shop i just bought the earliest model rudy Sarzo Peavey with case it's black instead of red
 
#382
#385
Daniel Piper said:
Alright, so she's been discontinued. It would be interesting to dissect why it wasn't as popular as it seemed it should have been.
Click to expand...

(1) Ergonomics
  • strap button at 15th fret vs 12th. more of a reach to lower register - which probably explains why i'll sometimes get some left shoulder soreness towards the end of a gig.
  • bass hangs differently from a strap, which requires a (brief) re-orientation of fret positions. on my other basses, i can count on the 12th fret being right below my armpit. on the Reflex, the 12th fret is more to the outside of my shoulder. not that i play blind-folded, but there's a bit of 'recalibration' involved. if the Reflex was all I played, it wouldn't be an adjustment.
  • some have claimed neck dive, particularly on the 5ers. mine is a 4HH and balances well, and not all 5s dive, either, but there have been some comments about such.
(2) Binding
  • while aesthetically pleasing, the binding creates a harsh edge to the body, which can dig into the forearm if rested upon the bass. not really an issue to me since i don't keep my forearm totally leaning on the top of the bass. contrast this with a Bongo (or many others)- nice rounded & carved profile.
(3) Weight - i never weighed mine, but it's no lightweight. probably heavier, on average, than a Stingray or Bongo.

(4) "Complexity" of buttons - I like the pickup selectors & the 4-band EQ, so not really an issue to me
  • the only thing that will occasionally confuse me is I'll forget which rearward button is series/parallel & which is active/passive. a quick push of a button and turn of the bass EQ knob settles that in short order, though, LOL!
(5) Subdued tones - there are lots of (useable) tones available, but they all seem on the sedate side.
  • Bridge pickup in series doesn't really cop a Sterling tone; bridge pickup in parallel, Stingray where are you? they may be there, but I haven't found them yet.
LOL! having written all that, mine has one of the best necks I've ever played. I've probably gigged it more than any of my other basses since I got it 3 or so years ago (which up until a few months ago was an average of 1 a month so it's really not saying much). It seems like mine is always on the bubble regarding flipping it for another G.A.S. attack, but it's hung in there so far! Every time its turn comes up in the rotation - like a few days ago - I think to myself, I can't get rid of it. I just have to continue experimenting with the pickups & EQ to coax out some more tones, I guess. And perhaps sacrifice something else to grab that fretless Stingray!
 
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#387
Time to resurrect this thread :) In January of 2015 I ordered a Reflex 4HH, got her at the end of July. Here she is, number please!

i-QdpnhXw.jpg
 
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#390
Just chiming in. I have recently strung my 25th anni. Stingray With Sadowsky blue SS strings (light gauge) and it sounds so good I'm giving my Sadowskys the much deserved holidays this past week.:D

I have tried so far;
EBMM Slinkys,
Chrome Flats,
DR Hibeams,
DR Fatbeams...

After trying DR's I was worried about the tension and feel of Sadowsky Blues but they turned out to be a great much. I find the tone to be crisp modern without being too brittle or dry (for the lack of better term). The bass definitely has more snap now than when strung with other ss rounds.

I am getting much better definition playing strumming type of techniques as well.

What is everyone using string wise on these beauties?

image.jpeg
 
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#393
I'm wondering if anybody has the PDF of the Reflex / 25th HSS controls diagram stored away on their PC? EBMM used to have them available in an archive. I can't find them. I recently bought a Reflex PDN HSS and would like to have the diagram for it. The layout is pretty intuitive, but I'm wondering if the pickup selectors also invoke series / parallel with certain combinations? All 'up' would normally be all off but it isn't so something else is at play. Any help is appreciated.
 
#394
BobKos said:
I'm wondering if anybody has the PDF of the Reflex / 25th HSS controls diagram stored away on their PC? EBMM used to have them available in an archive. I can't find them. I recently bought a Reflex PDN HSS and would like to have the diagram for it. The layout is pretty intuitive, but I'm wondering if the pickup selectors also invoke series / parallel with certain combinations? All 'up' would normally be all off but it isn't so something else is at play. Any help is appreciated.
Click to expand...

From what I remember, the only one that you can alternate between Series and Parallel is the bridge humbucker, and that is when it is soloed. With the other two pickups off (button up), and this pickup button down, it is in Parallel mode. If the button is up (to where you would think all pickups are "off"), then the bridge pickup is in Series mode. Any time this pickup is in use with one of the other pickups, it is parallel mode. If you depress it with another pickup active, it is switched off rather than going to series mode like when it is soloed.

I hope this helps! Great instrument. I have the 25th Anniversary HSS, and it is such a cool bass with tons of tonal possibilities.

~Micah
 
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#395
bassmanmicah said:
From what I remember, the only one that you can alternate between Series and Parallel is the bridge humbucker, and that is when it is soloed. With the other two pickups off (button up), and this pickup button down, it is in Parallel mode. If the button is up (to where you would think all pickups are "off"), then the bridge pickup is in Series mode. Any time this pickup is in use with one of the other pickups, it is parallel mode. If you depress it with another pickup active, it is switched off rather than going to series mode like when it is soloed.

I hope this helps! Great instrument. I have the 25th Anniversary HSS, and it is such a cool bass with tons of tonal possibilities.

~Micah
Click to expand...

Yup. I don't have the PDF, but I have a Reflex HSS.
All buttons up is bridge humbucker in series alone.
If you select the bridge humbucker, alone or combined with other pups, it switches to parallel.

The four band eq has these center frequencies (or so I have been told):
bass: 40hz
low-mid: 400hz
high-mid: 2.6Khz
Treble: 6.3Khz
 
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#398
blastoff99 said:
#3 has gone to a new home. I moved to another city, but #3 stayed behind. Congrats to the new owner - went to a good home for sure!
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Welp. Nope. She unwound the deal... it was a barter/cash thing, and I guess she decided she didn't want it badly enough to pay me the actual money she now owes me. #3 is not yet back in my hands (I'll go up there in a week) and I darn hope it's in the same condition that it was when I last saw it. I'm pretty perturbed about this, but there's nothing I can do except get the bass back and hope it's ok.


BobKos said:
I'm wondering if anybody has the PDF of the Reflex / 25th HSS controls diagram stored away on their PC? EBMM used to have them available in an archive. I can't find them. I recently bought a Reflex PDN HSS and would like to have the diagram for it. The layout is pretty intuitive, but I'm wondering if the pickup selectors also invoke series / parallel with certain combinations? All 'up' would normally be all off but it isn't so something else is at play. Any help is appreciated.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure I have this, so if you still need it, PM me.
 
#400
I am drooling at the door of this group.
I missed out buying a Vintage Gold Reflex 5 many months ago and have been searching for a Reflex ever since.
I'd really like a Gold 'H' 4 string with a mah. fretboard, but I am flex on color and pickup config to some degree - not a fan of the red quilt on the 25th anniversary unfortunately.
Should I join this group?
Thanks,
David.
 

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