So, post-practice report with the new gear, which was with the Le Bass and my new SB1 strung with Chromes.
Le Bass: SUPER warm. Like, it required me dialing back the bass and low-mids more than I've ever done on any setup ever. But once I hit the right amount, whoa. It filled out the room in a way I never have before, and I *love* warm thumping bass tone. Hot fusion ended up being way too overkill, so I swapped to always-on cold fusion with a more or less equal blend of both channels for a warm tone just on the edge of breakup.
SB1 - I freaking love empress. 3 hour practice and no stiff neck or soreness whatsoever. I also really liked the Chromes on there. Easier on my hands, and brought the clang way down (this is a good thing). I was surprised to find that everything sounded warmer than my main L2K, as I would have thought a split coil would have more of that single coil chime, but I'm guessing it's the strings that toned that down so much. I never planned on making this my main for this rock project, and I am probably still in the honeymoon phase, but it's at least tempting to maybe change out the strings on the L2Ks to Chromes and see if that helps it in the same way that it helped the SB1.
So, the only things I currently want to tweak is the action and the pickup height on the D and G side of the pickup, as those notes were sometimes a little too low in output, but otherwise it was a great practice. Thanks for everyone's input, whether direct or indirect.
Le Bass: SUPER warm. Like, it required me dialing back the bass and low-mids more than I've ever done on any setup ever. But once I hit the right amount, whoa. It filled out the room in a way I never have before, and I *love* warm thumping bass tone. Hot fusion ended up being way too overkill, so I swapped to always-on cold fusion with a more or less equal blend of both channels for a warm tone just on the edge of breakup.
SB1 - I freaking love empress. 3 hour practice and no stiff neck or soreness whatsoever. I also really liked the Chromes on there. Easier on my hands, and brought the clang way down (this is a good thing). I was surprised to find that everything sounded warmer than my main L2K, as I would have thought a split coil would have more of that single coil chime, but I'm guessing it's the strings that toned that down so much. I never planned on making this my main for this rock project, and I am probably still in the honeymoon phase, but it's at least tempting to maybe change out the strings on the L2Ks to Chromes and see if that helps it in the same way that it helped the SB1.
So, the only things I currently want to tweak is the action and the pickup height on the D and G side of the pickup, as those notes were sometimes a little too low in output, but otherwise it was a great practice. Thanks for everyone's input, whether direct or indirect.
drooldrooldrool
