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Genz Benz Streamliner-Pt 2

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since this thread seems willing to accommodate a mild derail... in all the pictures of the Nordy Precisions you guys posted, they mostly have those funky pole-pieced pickups... what do those sound like compared to a normal P pickup?

I've only tried them on my Valenti but that bass has an absolutely authentic P tone.

The pole pieces are angled like on the Nordy Big Singles and for the same reasons.
 
I've only tried them on my Valenti but that bass has an absolutely authentic P tone.

The pole pieces are angled like on the Nordy Big Singles and for the same reasons.

Ah... just checked the Nordy website too. I didn't realize that was their standard Precision pickup just in a 5 string configuration, guess I thought the angled polepieces made it a different model. In that case I know exactly how it'll sound... I've got an NP4 in one of my P copies and love it.
 
The Nordy 5-string P is one smoking pickup! 1st off, it's size is exactly that of a 4-string P-bass, yet it accommodates 5 strings even with a 19mm spacing. This makes it easy to retrofit into a 5-string that didn't originally have a split-coil pickup.

The sound? Pure vintage P-bass. It pops like it's supposed to, it's open-sounding like it's supposed to be, it doesn't sound "modern" with the accompanying high-end sizzle, the low end is clear and deep, with a growl better than any Fender I've ever had. For what i do and the way I play, it sounds like Mars Cowling's P-bass on the Pat Travers early stuff. It also sounds like the 70's funk stuff, if that's what you want. Classic P-bass in a 5-string, all the way

The NP5 is the 3rd or 4th pickup I've had in the neck position on that bass (including J-bass and soapbars) and it made the bass sound like a million bucks. The bass itself only cost me $99; the pickup $120. I find that kind of arithmetic compelling. :-)

I also added a Nordstrand J in the bridge position, and there's nothing like that combo.
 
I find the nordy P5 to be somewhat mid scooped.. As compared to an actual P pickup. Or the Duncan P5 pickup...
I did some of the early testing for sadowsky when he was thinking of changing from the Duncan P5 to the nordys on his 5 string basses.
.There is nothing wrong with the Nord P5 just different in the way it responds.. I find it has less growl than other styles of P5 pickups on the market..
I used the nord p5 in my sadowsky PJ5 for a year or two.. Engineers would tell me to use my other bass during that time... One engineer that i work with alot said to "leave the red bass on the stand"..... I changed it back to the original Dincan P5 and now they like it again. That Sadowsky bass in it current config has gotten me alot of work... So im leaving it as is. All original with the Duncan P5..
I wold not really say the Nord P5 is vintage sounding..At least the versions that i have played.. And i had 3 different ones... The one i settled on for so long was closest to a vintage one and I think what Roger is currently using in his basses... with much success... But i feel it has a modern attack to it...which may be explained by the wider 45 degree pole angle.. similar but not the same as what the Duncan 1/4 pounder does.. Its good.. just different in its own way
 
I heard similar reports, Kirk. Many say the Nordy sounds better in a solo test, but that in the mix a more vintage pickup like the Duncan has more punch and presence because of the higher mids. I've never heard the NP5, so I decided to give it a shot in my new bass and find out. If I don't like it, it'll come out really quickly and be replaced with either the new Lakland vintage pickup which so many are raving about. The nice thing about a P bass is that pickup swaps are usually very easy.
 
Yeah, I view this P bass diversion as just something to occupy us until those Streamliner's start shipping. But hey, you can't talk about a brand new tube-licious head and not talk about P basses, right?
 
To talk about Streamliner again. I found I liked the sound of the VT pedal in front of my LMIII, would the Streamliner give me a better version of that without pedals? Just wondering.
 
Back to a streamliner question:

I asked earlier about if the streamliner will have the foot switch channel/tone options of my GBE600. (Answer: No, you want a MAX series amp for that.)
But now I realize this may not be the right question.

to reference this old post of mine:
What kind of "touch response" can I get with the streamliner ?Specifically, how well it achieves this behavior:
I play light it sounds clean and smooth
I dig in and it sounds dirty and distorted but not significantly louder

Kinda my current holy grail...I would love to ditch the pedals and have more tone options in my fingers.
 
To talk about Streamliner again. I found I liked the sound of the VT pedal in front of my LMIII, would the Streamliner give me a better version of that without pedals? Just wondering.
We'll have to wait and see. The VT is an SVT emulator with speaker simulation built into it. It's really an analog modeler that is meant to sound like something entirely different. That's not really the direction or goal of the Streamliner it seems.
 
Back to a streamliner question:

I asked earlier about if the streamliner will have the foot switch channel/tone options of my GBE600. (Answer: No, you want a MAX series amp for that.)
But now I realize this may not be the right question.

to reference this old post of mine:
What kind of "touch response" can I get with the streamliner ?Specifically, how well it achieves this behavior:
I play light it sounds clean and smooth
I dig in and it sounds dirty and distorted but not significantly louder

Kinda my current holy grail...I would love to ditch the pedals and have more tone options in my fingers.

The front end of the amp is very touch dynamic. You can set the tube gain to grit up when you dig in and clean up when you play lightly.

Keep in mind though, that it won't do this as well as output tube dynamics will. Preamp tube distortion won't have as much "swing".....if that makes sense.
 
I read through most of the thread and didn't see it, so not sure if I overlooked it. Does anyone know if there's any chance this head can handle 2.67 ohms (i.e.: three 8 ohm cabs) without getting really angry?

If this gets as close to the Walkabout tone that a lot of us are all hoping but can't handle below 4 ohms, I think that's one area the WB still has a leg up. Personally, I'd rather run 3 cabs with the WB than just 2 with the higher power of the Streamliner. Just pure speculation, but I think you'd hear a bigger sonic difference (loudness, projection, etc.) with those 3 cabs versus the wattage gain of the Genz. Thoughts?
 
I admittedly had only a brief spin with the amp, but I don't think it is the same as the VT. While the VT has some fairly radical swings in tone possible, it frankly doesn't have much difference in playing feel (at least to my fingers). I found the S900 to be more touch responsive.

As to whether you can cop the voicing of the VT with the S900 - have to wait and see and spend more time with it.
 
Well... the Streamliner has real tubez, not those "solid-state tubez" that are used in the VT Bass. FWIW, I've found my SVP-PRO, which has five real tubez, sounds more "tubey", "girthy", and organic than the VT Bass. I think that VT Bass sounds good for what it is... just not quite up to a good tube design.
 
Sorry for not being in tune with the entirely of this thread but I'm wondering if an actual release date has been set for the 900? I did search on the term "release" for the thread itself and got what seemed to be conflicting info.

Something which said ...

yes....NAMM release.

and another which stated...

April 1 release date...:hiding:

But yet these statements still seemed to be somewhat cryptic in nature.

Sorry if everyone else already understands those things in context but of course my real question here is still... are actual release dates yet known on the Streamline units?

Thanks for any real clues about this. :D
 
I find the nordy P5 to be somewhat mid scooped.. As compared to an actual P pickup. Or the Duncan P5 pickup...
I did some of the early testing for sadowsky when he was thinking of changing from the Duncan P5 to the nordys on his 5 string basses.
.There is nothing wrong with the Nord P5 just different in the way it responds.. I find it has less growl than other styles of P5 pickups on the market..
I used the nord p5 in my sadowsky PJ5 for a year or two.. Engineers would tell me to use my other bass during that time... One engineer that i work with alot said to "leave the red bass on the stand"..... I changed it back to the original Dincan P5 and now they like it again. That Sadowsky bass in it current config has gotten me alot of work... So im leaving it as is. All original with the Duncan P5..
I wold not really say the Nord P5 is vintage sounding..At least the versions that i have played.. And i had 3 different ones... The one i settled on for so long was closest to a vintage one and I think what Roger is currently using in his basses... with much success... But i feel it has a modern attack to it...which may be explained by the wider 45 degree pole angle.. similar but not the same as what the Duncan 1/4 pounder does.. Its good.. just different in its own way

I find this interesting. A while back, I had Carey work on my 1960 P bass. While it was at the shop we compared it to his P basses. I (we) were astonished at how similar they sounded. I couldn't get over how authentic the Nordy P's sounded next to mine.
 
The driver tubes in an SVT 3 Pro (V4 12ax7 V5 12au7) are able to make that amp have tons of give to it. One of the main features I liked about that amp. Unfortunately Ampeg would not let you capture that sound in any other way than from the powersection. Run a preamp out to another poweramp and you loose the driver tubes and the give. Over excursed a 10" in a Mesa 4x10 because of it.

Me thinks hasbeen is being conservative about the give of the Streamliner. If it is more gooey than the Shuttle 9.0, well then OMG. :eek::hyper:

Streamliner 900
Party!!!
 
My Nord Powered P5 sounds very genuine next to my '72...but, they're both ash/maple, with new rounds, and pretty aggressive. Very different from the alder/rw Jamerson on flats kinda thing.
 
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