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Gibson Midtown HollowBody

#21
Thanks man, I appreciate the feedback. I've read many similar things about the AMS credit procedure. I think I'll pass. FYI, Same Day Music & Sweetwater will be carrying the Midtown. I'm currently negotiating a deal with my local GC to get mine. They will be carrying the Midtown as well, but not in cherry (which is the color I want). So far they seem to be working with me on my trade, etc....
I'm GAS-ing so bad for this bass I've already bought a strap for it.



God I'm pathetic.
 
#25
Guys,

I got home from work to see the bass waiting for me at my door step. Got it inside and opened it up, there was a lot of anticipation about this meeting on my end since I placed my order in October and waited almost a month for it. Anyway, i opened up the case and was greeted by the warm smell of Volatile Organic Compounds and essence of vanilla. Not sure if it was the finish or the white plush that emits the scent, but it was very inviting. So I picked up the bass and it felt very nice and light, not too light, but a balanced weight. I didn't know what to expect since I had read a lot of reviews about how gibson just phones it in sometimes. The finish was pretty good, with the exception of some minor discoloration where the neck is inserted into the body its about 2mm wide. Not a deal breaker but it's there. The piece of wood for the top is average no figuring to speak of. The binding is real dark compared to the photos on the net. I was expecting white but got tile grout tan, I contemplated returning it as initially I thought it made the bass look cheap, considering that the guitar counterpart has a double layer binding, might be three layers. Anyway, i played it unplugged first, has a very authoritative sound and ALOT of sustain, compared to the rivoli. The cool thing about it is that if you get the strings ringing the body starts to vibrate and you can feel it. The bass is nice and flat, sometimes I want to play one of my hollows but they feel a bit bulky, like my lakland or my gretsch G6073, this one doesn't because its flat, some might not like that, but I do. It does have a hollowbody tone even though its a carved body with a center block.

Plugged it in: neck pickup, its got clarity and depth, but as u might expect no abundance of high end.
Bridge pickup was a surprise, it came raised very close to the strings, and was loud enough to be soloed, has good bass, and treble, and more than a hint of nasal mids, which as mike watt says, are good for the bassists sonic real estate in a mix.
The both together sound good, there is no phase cancellation or whatever you call it when you mix a p pickup and a j pickup. I don't dig that sound and this bass doesn't produce it.
Tomorrow I am going to take it to the practice studio and put it through its paces with my Mesa D-180 and Alessandro Basset. I will report later if I have anything to add.

One more thing, i have and hAve had many basses, but this is my first NEW bass. I have always bought second hand and can't help but wonder if I was buying basses others were discarding because they weren't the ONE or a The One. It feels like it might be the one, even the tile grout binding is starting to become a non-issue. Need to try it with flats too.

Pax!
 
#27
Thanks lowendmaestro, I ordered the sunburst, which now makes the 4th hollowbody bass in sunburst that I have. The plan was to buy all possible contenders and get rid of them after I settled on one. I think the gibson could be it. Going to wait a while before deciding. I thought about the pelham blue but I didn't like it in the photos, maybe it looks better in person. Also the bass does not have any significant head dive even with the strap button on the horn. If i keep it I might relocate it to the thunderbird position.

I did get it at AMS and they had a 12 payment plan for this when I ordered, I don't see it anymore though. I hope you enjoy yours when you get it man!
 
#28
Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I'm going through my local Guitar Center (i know, I know...) but they gave me a sweet deal on my G&L trade in. I agonized over Pelham Blue too, but decided to wait for Cherry. I couldn't go with sunburst as I already have three sunburst basses!

Glad you're happy with it man, I'm getting antsy about the wait for mine already!

I'd love to see pics of your new Midtown.
 
#29
from lowendmaestro..... And I'd like to ask Siggy the same thing....what color & from whom did you order?/QUOTE said:
I ordered mine from AMS on Thursday. The only color in stock was the sunburst, but that was the one that I wanted.

I read the previous post about a hassle with their credit procedure but I wasn't going to use their payment plan. I ordered about 8am EST and figured that I may get it on Friday if they would ship it soon enough. About noon I got a call from AMS wanting to verify my credit information. The delay meant that they didn't ship until Thursday evening. I tracked it, and it arrived at my local Fedex depot on Friday about 7pm. I called and they were closing for the weekend so I couldn't make a quick trip over and pick it up.I will get it on Monday. I kind of like the anticipation.

Waiting two days isn't a big deal. When the Allen Woody was first issued I got a really nice discount on one from E. M. Shorts but they told me that it was out of stock nationwide and I would be waiting a little while for the next shipment from Korea.
I swear they were growing the trees for my bass because I waited for over 6 months!

As far as AMS's credit checks, I can't fault them for being cautious, but I've never had a phone call from M.F. or G.C. when I placed an order but then again I've not placed an order this expensive before.

I'm just curious how good their price matching is. I know it has to be the same item, in stock and from a reputable dealer so I will be watching for %off deals for online sales for the next 45 days:)...

I'll post a review after I get it next week.

Siggy
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#30
So I played out with the bass last night. 2 guitars and a loud drummer plus the bass. I used it with a walkabout and a bagend s15D on top of a no-name 4x10. Had a good presence, I didn't get muddied up on the neck pickup alone, it was a really good rumble. Sort of reminded me of Kim Gordon's tone with Sonic Youth. The bridge pickup was suprisingly good, it was loud enough on it's own and had enough bass too. It reminded me of a rickenbacker bridge pickup. The playability on this bass is very very very nice. We played for 2 hrs. straight and my fretting had did not get tired once. The neck felt real comfortable. I think I am going to keep the bass after all. Here is a picture of my daughter holding it.
 

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#31
Pretty bass and pretty kid. There's nothing better than a 2 or 3 year old little girl all dressed up with sparkles and junk. I could watch mine dance all day and not get tired of it. Back to the bass.... Yours looks SOOOO much better than the AMS pics. I do want to see the blue one in person though. I've been looking for something traditional yet different and that just might be it.

Enjoy! (the bass too)
 
#32
Your picture fills me with equal parts envy & awe! Seriously though sir, great pic of your daughter & the bass.
Whenever mine shows up, I'll try to copy your picture just for grins. Though by the time my bass ever shows up my kid will have had another birthday by then!

Ohhhh, I just had to have the cherry, just HAD to have it! The wait date for that particular finish has now moved to mid December, Aaaarrrggghhh.

Could be worse things to be complaining about in the big picture I suppose.

I look forward to your continued reviews/revelations about the Midtown. Hell, maybe I can be the first guy to show up with a non-sunburst one?!
Keep the great feedback coming, it's much appreciated. I raise my glass to you Calexia13.
 
#33
She was delivered around 2pm. Nicely packed in two boxes

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I could smell the new bass smell that Calexia13 described emanating from the case

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Upon opening the case I was greeted with a pretty sight.

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The wood tone looks much nicer then the pictures on the Gibson site. The binding is listed as cream, but it is a little darker then that. It's darker then the binding on my 67' Coronado. I kind of like it. I think it gives a little vintage vibe.

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The 3 point bridge functions well

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Opening it up I gave it a quick once over. Finish was fine, I didn't see any blemishes in the wood. I did notice some overspray in one of the F holes. The set up was ok. The strings were a little high.
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So i loosened the strings and adjusted the bridge posts in one full turn. Strings two low so I brought the screws out 1/2 turn and the height was right where I Like it.

The bass is well balanced. There is a little more stretch to reach the tuners but not bad. The bass weighs 8-3/4 lbs on the kitchen scale.

It has nice sustain and wide tonal range. The long scale and maple finger board probably helps this a lot. It's pretty bright sounding but toggle to the neck p/up and roll off the highs on the tone pot and the big humbucker will take you back to the 60's.

What I'm not crazy about (dislike is to harsh)

The strings. I think they're nickle and blacken my fingers after a couple of minutes. No biggy, A set of DR high beams would brighten the tone and keep my fingers clean. Actually, a nice set of D'Addario Chrome flats would turn this into a blues monster.

I prefer having my p/up switch in front of the vol.& tone controls like a Ric. This is something I may change later however the toggle mounting hole is larger and would mean taking a tool to it and probably voiding my warranty :(

The thing that I do dislike is that they didn't clean up the routing around the control cavity before the finished the wood.

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It's visible with the plate installed. I know it's not a big deal, but I expected more from Gibson.

These are all very minor issues and easily corrected. I realy like this bass and think it will be a keeper for quite a while. :hyper:
 
#35
Siggy,

Nice score. Wait until you get to play the bass with a band, it's got some real power to it with the neck pickup, and the bridge pickup solo'ed reminded me of a rick, but with a bit more body.

After I saw your control cavity, I opened up mine and it had a lot of gunk in it, not as prevalent as on yours, but I agree, they should buff that out, and additionally I noticed that they just punched through the wood for the pickup wire route, the wood looks like they smashed through it and there are shards of the wood still sticking out, I suppose they figure if you can't see it it's not there.

I was going to put a set of used FL760's from Labella but I can't find them. I am going to try a set of Sadowsky flats I got last week. But I wanted something warmer. I will report later on that.

Also, I have a hipshot supertone bridge laying around. I wanted to put it on just to see how it would change the sounds. But the inserts are all the way into the body, I don't want to push down on the finish when tightening the bridge as it will probably mark the body. Maybe I will put some felt under the bridge before putting it on.

Regards,
 
#40
I also meant to point out that this is truly a chambered bass. I was concerned that the "chambers" would be just some routed voids like some guitars have, but from what I can tell the body was a solid slab of mahogany then Gibson routed out every thing but a 3" strip through the middle and a 1/2" for the side walls and back.
 

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