GOC or HILS basses?

[ClaytonCroft]

Does anyone have experience with either of these two companies?

There's a few YT reviews (for whatever that's worth) but does anyone own either of these? Clearly Strandberg knockoffs.

I'd love to explore a 5 string 37" multiscale, and have looked at Dingwall (obviously), Strandberg, Ibanez, etc…. But then I see these for under $1,000 and I'm tempted to pick one up as a practice bass.

QC? Finish? Electronics? Stay away, or worth a deeper dive?

 

[DangaDanga]

I just got the GOC and love it. It's construction was perfect out of the box. I love the neck feel and the materials used. Very solid overall. The electronics sound really good too. I like the pickups quite a bit and the preamp is a cheap off brand but it still sounds great.

 

[Naviiin]

I loved the Hils short scale, but isn't the HNB5 that you posted 35 inch for the B? Maybe take a look at a used Ibanez BTB605MS instead, I think that's the most affordable 37 incher you can get.

 

[ClaytonCroft]

I just got the GOC and love it. It's construction was perfect out of the box. I love the neck feel and the materials used. Very solid overall. The electronics sound really good too. I like the pickups quite a bit and the preamp is a cheap off brand but it still sounds great.

Worth an upgrade to a better preamp, considering the bass is $1,000?

 

[Inertialsky]

I can't comment on the Hils basses, but I've been following GOC for a long time. I have one of their 7 string guitars and I am very impressed with it.

I was VERY close to ordering one of their new basses the other day. I took some time and re-listened to every review\recording I could find of the new GOC bass. I quickly realized that I cannot find a single example of this GOC bass sounding good without loads of distortion and compression. I am not impressed with the sound of the pickups\preamp AT ALL. I would have no problem swapping out all the electronics and likely ending up with a cool bass but that's just not a project I want to take on right now. I decided to wait and see if they either A. improve the electronics, or B. I hear better examples of the bass in the hands of better players.

 

[DangaDanga]

Worth an upgrade to a better preamp, considering the bass is $1,000?

Personally I don't think it sounds bad but it's definitely an easy switch. I am changing electronics because I want a third pickup with a similar output. If it came with a third pickup I'm not sure if I'd switch the preamp right away too.

 

[Inertialsky]

It becomes a $1500-$1600+ bass really quickly once you upgrade pickups and preamp.

For me personally I have to start thinking... Would I really like this GOC better than a Warwick or Spector or?

I am curious. What do you plan on putting into it?

 

[ClaytonCroft]

It becomes a $1500-$1600+ bass really quickly once you upgrade pickups and preamp.

For me personally I have to start thinking... Would I really like this GOC better than a Warwick or Spector or?

I am curious. What do you plan on putting into it?

That's the question, isn't it? If these basses require(?) upgrades, then there's not much point. Some YT commenters think the pre's/pups sound fine, others hate them. But, if the build quality is great, maybe they could be a fun frankenbass, if the comfort and form factor is acceptable.

Headless, low weight, multiscale, low price...there's still a lot to like about these Boden-esque creatures.

 

[DangaDanga]

It becomes a $1500-$1600+ bass really quickly once you upgrade pickups and preamp.

For me personally I have to start thinking... Would I really like this GOC better than a Warwick or Spector or?

I am curious. What do you plan on putting into it?

I'm trying out nova quad coil pickups this time as I can wire three different coil switches to get p, humbucker, or reverse p options. I have a trick fish preamp I haven't used yet that I thought I could add as well.

I bought on a whim because I've been curious about their guitars and headless basses in general. After loving how it plays I decided I wanted a third pickup then went down the rabbit hole I did. I do personally think it sounds great stock though.

 

[Inertialsky]

That's the question, isn't it? If these basses require(?) upgrades, then there's not much point. Some YT commenters think the pre's/pups sound fine, others hate them. But, if the build quality is great, maybe they could be a fun frankenbass, if the comfort and form factor is acceptable.

Headless, low weight, multiscale, low price...there's still a lot to like about these Boden-esque creatures.

Form factor.. yes, Comfort.. probably, but from what I've heard these basses are not light weight. The synthetic material "micarta" they use on the necks is actually quite heavy. The GOC guitar I have is not particularly light either. I do love the way the neck feels though.

The Strandbergs are much lighter basses (and guitars) I used to have a Boden and it was a feather in comparison.

And yes it was a question, I was wondering if you had chosen parts to upgrade this bass

 

[Inertialsky]

I'm trying out nova quad coil pickups this time as I can wire three different coil switches to get p, humbucker, or reverse p options. I have a trick fish preamp I haven't used yet that I thought I could add as well.

I bought on a whim because I've been curious about their guitars and headless basses in general. After loving how it plays I decided I wanted a third pickup then went down the rabbit hole I did. I do personally think it sounds great stock though.

Those pickups look interesting. Please post your results here.

I still have yet to hear a good quality example of this bass sounding good clean. And I'm pretty sure I've listened to every review out there.

 

[DangaDanga]

Those pickups look interesting. Please post your results here.

I still have yet to hear a good quality example of this bass sounding good clean. And I'm pretty sure I've listened to every review out there.

For sure, I'm real excited for this project.

Yeah all the demos are using the parallax plugin and drop F# tuning.

 

[Anxst]

Form factor.. yes, Comfort.. probably, but from what I've heard these basses are not light weight. The synthetic material "micarta" they use on the necks is actually quite heavy. The GOC guitar I have is not particularly light either. I do love the way the neck feels though.

The Strandbergs are much lighter basses (and guitars) I used to have a Boden and it was a feather in comparison.

And yes it was a question, I was wondering if you had chosen parts to upgrade this bass

While I don't know about the GOC basses, the HILS are made from mahogany with maple/walnut 5 piece necks. I preordered an HZB4 and it won't ship for another month, so I'll report back when it arrives, but a friend got one of the guitars and it's pretty great. Very lightweight, lovely fretwork, I was amazed when he said how much he had paid for it. That's what got me to give ordering one a go. They have a 7 day trial period where you don't even pay shipping if you decide to kick it back to them.

 

[Inertialsky]

While I don't know about the GOC basses, the HILS are made from mahogany with maple/walnut 5 piece necks. I preordered an HZB4 and it won't ship for another month, so I'll report back when it arrives, but a friend got one of the guitars and it's pretty great. Very lightweight, lovely fretwork, I was amazed when he said how much he had paid for it. That's what got me to give ordering one a go. They have a 7 day trial period where you don't even pay shipping if you decide to kick it back to them.

The Hils body shape is a little unusual (cheap/generic) looking to me.

The new SOLAR headless guitar actually appeals to me a lot more than the Hils. Maybe we will see a SOLAR headless bass in the future. Ola makes pretty good stuff.

 

[Anxst]

The Hils body shape is a little unusual (cheap/generic) looking to me.

The new SOLAR headless guitar actually appeals to me a lot more than the Hils.

To each their own! To me the Hils are really fun, they look like something Johnny Silverhand's bass player would have been slinging in the old Cyberpunk 2020 books. The Solar isn't my thing.

That's why we get to have so many different companies making instruments.

 

[ga_edwards]

Bumpity bump.

Copied and pasted my initial thoughts on Basschat on the Hils HNB5 and quoted below. I've already got an Ibanez EHB1005SMS as a secondary bass that I like but don't love. It feels lovely to play, but I think I made an error getting the shorter-scale version, and those infamous pickups are not to my liking. There are a couple of other niggles with it, too.

I've contemplated spending a few hundred quid on upgrading it, but I could still end up with a bass I don't love. So I thought I'd treat myself to the Hils instead to see if it fixes the main issues I have with the Ibanez. I figured, if I like it, I'll sell the Ibanez, and if I don't, I can return it and then contemplate upgrades, or get a regular scale EHB1005 and upgrade that instead. Although I'd rather avoid this, as it'd be considerably more expensive than the Hils.

Bass arrived yesterday. I didn't have much time to play with it last night (early night in preparation for today's early radiotherapy appointment), but first impressions are good. Straight out of the box, it seemed to be set up well, perhaps too well, very little relief in the neck - almost dead flat, and pretty low action, and almost in tune!

I immediately noticed the tightness and tone of the B string, even before plugging it in - this boded well. Plugged it into my little Blackstar practice amp, switched the bass to passive mode and heard a nice full range tone without any of the mud of my EHB's Bartolini's, and more top end. Switching to active mode sounded pretty much the same, with everything set flat. The EQ centres seem well chosen - the bass knob in particular adds girth without adding subby boom.

I noticed a little buzz at the third fret and grabbed a fret rocker. There are indeed a couple of high frets low down, but I'm not totally surprised at this price point - my more expensive EHB has high frets too. But I'm hoping I can mitigate this by introducing a little more relief and setting the action to my preferences before I think about a fret level. The neck pickup looks a little low, too and needs balancing, but I also need to match the volume to my G&L JB2, my main gigging bass. But I'm going to wait until the weekend before addressing any of this, to give the bass time to acclimatise.

I haven't tried it on a strap yet, but it appears to balance well when I held it by the top strap button.

I'm not sure about the fret markers. Whilst they aren't as bad as the EHB markers, they are a little difficult to see, but that could just be my preferences.

Oh, one last thing. The tuners are a bit stiff and sticky, but I see there's a solution available by adding some small bearings

But I have to say, so far, so good. The small issues I have found so far are not surprising at this price point and straightforward enough to remedy.

 

[DangaDanga]

Those pickups look interesting. Please post your results here.

I still have yet to hear a good quality example of this bass sounding good clean. And I'm pretty sure I've listened to every review out there.

I finally got it all together last night and it's awesome. My pups and pre are miles above the stock. Just note if anyone plans on modding a goc there's very little room in the cavity. I was going to try a trick fish preamp but went with a leftover darkglass because the space. Also pot holes are really small and all had to be expanded. In the end I put in an extra grand for electronics and work done but I went overboard. If anyone wants to change the pups they're the bartolini P2 shape. While expensive Nova pickups rule.

Regardless minus mods its a really well made bass.

 

[ga_edwards]

I forgot to post an update on the Hils HNB5. So here it is.

I sent it back a week later.

Whilst I liked the sound and it played nicely once I set it up properly, I just couldn't get on with it when on a strap. It balanced well, but the top strap button is on the back of the horn, rather than on the end - I assume due to the pointy shape of the horn. Unfortunately, this puts it in line with the 15th fret, rather than the 12th, which I prefer, meaning the nut feels quite a long way to reach. I could already feel the effort required in my left arm after 20mins or so of playing.

I had a similar issue with my old Warwick Thumb that I ended up selling, as it gave me raging back and shoulder pain if I played it for any significant duration. Lesson learned, I'm not going to force myself to play something that's not comfortable, even if it sounds good.

I've since discovered the Hils have a forthcoming HZB5, a 5-string version of the HZB4. This one has a more sensibly placed strap button that should alleviate this issue somewhat. Digging into the socials, it appears to be designed for a player who had the same issues as I did with the HNB5 and EHB1005SMS.