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I bought a Zon Hyperbass

W

Widener

Nov 21, 2004
53
0
Aptos, CA
#1
This thing is amazing. I got it a week ago and can't put it down. I haven't even begun to play around with the bridge yet: I'm too busy learning to incorporate the extender keys in-song. Here are a few pics:

detail.jpg

Link Removed
Link Removed

Here's a very Manringesque sample, using three of the detuners (tuning: [A]B-[E]F#-G-[C#]D)

Hyperbass sample
 
#5
Ohmygoddude, that is simply amazing! THANK YOU for sharing images of that beautiful instrument with us. I'm downloading the sound sample right now. There is so much fingerboard to explore on that instrument. I don't know where I would begin. Sorry that I'm gawking... Oh crap, am I drooling?!

Joe
 
#9
urb_munki said:
What gauge strings do you us? And do you have to buy them via some specialist shop?

Great bass - will check the recording - have fun.

M
Click to expand...

The bass is really designed for piccolo strings, though you can set it up for larger. Mine is still strung with Zon stock strings, which sound great. The gauge is .50-.20, I think. I usually use D'Addario EXL280's.
 
#10
Bassist4Life said:
I just listened to the sound sample and I had to comment. Man, you can play! Nice work bro! I would love to hear more. Is that possible? You sound clip is linked to "Guerrillagrind", what is that site?

Joe
Click to expand...

Thanks! I appreciate it. I've been messing around in Manring's style since I first heard his Windham Hill stuff in the late '80s, but I'm nowhere NEAR Michael's skill or talent: I'm just trying to understand this bass through his style so I have a handle on the unusual instrument. I plan on using the Hyperbass for a strange jazz project where the instrument will shift between quarter tones and standard open tunings on the fly. It will sound...strange and...not pretty. Hehehe.

The guerrillagrind site is actually one of my bands (which I play guitar in). It's a political grindcore project called "Citizen." I have another metal band on the Relapse label, too, called "Cretin." Just fun, aggressive stuff. Nothing spectacular on bass, that's for sure.

I'm having Zon build me a VB4 now. My main bass is a Warwick Streamer Stage I six-string, and it weighs over 13 lbs. It is killing my back! My back was put through the ringer in the service, and I just can't stand for that long with such a heavy instrument. The Hyperbass weighs 11 lbs. That still gets heavy after a half an hour. I'm looking for something around 8 lbs, and I think the VB4 would be a good touring bass. Can't wait to get it.
 
#12
Sweet planning Widener! Are your strings too loose when you tune them standard EADG? I have picollo strings on my bass and the furthest that I can tune down my low E to is A, 4 whole steps down. I can't get it down any further than that without it going all rattley. Any suggestions? Also, you know if you could get the hyperbass lined? My fretless playing is pitifull.
thanks
Brian

-By the way, the recording sounded so clear? How'd you rig that up?
 
#19
bassjigga said:
Hey Widener, just curious... Does your Hyperbass have the transducers in the body and all the separate outputs like Michael's? Also, are the Xtenders std. Hipshots or did Joe have to modify them to fit?
Click to expand...

No transducers. Joe really doesn't make those for anyone. Well, he will, but he said it's a serious pain, that it took forever to get Michaels' working right. And no separate outputs, either. That pickup system was specially bought (as a single unit, I think) way back when for Mike, and Joe hasn't ordered it, or even knows if it's still available, in years. He did, however, offer to try to get it for me, though he guessed that Bartolini wouldn't make it a high priority and that the wait would significantly go up, maybe even by a year, as would the price. I would've liked to have had it, but I'm...impatient.

The Hipshots are modified. The normal sized Xtenders won't fit on the headstock together.

By the way, I've just got my Zon VB4, and I'm totally impressed. I've retired my Warwick Stage I 6-string because of back problems, and this is my new main fretted.
 

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