Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
I need a new fretless, any thoughts ???
- Thread starter LePL
- Start date
Updating this based on new information...
As of tonight's audition, evidently I do play prog metal.
With a Roscoe fretless 6.
It was a bit more than $2500...
(It was a _lot_ more than $2500 new, but I didn't buy it new.)
Cool! Hope you get on well with it. Fretless five I've enjoyed playing, fretless six seems daunting. But metal. Congrats on the audition and the bass. Have fun!
Hey guys !
Congrats on the new band, ArtechnikA ! I think prog metal is a good place to start, especially when you play fretless
As for me, it took quite some time but I finally got my hands onto a new fretless bass :
It was made by a French luthier, Michel Bracq, but I bought it used from its first owner.
It's got an alder and burled maple body, 2pc maple neck, Brazilian rosewood fingerboard, EMG 3-band electronics and two Crell splittable soapbars.
After changing the strings and adjusting the neck it plays and sounds great. I thought the rosewood fingerboard would not give me the sound I wanted but it's actually great, not the same as ebony but I like it just as well on this bass. The bridge pickup is very close to the bridge and has the very midrangy tone I was looking for in a bridge pickup, but what's great in comparison to my previous bass is how well the bridge and neck pickup blend together. I pretty much never used the neck pickup on my previous bass but now my sweet spot seems to be around 75% bridge/25% neck as it adds more punch and depth than the bridge pickup soloed and yet remains very midrangy. Also, the fact that both pickups are splittable is very handy, I usually leave the bridge pickup in dual-coil mode but switch the neck pickup to a single-coil, makes it blend better with the bridge pickup in my opinion. Finally the 3-band EQ works great, the mid control has sweepable frequency which is actually very useful, and the highs are good to add more bite to the sound without making it too bright.
As it turns out I'm very satisfied with this bass, I found it on a website selling for only 800€ which I think is a steal. My second choice would have been a Roscoe 5-string LG that also played great but wasn't set up perfectly and sold for 1200€. The difference in price really mattered to me since I can really use the extra cash to upgrade the rest of my gear and buy a new amp, for example. But I'll definitely keep Roscoe in mind if I want to get another fretless at some point.
Anyway, thanks again to everyone for all the comments and suggestions, it really helped me out in my quest for a new fretless !
Congrats on the new band, ArtechnikA ! I think prog metal is a good place to start, especially when you play fretless
As for me, it took quite some time but I finally got my hands onto a new fretless bass :
It was made by a French luthier, Michel Bracq, but I bought it used from its first owner.
It's got an alder and burled maple body, 2pc maple neck, Brazilian rosewood fingerboard, EMG 3-band electronics and two Crell splittable soapbars.
After changing the strings and adjusting the neck it plays and sounds great. I thought the rosewood fingerboard would not give me the sound I wanted but it's actually great, not the same as ebony but I like it just as well on this bass. The bridge pickup is very close to the bridge and has the very midrangy tone I was looking for in a bridge pickup, but what's great in comparison to my previous bass is how well the bridge and neck pickup blend together. I pretty much never used the neck pickup on my previous bass but now my sweet spot seems to be around 75% bridge/25% neck as it adds more punch and depth than the bridge pickup soloed and yet remains very midrangy. Also, the fact that both pickups are splittable is very handy, I usually leave the bridge pickup in dual-coil mode but switch the neck pickup to a single-coil, makes it blend better with the bridge pickup in my opinion. Finally the 3-band EQ works great, the mid control has sweepable frequency which is actually very useful, and the highs are good to add more bite to the sound without making it too bright.
As it turns out I'm very satisfied with this bass, I found it on a website selling for only 800€ which I think is a steal. My second choice would have been a Roscoe 5-string LG that also played great but wasn't set up perfectly and sold for 1200€. The difference in price really mattered to me since I can really use the extra cash to upgrade the rest of my gear and buy a new amp, for example. But I'll definitely keep Roscoe in mind if I want to get another fretless at some point.
Anyway, thanks again to everyone for all the comments and suggestions, it really helped me out in my quest for a new fretless !
Thanks. I think a band is a ball of drama in search of music... These guys are having trouble getting their act together - one practice in 3 months. They're a vocal-fronted group with no vocalist. The music is interesting and I'm still working on it because - I've gotta play something... But I am growing skeptical that they're going anywhere...
That's very nice. Happy for you.
I'd start out looking for a Stingray or a G&L. But for $2500, there are a lot of options, particularly if you look for a used bass. I'd pay attention to Lakland and Roscoe.
