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I wish fender made one...

#4
I second the carvin. Especially with the j99 pickups. I have an XB75P with the jazz neck pickup and mus. man bridge which is neck-thru and sounds great. i also have a fretless sb5000 with both j99 pickups and it kills. It is very fat and punchy. you'll get 5x the bass for the money going with a carvin.
 
#5
bmc said:
What's the advantage of neck through?
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In theory a neck through should provide better sustain, presence, tighter tone, etc. And many many decades ago probably would have been the case. But technology on bolt-on basses has gotten so good that most of this is mute. I would highly doubt anybody could actually hear the difference in a blind test (Although I'm sure a few people will jump in and swear they can! lol) between a high quality neck through vs high quality bolt on. This point it's more of a personally feel and desire.

I for one LOVE the look of a high quality neck through. The craftsmanship of the woodwork is a sight to behold. And if you want your bass to look as exquisite as the tone and price, it's a detail to consider, but again, it's personal preference. Some people love the look of a bolt on better.
 
#11
dakpluto said:
In theory a neck through should provide better sustain, presence, tighter tone, etc. And many many decades ago probably would have been the case. But technology on bolt-on basses has gotten so good that most of this is mute. I would highly doubt anybody could actually hear the difference in a blind test (Although I'm sure a few people will jump in and swear they can! lol) between a high quality neck through vs high quality bolt on. This point it's more of a personally feel and desire.

I for one LOVE the look of a high quality neck through. The craftsmanship of the woodwork is a sight to behold. And if you want your bass to look as exquisite as the tone and price, it's a detail to consider, but again, it's personal preference. Some people love the look of a bolt on better.
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First off... What you were trying to say was the point is MOOT, not mute.

Secondly, if you want to hear the difference, talk to Mike Pedulla and ask him why he is still successful selling the Thunderbolt and Thunderbass. They are literally identical in every way, except one is bolt on and one is neck through. There are differences. If you can't tell, then you are better off.
 
#13
I asked a question on here awhile back as to why my neck thru Carvin did not have the same "punch" as a bolt on Fender Jazz that I tested it against. At high volume, the neck thru didnt have that tone that you could "feel" in your gut as much as the Jazz did. Most of the answers I received pointed to the difference between neck thru and bolt on, that a bolt on construction has more gutty "oomph".

Sorry I have no idea how to describe it.
 
#14
I had a 96 Carvin LB20 and I like almost everything about it. The craftsmanship/fit and finish were top notch. It was a comfortable weight and shape and played very easily. The only gripes I had with it was the fret board edges seemed a little "sharp" to me, I don't know what the fb radius was but that may have been the problem(You have a choice of 3 different fb radiuseses(?) now. I got mine used so I didn't get a choice. The other gripe I had was that the sound was rather bland(IMHO). It had whatever single coils they were using back then. They didn't sound bad at all, very smooth, but they had no character. I've heard that the pups they are using now are better. The hardware is better(IMHO) now too. As far as the shape goes I didn't think it was weird at all. It just looked like a bass.
 
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#16
many years ago there was on Bassplayer a long and very interesting "round table" article with big names (I remember Tobias, Sadowsky and others) about various aspects of the art of building basses; about the neckthru/bolt-on issue the common opinion was that the neckthru has maybe more fundamental than the bolt-on. The bolt on in any case seems to sound more prompt and bright (or sort of). In any case there is some difference.
 
#17
Toastfuzz said:
I asked a question on here awhile back as to why my neck thru Carvin did not have the same "punch" as a bolt on Fender Jazz that I tested it against. At high volume, the neck thru didnt have that tone that you could "feel" in your gut as much as the Jazz did. Most of the answers I received pointed to the difference between neck thru and bolt on, that a bolt on construction has more gutty "oomph".
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I've heard that about neck thrus and it may be true for some, maybe even most, but I've had 3 that are exceptions. My SRX is neck thru and it has enough punch to make someone foop. My Ric had plenty of punch as did my BB2000. My LB20 didn't have much punch but I think a lot of that was the pups(just a guess).
 
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#18
Don't forget about upper fret access.

IME, the neckthru's have better upper fret access, as the neck/body joint on bolt-on's I have experienced have a larger heel where the neck bolt's on. I know some manufacturers account for this by beveling the heel, but not on most I have played or owned.

This is why I prefer my Cirrus neckthru to my Fender Pbass or G&L bolt-on's.

I personally do not sense a difference in tone, just feel.
 
#20
I have to giggle everytime I hear the talk about "sustain".

In all my years of playing bass, sustain has never been a factor. I can't remember the last time I had to hold a note out long.....usually it is at the end of a song. On guitar, yes that is important. But on bass, not in my opinion.

That said, I have owned both. I had a neck through Alembic I used for over 16 years as well as Carvin models. In fact I had a Ken Smith bolt on the same time as the Alembic. Could I tell a difference? Not really, to many other factors in the sound like the wood and electronics.

Overall though I do think bolt ons are a bit more snappier and punchier. More ideal for slap. For slap I like my Sadowsky and Fenders much more than my neck through basses.

I had a Carvin neck through fretless with jazz type pickups, that bass had a nice warm tone to it, but I could not get that "Jaco" tone out of it like I can with my Sadowsky fretless and other fretless Fenders I owned.

In this point of my life my ears are tuned more for the Fender sound, which means bolt ons for me!
 

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