ICON 6 - pix - quasi review

[Marcus]

That was a fascinating review - excellent playing as well.

I agree with your points on the both the bridge, and the need for different electronics.

I have gone through a BB70P, BB75, and an LB75, all of which I sold as a result of my lack of taste for their sound. I've kept my fretless LB70 because I had the board epoxy'd. I still wasn't too pleased, so I swapped the pickups for Nordstrands. It was in the H/S configuration with a Piezo and now it sings.

So... If you dig the feel, you may want to invest in better pickups.

 

[jeff schmidt]

thanks for the kind words everyone. I'm really glad you find the info is useful.

off topic: what strings did you use to restring/where did you get them?

It's a hybrid set. D'Addario - .75, .52, .42, .32, (laBella) .22 &.16

Jeff, what do you think of Benavente?

Never played one. Actually- I might have a few years ago - but I don't remember.

Does piccolo mean your lowest string is on the bottom?

No - that's what being Jeff Schmidt means.

Piccolo strings are higher gauge than normal bass - up to an octave and a 4th higher.

 

[bobbykokinos]

Just curious.. Being a 6 string player myself, are you seeing more possibilities already with the short amount of time you have the 6 so far?? Or too early to tell?

Its a beautiful "looking" bass.. Its hard to make a judgement online of the sound. But, it seems as if the bass might have some quirks that would become annoyances (from what I can tell from your youtube review). Like the bridge issue.. And the coil switch.. The tone that it gave when you flipped the switch was annoying and almost unusable (atleast in my opinion).. Even though $1800 isnt top dollar in the bass world, for a "custom" bass you would think accomidations would be made for atleast a bridge of your choice and a more usable sound out of the coil switch.

Again, I'm basing this all off of the youtube review, but I hope my assumptions are close to right.. I'd been curious about Carvin Icon 6's and this helped answer several questions. Think I'll be keeping my Modulus Q6 for a while.

 

[metalbob]

Excellent vid review loved the wanking at the end as well very motivating as I plunk a way......

 

[IotaNet]

Invalid Link Removed

 

[DrGroovenstein]

Hahah I was just kidding around, all that tappin' going on But since I am afraid now people won't take it as a joke, I'm deleting my post.

 

[jeff schmidt]

Just curious.. Being a 6 string player myself, are you seeing more possibilities already with the short amount of time you have the 6 so far?? Or too early to tell?

Absolutely. I won't ditch the 5ers (i've written too many pieces on them) but I certainly hear lots of new ideas already with the 6er - the little wank-fest at the end is totally made up on the spot. But I like the possibilities.

Its hard to make a judgement online of the sound.

Yeah - I know it's tough.

And the coil switch.. The tone that it gave when you flipped the switch was annoying and almost unusable (atleast in my opinion)

I'm pretty sure they're out of phase.

 

[DrGroovenstein]

I'm pretty sure they're out of phase.

Having to do with the hand wiring??

 

[jeff schmidt]

Hahah I was just kidding around, all that tappin' going on But since I am afraid now people won't take it as a joke, I'm deleting my post.

I didn't take it personally - no worries from me.

 

[jeff schmidt]

Having to do with the hand wiring??

hmmmm . . . .where's a chin scratching smiley when I need one?

 

[BassikLee]

Great review. Your playing doesn't suck either! As far as I am aware, not that I have never been wrong, but the Icon picups are not dual/single switchable. I'd bet that swith is just a "phase" switch, which is actually a polarity switch. Seems like it it wired to the neck pickup, as it seems to cut out for just a wee bit when switching while panned to the neck pickup. As for the pan, I thought Mike Tobias was the one who started the whole "backwards" thing with those way back when. As I recall, the logic is that it functions more like a tone control would, full open is brighter, which means bridge pickup, while rolled off is darker, which would be the neck pickup, sorta. As for the piezo/mag pan, it seems logical to me to have that one function as it does, even with the mag pan "backwards".

You think you'll keep the bass??

Lee

 

[steve21]

No - that's what being Jeff Schmidt means.

Ah, interesting.

Purty cool d00d

 

[DrGroovenstein]

hmmmm . . . .where's a chin scratching smiley when I need one?

Well, I wonder if that is normal operation or not. Maybe what we are hearing is their intension? You'd think something like that would caught in QC, especially since it spent quite a bit of time in there from what I remember.

 

[jeff schmidt]

Great review. Your playing doesn't suck either! As far as I am aware, not that I have never been wrong, but the Icon picups are not dual/single switchable. I'd bet that swith is just a "phase" switch, which is actually a polarity switch. Seems like it it wired to the neck pickup, as it seems to cut out for just a wee bit when switching while panned to the neck pickup.

Yeah - I hear it as a phase issue - but the documentation doesn't say anything about a "phase" or "polarity" switch - on the basses - only a coil splitter. The only reference to a phase switch is on the "guitar" docs.

As for the pan, I thought Mike Tobias was the one who started the whole "backwards" thing with those way back when.

Maybe - but my 535 isn't wired that way. Pan towards the neck pans the neck pick-up - pan towards the bridge pans the bridge pick-up.

 

[Peter Squire]

mmmm...lefty....

 

[steve21]

As for the pan, I thought Mike Tobias was the one who started the whole "backwards" thing with those way back when. As I recall, the logic is that it functions more like a tone control would, full open is brighter, which means bridge pickup, while rolled off is darker, which would be the neck pickup, sorta.

I'm pretty sure it was Roger Sadowsky who did that.

 

[CrUiSeR]

mmm pie

 

[Frank Martin]

Pan towards the neck pans the neck pick-up - pan towards the bridge pans the bridge pick-up.

That's what my basses have, too.

Nice review
Great video - newver thought piezo would have such a big effect... it got me thinking how I could retrofit my basses with them
Last but not least - awesome playing. Quite inspiring.
Thanks

 

[Alistair R]

Sweet bass, great vid.

Man you can play!

 

[DWBass]

Firstly, I didn't realize those Icon's looked that good! That's a beautiful bass. I'm G.A.S.'ing for one now! Secondly, I thought Piccolo basses required a shorter scale neck and not a full sized one? Maybe I'm misinformed!