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King Koa - Now With Nordy's!

#361
I've been playing my fretless pretty much exclusively for the past 3-4 weeks. I've gotten so used to the TI flats that I hated the roundwounds on King Koa when I finally picked it back up. So I put on a set of TI flats, dropped in the Delano pickups, and re-installed the Nordy preamp since I was tracking down a buzz problem. Adding some more shielding to the pickup cavities solved my noise problem, so I might go back to the Nordy pickups if I don't dig the Delanos. So far, though, I dig it all. Man, King Koa is raging right now.

I've got a Woodshed rehearsal tonight, and I'll try to capture some sounds from that...
 
#362
Be very interested in hearing how you get on with the Delanos, been considering a set for my Roscoe too.

Actually have a MM quad coil one, wired straight to the jack in a homebuilt/parts bass, and it sounds immense.

I've been trying to get one for my Gadow since January, but that's been a disaster all round.


Hugely shocking that you're using flats on a fretted bass, you feeling well?
 
#363
Darkstrike said:
Hugely shocking that you're using flats on a fretted bass, you feeling well?
Click to expand...

I know, right? LOL. There's a local player named Slash who's pretty awesome, and he swears by a P-bass, flats and mile high action (he's always saying "that's where the tone is"). I've always considered myself the polar opposite of him in my instrument preferences, but the older I get the more I head in his direction...

I was pleasantly suprised by how great King Koa sounds with the flats. There's plenty of treble there for my tastes, especially in a situation like the Woodshed where treble from me is subtly frowned upon. It might not make for the best slap tone, but I don't slap a lot. Plus I've got the Lull for that now...
 
#365
And I did briefly experiment with the Delanos and roundwounds. I think the Nordys still have a more traditional (almost single coil) tone. The Delanos aren't drastically different like the Bardens, but the Delano top end is not quite as smooth and rounded as the Nordys. The Delanos are a little beefier, I think, and King Koa always benefits from that.

Sorry I can't be more definitive. I wasn't particularly careful about doing an A/B comparison this time around. I was too focused on getting my noise problem solved...
 
#366
Darkstrike said:
And, as far as flats go, they don't get much brighter than TI's.

Never mind their super playability.
Click to expand...

Absolutely agree Bill. Only strings I had on this bass - band played older R&B and Motown. Another of those "What was I thinking!!??" moments about 50 minutes after I left it for shipment at the UPS Store.

IncaSilverJazz.jpg
 
#367
I have a set of Delano JC5 HE/S pickups that are being built and are still about 2-3 weeks from arriving. These are the single coil version which I will probably pair with a U-Retro Deluxe. I heard this combo in a Ash J bass and it sounded awesome. I want the full ability of the preamp so I will probably have to drill two switch holes. If I go with the 4 knob only version I lose the passive tone switch that extends the lows and highs in passive mode for a sweet slap passive slap tone and they just move the passive switch stacked on another control. I am really on the fence about drilling holes, especially two for very little amount of slap playing I do.

I am really curious to the sound of King Koa with the flats. I had TI's on a Ken Smith CR4 10 years ago and couldn't decide if the strings didn't sound good or just didn't sound good on a Ken Smith.
 
#374
RocketMusic said:
I wish! I've sent them who knows how many emails inquiring about becoming a dealer, but I've yet to get a single reply.

It's killing me paying retail for strings. LOL. But that's how much I like them.
Click to expand...

lol

I hear you! Those TI's are quite pricey!

I finally broke down and ordered a set for my Warmoth fretless. I just had the finger board coated with polyester (like a Pedulla Buzz bass) and thought that the TI Jazz flats might work better with the coating. I used them on one of my Roscoe fretless basses and they sounded quite good. I revisited the sound clips the other day and really liked the sound. We'll see.
 
#375
RocketMusic said:
Yep, TI Jazz Flats. The B string is phenomonal on all three of my basses!
Click to expand...

A pre-apology for derailing this thread from King Koa to TI strings again but ......

I got a set of the TI Jazz flats and installed them on my fretless. I think that I took them on and off (switching back and forth between the Da'ddario nickel RW's) 3X before I was totally sold on them. I guess that I had to gradually get use to the sound. I love the way that they feel and the sound is really nice for a variety of tunes.
I haven't installed them on my fretted basses yet but I could definitely see having them on one of the fretted Roscoe's.

Thanks for the tip Greg.
 
#376
I'll have to pay attention here. I have a new fretless coming and will have to experiment. I have always liked rounds for the "mwah" capability, but I'm guessing my fretless use will be mostly for "jazz" gigs and ballads so maybe flats would be worth a try.

I have used TI flats before and they seemed like great strings. I'm gonna play with rounds (I think Roscoe's ship with rounds) for a while and see how it goes before I start experimenting too much.
 
#377
Steve,
The TI'[s have bit more mwah than you would think. Especially on a Roscoe with a diamondwood fingerboard. I think that you'll be surprised at how good they sound on your Roscoe
 
#379
Thanks to Jeff Moote, I got the itch to try something new with King Koa this week. Last night, I yanked out the Nordy preamp and rewired the bass to run passively with Vol/Vol/Tone. I left the Nordstrand NJ5 split coil pickups in the bass, and I was VERY pleased with the results. It was the proverbial blanket taken off the speaker cabinet. The highs became brighter & crisper, and the lows became more defined.

This is pretty much exactly the tone I've been searching for these past couple years as I ran through all the various pickup and preamp combinations with this bass. All of the preamps I've tried so far (Audere, Bartolini, Demeter & Nordstrand) seemed to squash, mask and/or muddy the tone of the bass to varying degrees. Bleh!! It was frustrating, because the bass is far and away my favorite bass to play. It just hasn't sounded like I've wanted it to sound. :mad:

Fool that I am (and since I had a set of Aguilar split coil pickups here to try), I decided to do a quick pickup swap this morning and check out these Aguilar pickups. I think I prefer the Nordy's, but I figured I'd better do an A/B before I make that call. So here's a quick recording of King Koa with the Aguilar pickups in it. I'll swap back to the Nordstrands this weekend and re-record the same clip.

The bass was recorded direct through my REDDI tube DI and no external preamp.

"King Koa Passive w/ Aguilar 5J-HC" (Drums & Bass + EQ/FX/etc.)

"King Koa Passive w/ Aguilar 5J-HC" (Naked Bass Track)
 
#380
So to get it straight that clip is the Aguilars, passive with TI flats? It certainly sounds good to me in any case! I've been very happy with the 4J-HC and 4P/J-HC and your clip sounds very similar (adjusting my ears for strings, playing style, etc)

I'm becoming a really big fan of the Aguilar OBP-1 with an active/passive switch and passive tone control. That's what I've got in both of my Ag pickup equipped basses and with no boost it sounds really close to the same as passive just slightly louder and brighter since the cable run from bass-amp is buffered.

I'm interested to hear the difference the Nordstrands make with everything else the same.
 

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