Lace Helix basses

[bucephylus]

Long story, short: the bass went back to the shop.

One aside, the folks at the Bass Place are great cats and were very cool about the whole thing. Thumbs up to the BP.

There were three things about the Lace that were issues, two of which could have easily been addressed - bridge and plastic nut.

The deal killer was what I saw when I took the cover off of the truss rod adjust. 1/8" (or so) allen wrench. I thought we learned this lesson a long time ago. Bass neck trusses need robust adjustment capability. this was NOT robust.

Anyway, be advised.

 

[Lo end PUNCH]

No 5 string available, blah

 

[Smallequestrian]

Its here...Its light, like 6 or 7 pounds light. Don't know what kind of Mahogany they are using for the body, but its really light. Balances decently enough on the leg, should be interesting to strap on, but I think the extra body mass at the end should help a lot. Neck is somewhere between a P and a Stingray in size, not too bad there. Bridge seems fairly sturdy and adjustable, tuners are definitely on the cheaper side.

The inlay at the 12th fret is kinda neat and its done well. Neck is either unfinished or has a light satin on it. Paint job seems to be as good or maybe a little better than your average $500ish bass. Neck pocket is nice and tight. Pickup and knobs look cool. Looking forward to plugging this in later.

Here are your crappy camera phone pics:

 

[Smallequestrian]

I like the way it sounds, it plays nicely as well.

 

[lowrez]

I wrote them recently as to when they might have J pickups available. I got this reply "look for P and J Alumitones soon" I am kinda looking forward to trying these....hope they have the same interpretation of "soon" as I do

 

[bassinstincts]

How warm and deep is the sound on the single pickup model?It is the one I find most appealing, but the mid-located pickup can be a bad compromise.

 

[Smallequestrian]

How warm and deep is the sound on the single pickup model?It is the one I find most appealing, but the mid-located pickup can be a bad compromise.

Why would the mid-located pickup be a bad compromise, its worked for Precision basses 50 years? Not really sure what deep really means, but I did find the bass to be relatively warm.

 

[bassinstincts]

Not every one-pickup bass has the sonic balance of a Precision. I have owned at least one that cried out for another pup. Sounds like this one is not a problem, from my perspective. A rounder, thicker sound is what I am looking for. Thanks.

 

[Fender32]

Here are your crappy camera phone pics:

(I could try and find their website I suppose, but I'm lazy ).

My question is; What's the deal with the neck on that bass ? It looks straight !?

When the "Helix" guitar was released (some 7 or 8 years ago, IIRC) the whole selling point was the fact that the neck was actually "twisted" through something like 15 degrees, to allow you to fret with less of a bend in your wrist . That's where the model name, "Helix" came from in the first place!

Does this bass share that feature, or have they just copied the body shape from the guitar ?

 

[Smallequestrian]

Regular neck, really I think the bass was just a place too put their new bass pickups.

 

[chilliwilli]

can you give more info on the types of music you play and the various tones you can get out of it. im interested in aquiring one but cant try before i buy. Maybe you could post soundclips? im looking for a bass for hip hop sessions mainly.

 

[Fender32]

Regular neck, really I think the bass was just a place too put their new bass pickups.

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[lousybassist]

Its here...Its light, like 6 or 7 pounds light. Don't know what kind of Mahogany they are using for the body, but its really light. Balances decently enough on the leg, should be interesting to strap on, but I think the extra body mass at the end should help a lot. Neck is somewhere between a P and a Stingray in size, not too bad there. Bridge seems fairly sturdy and adjustable, tuners are definitely on the cheaper side.

The inlay at the 12th fret is kinda neat and its done well. Neck is either unfinished or has a light satin on it. Paint job seems to be as good or maybe a little better than your average $500ish bass. Neck pocket is nice and tight. Pickup and knobs look cool. Looking forward to plugging this in later.

Here are your crappy camera phone pics:

I haven't quite decided yet, but I think I may like the looks of those basses (except for the headstock, I guess), and I would really like to try one - though I don't think I'll go back to playing a long scale bass again. The Lace Helix seems like a good choice for gigs too, seeing it's so light and all.

 

[Warpticon]

I really, really like these. Naturally, there are no lefties.

 

[Smallequestrian]

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No worries, I knew exactly what you were talking about.

 

[Smallequestrian]

can you give more info on the types of music you play and the various tones you can get out of it. im interested in aquiring one but cant try before i buy. Maybe you could post soundclips? im looking for a bass for hip hop sessions mainly.

Mainly think in the realm of a Pbass. Solid, fundamental tone, not a lot of high end zing, good lows, but not thunderous. Could be used for any music that you would want to use a Pbass for.

I sent mine back, but it had nothing to do with tone. The bass weighs practically nothing, but that combined with the shape made it one of the worse balancing basses I have ever played while standing.

Funny enough, it felt great playing it while sitting *shrug*

 

[bassinstincts]

Thanks for the tip. I had ordered one a few hours earlier, but called up the retailer (whose identity will be protected) to enquire about neck dive. They admitted to never having had a Helix on a strap, but tried it and called back to confirm that the bass is very neck heavy and that, unless you play with the bass very high and tight, it is an issue. I cancelled what was an impulse purchase anyway. I suspect that I will retrofit the pups on an older passive bass when they are available. Why would Lace produce a bass that is unbalanced?

 

[Panda Licker]

That might be the coolest body shape I've seen in my 5 years of playing

god damn, I want one in bright red.

 

[rs_worthington]

Ok, I have some comments for Mike and the rest of you guys on the bass Alumnitones....
My girlfriend bought me a Lace Helix 4 string neck-thru bass with the new alumnitone pickups for my birthday earlier this month (the NEW version with the 3 knobs, not the switch).. she spotted it online and liked the way it looked and when I got it, it was a complete surprise! (God she knows what I like) Now I have had many basses, a '68 P-bass, a couple Gibsons including a T-bird, a USA deluxe P-bass, and many others through the years. I want you to know first that the Helix bass is the BEST bass Ive ever owned, bar none. The pickups are the best I've ever heard, with unbelievably more variation of tone and higher output than my active deluxe P. I compared the tone of both basses and the Helix wins hands down thru the same amp on the same settings. But, what was really surprising is while the deluxe P clipped on the input signal, leaving the amp settings the same the Helix didn't clip. AND the Helix was deeper & louder. Ok, so I liked the sound of those pickups so much that I just bought two of the new BassBars for a Warmoth project bass I'm building, a look-alike of the John Entwistle Alembic series II Explorer bass. (one of my bands is a WHO tribute band) I also plan on building another Warmoth, a "Fenderbird" look-alike that Entwistle made famous on the Quadrophenia album. I will use the same pickups on that bass too.

I think the Helix bass looks really sexy, but reading the comment in an earlier post I guess it's not for everybody, but I can tell you this bass plays and sounds like a dream. And it's so lightweight. I've played it in 3 gigs now and 6 rehearsals and there is nothing like it. I just had to tell everyone. Thanks Mike and everyone at Lace for treating me so good, they even threw in the pots with the pickups and pre-wired most of it! I couldn't be more happy with Lace. Oh....and thanks for the t-shirt! I'll wear it proudly!

 

[MIJ-VI]

This. ^ ​