By the way, love my Gecko Leather Works straps!
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It's all about personal taste. It's so easy to pop the cover out and play with the settings.
But you don't have those frequencies you mentioned in the Bartolini setups that used to come with Lakland basses.
You have 250, 500, 700 and 850Hz, according to the PDF attached.
Indeed the settings via the dipswitch don’t offer 400 and 600 hence I wanted to test other options. I have wired a switch to 400 and 600. Just need to test now
NBD! I know a few TBers have owned this one. It's a 55-63 or 55-JJ (couldn't really find a clear definition between the models) in transparent white, and loaded with Sadowsky electronics. How can you go wrong....that great Lakland 5 neck, sounds fantastic in both active and passive mode, and only weighs about 8.5 lbs!
I’m curious to know how “hands on” Lakland 55-94 U.S.A. production is in a couple of areas.
For instance, do they actually cut their own neck blanks by hand or Computer? Do they make their own Bodies from wood stock? Do they Laminate th custom tops or are they outsourced? Just curious.
For instance, do they actually cut their own neck blanks by hand or Computer? Do they make their own Bodies from wood stock? Do they Laminate th custom tops or are they outsourced? Just curious.
All done in house with CNC.
Growing family, I am envious! that Buckeye AJ is something else! thanks for sharing!
Sweet. That trans white looks excellent! Very interested to hear your thoughts on the differences between the two. I’ve been thinking about a passive five string like the duel J or a 55-60 to compliment my 55-94.
Either one is versatile enough to work in most musical situations I think. Two great, but different flavors!
The 55-94 (mine is a '99 with the stock Bartolini electronics) has strong lower mids with relaxed lows and upper mids, and fairly subdued treble. The tone is pretty smooth, some might say a bit boring on it's own. But in the mix it has a fantastic supporting presence....fat and clear with no mud.
The 55-63 (with its Sadowsky pickups and preamps) sounds basically like a Sadowsky JJ bass in active mode. With the tone knob mostly up, it shines in the upper mids with lots of growl and grind if I dig in. I usually boost the bass a bit to give it a little more oomph in the mix. With the tone know rolled off about 75%, it settles down to a really nice active J sound. I was surprised by how close it gets to a "vintage J" sound in passive mode...it's another very usable sound. The Sadowskys I've played really couldn't get there in passive mode, IMO.
I owned a few 55-60s and they feel just different enough that I had a preference for the 55-94 (not that the 55-60s were bad by any means). For me, the 55-94 is about as good as it gets for ergonomics on a 5 string...Lakland really nailed it with the design.
I have a very nice custom built AV Basses P5 listed that I would be interested in trade for a 55-94.
For sale AV Basses 2024 AVP5 P Bass
Featured on Bass The World and SBL, Custom Build by Ales Vychodil
- projectapollo (+249 /0 /-0)
- Updated
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- Category: For Sale: Bass Guitars
- avp5 five string bass
$1,900.00
$1,750.00
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So tell me, does the UNI 5 make the Stingray tone more “Stingray”…ish? The UNI has some crispy settings. I find the Barts a little more mellow then a trad Alnico big pole MM pickup. Can you elaborate on the effect the UNI has given?
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Yea, Ive played with them all. I find the 500 hz to be adequate. The thing is, even fully dimed the effect is not aggresive. i find the whole bart pre to be useful but on the tame side. And oh, how a passive tone would be great to have.
Yes and no. The Bart quad coil MM pup is not in the exact ray position and it is voiced differently than an authentic Stingray pup. The Unipre being so versatile with the sweepable mids, bright switch and powerful EQ can get close, in the Stingray neighborhood, if you will.
Now on the other hand, my John East MMSR 3 band pre that I put in my SBMM SUB Ray, is hands down a huge improvement on the Stingray tone! Sweepable mids, really increase sonic range of this bass. Pull bright switch that is there if needed, and lows are very present, especially when combined Nordstrand MM PUP! Killer combo.
My 44-02 is extremely versatile with the pre pup combo. J bass tone is VERY good and passive mode is way better than expected, since I almost always use active mode. Also able to set output levels to match in passive and active so there is not a big difference when switching from passive to active mode, when active EQ levels are flat.
You can do it easily enough (says the guy who can't solder), but where to put the knob?
Good to know. Since both my 55=94’s are from 1999/2001 I know that Dan said in a Forbes article that, back in the day, the bodies were out sourced to a supplier in California and the necks were from Oregon ( he never said where that was) I would imagine that the deluxe flame maple tops were put on at the supplier where they were finished, before they were shipped out to Chicago. The necks were probably shipped as blanks to Lakland. Can anybody confirm this? If so the early Lakland’s were neck finished, carved and fretted, added electronics, hardware installed and assembled at the Lakland shop. This is a different bass than the ones made after 2005. Not that I’m complaining mine are beautifully made and exquisitely crafted. They play and sound incredible. I’m just curious how much of the process was back then.
Oh! That's where it wandered off to!
