Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
My 4 month old 55-94 Deluxe is a fantastic instrument - the build quality, playability, sound and the legendary feel of the USA neck really makes for a fantastic instrument. Having had many Skylines, I thought they were all great instruments as well and gave me the opportunity to experience the Lakland brand without breaking the bank - to me, the Lakland USA builds feel like a step above and special - I was on the fence for many years, especially here in Canada where the exchange rate makes the USA models price prohibitive, new or used. Luckily, the people at Lakland made it happen and gave me some breaks on shipping etc, and I was so stoked by the process and the end result, I ordered a second build a 44-64 PJ with a Buckeye top. It might be hard to justify the extra expense if you're comparing to the pricing to a great playing Skyline - if ROI is important to you, the resell value alone on a Lakland USA is impressive compared to Skylines and many others - again, it is all in the eye of beholder and what matters to you - I personally love beholding my Lakland USA and can recommend these plenty in 2026. Here's a picture of my 2nd build currently in progress, BTW I had it chambered:
Last edited:
I also cannot speak to the possible neck dive with a chambered bass. A 55-94 is a hand finished bass by the luthiers at their Chicago shop.
I imagine that they have figured out how to balance a chambered instrument. If it’s within your budget the USA basses are a step up. Examples furnished below.
You guys are gonna make me pull the trigger on this bass…
I’m thinking about maybe putting a Doug Wimbish emg I have in it and making it active. That or emg geezers.
I’m thinking about maybe putting a Doug Wimbish emg I have in it and making it active. That or emg geezers.
I’ve always liked the look of a blue burst. That’s an especially nice example. Congratulations
Beautiful!
Lots of Lakland content in Hutch's stage basses.
Got an old 44-02 with bartolini pickups and active preamp. The push/pull volume knob to turn off the active electronics is going bad in mine, anyone have any idea what kind of pot it would be using for me to order one?
This is the right size:
250K Push/Pull Volume - Best Bass Gear
250K Push/Pull Audio Taper Potentiometer, With Nut and Washer
www.bestbassgear.com
But if your cavity fits, this is better:
CTS 250K DPDT Push-Pull Potentiometer
This is the best push-pull potentiometer on the market. These aren't your standard off the shelf CTS pots either. We had them custom made to our specification to have the smoothest taper possible and the tightest tolerance available. The switch contacts are side-mounted which makes them ready...
mojotone.com
thanks much!This is the right size:
250K Push/Pull Volume - Best Bass Gear
250K Push/Pull Audio Taper Potentiometer, With Nut and Washer
But if your cavity fits, this is better:
CTS 250K DPDT Push-Pull Potentiometer
This is the best push-pull potentiometer on the market. These aren't your standard off the shelf CTS pots either. We had them custom made to our specification to have the smoothest taper possible and the tightest tolerance available. The switch contacts are side-mounted which makes them ready...
My US Custom passive Dual J is chambered, my US Custom passive 44-PJ is not.
The Dual J comes in at 3.5kg, and the PJ comes in at 3.8kg.
I would probably say that if I ordered it again, I wouldn’t bother with the chambering, as my PJ is plenty light enough, although my lower-back in 10-15 years time will probably appreciate having it haha.
That said, with an active 5 string, the chambering is probably more effective.
I don’t notice any noticeable neck dive, but again, less going on at the headstock end being a 4 string.
Si
I really dig these. Love the colors (shoreline gold is one of my favs) and like that you went passive for something different. I assume you had to discuss options directly with Lakland? The online options selector doesn't offer a lot of pickup configurations.
Yes exactly, discussed everything with them directly. I think people forget that they’re a full custom-shop (within the confines of their own body shapes of course), so will build almost any ‘variation on a Lakland theme’ in my experience.
Si
Changed up some of my rig lately, I am currently set up in a corner wall not ideal but most practical placement - have some tools at my disposal, my Trickfish amp head has a great onboard LP and HP filter, and have access to corner wall bass traps (not installed at the moment); one tweak that also helped was to try a different preamp frequency setting on the LH3 - set it to 1100 hz and it helped tame some of the boom, and without thinning out the sound. I will likely revisit when I treat the corner wall, but it gave me a chance to sneak a look at the inners of my 55-94 - such nice clean work!
Last edited:
