Last summer I restlessly and foolishly sold off both my DJ5's to head into another direction. Well, now a couple more directional changes later and her I am again. This time I'm back in the fold with this uniquely modded 55-64. I all my years I have never owned or desired a plain old P bass. Always been a jazz guy or the occasional PJ, MM or DC option. But never straight P. But lately somethings changes and it's hard to describe but this one caught my interest and was too good to pass up. I know, I can hear the "P" purists grumbling that it's not a 'real' P what with the 35" scale, 5 strings and all, but close enough for me. It is loaded with a custom made and installed 18v Audere four band pre amp: Vol, Bass, Lo Mid, Hi Mid and Treble, passive bypass and passive tone. In reality, the pre is really almost all gravy because of the enormous added, usable, tonal possibilities it brings.
I don't see a whole lot of 55-64's advertised or discussed but reviews on the 44-64 were very good so I thought WTH, jump on in. And I'm glad I did. And, I dub thee "Knobby"
Very first impression: "WOW! What a fat neck!" I laughed because my whole life has been spent around skinny Jazz necks or narrow Spector necks so this was startling to me. I almost expected a DJ5 like profile but that it was not. But no worries, I am not thrown by such things and rather enjoy the variations. I laughed because it was such a surprise. But I know that is an intentional design feature of this era bass After playing for the last couple days I'm right at home.
Second immediate impression: "Damn, those knobs are close together!". Again, I laughed. I knew they were tight from the pics but first hands-on with the volume and my fat fingers was enlightening. no pinky swells on this bad boy!
But on to the important stuff. Bass looks great, especially at this price point. And I was surprised to find genuine USA Hipshot tunets, not the LIC versions. More importantly it plays beautifully. I'll give it my usual, real once over ASAP, but after a quick set up of adding a touch of relief and setting uniform string heights the playability is really right where I like it. Not all basses I have had can come close to that.
Then the sound. As I said from the outset, I don't know if I am a P Bass sound guy. However, the early indications are that I just might be. Hearing it in the band setting and blended into my practice set up I hear a certain 'authenticity' I've not always heard so that has me excited. And that's passive or very close to passive center settings when active. I rather dug the whole dichotomy of the simplicity of what a P bass starts out as and the space shuttle complexity of the tonal controls. And the look will generate some curiosity from anyone paying attention. Can't wait to get this out for a full night live. That will be a lot of fun for me to hear in the live, full band setting. It looks like I am on my way to really enjoying it and who knows, maybe a whole mindset change on some things.
And now to the good stuff:
I don't see a whole lot of 55-64's advertised or discussed but reviews on the 44-64 were very good so I thought WTH, jump on in. And I'm glad I did. And, I dub thee "Knobby"
Very first impression: "WOW! What a fat neck!" I laughed because my whole life has been spent around skinny Jazz necks or narrow Spector necks so this was startling to me. I almost expected a DJ5 like profile but that it was not. But no worries, I am not thrown by such things and rather enjoy the variations. I laughed because it was such a surprise. But I know that is an intentional design feature of this era bass After playing for the last couple days I'm right at home.
Second immediate impression: "Damn, those knobs are close together!". Again, I laughed. I knew they were tight from the pics but first hands-on with the volume and my fat fingers was enlightening. no pinky swells on this bad boy!
But on to the important stuff. Bass looks great, especially at this price point. And I was surprised to find genuine USA Hipshot tunets, not the LIC versions. More importantly it plays beautifully. I'll give it my usual, real once over ASAP, but after a quick set up of adding a touch of relief and setting uniform string heights the playability is really right where I like it. Not all basses I have had can come close to that.
Then the sound. As I said from the outset, I don't know if I am a P Bass sound guy. However, the early indications are that I just might be. Hearing it in the band setting and blended into my practice set up I hear a certain 'authenticity' I've not always heard so that has me excited. And that's passive or very close to passive center settings when active. I rather dug the whole dichotomy of the simplicity of what a P bass starts out as and the space shuttle complexity of the tonal controls. And the look will generate some curiosity from anyone paying attention. Can't wait to get this out for a full night live. That will be a lot of fun for me to hear in the live, full band setting. It looks like I am on my way to really enjoying it and who knows, maybe a whole mindset change on some things.
And now to the good stuff:
