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Lightwave SpaceBass

#21
I miss my Lightwave. Just waiting on them to put the midi capable version out soon. They sound great and are not hard to adjust at all. Better watch your technique though... They pick up every sound you make, intentional or not...
G.
 
#24
Interesting technology. Hopefully it will be as popular as the piezo is now.

I'd love to play or at least hear those basses. I don't understand why they didn't put some sound samples in their page if they are advertising something that sounds better?
 
#26
I hope it is not made by the same people that made the Sabre basses. Those were horrifyingly awful. Nasty, nasty, nasty. I'm assuming it isn't, though.

I've played an actual Tune bass with this body design when I was in Japan. It's awesome. But then most real Tune basses are awesome.
 
#28
Angus said:
I hope it is not made by the same people that made the Sabre basses. Those were horrifyingly awful. Nasty, nasty, nasty. I'm assuming it isn't, though.
Click to expand...

These Lightwave Space Basses will be completely made in the US buy pretty much only Mark Garza (doing all woodworking) and Chris Wilcox (doing the wiring and electronics). From what I understand, the Sabre and Classica were made primarily in Korea and final setup and assembly was done in the US.
 
#30
Anybody that thinks that a Lightwave will sound like a piezo STOP IT NOW. Once you get on a Lightwave you will either love it or hate it. I happen to love mine. Jack at TBC made me one (his last custom Lightwave) about 9 months ago or so. Mine is fretless and I think the pickup lends itself better to fretless than fretted. I have mine strung with TI flats with the goal of getting a killer upright tone, and I gotta say it is REALLLLLY convincing. The thing that really surprised me is that as I play around with the on board eq I can get a thunderous low end that is not at all muddy, just real thick, boomy and rich. I stumbled upon a P bass tone one day and all I could say is damn this is more versatile that I thought. I thought that I would really get into the piezo but really I barely use it.....

I really like the new Space Bass, wish they had it a year ago, but considering I paid much less than a Saber for my one of a kind TBC I don't feel bad at all....
 
#31
I'm learning to play fretless on an older Lightwave Saber 5 string and the sound of this thing is just amazing. You can blend the optical sensors with the piezo pups to taste, lots or none or any place in between, and get great tones.

Dead quiet too, since the pickups are not using magnetic fields to sense the string movement.
 
#32
Thanks for the kind words everybody! This is Chris Willcox, the founder and owner of LightWave. One comment about the piezos – we use a system similar to the Ghost, which we designed in collaboration with GraphTech, to add a bit of mid boost for those that prefer a brighter and more percussive tone for slap. But most players prefer to set the blend for pure optical.
 
#33
Chris Willcox said:
Thanks for the kind words everybody! This is Chris Willcox, the founder and owner of LightWave. One comment about the piezos – we use a system similar to the Ghost, which we designed in collaboration with GraphTech, to add a bit of mid boost for those that prefer a brighter and more percussive tone for slap. But most players prefer to set the blend for pure optical.
Click to expand...

Chris,

If it's not a trade/business secret, can you give us an idea about a midi option availability date? I'm going to NAMM in January and I'd love to test/order one.

Thanks
 
#35
95svtcobra said:
Chris,

If it's not a trade/business secret, can you give us an idea about a midi option availability date? I'm going to NAMM in January and I'd love to test/order one.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Thanks for your interest. LightWave HexFX (13-pin / individual string output) basses and guitars are planned to ship in December. We start final assembly and testing in our California facility in about three weeks. There are 4 and 5-string basses, both fretted and fretless, available, but in limited quantities. The optical pickup directly drives the output - no additional divided pickup is necessary. According to our testing and Roland's, tracking speed and accuracy, and the limitations of a MIDI string instrument, are taken to a new level.
 
#39
Chris Willcox said:
Thanks for your interest. LightWave HexFX (13-pin / individual string output) basses and guitars are planned to ship in December. We start final assembly and testing in our California facility in about three weeks. There are 4 and 5-string basses, both fretted and fretless, available, but in limited quantities. The optical pickup directly drives the output - no additional divided pickup is necessary. According to our testing and Roland's, tracking speed and accuracy, and the limitations of a MIDI string instrument, are taken to a new level.
Click to expand...

Chris, I'm guessing from the "Roland" reference it will be compatible with the Roland/axon/yamaha format....Great news!

Shipping in December! Hmm. I might have to order one and pick it up at Namm. This might mean I need to flip my Godin....

Thanks for the heads up!
 

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