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Low End Jazz Megathread, post pics and soundbites!!

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#724
looks like this baby is on its way to me!

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#730
A bunch of cool new LEJ/LEPs coming out at the moment. I wrote a review of my new LEJ on Ozbass. Thought I should share with you.

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Specs are -

4 string
24 fret
Chambered Walnut Body
Flame Walnut Top
Maple Neck
Ebony Board
4x Single coil pickups
Stacked Vol x2, 2 Band EQ, Active/Passive mode, Tone.

Initial Impressions -
Got this beast assembled last night and spent a couple of hours messing around with the pickup configurations and setup. The build quality is stunning. It's my 3rd LEJ but in terms of "wow" factor, this is something else. This bass is quite heavy - probably 10lbs plus. I knew it would be - walnut is a dense and heavy wood. I have a LEJ HB that would struggle to be 7lbs so I have both ends of the spectrum now. The ebony board is beautiful - notes really seem to sing off ebony and I am very happy with the walnut/ebony combination both visually and tonally. This really has little reference towards a classic jazz bass apart from shape. I wanted a boutique bass with a bunch of features that make this an entirely new animal. I certainly think I got it. Thats the greatest skill of the Lowend in my opinion. They listen to you, they ask questions and they build you what you want. Sounds simple but then apply that to a 4 pickup walnut chambered bass with a jazz neck and an ebony board and you start to respect their skills a whole lot more :)

What did I want? -
I wanted a growly, aggressive boutique bass that doesn't live in the "transparent articulation" realm that many boutique builds go for. I wanted a rock bass that growls and cuts through the mix but I wanted it to be slick and unique. I was thinking a blend between a Wal and a Pbass tonally but with a jazz feel for playability. Not much eh? :D

How does it sound?

This is a big sounding bass! It growls more than any wood config I have come across and it has a similar thickness in sound to mahogany but it seems to add in the punch and bite of ash. The ebony makes this bass more articulate. I couldn't see rosewood working well with walnut because it would have too much of that low-mid warmth. Ebony just adds a nice bunch of zap and treble to the growl. The combination is an angry sounding bass. It barks away by default and I find I have to tame it down a bit to play something traditional sounding. For rock, it is perfect at default settings. For something like jazz or pop, it would be needing some tweaks. But with 4 pickups to blend, thats not a hard feat.

Four pickups?
I'm still learning as I go with this combination but it's surprisingly subtle. I have messed around with 2 neck pickups in passive for a pbass tone - which it delivers in a growly thick sort of way, I have tried 60s and 70s placement jazz - which it delivers nicely, I have tried back two pickups for some musicman love - and it does something in that range but certainly not an exact sound. At best, I find that the front two pickups at 75% and the back two at around 50% delivers a massive, punchy rock tone that is not really like any of the above. I'll get some band time in the next couple of days to really stretch this out. It's versatility is beyond doubt.

Early summary -

If you were to take a piano, playing bass notes and run it through a heavily pushed tube amp, you would have a reasonable idea of my first impressions! This bass will fill up a mix live and I think I have to learn how to use it to it's maximum potential. Don't get me wrong, the default tones I have found are super-impressive. But there just seems to be so many things I can do with it. It's obviously a monster and thats exactly what I was hoping for. I'll report back in a week or so after I have really stretched out with it.

5 Days later -

I recorded some demos this week and just plugged in this brand new, out of the box LEJ for a fun chance to see how it comes up. Alongside my much loved LEJ hollowbody (that I have had 12 months to tweak tonally), this bass nearly became the preferred tone for my band with no tweaks, adjustments or experience playing it live. The LEJ Hollowbody is a massive sounding bass and it draws comments whenever I plug it in. I can only imagine what people will say about this new LEJ over the coming weeks. I am one happy LEJ player :)
 
#731
Man, talk about bad luck. I just got my LEJ loaded with single coils sent to me here in Baghdad and wouldn't you know that this is the Worst Environment for single coils, EVER :(
220v to 110v converters, fluorescent lighting, noisy generator electricity. Hell I live next to a place called "signal hill". You think I would have known better
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Brian is the absolute best with customer service. She is headed back for the slimbuckers :)
 
#733
engedi1 said:
I am in love! What a black beauty! Make me one of those in Sonic Blue and I am sold. Can anyone comment on the "P" tone from the dual/J? Does it get pretty close? Will Brian put in a conventional P pickup if you ask real nice?
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The P tone is great on LEP & LEPJ! I played them @ the booth @ NAMM...
I believe Brian's preference is two single coils side by side for the LEP sound...
 
#734
jzbass6 said:
Man that pink is cool, I'm interested in hearing how the mahogany & maple sound together, could you provide some feedback once you get it?
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Hey JZ,

My black 5er (the one in the classifieds) is mahogany/maple. I always get comments that it sounds like there is slight compression on the bass. It's just a very even, full tone that can be pushed in any frequency direction. If ash has the scooped mids and alder has the prominent mids, mahogany has the completely even response in the mids. The maple board seems to add a touch of brightness to this, which works well with the full sound pumping out.

Cheers,

Mat
 
#735
I do like the fully fatter P bass sound I get out of the pickups giving full coverage to the string's. Keep in mind they are the same position as a split P, but instead of only covering 2 or 3 string with each i cover all the string's with each... no arguement about regular or reverse P configuration.


Also, here is a cool Live sound file a buddy of mine sent. This is Ken Friend with Ledisi.
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added 2/14, another song Ken sent me.
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#737
engedi1 said:
Thanks for chiming in Brian. Your point makes sense. I just love that fat, throaty sound that a 70's P bass can get. If you get it better with the dual single config that is fine with me. When I can pony up the cash (come on tax return!) I will mosey on down to your shop and talk about my dream P.
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Thanks man and look forward to it.
 
#738
Heard Om5 owner, Sheldon Pugh, play last night. Sound pretty good, but could have been better. It wasn't the player, the soundman. The first acts never sound good because soundman is still trying to find everybody's sweet spot. But, Sheldon made it do what it do though.
 
#740
diglo said:
Heard Om5 owner, Sheldon Pugh, play last night. Sound pretty good, but could have been better. It wasn't the player, the soundman. The first acts never sound good because soundman is still trying to find everybody's sweet spot. But, Sheldon made it do what it do though.
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Was he playing the Om5?
 
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