Afternoon all.
Yesterday I drew to a close on the nearly month-long saga of waiting for my new bass, a Spector NS5-CR. Of course, the wait was to be expected, the bass came all the way from Russia!
Well, I had been looking for a Spector for some time and I was really close to buying a few along the way. As it happens, I prefer two humbuckers on my Spectors over the admittedly excellent EMG P/J setups that you usually see on four strings. I also love 5 strings but prefer 34" scale. That left me with something of a dilemma because I don't really dig 35" scale basses, which mot Spector 5 strings are. I did look at the new Spector Euro Classic series which are 34" scale with two singlecoils but they're not readily available in stores just yet.
Over the past couple of years, I had noticed a lot of really high quality basses on Reverb as being listed in Russia. These basses were often competitively priced too and often look to be in good order. I had wondered about them in the past and usually skipped over because the thought of buying from Russia was just a bit of a mental block. I had imagined that if something went wrong with the sale or the shipping of one of those basses I'd be left up the creek due to the distances involved.
Anyway, I had a serious hankering for either a Spector or a Status Graphite, both brands that I had owned in the past and ones that I was eager to get back into. I spotted this NS5-CR for sale from a Russian seller and instantly got hooked on it. The description and photographs immediately told me it as a 'good one'. I contacted the seller, we talked and he accepted a very competitive offer, which started the month long wait for shipping!
In fairness, after two to three weeks, the bass had travelled all the way from Armavir in the Black Sea region of Southwest Russia, through to Moscow and over to London. After a long wait in UK customs it was shipped over to my local Parcelforce depot as I waited for the customs letter to come through (usually you'd get a letter from Parcelforce with the customs charges to pay before they'd release the parcel to you). Days came and went with no sign of the letter. In the end, I rang up and they invited me to go to the depot to collect direct, which I did!
Thankfully, the bass was extremely well packed and arrived in good order. After a few hours sitting in my front room I opened the box up and retrieved the bass. Man, I had forgotten just how good a Spector bass can feel! The action on this baby is insanely low and the notes just fly off the board. The neck is rather slim for a Spector, more of a flat 'D' than the 'C' shape you'll find on some modern Euros. The finish is just gorgeously deep and glossy and the neck is really smooth and fast. The balance is spot on (I think these basses are an ergonomic wonder, I just love the way they sit). However, the weight is substantial! These older Euro models use solid maple wings with no weight relief. I probably find this more noticeable than many would as my main player, a Cort Rithimic Jeff Berlin model, is a real featherweight bass.
The notes just 'pop' from the EMG pickups. I can't recall which preamp is in the bass off the top of my head, I believe it is an EMG. The controls are balance/volume on the top and bass and treble on the bottom. I'm used to the Tonepump preamp (which I love), but I do prefer just having a single volume control and detents on the pots. I only played briefly through my Markbass Jeff Berlin CMD151P combo last night, direct to the amp with no effects. Man, I am in love with the deep, rich growl this thing has. It has an insane amount of note definition, I feel like I can play with both pickups active and not lose any of the definition that I get when I run the bridge solo. That's a big deal as I really love the definition and voicing of playing with a bridge pickup running solo and I often lament that most basses suffer 'tone suck' with both pickups running together.
Like many brands, the Spector name does come with a bit of 'model mystique'. I don't buy into it too much because there are fantastic instruments from the various different eras. These early Euro models are held in high regard in this fashion, being notable for their all-maple construction. They were obviously quite close to the American ideal. I would recommend though that rather than fixate on thoughts like "I need a Kramer era bass" or "I need an early Euro", just try any Spector you can getg your hands on as they all rock!
I am really into Casiopea and the playing of the fantastic Japanese bassist, Yoshihiro Naruse, so that will be mainly what I'm concentrating on playing with this!
Pics to follow when I edit them in...
Yesterday I drew to a close on the nearly month-long saga of waiting for my new bass, a Spector NS5-CR. Of course, the wait was to be expected, the bass came all the way from Russia!
Well, I had been looking for a Spector for some time and I was really close to buying a few along the way. As it happens, I prefer two humbuckers on my Spectors over the admittedly excellent EMG P/J setups that you usually see on four strings. I also love 5 strings but prefer 34" scale. That left me with something of a dilemma because I don't really dig 35" scale basses, which mot Spector 5 strings are. I did look at the new Spector Euro Classic series which are 34" scale with two singlecoils but they're not readily available in stores just yet.
Over the past couple of years, I had noticed a lot of really high quality basses on Reverb as being listed in Russia. These basses were often competitively priced too and often look to be in good order. I had wondered about them in the past and usually skipped over because the thought of buying from Russia was just a bit of a mental block. I had imagined that if something went wrong with the sale or the shipping of one of those basses I'd be left up the creek due to the distances involved.
Anyway, I had a serious hankering for either a Spector or a Status Graphite, both brands that I had owned in the past and ones that I was eager to get back into. I spotted this NS5-CR for sale from a Russian seller and instantly got hooked on it. The description and photographs immediately told me it as a 'good one'. I contacted the seller, we talked and he accepted a very competitive offer, which started the month long wait for shipping!
In fairness, after two to three weeks, the bass had travelled all the way from Armavir in the Black Sea region of Southwest Russia, through to Moscow and over to London. After a long wait in UK customs it was shipped over to my local Parcelforce depot as I waited for the customs letter to come through (usually you'd get a letter from Parcelforce with the customs charges to pay before they'd release the parcel to you). Days came and went with no sign of the letter. In the end, I rang up and they invited me to go to the depot to collect direct, which I did!
Thankfully, the bass was extremely well packed and arrived in good order. After a few hours sitting in my front room I opened the box up and retrieved the bass. Man, I had forgotten just how good a Spector bass can feel! The action on this baby is insanely low and the notes just fly off the board. The neck is rather slim for a Spector, more of a flat 'D' than the 'C' shape you'll find on some modern Euros. The finish is just gorgeously deep and glossy and the neck is really smooth and fast. The balance is spot on (I think these basses are an ergonomic wonder, I just love the way they sit). However, the weight is substantial! These older Euro models use solid maple wings with no weight relief. I probably find this more noticeable than many would as my main player, a Cort Rithimic Jeff Berlin model, is a real featherweight bass.
The notes just 'pop' from the EMG pickups. I can't recall which preamp is in the bass off the top of my head, I believe it is an EMG. The controls are balance/volume on the top and bass and treble on the bottom. I'm used to the Tonepump preamp (which I love), but I do prefer just having a single volume control and detents on the pots. I only played briefly through my Markbass Jeff Berlin CMD151P combo last night, direct to the amp with no effects. Man, I am in love with the deep, rich growl this thing has. It has an insane amount of note definition, I feel like I can play with both pickups active and not lose any of the definition that I get when I run the bridge solo. That's a big deal as I really love the definition and voicing of playing with a bridge pickup running solo and I often lament that most basses suffer 'tone suck' with both pickups running together.
Like many brands, the Spector name does come with a bit of 'model mystique'. I don't buy into it too much because there are fantastic instruments from the various different eras. These early Euro models are held in high regard in this fashion, being notable for their all-maple construction. They were obviously quite close to the American ideal. I would recommend though that rather than fixate on thoughts like "I need a Kramer era bass" or "I need an early Euro", just try any Spector you can getg your hands on as they all rock!
I am really into Casiopea and the playing of the fantastic Japanese bassist, Yoshihiro Naruse, so that will be mainly what I'm concentrating on playing with this!
Pics to follow when I edit them in...
that's a sweet looking ax --- perfect! love all of the contours, but i'm glad that it feels like a player --- congratulations on your new instrument! 
