NBD: Hofner Ignition Club LTD

[superheavyfunk]

Wasn't there a second on with the traditional pickup lineup?

If there was, i didn't see it and google images is no help.

 

[BurnOut]

If there was, i didn't see it and google images is no help.

Think it's buried deep in last year's NAMM pics post.

 

[superheavyfunk]

Think it's buried deep in last year's NAMM pics post.

Let us know if you can find it. I just did another search using the boolean thing and couldn't find anything paisley but Fenders, Gibsons, and the Hofner I already posted.

 

[ZenGuitarist]

Congrats on your new bass! I remember seeing that model on sale at MF and regret not jumping on it at the time. It's still discounted, but at a higher price than before. I'll probably wait to see if it goes lower again.

 

[BurnOut]

Let us know if you can find it. I just did another search using the boolean thing and couldn't find anything paisley but Fenders, Gibsons, and the Hofner I already posted.

Let us know if you can find it. I just did another search using the boolean thing and couldn't find anything paisley but Fenders, Gibsons, and the Hofner I already posted.

You're right, just searched the NAMM pics and the only paisley is the one you posted. I never knew there was a Club Bass till I saw the Namm pics. I remember looking em up after, I like the look of the traditional. Must of created my own fantasy bass in my head.

 

[b-b-b-bass]

A bit off topic, but here is a self indulgent pic of my Club rig...

 

[mongo2]

A bit off topic, but here is a self indulgent pic of my Club rig...
View attachment 2865893

Are those Fender Rumble 25 amps? How do you hook them up?

 

[b-b-b-bass]

The Zoom B1on has a stereo out. I run a short stereo cable into a small passive splitter box I made. The splitter is just 3 stereo jacks, one stereo input jack wired to two stereo output jacks in parallel. Out of each stereo output jack, I run a short stereo-to-left-and-right-mono cable with right-angle connectors to the inputs of the Rumbles. Some of the effects in the B1on are stereo, so it all works out very cool.

If you are unfamiliar with the Zoom B1on, it is a $50 multi effects pedal with built in drum machine and looper.
It has compressors, eq, octave, distortion, amp sims, etc... very nice.

 

[Joe Nerve]

MF has the Hofner Ignition Club in purple/pink sparkle right now for $279 with 15% off on top! I ordered one last night.

I got a black one as my favorite piece of 2017 gear, at full retail price of $379, so I could not pass up another Club at $237!

First... I assume you know I was kidding in my PM earlier. Just in case - I was kidding .

But now, I like to consider myself one of the slickest MF ordering MoFos around - but one thing I've never been able to get them to do is drop 15% off of an already discounted item. And believe me when I tell you I tried HARD, with multiple calls, telling them how I endorse them here , yada, yada, bla, bla, bla. So I just ordered this time without any begging and dropped the $249. Then I saw your post.

How did you do that? Did they follow through with that price? I'm tempted to get on the phone with them again, but wondering if it's even worth it. The 8% I'll get back in backstage pass money will make it come out to just a few bucks.

Anyhow - please tell me what you did. Typing in PARTY18 was not the ticket, nor was chat (my chat wouldn't go through). Should I even be bothering?

And thanks again for the PSA . I'm psyched for this bass!

 

[b-b-b-bass]

First... I assume you know I was kidding in my PM earlier. Just in case - I was kidding .

But now, I like to consider myself one of the slickest MF ordering MoFos around - but one thing I've never been able to get them to do is drop 15% off of an already discounted item. And believe me when I tell you I tried HARD, with multiple calls, telling them how I endorse them here , yada, yada, bla, bla, bla. So I just ordered this time without any begging and dropped the $249. Then I saw your post.

How did you do that? Did they follow through with that price? I'm tempted to get on the phone with them again, but wondering if it's even worth it. The 8% I'll get back in backstage pass money will make it come out to just a few bucks.

Anyhow - please tell me what you did. Typing in PARTY18 was not the ticket, nor was chat (my chat wouldn't go through). Should I even be bothering?

And thanks again for the PSA . I'm psyched for this bass!

I have noticed that I get different price offers from MF depending on how I hit their site. If I type in the MFs URL, vs searching 'Hofner Club' via google, vs my phone vs my laptop, vs a work computer. You have to realize that you are being tracked and profiled, and if they have your buying habits/interests figured out, then they will try to extract as much money from you as they can. If you are anonymous, then it's a different game.

 

[Oddly]

I have noticed that I get different price offers from MF depending on how I hit their site. If I type in the MFs URL, vs searching 'Hofner Club' via google, vs my phone vs my laptop, vs a work computer. You have to realize that you are being tracked and profiled, and if they have your buying habits/interests figured out, then they will try to extract as much money from you as they can. If you are anonymous, then it's a different game.

This is scarily true.
Big Brother Inc. is indeed watching.

 

[mongo2]

The Zoom B1on has a stereo out. I run a short stereo cable into a small passive splitter box I made. The splitter is just 3 stereo jacks, one stereo input jack wired to two stereo output jacks in parallel. Out of each stereo output jack, I run a short stereo-to-left-and-right-mono cable with right-angle connectors to the inputs of the Rumbles. Some of the effects in the B1on are stereo, so it all works out very cool.

If you are unfamiliar with the Zoom B1on, it is a $50 multi effects pedal with built in drum machine and looper.
It has compressors, eq, octave, distortion, amp sims, etc... very nice.

Very clever, makes for a nice easy to transport scalable rig.

 

[b-b-b-bass]

Very clever, makes for a nice easy to transport scalable rig.

Thanks. The 4 Rumble 25s together have about the same speaker area as a 2x12, and 100 watts of power... for $396 retail.
An Ampeg 100 watt V4B head is $1299 and a SVT 212AV cab is $699, almost $2000 total. Similar power and speaker area!

Unfair comparison??? That little $50 Zoom unit can make the 4x8 Rumble setup sound many ways, even approaching Ampeg territory.
And as you noted, it is extremely modular, scaleable, and easily transported. It sounds massive. This setup works on gigs for me. It looks great too. I may add another two Rumble 25s for the option of a 6x8 rig! That would be the perfect height.

 

[Joe Nerve]

I have noticed that I get different price offers from MF depending on how I hit their site. If I type in the MFs URL, vs searching 'Hofner Club' via google, vs my phone vs my laptop, vs a work computer. You have to realize that you are being tracked and profiled, and if they have your buying habits/interests figured out, then they will try to extract as much money from you as they can. If you are anonymous, then it's a different game.

My wife and I just booked a trip on Travelocity. That was a trip in itself.

We found great deals, and as we were searching the prices started going up. Before they got ridiculous we decided we were going to book, and went to choose flights. A destination 5 hours away only had 20+ hour flights. It was laughable. We decided we weren't going. A few hours later I searched again, and the prices for the same exact vacations more than doubled!!!! I'm talking thousands of dollars difference.

The following day it occurred to me that things might change if we try again on a different computer. We went on my wife's laptop, and got a better deal than when we first started searching the day before, and we got 5 hour flights - at the times we wanted them!!!! Crazy stuff.

I like to think I'm immune to any crap like that with MF because I spend enough money there per year to claim them as a dependent. I guess not.

FWIW, I went NUTS not too long ago trying to get them to drop the price on this very bass to $249 for me. Someone here said they offered as a Stupid Deal that I missed, but I think it was the Beatle bass. They weren't budging. It was on sale at the time for $299, and I wanted them to at least apply the 15%. They refused because it was a sale item, then told me the best they would do is 10% discount. Called several times, talked to managers.... They refused, and so did I.

Patience.

 

[Old Blastard]

My wife and I just booked a trip on Travelocity. That was a trip in itself.

We found great deals, and as we were searching the prices started going up. Before they got ridiculous we decided we were going to book, and went to choose flights. A destination 5 hours away only had 20+ hour flights. It was laughable. We decided we weren't going. A few hours later I searched again, and the prices for the same exact vacations more than doubled!!!! I'm talking thousands of dollars difference.

The following day it occurred to me that things might change if we try again on a different computer. We went on my wife's laptop, and got a better deal than when we first started searching the day before, and we got 5 hour flights - at the times we wanted them!!!! Crazy stuff.

I like to think I'm immune to any crap like that with MF because I spend enough money there per year to claim them as a dependent. I guess not.

FWIW, I went NUTS not too long ago trying to get them to drop the price on this very bass to $249 for me. Someone here said they offered as a Stupid Deal that I missed, but I think it was the Beatle bass. They weren't budging. It was on sale at the time for $299, and I wanted them to at least apply the 15%. They refused because it was a sale item, then told me the best they would do is 10% discount. Called several times, talked to managers.... They refused, and so did I.

Patience.

I had the same thing last year on a green club. Beautiful but they wouldn't sell it at the previous sale price. Which was $249.
So, a year later....

 

[b-b-b-bass]

I had the same thing last year on a green club. Beautiful but they wouldn't sell it at the previous sale price. Which was $249.
So, a year later....

OMG! They come in GREEN ?!?! I must find one....

 

[Old Blastard]

OMG! They come in GREEN ?!?! I must find one....

They didn't offer it this year, but it was a beauty!!

 

[Joe Nerve]

My bass was due Monday. Came home from a gig last night and was surprised to see what looked like a bass package by my front door. I picked up the box and thought, OK, not my bass - what could this be?

Dang!!!!! This thing is small, and light. I was expecting like a jumbo guitar sized thing, but it's more like a Les Paul size thing, and it feels like the entire instrument was carved out on the inside. Neck and all. This is without a doubt the lightest bass I've ever owned. My Ubass might even give it a run for the money .

Mine is silver sparkle. It's a strange color, not entirely sure what they were going for - a vintage vibe I guess. It has weird yellowish/greenish effect to it that I'm not sure I'm entirely on board with yet (the pictures you see on MF and other sites are pretty accurate - I thought they were just bad shots), but I gotta admit - the bass still looks crazy cool. The action was great, and everything works perfectly. It sounds much better than I was expecting, the true test comes though when I throw it in a band mix.

Now the complaints. They're minor, but they're there.

Feels like a toy, and quite honestly - up close, looks like one, too. You can tell that this thing is glued together, and it almost looks like it was done with Elhmers Glue. That doesn't bother me much, just wondering though if severe temperature changes will have an effect. Would suck if this thing cracked open, but I'm going to guess they knew what they were doing, and it won't. I'm not very particular about strings, but something seems off about these. I don't know what they come with, but I'm not a fan. They're hard on the fingers, and just don't feel "nice." Again, not a biggie.

The 2 things that really make me sad about this bass though are this.

1. I can't use this with my band unless I put a D-tuner on it. We have no spaces at all between any of our songs, and we do our share of drop D tunings. I have to either play a 5 string (not happening) or use a hipshot. These tuner are RIDICULOUSLY small, and I don't know if I'm going to be able to make the Hipshot thing happen.

2. The controls. I can't be the first one to think this is the dumbest setup ever thought up. On every level. It's just plain stupid IMO. I'll start with the obvious - turning bass "on" means your turning the "treble" pickup "off." On means off. OK. I get it, but.... whatever... and then there's this, which really gets me. I think I might actually start a separate thread on this, cuz maybe I'm missing something. Basically, you have 3 very unecessary swithces, and anything and everything you might want to do with those switches, can be done with the 2 volume controls. Solo - make the bass louder, bass - turn down the bridge pickup, treble - turn down the bass pickup. Wouldn't a single tone control as opposed to the 2 volumes make a lot more sense? Or REAL tone switches that cut the highs and lows, not worked as pickup switches. I'm sure I'll warm up to them, but this is silliness.

Anyhow, that's my first impressions. At $249, it's a keeper for sure. If I paid $380 or whatever the regular price is, I think I'd be very much on the fence. Mostly because I'm not sure if I'll even be able to use.

Looking at it again - yeah, the looks and weight of this make it worth the price of admission . I'll do my best to work through the rest.

 

[superheavyfunk]

My bass was due Monday. Came home from a gig last night and was surprised to see what looked like a bass package by my front door. I picked up the box and thought, OK, not my bass - what could this be?

Dang!!!!! This thing is small, and light. I was expecting like a jumbo guitar sized thing, but it's more like a Les Paul size thing, and it feels like the entire instrument was carved out on the inside. Neck and all. This is without a doubt the lightest bass I've ever owned. My Ubass might even give it a run for the money .

Mine is silver sparkle. It's a strange color, not entirely sure what they were going for - a vintage vibe I guess. It has weird yellowish/greenish effect to it that I'm not sure I'm entirely on board with yet (the pictures you see on MF and other sites are pretty accurate - I thought they were just bad shots), but I gotta admit - the bass still looks crazy cool. The action was great, and everything works perfectly. It sounds much better than I was expecting, the true test comes though when I throw it in a band mix.

Now the complaints. They're minor, but they're there.

Feels like a toy, and quite honestly - up close, looks like one, too. You can tell that this thing is glued together, and it almost looks like it was done with Elhmers Glue. That doesn't bother me much, just wondering though if severe temperature changes will have an effect. Would suck if this thing cracked open, but I'm going to guess they knew what they were doing, and it won't. I'm not very particular about strings, but something seems off about these. I don't know what they come with, but I'm not a fan. They're hard on the fingers, and just don't feel "nice." Again, not a biggie.

The 2 things that really make me sad about this bass though are this.

1. I can't use this with my band unless I put a D-tuner on it. We have no spaces at all between any of our songs, and we do our share of drop D tunings. I have to either play a 5 string (not happening) or use a hipshot. These tuner are RIDICULOUSLY small, and I don't know if I'm going to be able to make the Hipshot thing happen.

2. The controls. I can't be the first one to think this is the dumbest setup ever thought up. On every level. It's just plain stupid IMO. I'll start with the obvious - turning bass "on" means your turning the "treble" pickup "off." On means off. OK. I get it, but.... whatever... and then there's this, which really gets me. I think I might actually start a separate thread on this, cuz maybe I'm missing something. Basically, you have 3 very unecessary swithces, and anything and everything you might want to do with those switches, can be done with the 2 volume controls. Solo - make the bass louder, bass - turn down the bridge pickup, treble - turn down the bass pickup. Wouldn't a single tone control as opposed to the 2 volumes make a lot more sense? Or REAL tone switches that cut the highs and lows, not worked as pickup switches. I'm sure I'll warm up to them, but this is silliness.

Anyhow, that's my first impressions. At $249, it's a keeper for sure. If I paid $380 or whatever the regular price is, I think I'd be very much on the fence. Mostly because I'm not sure if I'll even be able to use.

Looking at it again - yeah, the looks and weight of this make it worth the price of admission . I'll do my best to work through the rest.

I got one of these basses a few weeks ago and had the same remarks. Here are the answers I received from some very knowledgeable TBers. Hope it helps.

To Hofner's credit, they tried to change/update it, but retro-obsessed customers demanded they go back to the old panel.

Here's how it works: Each pickup has a volume control. Rhythm switches in a couple of resistors to drop the output by 30%. (Solo bypasses the resistors.) Bass On switches in a treble cut capacitor (.1 uF cap in series with an 8.2K Ohm resistor). It's a DPDT switch wired for an 'equal and opposite reaction': switching to Bass On also mutes the bridge pickup. When switching to Treble On, the neck pickup is muted (that's why switching both to On cuts all output), and a bass cut capacitor (.01 uF) is switched in series with the bridge pickup. So there is a logic to it, albeit a strange logic.

It's worth turning one of the pickup volumes back to 9 or 8 and then blending in the other pickup to taste--it works better than trying to blend both at full volume.

Or (as long as the control panel isn't the type with a circuit board), you can rewire it to eliminate the 'equal and opposite reaction' effect, increase pickup blending options, and have more treble cut settings. I've detailed that process here.

Enjoy your new bass!

Hofners, like the non-Pro model Danelectro basses, have traditionally used guitar tuners. Which is why you're trying to stick bass strings through a guitar string-sized hole... Unless you (gasp!) buy the La Bella Beatle Bass flats from someone else, you might want to consider a set of short scale Pyramid flats (which are made for Hofners) or short scale Thomastik-Infeld flats (also sized for Hofners). You could replace the tuners, I suppose, with some real bass tuners. But, that would leave ugly marks on your Hofner, and no one would like that... You might want to ask about replacements over on the Hofner Owners Club here; I'm sure you aren't the first person to think about replacing those tuners...

 

[Joe Nerve]

I got one of these basses a few weeks ago and has the same remarks. Here are the answers I received from done very knowledgeable TBers. Hope it helps.

Thanks. That is actually very helpful.

I wonder though about the capacitors on the bass and treble. I don't hear the difference just yet, but I'm a little bit hearing challenged . I'll crank my amp a bit and give it a go playing with the volumes and switches.