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NBD - Lakland 55-02

O

onlyclave

Oct 28, 2005
1,770
313
Seattle
#1
My new Skyline 55-02 came on the UPS truck today. Thought I'd share while also giving tribute to a very old friend. The blue bass on the left is obviously an Ibanez Soundgear, Japanese made SR885 that I bought new in 1993 and have played regularly for the last 22 years. It has a set of Bartolini pickups and a NTMB preamp I put in 18-19 years ago but otherwise is all original. There's not a single ding in the paint, the frets are in pretty good shape but my thumb has worn a groove in both pickups above the B string.

Hundreds of gigs, two college degrees and tens of thousands of hours have been played on that bass by me. I decided to retire it at the end of 2015.

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#3
Congrats on the new Lakland. I have its twin. Great bass. My first 5 string was an Ibanez SRT805. I played it for a year and half before moving on from it. I needed something with wider string spacing. What do you think of your 55-02 at this point? As wvbass alluded they are quite different animals. If the feel isnt a problem you are going to love it. It's an amazingly versatile bass!
 
#5
I played my P bass for about the same time. Then I switched to 5 ers. I still own that bass and after 48 years I guess it's not going anywhere.

I've owned my Lakland since 2003 and if this 55-02 is half as good it will be a fantastic instrument. Good move.
 
#6
TinIndian said:
Congrats on the new Lakland. I have its twin. Great bass. My first 5 string was an Ibanez SRT805. I played it for a year and half before moving on from it. I needed something with wider string spacing. What do you think of your 55-02 at this point? As wvbass alluded they are quite different animals. If the feel isnt a problem you are going to love it. It's an amazingly versatile bass!
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I like it so far. The string spacing actually makes it a lot easier to slap. The 35" scale is a little different, I thought it would feel longer at the low end of the neck but to me the additional scale length feels to me like it's in the 4th to 9th fret range. It's lighter than I expected.

It certainly has a different sound, I'm having trouble dialing in a lot of mids and I'm having to pluck right over the rear pickup to get that bark and attack that I like.

As far as versatility goes, I think that's the user not the instrument. I bought it because I thought it looked cool and wanted a different instrument.


If you thought my 22 year old bass is cool I should post my 20 year old SWR rig that I also retired this year because it was so heavy. That stuff never broke and still sounds great although dated.
 
#8
You do know that inside the back main cover there is a DIP switch to allow you to pick whichever mid frequency you want to control with the mid pot, right? If you go to Laklands website there are more combinations listed than the 4? that are on the inside cover.
 
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#9
When I first started looking at Laklands the things that drew me to it were the Scale Length and the String Spacing. I went to Bass Central and tried a few out and found on top of that it was an amazing sounding bass.

I have found that I can "mimic" several basses with mine, Jazz, Precision and a MM. Plus it has it's own sound too. For me, in a cover band, it is the perfect instrument as I can cover so much ground with one bass.
 
#10
TinIndian said:
Congrats on the new Lakland. I have its twin.
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As do I. In fact, that was one of the reasons I bought a Skyline 55-02D: If it ever gets lost/stolen/damaged, I can walk into practically any Guitar Center or Sam Ash or Thomann or (insert name of big-box retail MI store here) in the world and find an identical instrument hanging on the wall. It's my insurance policy against having "irreplaceable" instruments. :)

Doesn't hurt that it's a seriously kick-ass bass either.

(fwiw, my tech was doing some seasonal setup work on my 55-02D just the other day, and when I went to pick it up he said "I had to keep reminding myself that yours is one of the Skyline import models, because it feels and plays as good as any of the >$4,000 domestic Laklands.")
 
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#11
Congrats on the new bass!

I like a more mid forward sound, as well. Try bumping your Mids just a bit, maybe 1 or 2 o'clock. Keep the bass and treble flat. Move your blend to about 10 or 11 o'clock toward the bridge pickup and move the toggle toward the neck. If your preamp has dip switches, which I believe it does, set them to 750 or 800 hz or so.
 
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#14
TinIndian said:
You do know that inside the back main cover there is a DIP switch to allow you to pick whichever mid frequency you want to control with the mid pot, right? If you go to Laklands website there are more combinations listed than the 4? that are on the inside cover.
Click to expand...

I did not know that. I'll have to look at that tonight as according to the website the default mid center is way too low. Sounds good for a metal scoop, not good for anything you want to cut through.
 
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#20
The neck needs a bit more relief. How long should I keep it in my house in Seattle before I start tweaking the truss rod? I was shipped from Louisville last week, arrived Monday 1-4-16.

It's been a while since I've had a new bass I needed to adjust :)
 

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