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NBD! Martin Keith Elfin Plus 5

#21
smperry said:
Such a sweet bass, which made me want to get a bass with a maple board. Let me know how you like the reverse P on the gig. Mine's standard P inside, but they're reversible (benefit of the big shells), so I might give reverse a whirl sometime just for fun.

I really love this design...it's just an ultimate rock bass for me. Hearing the two basses at Martin's workspace, I thought our two basses had pretty different "personalities" sonically, but both were stellar.
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I've been a P-bass/Stingray guy for decades, and my other 6 basses reflect that:
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Obviously, with the Keith purchase I was looking to add something a little different for my collection, so I went with reverse P because I already have 3 non-reverse split-P basses. I spent half of tonight's gig on the reverse P, half on the MM pickup. In short, I agree there's a huge difference between reverse and non-reverse, but even though reverse is more modern to my ears, it still sounded great for Motown/classic rock (and so did the MM pickup).

I'll give a full gig report later, but the bottom line is that I am thrilled with the bass. As different as the Keith is from my others, its Fender-style ergonomics made it familiar enough and comfortable. Slapping a 24-fretter is a bit of a challenge, but I only slap on a few songs and it wasn't a big deal to adjust, I'm sure I'll soon get to the point where I don't have to think about it. Likewise, the extended fretboard threw my frame of reference off a couple of times when I made jumps to the high register, but again, just gotta practice with "Pearl" a little more. Again, I'm thrilled. I got the action set where I wanted, I love the neck profile, the tones were killer! And yes, it's a sexy instrument too.
 
#25
smperry said:
Didn't think it was possible, but with your shirt, you managed to draw attention away from a bright red singlecut bass. ;)
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LOL. I agree, contrast is a good thing, but that's the only Hawaiian shirt I own!



P.S. The band isn't just top 40, they play some cool Motown/R&B also (including Tower of Power).
 
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#27
When Too Many Daves formed 20-odd years ago, 4 of the 11 members were named Dave. Last night there were three Daves, a pretty good showing.

Gig addendum: again, the bass sounded fantastic (though it's impossible to tell from the amateur video clips), and played like a dream. As noted previously I'll have to make minor adjustments because this is the first 24-fret bass I've played in over 10 years, but overall it's familiar and comfortable. Brain fart moment: by the end of the gig I noticed that my left shoulder was getting sore, but then realized it wasn't from the Elfin Plus: earlier that afternoon I had a three hour rehearsal (different band, different bass), so the soreness was from double duty. Fact is, the Elfin Plus is my lightest non-chambered bass!

The reverse P and MM tones were both excellent. Matter of fact, my "old man rig" (pictured above: Aguilar TH500 head, 2xBergantino CN112 cabs) never sounded better! That said: while I love the easy schlep, my old man rig is not my favorite rig for tone, regardless of which bass I play. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice-sounding rig with tons of headroom, but for tone alone I'd much rather use one of my rack rigs along with my ceramic cabs (2xHS210 or NV610). Because of this, I've decided to set up the Elfin Plus for 1/2 step-flat-tuning so I can gig it with my hard rock band this Saturday. I can't wait!
 
#28
Update: I still love this bass. :bassist: I tuned it down a half step for use with my hard rock band. The purpose (as noted just above) was to gig it with my rack rig rather than my mini-rig. The mini-rig sounds nice, but my big rigs sound glorious! Isn't just a volume thing, either.

I used my favorite rack rig: Reiner Amplification all-tube preamp with 4 bands of inductive EQ, along with a SansAmp RBI that I activate for extra OD and sparkle (presence) on modern rock tunes. I prefer my Bergantino NV610 cab, but this club has good FOH and keeps volume reasonable so instead of "the kraken" I used a pair of Berg HS210 cabs, vertically stacked of course. Power amp is Stewart World 2.1: just one channel required at this volume level.

As before, all tones were killer. The MM pickup was especially glorious for "Aeroplane" by RHCP and "Killing in the Name Of" by RATM. The reverse-P pickup was wonderful for Van Halen and many other tunes where I needed middle-pickup tone rather than bridge-pickup. Also, I discovered that I like the both-pickups-blended tone! Not so much as either individually (blended has the most modern timbre) but I might actually use it here and there.

I'm still tweaking the bass for ideal action: I prefer low-side-of-medium. Right now the saddles are about as low as they will go. I'm getting a little bit of fret buzz down toward the nut: this tells me I could further loosen the truss rod (however I will likely tune the bass back to standard so I'm not sure I'll go there yet). Honestly, the fret buzz wasn't bad and actually sounded very cool and grindy with some OD dialed in. Worst case scenario would be shimming the neck, but I suspect I can get it where I like it without having to do so.

I noticed that the rear control cover isn't quite as perfect as my Sadowsky or Nordstrand basses. That said, it's effective and unobtrusive, so I don't consider it a negative. I haven't yet popped the control cover to examine the wiring (I should do that sometime just out of curiosity).

Overall, the Keith bass easily competes with higher-priced boutiques. I'm especially fussy about neck pocket, neck profile, string spacing, and fretwork -- these are all beautifully done! The bass has incredibly sexy lines, it balances very much like a Fender. Martin can pretty much give you anything you want, electronics-wise, but I'm thrilled with my configuration.

The obligatory gig photos:
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#34
blowinblue said:
I remember when you first opened this thread. I'm not a single-cut guy. Not even close. But this one keeps creeping into my consciousness. Very attractive bass, to be sure. :)

M. M.
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These don't look like typical singlecut instruments, perhaps that is why you are now contemplating getting a bass from Martin. ;)

The upper body curve is far more elegant looking than the usual. :)
 
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#35
smperry said:
Cool. Thanks for the update! Does your white Sadowsky have a Nordstrand pickup?
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Yes! Whitey has a wide-spaced Nordy MM5.2. The polepieces on the Keith bass aren't visible, but I assume it's also spaced for 19mm bridge spacing (Music Man fivers are narrow-spaced, ~17mm -- Carey offers both spacings). Both the Keith and the Sadowsky basses have a series/parallel switch for the MM pickup. On the Keith bass I usually leave the MM in series mode because the hotter output and thicker timbre is a better match for the P pickup. On the Sadowsky I tend to stay in parallel: that mode has a slightly more traditional MM timbre, and it's also nice to kick in series mode for volume boost (though I rarely ever do that).

The Aggie OBP-1 in the Keith bass sounds a little closer to traditional MusicMan than the Sadowsky pre, but really, both sound great. :thumbsup:
 
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#36
Yes, I'm sure it's 19mm. For some reason, I thought you had the 5.4...I have the 5.2 also, but skipped the series/parallel switch (due to all the eq controls on mine) so mine's always in parallel.

The pickups blended tone is massive! Too much when I'm playing on my own, but in a mix it nails the deep modern scooped tone. I definitely use the solo pickups more, but it's nice to have for a couple of songs.
 
#37
blowinblue said:
I remember when you first opened this thread. I'm not a single-cut guy. Not even close. But this one keeps creeping into my consciousness. Very attractive bass, to be sure. :)

M. M.
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Jeff Scott said:
These don't look like typical singlecut instruments, perhaps that is why you are now contemplating getting a bass from Martin. ;)

The upper body curve is far more elegant looking than the usual. :)
Click to expand...

For decades I've preferred FSOs (Fender Shaped Objects), with singlecuts being completely off my radar. The Elfin shape drew me in, especially when I learned that the Elfin Plus had Fender-style balance (rare in a 24 fret instrument). Then I became intrigued when I saw Marshall's bass with its P+MM pickup configuration. After speaking with Marshall and Keith I decided to pull the trigger.

P.S. Pic:
Nick%20D%20@%20House%20of%20Blues.jpg

Martin can do fancy figured tops, but I didn't want my singlecut to look too "boutiquey". One of Martin's customers has a black Elfin with white body binding. So classy! I almost went with something similar.
 
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#38
Fuzzbass said:
Martin can do fancy figured tops, but I didn't want my singlecut to look too "boutiquey". One of Martin's customers has a black Elfin with white body binding. So classy! I almost went with something similar.
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First off, no matter how much that I might be attracted to this bass, my last bass acquisition pretty much killed any chance I have of making another purchase for the next decade or so. LOL. If I were to order a bass like yours, it would have a fancy top with matching headstock overlay, a fingerboard with some drama in the grain, oil/wax finish, no battery covers on the rear, and a wooden cavity cover. I'm OK with boutiquey. One thing we can agree on...it would be a BEADG 5-string. :)

M. M.
 

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