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NBD regrets?

3bc

3bc

Mar 12, 2010
1,189
3,076
In the boonies.
#1
EDB2DB8D-5B75-4E05-B023-1671A9C44424.jpeg
EDB2DB8D-5B75-4E05-B023-1671A9C44424.jpeg
Picked up a bass on a major whim today. Been eyeing something like this for a long time. Tried it out in the store and I was actually pretty blown away by a really nicely put together instrument. Sounded really good, and playability was pretty darn close to my main player which is about 5x’s more expensive.

Bring it home and the sound is not really what I was thinking I was getting. The dreaded music store experience kind of masked what I was hearing. Plugged into my DI box and studio monitors, and this new bass was not nearly as refined as my main player. It’s not a fair comparison, and I wasn’t expecting it to be, but it’s quite a bit less refined that I though it was in the store, and less so than what I was hoping for.

It’s a very pretty instrument though, and sets up beautifully. I’ll probably try out my standard set of preferred string (fat beams) and see how that works. If that helps a little bit I’m sure I’ll hang onto this one and maybe swap up pickups or electronics sometime in the future. Great bass for the money, just was slightly fooled into thinking it was even another level up from what I think it actually is. Music store show room is where nuance goes to die.
Cheers!
 
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#5
E2942 said:
Go back to the store & buy The Amp you were playing it through, that one only, not another that's similar.
Click to expand...
It was a really nice Bergantino rig. But I consciously chose a different brand over Bergantino and Genzler etc because it was more to my liking. Still great sounding rig.

anyhow, a nice DI box, plugged into a little SSL six mixer, running nice studio monitors, is VERY revealing compared to any bass amp in any setting, let alone music store setting.

The lakland had a pure sound. Like an amplified piece of wood. You want a little more low end, roll up the bass, more presence, roll up the treble. But the sound coming out of the speakers is just so complete connected with your fingers and your brain, it’s really something else, at least to me. I was kind of fooled into thinking I had a lot of that with this new bass. But it’s a lot more gregarious, and not in the best of ways.
 
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#8
Respectfully, you thought another bass was going to out-class a US Lakland? (in the context of Fender-adjacent basses)

I would say your comments about the Lakland are on point. Enjoy the Sire for what it is, but allow it to be its own thing and don’t hold it up it to your Lakland with a measuring stick.

I play Spectors and Dingwalls, but in certain settings, nothing can beat my P basses.
 
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#12
If it feels and plays well, you can't beat a decent FSO for playing around with pickup upgrades. I've got a very early USA Lakland Glaub sitting here that is as good as it gets, next to a MIM Fender P. They both now have the same Fralins in them, and honestly they sound darn close.
 
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#13
3bc said:
It was a really nice Bergantino rig. But I consciously chose a different brand over Bergantino and Genzler etc because it was more to my liking. Still great sounding rig.

anyhow, a nice DI box, plugged into a little SSL six mixer, running nice studio monitors, is VERY revealing compared to any bass amp in any setting, let alone music store setting.

The lakland had a pure sound. Like an amplified piece of wood. You want a little more low end, roll up the bass, more presence, roll up the treble. But the sound coming out of the speakers is just so complete connected with your fingers and your brain, it’s really something else, at least to me. I was kind of fooled into thinking I had a lot of that with this new bass. But it’s a lot more gregarious, and not in the best of ways.
Click to expand...
You bought for recording or gigging? DI and studio monitor is not “the real world”
 
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#14
I feel you're comparing apples to melons:
The Sire is a Jazz bass (on steroids due to the pre amps): 2 SC Jazz pickups, differnet wood types, etc... there where the Lakland is humbucker equipped, different brand of electronics... they are simply not the same and can not be compared to each other.

I follow an earlier stated sentiment: treat eahc bass as it's own, legit and standing-on-its-own entity. I you want another bass that sound like your Lakland, well, you know what to do :)
 
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#15
I’ve been influenced by music store sound versus direct and venue sound on a few instruments. Most recently on a ride cymbal. There apparently was above average sound absorption at the store, better than my home studio, better than my usual stage (a couple,of songs). It just sounded soooo much dryer at the store, so back it went. And I bought another I had initially thought too dry. Cymbals is hard.
 
#17
Deleted member 261632 said:
I feel you're comparing apples to melons:
The Sire is a Jazz bass (on steroids due to the pre amps): 2 SC Jazz pickups, differnet wood types, etc... there where the Lakland is humbucker equipped, different brand of electronics... they are simply not the same and can not be compared to each other.

I follow an earlier stated sentiment: treat eahc bass as it's own, legit and standing-on-its-own entity. I you want another bass that sound like your Lakland, well, you know what to do :)
Click to expand...
I already have several lakland basses, and wanted a nice bass I could be much less precious with. I always play that pictured lakland in a jazz bass configuration, where I split the MM in half, using only the outside half of the pickup in a single coil, jazz bass like configuration.

Again, I never thought I would be getting a bass that was equal for so much less money. I just got fooled into thinking that I was getting one that was really surprisingly close.
 
#20
I remember when I was on about Transparent amps & not enjoying that most amps have a baked-in 'flavor', & most people on here thought I was mad.

One guy even tried to tell me the sound coming from a Schecter in his demo was transparent & not the sound of the Steve Harris labeled Tech-21 pedal, Bwahahaha!

Anyone who's ever heard it knows that is bull.
 

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