contact the Company-they should replace it free of charge! With an instrument this cheap- gotta be afew bad ones out there! Mines cool tho! Let us know how U go BASSONEMAN!
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Double Bass Palatino Megathread part I
- Thread starter Nohandles
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Keeping in mind what several of us have already established that the shell of the bass is usually okay as long as the neck doesn't break off. You just replace everything else. Strings are definetly in that category. The stock strings are junk for the most part. Even Red Label supersenstives will improve the sound of the bass.
Hi folks,
I'm new to this thread, and wanted some quick, general opinions about the Palatino VE-500. I played upright bass back in high school, but have only played bass guitar for the last 30 years. I've got a chance to buy a new VE-500 for about $600 shipped, but I only have a couple days to decide. Is it worth the investment? I'd use it for an occassional jazz-lounge gig. The price seems great, but is it a waste of money & time, should I go for a better bass?
Thanks!!
I'm new to this thread, and wanted some quick, general opinions about the Palatino VE-500. I played upright bass back in high school, but have only played bass guitar for the last 30 years. I've got a chance to buy a new VE-500 for about $600 shipped, but I only have a couple days to decide. Is it worth the investment? I'd use it for an occassional jazz-lounge gig. The price seems great, but is it a waste of money & time, should I go for a better bass?
Thanks!!
If you are trying to stay under $1K the VE 500 may be one of the better deals out there. That's keeping in mind the cost of upgrades for good strings and a good pickup/preamp combo. I lucked out because I was able to get a damaged one and fix it up. Quality control is a big issue with these basses. I was tempted to try on e of the SWB Arias also but passed.
The wav 4 may be a better buy right out of the box but I think the VE500 has more potential with the right mods.
The wav 4 may be a better buy right out of the box but I think the VE500 has more potential with the right mods.
Hello, and thanks for all the info in this thread, from a newbie over here. Got my VE-500 a few weeks ago and am throughly enjoying it through my Nemesis 210 combo- not totally upright like in tone but very useable nevertheless. Haven't done any of the mods suggested in previous posts but am thinking of trying the rubber above/below the piezo and new strings for starters. Can't find any inner tube locally but came across some thin washers used in plumbing circles, 2" in diameter and ~.025" thick. Is that too thick to achieve the desired isolation effect? If not recommended, I'll have to take a tube from my bike and at the price of gas these days, that doesn't sound too appeasing to me.
Also wanted to ask about the new bridges and preamp circuitry mentioned quite a ways back- still working on designs, in production, or abandoned totally? Once again, thanks for all those who laid the groundwork for perfecting the treasure I've found.
And I damped the dreaded ringing with a rolled up towel and that worked just fine. However, looking at the endpiece, is it possible to just remove the decorative scroll part- would that work also? Just wondering if anyone had tried that, or just a bad idea?
Also wanted to ask about the new bridges and preamp circuitry mentioned quite a ways back- still working on designs, in production, or abandoned totally? Once again, thanks for all those who laid the groundwork for perfecting the treasure I've found.
And I damped the dreaded ringing with a rolled up towel and that worked just fine. However, looking at the endpiece, is it possible to just remove the decorative scroll part- would that work also? Just wondering if anyone had tried that, or just a bad idea?
I never used tire inner tube for my VE-500, instead I took an old mousepad that I had lying around and cut out small sections to go under my bridge (after removing the harder plastic top of course). Those seem to be doing the job just fine for me. Hope that's somewhat helpful.
I've got a few old mousepads taking up space here, I just knew there was a good reason for hanging onto them so long- thanks, Yvarg, I'll give it a go! Did you use them on both sides of the piezo or just one?
I used tyre inner tube on top & under my piezo p/up. Canget this an ANY gas station- just ask-they usually have heaps of 'em sitting in their rubbish bin from all the tyre punctures they fix.
Re- tail piece- I think earlier In this MEGA thread they were talking about it. Some mentioned using an ebony one-possibly from a NS design or Eminence- I KNOW NUTHINK!!!!!!!!!!!!
BTW- haven't gotten round to taking out the stock preamp yet!!! Even tho I'm using the Fishman Platinum+ one also-The compressor on ot just fattens up the VE-500!- Would love to take out the stock pre- but am scared of botching the job :-( Will get around to it soon & will let U know results!
Also-for all noobs- Soon after purchasing my Palatino- I, put inner tube rubber on top of (on treble side)& under the Piezo p/up, Put foam under tail piece & bought Daddario Hybrid Lights strings. All this made this bass sound 95% better IMHO!!!
Re- tail piece- I think earlier In this MEGA thread they were talking about it. Some mentioned using an ebony one-possibly from a NS design or Eminence- I KNOW NUTHINK!!!!!!!!!!!!
BTW- haven't gotten round to taking out the stock preamp yet!!! Even tho I'm using the Fishman Platinum+ one also-The compressor on ot just fattens up the VE-500!- Would love to take out the stock pre- but am scared of botching the job :-( Will get around to it soon & will let U know results!
Also-for all noobs- Soon after purchasing my Palatino- I, put inner tube rubber on top of (on treble side)& under the Piezo p/up, Put foam under tail piece & bought Daddario Hybrid Lights strings. All this made this bass sound 95% better IMHO!!!
I also would like to get rid of the stock preamp. When the little red light loses contact and flickers it actually affects the sound of the bass dramatically. So, I have to stop playing and fidget with the light until it stays on.
Okay one more time: 
1. Get a small phillips screwdriver and remove the volume and tone pot combo ( six screws if I remember right )
2. Unscrew the battery enclosure and the preamp/light fixture from the back.
3. Disconnect the pickup lead from the preamp/headphone input. Take the stock strings off and get anything else including red labels if need be.
4. Remove any wiring from the inside of the cavity and put it in a weighted bag with the preamp, pickup, headphone jack and the volume and tone pots. Drive to a high bridge over a lake and get rid of this junk when no one is looking.
5. Get a rev solo or K and K bassmax pickup and file out one of the bridge wings. This can go direct into most newer bass amps with or without a preamp.
6. Stuff foam into the holes in the bass body for now.
7. Last but not least. Call G Edward Lutherie and beg him to sell you an eminence bridge He gets touchy about sellling good eminence parts for a Palatino but he may relent and mail you one for about $65.
8. Throw out the inner tube padding you used on the stock bridge. You'll need to cut out the ends on the pickup holder so the new bridge can fit in there. Then use the stock bridge as guide for fitting the rev solo or bassmax pickup.
9. That wasn;t so hard now was it?
10. We'll talk about replacing the tail piece next month....
1. Get a small phillips screwdriver and remove the volume and tone pot combo ( six screws if I remember right )
2. Unscrew the battery enclosure and the preamp/light fixture from the back.
3. Disconnect the pickup lead from the preamp/headphone input. Take the stock strings off and get anything else including red labels if need be.
4. Remove any wiring from the inside of the cavity and put it in a weighted bag with the preamp, pickup, headphone jack and the volume and tone pots. Drive to a high bridge over a lake and get rid of this junk when no one is looking.
5. Get a rev solo or K and K bassmax pickup and file out one of the bridge wings. This can go direct into most newer bass amps with or without a preamp.
6. Stuff foam into the holes in the bass body for now.
7. Last but not least. Call G Edward Lutherie and beg him to sell you an eminence bridge He gets touchy about sellling good eminence parts for a Palatino but he may relent and mail you one for about $65.
8. Throw out the inner tube padding you used on the stock bridge. You'll need to cut out the ends on the pickup holder so the new bridge can fit in there. Then use the stock bridge as guide for fitting the rev solo or bassmax pickup.
9. That wasn;t so hard now was it?
10. We'll talk about replacing the tail piece next month....
Where did you purchase yours. I cant find one under $679.
please feel free to email me at [email protected]
Thanks,
Paul
please feel free to email me at [email protected]
Thanks,
Paul
At first I put it under the piezo strip and right underneath the bridge's feet (foot in my case
) but it sounded too far off, so I only use it under the piezo strip.Hi all!
I'm new to this forum as well as to the Palatino PVE-500 but I'm seriously considering buying one. I'm an audio engineer/electronic musician/guy who likes to abuse any given instrument/sort of guitarist. I own a cheap BG which I play on occasion but have always been incredibly interested in upright basses. Now, by way of tax-return, I've decided to acquire some form thereof and as I don't have the money or the space for a proper acoustic UB the Palatino seems like a realy good choice.
I can't express how excited I was when I found this forum and specifically this thread earlier today... Now nearly 30 pages and 500+ posts later I find this excitement somewhat overshadowed by blurry vision, severe neck aches, the painfull notion that I just spent the better part of a day reading an online forum and most of all.. a newfound fear that my EDB may just arrive as a box of assorted wooden shapes connected by 4 crappy strings...
The closer I got to the end of the thread the more people seemed to have serious build quality issues with their new PVE-500s. Ofcourse this could just be because more and more people found out about this forum over time but it does make me wonder if these problems are occuring more often. How many people do you guys know that have had their instruments arrive in pieces or fall apart at random? does it seem like a majority?
The one I've got my eye on is 1 of the 8 discounted Easton&Franklin (which, as far as I can tell just means a different logo and a black finish) PVE-500's a German retailer (Sono MS) is selling in their ebay store. The reason they're discounted is because they have a minor "varnish imperfection" on the back. Which I can live with as long as there's no imperfections that affect the sonic and/or structural integrity of the instrument.
Now my questions are these:
- Has anyone here purchased their instrument from this store, if so what are your experiences?
- Does Palatino offer replacements and/or support to people who purchased their PVE-500 from a non-US retailer or under a different moniker? (Easton&Franklin doesn't have their own website or anything)
- Should I be wary buying a "second choice" item with minor aesthetic imperfections or do you reckon the fact that this store even distinguished between these and "first choice" instruments would mean they at least pay some level of attention to the products they sell?
- And finally, being an audio engineer I really can't justify buying something unless I hear it first... so...
DOES ANY ONE HAVE ANY SORT OF RECORDINGS OF THEIR PALATINO PVE-500??? A while back someone suggested uploading youtube videos, I'm looking on youtube as we speak but can't seem to find any yet.
I would really appreciate some suggestions/opinions/experiences. A big thank you to those who started and maintained this thread. I found it very helpfull and enlightening, though somewhat exhausting
I apologize for the length of my post.. but let's just say it's proportional to the length of the thread
Cheers guys,
Dan
I'm new to this forum as well as to the Palatino PVE-500 but I'm seriously considering buying one. I'm an audio engineer/electronic musician/guy who likes to abuse any given instrument/sort of guitarist. I own a cheap BG which I play on occasion but have always been incredibly interested in upright basses. Now, by way of tax-return, I've decided to acquire some form thereof and as I don't have the money or the space for a proper acoustic UB the Palatino seems like a realy good choice.
I can't express how excited I was when I found this forum and specifically this thread earlier today... Now nearly 30 pages and 500+ posts later I find this excitement somewhat overshadowed by blurry vision, severe neck aches, the painfull notion that I just spent the better part of a day reading an online forum and most of all.. a newfound fear that my EDB may just arrive as a box of assorted wooden shapes connected by 4 crappy strings...
The closer I got to the end of the thread the more people seemed to have serious build quality issues with their new PVE-500s. Ofcourse this could just be because more and more people found out about this forum over time but it does make me wonder if these problems are occuring more often. How many people do you guys know that have had their instruments arrive in pieces or fall apart at random? does it seem like a majority?
The one I've got my eye on is 1 of the 8 discounted Easton&Franklin (which, as far as I can tell just means a different logo and a black finish) PVE-500's a German retailer (Sono MS) is selling in their ebay store. The reason they're discounted is because they have a minor "varnish imperfection" on the back. Which I can live with as long as there's no imperfections that affect the sonic and/or structural integrity of the instrument.
Now my questions are these:
- Has anyone here purchased their instrument from this store, if so what are your experiences?
- Does Palatino offer replacements and/or support to people who purchased their PVE-500 from a non-US retailer or under a different moniker? (Easton&Franklin doesn't have their own website or anything)
- Should I be wary buying a "second choice" item with minor aesthetic imperfections or do you reckon the fact that this store even distinguished between these and "first choice" instruments would mean they at least pay some level of attention to the products they sell?
- And finally, being an audio engineer I really can't justify buying something unless I hear it first... so...
DOES ANY ONE HAVE ANY SORT OF RECORDINGS OF THEIR PALATINO PVE-500??? A while back someone suggested uploading youtube videos, I'm looking on youtube as we speak but can't seem to find any yet.
I would really appreciate some suggestions/opinions/experiences. A big thank you to those who started and maintained this thread. I found it very helpfull and enlightening, though somewhat exhausting
I apologize for the length of my post.. but let's just say it's proportional to the length of the thread
Cheers guys,
Dan
Hi Daetism
Whilst I did not buy my PVE-500 from this particular dealer in Germany I would caution "buyer be very wary".
My experience is that two months after buying from a different dealer in Germany I'm still waiting for a replacement. The neck broke within 24hours and the wood shows clear signs of a dark discolouration through 50% of the neck, which I'm advised here in the UK is wood rot.
Palatino via their official distributors haven't helped and my dealer took a mighty amount of convincing the problem was not "entirely mine". He has promised to exchange it when he gets new stock but that was 6 weeks ago... Meanwhile it's in two pieces boxed up waiting for collection & exchange at his good will. I will eventually post the outcome & his details if he doesn't honour his promise.
The short few hours that it was actually played it sounded pretty good to my poor untrained ears though.
Regards
MKGriffs
Whilst I did not buy my PVE-500 from this particular dealer in Germany I would caution "buyer be very wary".
My experience is that two months after buying from a different dealer in Germany I'm still waiting for a replacement. The neck broke within 24hours and the wood shows clear signs of a dark discolouration through 50% of the neck, which I'm advised here in the UK is wood rot.
Palatino via their official distributors haven't helped and my dealer took a mighty amount of convincing the problem was not "entirely mine". He has promised to exchange it when he gets new stock but that was 6 weeks ago... Meanwhile it's in two pieces boxed up waiting for collection & exchange at his good will. I will eventually post the outcome & his details if he doesn't honour his promise.
The short few hours that it was actually played it sounded pretty good to my poor untrained ears though.
Regards
MKGriffs
Have you tried to contacting Palatino corp direct? They may be more helpful than the distributor.
No I haven't managed to contact Palatino direct.. The website seems to imply all warranty issue must be routed via Official Distributors. Do you have any recommended contact details please ?....
I contacted the Official German distributors who sympathised but referred me back to the dealer I bought from on Ebay.
I will call my original supplier in Germany again next week but if he is still unable to replace it I'll perhaps send the photos of the affected wood to Palatino.
Hi, To the Palatino EUB Community!
***Frontier Bag Company***
This is my 1st post although I've followed this thread for quite some time. Bought my Palatino about a year ago (May 2006). Thanks to this msg board I knew what I was getting myself into.
One of my main concerns for my VE-500 was a decent bag. My concern became greater after going to a gig at a local casino (I'm living in Omaha) and leaning the Palatino against my van while it was in the bag and then watching it slowly fall to the ground....well after getting the bass repaired and a new tuning key put on it. I began to look for a decent case/bag. I looked at snowboard cases & golf club travel cases etc... Somehow I was able to find a local bag manufacturer - Frontier Bag Company
Invalid Link Removed
They've been in business since the 1920s.
I got them to make me a quality bag (better zippers, 1" of foam all around the bag, stonger external & internal material, even a pocket for my bow). Simply put I'm in love with my bag. Since they've made mine they still have they measurements for the Palatino EUB. I got mine for $125. Great workmanship, & great people to deal with.
You can get a hold of them at 1-800-278-2247. Ask for Judy and mentioned they made one for me (Rick).
Again, this is my 1st post, I've been kinda shy about posting - but I had to share this with you guys.
Rick
Invalid Link Removed
***Frontier Bag Company***
This is my 1st post although I've followed this thread for quite some time. Bought my Palatino about a year ago (May 2006). Thanks to this msg board I knew what I was getting myself into.
One of my main concerns for my VE-500 was a decent bag. My concern became greater after going to a gig at a local casino (I'm living in Omaha) and leaning the Palatino against my van while it was in the bag and then watching it slowly fall to the ground....well after getting the bass repaired and a new tuning key put on it. I began to look for a decent case/bag. I looked at snowboard cases & golf club travel cases etc... Somehow I was able to find a local bag manufacturer - Frontier Bag Company
Invalid Link Removed
They've been in business since the 1920s.
I got them to make me a quality bag (better zippers, 1" of foam all around the bag, stonger external & internal material, even a pocket for my bow). Simply put I'm in love with my bag. Since they've made mine they still have they measurements for the Palatino EUB. I got mine for $125. Great workmanship, & great people to deal with.
You can get a hold of them at 1-800-278-2247. Ask for Judy and mentioned they made one for me (Rick).
Again, this is my 1st post, I've been kinda shy about posting - but I had to share this with you guys.
Rick
Invalid Link Removed
Glad your aboard and keep posting. This is what makes the improvements happen and great prices for things needed.
I got my case from Colorado case company, paid 275 with shipping. It is a great bag and it will work on my Eminence too. I never thought to go your rought " great thinking" I certainly would have gone for saving the bucks.
Can you post some pictures of the case? We would like to see it. -Doug
Hi MKGriffs,
Thanks for your response! Is there any chance you could post some pictures of the wood rot here? That way I can keep an eye out for it or maybe even send the pics to the shop and tell them to ship me one that doesn't show any such signs.
Also maybe people here can confirm that it is wood rot, or might realize that theirs has it too.
Cheers,
Dan
p.s. I emailed the guy from the shop and he assured me they check all instruments before they ship them out and that in the event of a broken neck it would definately be exchanged.. Here's hoping...
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