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Renaissance/Turner Basses Club

#341
Jeff Scott said:
I used to have a couple of F-1X preamps that I ran through Stewart World 1.2 power amps. Great preamp, wouldn't mind another one if I was gigging, but I am not at the moment.

I sold the RB4-FL earlier this year so I am Rick(Turner) less, now. Glad you, and others, are keeping the flame alive. :)

Happy Holly Daze!
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Jeff..don't know if you are on FB, but the shop has been posting some incredible Rens made out of really beautiful, seasoned wood. Everyone here might want to take a look. Also, I had my Ren deuce made into a fretless last month, with a new fingerboard..really top quality work by Rich DeWitt and the Boss. Fast turnaround too.

They are seriously back , with a great solid crew and some cool innovations. If you haven't taken a look recently..head west.
 
#342
I'm not a FaceBag user so thanks for posting this, glad to hear they are running on all cylinders again. I'm only a couple hours away so i will schedule some time after the holidays to go down and say hello plus get a tuneup for my '98 Ren.


johnp352 said:
Jeff..don't know if you are on FB, but the shop has been posting some incredible Rens made out of really beautiful, seasoned wood. Everyone here might want to take a look. Also, I had my Ren deuce made into a fretless last month, with a new fingerboard..really top quality work by Rich DeWitt and the Boss. Fast turnaround too.

They are seriously back , with a great solid crew and some cool innovations. If you haven't taken a look recently..head west.
Click to expand...
 
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#343
jibass said:
I'm not a FaceBag user so thanks for posting this, glad to hear they are running on all cylinders again. I'm only a couple hours away so i will schedule some time after the holidays to go down and say hello plus get a tuneup for my '98 Ren.
Click to expand...

Adding Thanks - I don't use Facebook either, but I try to keep up with what's going on at Renaissance Guitars.
 
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#344
I'm late in getting to this thread, but I was thinking about my old Electroline just yesterday.

I used to own an early 4-string, fretted Electroline. It was a spectacularly beautiful instrument, with a one-piece ash body and a clear finish and one of the nicest feeling necks I've ever played. It had no serial number, which made me think it was a prototype of some sort.

Unfortunately, it had some issues, which led to my selling it:
  • The single magnetic pickup was the diamond-shaped type. The sound of the outer two strings was much weaker than that of the inner (A and D) strings.
  • The piezo pickup produced a lot of very low end. The 100-watt Walter Woods amplifier I had at the time would run out of power and fart out because of this. In retrospect, I should have used a high-pass filter. The instrument needed a built-in high-pass filter.
  • The neck had some severe dead spots. I used to use a Fat Finger with this bass, which partially corrected the problem.
All of which was too bad, because that was one gorgeous bass. Wish I still had pictures.
 
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#345
@RHFusillo

Yeah, that must have been a very early Electroline you had. I'm wondering if you remember, was the end of the fingerboard squared off like this one- Rick Turner Electroline Five String Deep Blue | Reverb

Or rounded into the familiar sweep like this one- [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]:

I seem to remember RT had originally developed the Electroline for Gibson, but they never followed through, so he put them into production after his departure. They're so seldom seen that I don't know what the evolution between different years was.

Sorry you had a different experience, but I love my two EL-535-PMM's. Just so radically different from everything else. So many possibilities that it takes a while to figure out what tone you like for what job you're playing.
 
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#346
Jeff Scott said:
Stanley, are you around?.............
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Made by Turner.
But not a Turner. alembic-stanley-clarke-signature-deluxe-custom-5-177842.jpg
 
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#347
Just bumping our thread...

I'm getting ready to load up for a Sunday evening restaurant gig in town, with an acoustic indy/folk group. As usual, both my RB-5's in tow.

During the cold/dry months of Winter, I've been leaving the Turners in their cases with humidifiers, but for the past couple days it's begun to warm up. Finally got them out in the stands where I can play on them. Just happened to remember, I'm coming up on a 3-year anniversary with that quilted maple Renaissance... got that one from RT himself February 27th, 2013.

Hang in there fellas, Winter's almost over. ;)
 

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#348
Just got my Raven 2 channel preamp back from my tech..he trashed the awful power supply, installed a new standard one and put in a rechargeable that charges up on a trickle..really nice. Since my Ren deuce is dual mono out (mag and the bridge pu's) I run this in 2 channels, and then to a sound system..As Bernie would say YYuge.

AFA Winter, Ed..here in Chicago, the real winter isn't over until after St Paddy's day..then it only takes to the middle of June to turn the heat off.

oh..and if anyone is on FB, the Boss just posted the middle stages of a baritone he's building for his son..it's from that stash of redwood he got and it is gorgeous. He's also blogging now and there's a great story about McVie and Buckingham..I didn't know one of the basses he made for McVie had a stainless steel fretless board..th e one that's used on the FM tune The Chain.
 
#349
johnp352 said:
<snip>...I didn't know one of the basses he made for McVie had a stainless steel fretless board..th e one that's used on the FM tune The Chain.
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Yessir, that'd be this one. ;)

I read that post too. Too bad there's so much bad blood between him and the old shop, since they were so fantastic together. On the other hand, they seem to have done fine separately too. I guess that's just how it goes sometimes. I still deeply admire both their respective products immensely though.
 

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#350
EdwardofHuncote said:
Yessir, that'd be this one. ;)

I read that post too. Too bad there's so much bad blood between him and the old shop, since they were so fantastic together. On the other hand, they seem to have done fine separately too. I guess that's just how it goes sometimes. I still deeply admire both their respective products immensely though.
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I'd never seen that one..very cool, thanks.

And the headstock of your Ren in the pic next to it ..I did a double take..while my Deuce was in the shop being unfretted, they also replaced the plastic headstock face with a ..beautiful golden colored quilted maple face plate. I am going to get some pics soon, will post. It also got the "exclamation point" f less markers ..love those little buggers.
 
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#351
Hey cats!
Hope you can help me out. I just recently started digging into my Ren 5 FL. Couple of questions as I am primarily an upright player.

1. What's the best way to record this in the studio. In my opinion I thought the best sound i got was from actually micing an amplifier in the studio. I went direct once and totally hated the sound.

2. How do you guys travel with this usually. I took one flight with it in my lifetime and luckily I was allowed to carry it on. I have been forced to gate check a Pbass a couple times, but I am not sure a Ren would survive a flight.

3. Also are the necks on these things swappable? It be pretty sick to have a fretted neck option to swap on when needed.

Thanks in advance.
 
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#352
arseniotall said:
Hey cats!
Hope you can help me out. I just recently started digging into my Ren 5 FL. Couple of questions as I am primarily an upright player.

1. What's the best way to record this in the studio. In my opinion I thought the best sound i got was from actually micing an amplifier in the studio. I went direct once and totally hated the sound.

2. How do you guys travel with this usually. I took one flight with it in my lifetime and luckily I was allowed to carry it on. I have been forced to gate check a Pbass a couple times, but I am not sure a Ren would survive a flight.

3. Also are the necks on these things swappable? It be pretty sick to have a fretted neck option to swap on when needed.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

1)I have done it both ways..actually another way is to use a good preamp as well. the dtar pu/pre has such a YUUUGE range, that a compressor is usually a good idea too. I suppose the answer is to see what kind of pre amp is in the studio, and whether you like the sound of it. Sorry I realize that ain't much of an answer..but ..how do you record your upright?
2)I used to worry about flying, but almost all domestic flights now allow you to carry on the bass and put it in the overhead..going to Europe and Japan too, and I have done this over the last few years. The hang up sometimes is shorter hops in country..going from Kyoto to Sapporo FE, we had to put the instruments in a box and they were hand carried on. So again, it really depends what airline and where. Sometimes I have it in a gig bag (much easier on the ground/van/bus), sometimes in the larger rigid poly case.
3) AFA swappable..Rick will make you a neck that will fit the pocket, but it won't be inexpensive. For a while I had 2 5's... fretless and fretmore, but as I am not Paul Flippin Mac, it got to be a bit much carrying everything around. as I had an electroline 5 as well..and amps..and pedals...
 
#353
arseniotall said:
Hey cats!
Hope you can help me out. I just recently started digging into my Ren 5 FL...

1. What's the best way to record this in the studio.
Click to expand...
This recording of my old RB5-FL was through my (former) Avalon U5 to the recorder (Tascam MX-2424).



This recording is of my old RB4-FL through my Raven Labs PHA-1 to the recorder (Korg D1600 Mk II).

 
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#354
I (literally) just left a recording session with my fretless RB-5. We've been using a John Demeter preamp... I just keep the on-board treble rolled off 90% and adjust my right hand attack per tune. It's very dry/uncolored this way, but the engineer declares it's soooo much easier to get those sweet mellow tones at mix. Which I guess you could do just as easily by mic'ing an amp. I've done both (using a Mesa Walkabout) but I prefer just direct from that little Demeter tube pre.

Regarding neck swaps; generally yes, just an easy switcheroo, however there are some differences between pre-2010 necks. Look back in the first few pages of this thread (*about page 5) for an illustration of two different necks. The neck pocket looks to be the same but It's like RT must have moved the fingerboard and bridge location closer to the lower bout at some point... maybe to improve balance?
 
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#355
Jeff Scott said:
This recording of my old RB5-FL was through my (former) Avalon U5 to the recorder (Tascam MX-2424).



This recording is of my old RB4-FL through my Raven Labs PHA-1 to the recorder (Korg D1600 Mk II).

Click to expand...


Thanks for the samples! This sounds great and very similiar to the sound I got going direct. Unfortunately its not the sound I was looking for. It sounds so different from the sound I get live(through a bass amp). Its more of a wolly deep synth bass like sound. Closest I have gotten without an amp is through one of the bass amp simulator programs on my DAW. I mentioned that to an engineer once and he looked at me sideways.

Maybe mic'd amp is the way to go. It limits the isolation but I guess I will have to live with it. Direct just sounds too PIEZOY (really brittle at times and uneven on the high end.) To me atleast.

Thanks for your help! I love this bass. Only bass guitar I truly feel comfortable on.
 
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#356
My Ren 5FL is often relegated to 'specialty' duty, and hasn't been getting a lot of use lately. I had a call for a pick-up bar gig (guitar, bass, drums, female vocalist) last weekend and knew that the singer would want to do some things that the fretless would be perfect (Angel, Come To My Window, Bobbie McGee, etc.), so I decided to bring it. The first tune called was I Know What I Know. I picked up the Ren. It sounded so good and was so much fun to play, I ended up playing it the entire night! I was surprised at how well it worked for all songs from Locked Out Of Heaven to I Kissed A Girl to Zepplin's Rock and Roll. I got lots of compliments on the sound from the band as well as audience members, including a couple of local musicians who had stopped by.

For these kinds of gigs, I've been mostly using my trusty '65 Jazz with a Hipshot strung with TI Jazz Rounds and my Roscoe Beck V strung with TI Jazz Flats. I may need to rethink and bring the Ren far more often.
 
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