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Show us your Martin Keith Basses
- Thread starter 77stingray
- Start date
- Jun 29, 2006
- 5,148
- 3,216
- Disclosures
- President, CEO, CFO, CIO, Chief Engineer, Technician, Janitor - Reiner Amplification
My bass arrived safely yesterday and it's pretty much immaculate. I restrung it with a balanced set of EB Cobalts, 40 -135 tuned down half a step, and then fine tuned the neck relief and string height. I've never used a double expanding truss rod before I wasn't sure about it, so I shot Martin and email and he of course responded very quickly! It was strange at first having to crank on it the opposite direction as you go past neutral/no tension to dial in some relief - and it takes some cranking due to the composite neck construction which is very stiff, but everything works exactly as it should!
I love the neck profile, balance, and general aesthetics. Fit and finish are pretty dang impressive. It has an Audere Classic four band preamp which I am really enjoying - a lot of flexibility, and as a passive guy it sounds very warm and natural. Overall, the tone is warm, thick, and clear, and the pickup and EQ seem well-matched.
It was pretty late by the time I got everything setup, so I couldn't crank up, but I stayed up way too late anyway jamming on it. Can't wait to get home and get some more time in. More to come!
I love the neck profile, balance, and general aesthetics. Fit and finish are pretty dang impressive. It has an Audere Classic four band preamp which I am really enjoying - a lot of flexibility, and as a passive guy it sounds very warm and natural. Overall, the tone is warm, thick, and clear, and the pickup and EQ seem well-matched.
It was pretty late by the time I got everything setup, so I couldn't crank up, but I stayed up way too late anyway jamming on it. Can't wait to get home and get some more time in. More to come!
What a beautiful bass JGR! I love Martin's work. At this point I'm just not using another bass. Super cool that yours has the acoustic neck. I really feel that's the way to go now that I have one.
Sorry, I have not been on this thread like I should be! All of these basses look and sound fantastic....wow! I've been slammed with work this year. If anyone has questions about any of mine, just ask. I'll try to put together some clips too, but it won't be until September most likely.
I finally recorded something better with the semi-hollow.
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- Jun 29, 2006
- 5,148
- 3,216
- Disclosures
- President, CEO, CFO, CIO, Chief Engineer, Technician, Janitor - Reiner Amplification
I've gotten the neck adjusted and everything settled in - it plays very well, and is extremely comfortable. I'm running EB Cobalts, 135 - 40 balanced set, tuned down half a step.
One major change - I pulled the Audere Classic and replaced it with a boost-only 2-band Nordstrand which was a big improvement. The Audere is very nice sounding, but it added a low-mid thickness that was too much with the single P pickup (I think it would be great with a dual pickup configuration). I also prefer the simplicity of 2-band/boost-only. Boosting bass and treble now creates a massive sound in conjunction with the natural mids of the P pickup, and it sounds clear and authoritative with both fingerstyle and pick.
One other change I made to the electronics - the original push-pull volume pot was 500K. A typical P pickup with volume and tone sees a resistance of ~125k. With the single 500K volume, the tone was fairly balanced when using the Audere, but when bypassed the pickup sounded overly bright and a bit thin. I switched the volume pot to 250K which sounded much better in passive, and then added a 500K resistor across it which gives classic tone with maybe a bit more cut.
Passive and active modes sound very similar if not totally identical now.
Everything is now balanced and beautiful sounding and I'm pretty thrilled with the instrument. And I have to note that Martin's electronic work is as clean and beautiful as the rest of his craftsmanship!
One major change - I pulled the Audere Classic and replaced it with a boost-only 2-band Nordstrand which was a big improvement. The Audere is very nice sounding, but it added a low-mid thickness that was too much with the single P pickup (I think it would be great with a dual pickup configuration). I also prefer the simplicity of 2-band/boost-only. Boosting bass and treble now creates a massive sound in conjunction with the natural mids of the P pickup, and it sounds clear and authoritative with both fingerstyle and pick.
One other change I made to the electronics - the original push-pull volume pot was 500K. A typical P pickup with volume and tone sees a resistance of ~125k. With the single 500K volume, the tone was fairly balanced when using the Audere, but when bypassed the pickup sounded overly bright and a bit thin. I switched the volume pot to 250K which sounded much better in passive, and then added a 500K resistor across it which gives classic tone with maybe a bit more cut.
Passive and active modes sound very similar if not totally identical now.
Everything is now balanced and beautiful sounding and I'm pretty thrilled with the instrument. And I have to note that Martin's electronic work is as clean and beautiful as the rest of his craftsmanship!
- Jun 29, 2006
- 5,148
- 3,216
- Disclosures
- President, CEO, CFO, CIO, Chief Engineer, Technician, Janitor - Reiner Amplification
The Elfin Plus totally killed my hard rock gig tonight. In a good way, of course! The two adjacent pickups might not seem versatile, but the neck is a reverse P and the bridge is a Music Man (with series and parallel modes), so there's tons of variety. Plays like a dream, balances beautifully.
My *only* complaint is that it's my only 24-fret bass, so I have to be careful in the upper register... every so often I miss when I do a quick fill up there.
Of course the complaint is with ME, not the bass!
As much as I love the aesthetics of the aluminum knobs Martin uses on his basses, they don't have any indicators other than the Allen screws. While this works for the single knobs, it doesn't for the stacked knobs as the screw needs to be on the back side facing away from the player.
I'm a nut for the knobs Sadowsky uses, so I finally got around to ordering a set. A big shout-out to BBG (shipped me a concetric set at a lowered shipping rate) and BLMS (Lawrence is awesome and his smaller Kilo knobs PERFECTLY match the upper knob on the concentric set).
(I need to tweak the alignment a bit)
Previously:
I'm a nut for the knobs Sadowsky uses, so I finally got around to ordering a set. A big shout-out to BBG (shipped me a concetric set at a lowered shipping rate) and BLMS (Lawrence is awesome and his smaller Kilo knobs PERFECTLY match the upper knob on the concentric set).
(I need to tweak the alignment a bit)
Previously:
Last edited:
First class choice on the Sadowsky knobs!
I’ve used them a lot myself. Thumbs up to BBG too!
I’ve used them a lot myself. Thumbs up to BBG too!
So there’s another one on the way...
6 string fretted. Ash/maple body and katalox fretboard. Aguilar DCB’s and an Audere preamp. Did you know Martin offered fanned frets? Also check out the logo is inlaid wood
6 string fretted. Ash/maple body and katalox fretboard. Aguilar DCB’s and an Audere preamp. Did you know Martin offered fanned frets? Also check out the logo is inlaid wood
Saw the neck last time I was up there. Very cool! May I ask, why the Audere? I tried those like three times. Really wanted to like them but I just couldn't.
