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Show your Blades!
- Thread starter BassAgent
- Start date
There is a local music store near me that is a Blade dealer. I never tried one but a guitarist I work with has a Blade guitar (strat type). It is a very nicely built axe and sounds as great as it looks. Judging from that I bet the basses are also very good.
If you go to their website, take a look at the guitarists that use their guitars. Quite a few studio guys use them. Gary Levinson, who is the guy behind Blade, follows in the tradition of other guys that have taken a great design (Fender) and tweaked it here and there. The necks on these basses are really special. All they are is a cut above, improved Fenders. I have three other Fenders and always grab the Blade to go to gigs.
There are a couple of guys on TB that have them. They're easily available in Europe. Not so in the states. I see them pop up on the Swiss eBay clone fairly often. They're being mass produced now. The ones to get your hands on are the hand made ones. Nonetheless, I put them in between Fender and Sadowsky, both in quality, fit, playability and price. I fatten mine up with a Sadowsky floor preamp. Very nice set up.
I was browsing through a 1992 issue of Bass Player and found an ad for SWR. The ad featured a tall SWR stack surrounded by a number of high end basses. There is a Sadowsky, Pedulla, Zon, Ken Smith, Modulus....and low and behold...a Blade.
The script of the ad said "We'd like to thank respectable builders that recognize and recommend SWR, such as Blade , Lane Poor, ......etc.
I'll try to scan the ad tonight. It rightly puts Blade basses in the league they belong in. Unfortunate they are no longer as well known in America as they once were.
Yet another Swiss/American secret.
The script of the ad said "We'd like to thank respectable builders that recognize and recommend SWR, such as Blade , Lane Poor, ......etc.
I'll try to scan the ad tonight. It rightly puts Blade basses in the league they belong in. Unfortunate they are no longer as well known in America as they once were.
Yet another Swiss/American secret.
Here is a scan of the ad from the July/August issue of Bass Player magazine:
http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r171/mcelligotb/Blade/?action=view¤t=sc00896f7b.jpg
The Blade is on the extreme right side of the ad. It's mentioned in the ad copy.
http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r171/mcelligotb/Blade/?action=view¤t=sc00896f7b.jpg
The Blade is on the extreme right side of the ad. It's mentioned in the ad copy.
They are an interesting phenomena. They are fairly popular here in Europe, yet you don't see them everywhere. I must say that every one I have picked up in a shop is consistantly good.
I'm curious to know the different versions of Blade's. There are three distinct headstock shapes: the one in the ad, the Fender style and the current paddle head. Apparently Gary Levinson hand made them at one time. They are all now produced offshore.
It's too bad they are not better promoted in North America. They fit in nicely between MIA Fenders and Sadowsky's in terms of price.
You're absolutely right bmc. I've never seen an American with a Blade 
The basses with the paddle head have been made since the restart of Blade a couple of years ago. Before that I think they made Fender heads, and I guess even before thát the things in the ad were produced. Not sure if that's entirely correct.
The basses with the paddle head have been made since the restart of Blade a couple of years ago. Before that I think they made Fender heads, and I guess even before thát the things in the ad were produced. Not sure if that's entirely correct.
Jazz Ad has a link to a French bass players site, just like TB. If you can read French, so a search for Blade. There's a good thread on them, comparing them to Sadowsky's by Sadowsky owners.
I did an inquiry on here a couple months back about Blades because a guitar player at my church has a Blade strat that absolutely SMOKES!
and I checked out their basses, and they intrigued me...
found out that there are a few "bladers" here in Australia and I was turned on to a dealer in Newcastle. Now it's just a matter of finding that missing bag-o-money
and I checked out their basses, and they intrigued me...
found out that there are a few "bladers" here in Australia and I was turned on to a dealer in Newcastle. Now it's just a matter of finding that missing bag-o-money
The US distributor is about 2 miles from my house in Englewood Colorado. I do see a few music stores in town stocking them and the distributor has quite a few hanging in his store. Don't know why I've never picked one up to play before. They'er not bad looking basses.
