Show Your SOVIET Basses - also, some GAS advice needed

[Dynacord]

Here's my Orfeus. Actually pretty usable in the right situation - like where one might want a Hofner type of sound. I'm happy to have it even though it might be the ugliest bass ever made.

 

[Gully Foyle]

Hi lovers of soviet low-end technology - anyone on the forum own a Roden? I'm hoping you might be willing to provide some measurements if so?

thanks

 

[bassbenj]

Thanks for that, bassbenj! I definitely want to use this as a playing/recording bass. Its special sound is going to turn out great in recordings.

I had no idea what shielding was all about... Gonna go to the kitchen to find some aluminum foil now...

It's actually a bit more tricky with a hollow body bass. With a solid body you just line the cavities to make a conductive enclosure that is grounded to stop the noise. Or you can paint the inside of the cavities with conductive paint. But remember the conductive material MUST be grounded. ALL of it. Aluminum foil works but has the problem it's hard to connect to. The usual way to connect to aluminum or paint is with a wood screw and a lockwasher that "bites" the foil with a solder lug on the screw.

But here's the bad news. With a hollow body the controls and wires are all sort of hanging out in the open. What high end hollow body instruments do is install a metal box that covers the whole pot area. If the bass doesn't come with one, this is not so easy to construct. Just putting a large sheet of grounded foil on the back of the bass will help but won't be as good as a box. If you use aluminum foil it need to have glue on or sprayed with spray glue (like scotch spra-mount). I use copper foil that comes with stickum. You buy it at places that deal in stained glass supplies (or from instrument places where it costs more) You can solder wires to copper foil no sweat. And even worse news is that with hollow body basses one important shield that is needed is shielded wire from the controls to the pickups. Again because it's all open the shielded wire substitutes for shielded cavites, but is hard to work with if the bass doesn't already have it. But if you keep at it, you can tame that noise! But be aware that that shielding a hollow body takes more effort than the usual bass but it can be done. the basic shielding idea is to try to enclose ALL electronics and wiring inside a grounded (means connected to jack body) conductive metal container. The shape of the container doesn't matter but you want as much electronics as possible inside it. The more that sticks out the more noise you get.

 

[Santol]

If you only knew how much that post helped me, bassbenj! I'm glad to know what the purpose of shielding is. I couldn't figure that out. I'll see how much of the noise I can get rid of this way. If I'm successful, this will be my main recording bass (because I love the tone so much). My Jazz Bass will just sit there, while I sit with this and lay some tracks into Pro-Tools.

 

[rockear]

Thread rise from your grave! Just received this in the mail today from Czechoslovakia by way of Ukraine. Jolana Diamant, which seems to have been manufactured in the late '70s or early '80s. It's very well built and I have no doubt it's going to play and sound great with new strings and a setup. I mostly play Japanese basses from the '70s and this is definitely in the same realm of quality. These go for under $300 on Reverb all the time. A steal IMHO.