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SPECTOR® Club - Part 22

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#342
sforzato said:
Hello everyone in the Spector Club. I need some input. I realize that most of you will be a little bias but that is alright. I have a Fender Marcus Miller 4 I've been trying to sell on CL for a couple of months. It's a nice bass and I play it quite often. I have a 83 Jazz that is my main work horse but I'm trying to give it a rest as the frets are almost gone and I would like to semi retire it. So anyway I need a 5 string as I'm playing a lot of music that needs that lower register. So I get a call from a guy who has a Spector LX5 and he wants to trade me, apparently it's to big for him. It looks like I will be trading up. I'm so use to the nice slim Jazz neck and I love the sound of a Jazz bass; what kind of sounds does the Spector euros produce. What should I expect. Apparently it's been set up by Mike Lull so I'm sure it will be a sweet set up. I'm playing in a Top 40 band but I venture into Jazz and funk/fusion a bit also.
Click to expand...

I played my 2000 NS5-CRFM (essentially the older euro model) at church this morning. It was excellent!! The sound engineer actually commented on my tone, which was rare from him. But it sorta reminded me a jazz bass with punch. I was playing through a fender
BXR200, which is okay.
Anyways, the tone is very clear, and punchy with sustain. If you boost lows and low mids and cut highs, it cuts through the mix like butter. Very clear, too.
I love it. The only bass that I'll ever want is a USA NS5 and Carvin AC50F for my upright sound.
Also, a few days ago, I was playing blues with it. I soloed the bridge PU, with bass boost 60% and treble boost 10%, and it sounded pretty sweet. Punch, clear, and clangly, which I was going for. It was a good clangy though. :D
 
#343
sforzato said:
Hello everyone in the Spector Club. I need some input. I realize that most of you will be a little bias but that is alright. I have a Fender Marcus Miller 4 I've been trying to sell on CL for a couple of months. It's a nice bass and I play it quite often. I have a 83 Jazz that is my main work horse but I'm trying to give it a rest as the frets are almost gone and I would like to semi retire it. So anyway I need a 5 string as I'm playing a lot of music that needs that lower register. So I get a call from a guy who has a Spector LX5 and he wants to trade me, apparently it's to big for him. It looks like I will be trading up. I'm so use to the nice slim Jazz neck and I love the sound of a Jazz bass; what kind of sounds does the Spector euros produce. What should I expect. Apparently it's been set up by Mike Lull so I'm sure it will be a sweet set up. I'm playing in a Top 40 band but I venture into Jazz and funk/fusion a bit also.
Click to expand...

It depends on how old the Euro5LX is and which pickup set it has. They Euro5LX now comes with the EMG TW pickups. Which are single coil (like Jazz pups) or dual-coil tapping.

I can say... it's a hard thing to make a call on. The SPECTOR Euro5LX is active pickup/active tone control. So coming from a Jazz Bass background it's going to be new and sort of alien to play and hear. BIG-deep sound out of the Euro5LX.

I have a good friend who is a famous jazz bassist and I honestly never approached him about playing a SPECTOR until Stuart started making the Coda, which is a classic J-Bass style bass. He still plays another bass (he has a closet full of authentic, vintage J-Basses) because he's also the sort of guy who wants free guitars and in some cases he wants to get paid to play someone's bass and SPECTOR just doesn't do things that way.

The neck is going to be a lot different. It's going to feel a lot thicker. Now of course it's neck thru... so you'll have sustain in way you've never experienced. I've learned how to palm mute some songs because if you don't the notes will ring on and on and on... LOL.

The tone will be really shocking at first. Much more growl and depending on the mode you run the pups in (if they are TW dual coil tapping EMGs), you can get a wide range of tone from that single bass. I know guys who went from carrying two or three basses around with them for gigs to a single Euro5LX because it did everything they needed in one nice package.

You should see if you can play the bass and test it out first. I mean that's honestly the best way to see if it's something you're going to like/love or hate.

I've seen it go both ways... another good friend of mine, Darryl Anders (Tower of Power) who is a BIG-TIME J-Bass guy recently picked up a SPECTOR Euro Doug Wimbish and he's gotten the SPECTOR fever. He loves it. And he's getting more. John Montagna (Alan Parsons Project) is another former J-Bass player who plays nothing but SPECTOR now. He chose the Euro-Series bolt-on model... the ReBop.

And I've seen hard-core J-Bass players sit down and play a SPECTOR for 10-15 minutes, get up and say, "Glad I tried it... but will never want one... it's just not for me."

You won't really know until you sit down and try it.

Let us know how it goes. Best of luck to you either way!
 
#344
JPSBassist said:
STOP! Don't touch it. Contact PJ on Tuesday (he's not in the office tomorrow). IF your truss is frozen, it can be one of a couple of things... none of them are very good. But if you've tightened it to the point where the nut has locked onto the threads, doing anything can snap the treads off the rod and then you've got some serious problems.

Call PJ on Tuesday and see what he recommends. I'd see if you can send it to the NY Workshop (no one calls it a factory because it's the size of an average apartment and only 4 people work there to make basses with Jo Ann in the front office... it's hardly a "factory"... LOL). Stuart is the MASTER neck man... his gift to the world is the amazing touch he has in designing necks... They'll get that old truss out and replace it with a newer one.

Better you do this than damage the truss and end up with a guitar you can't play.

And for the record, my Euro4LX-TW has the single action truss in it and I can't get the string below 1/8th of an inch without buzzing. So I feel you on the string height thing. My NS-2 and NS-4 are set at 1/16th. And they are perfect with no buzzing.

Another thing... just a thought... you know that when you adjust your truss you should do it with the bass strings slack. And after you've set it and brought the strings up to tension and tune them, you should wait 12 to 24 hours to let the neck settle before adjusting it again. You get the best results that way. It took me a week of playing with the bridge saddles and the trusses of my NS-2 and NS-4... a small adjustment each night, to work them down to the height they are.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply JPS. I just don't know what it is with me and truss rods. The rod is frozen on my Warwick, my NS-2A and my Euro. I haven't actually adjusted any of them, as they were all completely solid when I got the basses. The action on the Warwick and the NS-2A are perfect though, fortunately. I haven't bothered even trying the rods on my Squier or Ibanez, as they're probably the same :crying:

I always slacken the strings right off before attempting any adjustment, and do the waiting thing as you suggest.

About contacting PJ - I'm not sure how he will be able to help me to be honest. But I'd certainly be willing to give him a call and see if there's any advice he's able to give me over the phone. I'm in the UK, so there isn't the option of sending the guitar to NY to look over and get fixed.

I've googled the problem and there are a lot of people suggesting that getting some WD40 on the nut and rod would sort the problem out, but I'm sure as hell not a tech - I'm terrified of making a mess of things as you say, and end up with an unplayable instrument.
 
#345
sforzato said:
Hello everyone in the Spector Club. I need some input. I realize that most of you will be a little bias but that is alright. I have a Fender Marcus Miller 4 I've been trying to sell on CL for a couple of months. It's a nice bass and I play it quite often. I have a 83 Jazz that is my main work horse but I'm trying to give it a rest as the frets are almost gone and I would like to semi retire it. So anyway I need a 5 string as I'm playing a lot of music that needs that lower register. So I get a call from a guy who has a Spector LX5 and he wants to trade me, apparently it's to big for him. It looks like I will be trading up. I'm so use to the nice slim Jazz neck and I love the sound of a Jazz bass; what kind of sounds does the Spector euros produce. What should I expect. Apparently it's been set up by Mike Lull so I'm sure it will be a sweet set up. I'm playing in a Top 40 band but I venture into Jazz and funk/fusion a bit also.
Click to expand...

Wow, Mike Lull did the setup on that? Going from a Jazz bass to a Euro 5LX is going to take some getting used to since the neck is going to definitely seem bigger to you.

Do you have the opportunity to try it out first? Going from a neck that thin on a Jazz to a 35" scale Euro 5LX might be a little tough for some but once you hear that Spector B string, your eyes will just light up.

As far as sounds, depending on the year it was made might make a difference since the newer ones have the tonepumps with the adjustable trim pot. The older tonepumps didn't have this and some of them tended to be very hot sounding so people weren't too happy with them. If it has the EMG TW pickups, that will allow you to put each pickup in single coil mode by pulling up on the volume knob for each pickup. You can tell if it has these pickups if EMG is written in orange. If it is written in white, they will be the 40DC pickups which are great also but don't have that extra setting like the TW ones do.

I love my Euro 5LX and I think you will like the one you are looking at also but just make sure the neck is comfortable for you since you are used to a Jazz bass. I dont think you will be disappointed and feel free to ask as many questions you need to.
 
#347
JPSBassist said:
I'm sorry Phat! I was approached by a fellow TB SPECTOR Club member several months ago about the possibility of the Forte-6 and I ran it up the flagpole to PJ and he was actually excited to hear that someone was interested in one.

So yes... there hasn't been any made which is why there hasn't been one displayed on the SPECTOR site (I guess I could photoshop one and put it there so people know you can order on).

I'd LOVE to see you get the first Forte-6. That would be awesome!

I thought I said something about being able to order one here in the forum. I'm pretty sure I did. My bad if I'm mixed up on that. It's been a nutty few months, especially with me blowing my knee out and needing surgery (which I'm putting off until after NAMM... I'll be gimpy-limpy at the show the year)....
Click to expand...

JPS you did mention about being able to order the Forte 6, back in Nov. sometime. I was thinking of ordering that instead of the 5...maybe config. ABEADG.
 
#351
GangstaBean said:
Is there anyways an EMG BQC Preamp could be wired to coil tap each pickup on volume and blend knobs? I'm thinking about putting one in my CRFM with TWs.
Also, has anyone tried the EMG-X series pickups in Spector's?
Click to expand...

I haven't tried the X series... However... I won't say who, but from what I gathered was the x series has a more noticeable difference in guitar pickups then bass..
 
#352
guy n. cognito said:
Don Oatman at LDS does GREAT work. That is one of the best built, best sounding cabs I've ever owned. Hell, he even matched the grain on the tweed in the back where he has to join the pieces.

The cab has huge bottom end, smooth mids, but almost obnoxious highs. I'm not really a high end person, and I would exclude the tweet again if I built another. The tweet doesn't cross over until somewhere like 3000 hz, which means it adds little more that string noise and clank. I usually keep it attenuated almost off.

It is definitely a full range cab. That is generally a good thing, unless you have a cab with "sonic humps" that you prefer. If so, you'll spend a lot of time twisting knobs trying to get your tone. And, despite what some of the fEarful fans may tell you, it won't emulate the tone or feel of a cab like a sealed 810, or other sonically unique cabs.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the balanced assessment - the fEarful fans rave about these cabs like they turn water into wine! Still, there seems to be a lot to like, I may take a ride out to the desert to hear a 15/6 made by an official builder.

Two additional questions - does the cab accentuate the classic Spector growl? Do you find the high end obnoxious with all basses you play?
 
#353
steamthief said:
Thanks for the balanced assessment - the fEarful fans rave about these cabs like they turn water into wine! Still, there seems to be a lot to like, I may take a ride out to the desert to hear a 15/6 made by an official builder.

Two additional questions - does the cab accentuate the classic Spector growl? Do you find the high end obnoxious with all basses you play?
Click to expand...

Yes and yes. The cab is balanced and lets the true nature of any bass shine through.

I'm just not a tweeter guy, and the cab just has too much high end with any bass. Since the cab crosses over to the tweet so high, it's just all clack and string noise to my ear.

Oh I'll add one more thing. If you audition one, make sure it's fully broken in. The 3015 needs to be loosened up and sounds honky until it does.
 
#354
iceboxbass said:
You don't remember me teasing you that I'll be the first Forte 6 owner back in part 20? I think 20?
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I guess if you're refering to a TBLE Forte 6 (and I thought you were), then yes. However, I have a feeling that would be numbered as such vs. a normal (and first :smug:) Forte 6.

If I do go the non-TBLE route so I can get it in black, I am going to make it conditional on Stuart signing it as "Forte 6 #1". :D
 
#357
Evil Undead said:
Thanks for the reply JPS. I just don't know what it is with me and truss rods. The rod is frozen on my Warwick, my NS-2A and my Euro. I haven't actually adjusted any of them, as they were all completely solid when I got the basses. The action on the Warwick and the NS-2A are perfect though, fortunately. I haven't bothered even trying the rods on my Squier or Ibanez, as they're probably the same :crying:
Click to expand...
All of them?!? Are you in an unusually humid region where the wood in your basses may be expanding and compressing the rod? I know many regions of the UK gets lots of rain/moisture.

I've run into a few truss rods that had this issue and required some muscle to get moving again, but this is definitely a "try at your bass' risk" option. :hmm:
 
#358
I have a quick question for you guys. My battery just went bad in my bass (at least I hope it was the battery) as I'm getting some not so great fuzz coming from my amp. Has anyone re routed the battery so you don't have to take the whole control plate off the bass to switch the battery?
 
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