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SPECTOR® Club - Part 27

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#741
grendle said:
Not sure they actually market to the metal crowd so much.
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I'm thinking more of the Signature artist models....mostly metal guys from the 80's-90's. Don't get me wrong, great players and great basses....just not much diversity there. Every time I see the guy with the blood splattered bass, I laugh at it. Give me a break.

grendle said:
Spectors are great for any style really. The thing that makes them so popular with the metal crowd is the tone. When you need to cut through yet support 2 guitars with big tones and a loud drummer, Spector delivers. They stay articulate, have great bottom end, and really don't need anything to sound great wile doing their thing. The majority of other basses get lost in the mix where the Spector holds its ground and does its job.
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Agree 100%.

grendle said:
What styles do you play? There are some good clips out there and on here. Agreed though , you will have to sort through lots of metal clips first. Sorry , its the best tool for that job imo, others seem to agree SS well :)
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Rock, blues, Funk, Jazz
 
#742
iceboxbass said:
Off subject...just heard on Fox News that the Department of Justice busted thru the doors of Gibson guitars, with guns and all out! :eek: Gibson CEO talked and said that the DOJ is saying that the Rosewood that they buy from India is illegal! Wow! CEO claims it was bought legally. Millions $$$ in Gibson assets have been ceased and factory closed down.
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Is this "again" or are you getting OLD Stories ?
I read that a long time ago.
 
#743
grendle said:
Not sure they actually market to the metal crowd so much. Spectors are great for any style really. The thing that makes them so popular with the metal crowd is the tone. When you need to cut through yet support 2 guitars with big tones and a loud drummer, Spector delivers. They stay articulate, have great bottom end, and really don't need anything to sound great wile doing their thing. The majority of other basses get lost in the mix where the Spector holds its ground and does its job.

What styles do you play? There are some good clips out there and on here. Agreed though , you will have to sort through lots of metal clips first. Sorry , its the best tool for that job imo, others seem to agree SS well :)
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That pretty much sums it up right there.

worshiprocker said:
+1

When Kramer owned Spector, they did market to Rock/Metal guys

but now that isn't the case...

To the OP have you seen this:
SPECTOR Tone Series - Euro4LX-TW-35 with Nicki Tedesco - YouTube
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Good call man. I keep forgetting that this was recorded so this should show some of the tones people are looking for.
 
#745
I finally got around to watching the Nicki Tedesco video.

First, I have to say she gives me a little bit of the hot. :)

What I was surprised to see is that for the rock and metal tones the treble and bass controls are completely boosted all the way? Very surprising. I'd like to get a look at the Ampeg settings because there must be compensation for that somewhere. Also do we know what the trimpot was set at for the video? The tone was great.

Gotta go look up "Thing For You" now - great tune.

EDIT - thinking about this some more, I recall she had the pickups in single coil mode. With the output being considerably lower in that mode perhaps that's what allows the boost to be completely up and not distort.
 
#746
Clearwave said:
I'm thinking more of the Signature artist models....mostly metal guys from the 80's-90's. Don't get me wrong, great players and great basses....just not much diversity there. Every time I see the guy with the blood splattered bass, I laugh at it. Give me a break.

Agree 100%.

Rock, blues, Funk, Jazz
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Check out the Coda. Might be right up your alley. All of the models sound great , I'm thinking your looking for a more traditional / vintage type tone. There are some different flavors to chose from. The usa bolt on and Forte models might be great for you too. I don't care for the TW opt personally. I wouldn't ever use it. The p/j is classic yet agressive.

The Alex Webster Sig is a great bass (with or without the blood splatter, plain black is avail) JP designed the graphic , for Cannibal Corpse it fits lol.
 
#748
grendle said:
Check out the Coda. Might be right up your alley. All of the models sound great , I'm thinking your looking for a more traditional / vintage type tone. There are some different flavors to chose from. The usa bolt on and Forte models might be great for you too. I don't care for the TW opt personally. I wouldn't ever use it. The p/j is classic yet agressive.

The Alex Webster Sig is a great bass (with or without the blood splatter, plain black is avail) JP designed the graphic , for Cannibal Corpse it fits lol.
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I'm sure the Coda is great, maybe that will introduce folks to the brand who would have overlooked it otherwise. But I'm a NS guy and I'm saying I believe it is good more more that just metal/hard rock.

I like old skool tones as much as a like modern spector tones. I keep my P bass around for old skool stuff. After about 2 minutes, I'm ready for a Spector!
 
#750
Clearwave said:
You'll find lots of metal guys love spector, why not? they're great basses. I think its unfortunate so much of their marketing is focused on the metal guys because they're great for any music that requires an electric bass.
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I'm not really sure why you feel that Spector's marketing is geared towards metal bassists...

Since I'm the guy who's been helping them develop their marketing for the past two years, I'm very interested to learn why you have this impression.

For instance on the front page of the site you have under USA basses the following artists (not talking about the Signature guys down the left side):
Doug Wimbish - from funk to rock
Billy Sherwood (Yes) - Progressive Rock
Leigh Fox (Blondie) - Pop/Rock
Bernard Harvey (Justin Bieber) - Pop
Abe Millett (Third Eye Blind) - Pop

Under the Euro Section you've got:
Evan Seinfeld - Metal
Mike Rodden - Pop/Rock
Olivier DeMartino - Hard Rock
Robbie Merrill - not what I'd really consider Metal. just more hard rock.
Alex Webster - Death Metal

Under the Professional Series:
Rich Campbell - Folk/Rock
Johnny April - Rock
Tim King - Hard Rock
Chris Kael - Metal
Eric Leonhardt - Rock

Under the Performer:
Nigel Griggs - Pop
Collin Raye - Country
Jerry Scott - Southern Rock

In the signature artists...

OK I'll give you Rex, Ian Hill and Alex Webster are Metal... or Death Metal in Alex's case...

But Garry Tallent... Bruce Springsteen is hardly considered Metal. A lot of his music isn't even rock... it's more pop or even folkish/pop.

I'd call Nickelback a Rock band. Not metal. But mainstream rock.

And Doug Wimbish has worked with everyone from the Sugar Hill Gang and rap stars to pop chart kings and queens to the hardest rocking band in his resume, Living Colour, who is a solid mainstream rock band in my opinion. I know Doug and he's no metal bassist.

-----------------------------------

Between 1985 and 1990, Kramer marketed Spector as a Metal/Hard Rock bass because that's what their guitars were marketed to.

And Kramer spent millions a year advertising, promoting and even giving guitars away to metal and hard rock bands.

Stuart was always against giving guitars away. It's nothing he's ever done. But the guys at Kramer didn't mind giving guitars away to hook an artist. So many, many NS-2A basses were handed out to musicians.

More money was spent on marketing and advertising for Spector in those 5 years than in all the other years combined.

And that "metal" label sticks until today.

But I can tell you first hand, because I'm the guy that Stuart and PJ call up and ask my opinion on these things and I'm the guy that designs the ads... Spector does not specifically market to metal bands. Or any other genre for that matter.

If anything Spector is always trying to broaden the appeal. Note I built an entire section highlighting female artists on the site. And look at the range of artists that have been selected for the spotlight section on each page.

Please do me a huge favor... can you tell me if this is a general impression you have just from the historical standpoint of the high-profile bands in Spector's history that have played them or do you feel that the current marketing materials seem to be designed to appeal more to metal?

I'm being sincere... if you can put your finger on why, telling me will help me because I've been working for 2 years to change this.

I totally agree with you. So many more genres of music would benefit from having bassists in those genres choose to play a Spector.

That's why when I developed the new Spector motto:
Uncompromising Quality
UNPARALLELED VERSATILITY
Unbelievable Sound

I worked really hard to find the three qualities that Spector has that sets it apart from everything else out there.
 
#751
Clearwave said:
Every time I see the guy with the blood splattered bass, I laugh at it. Give me a break.
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Seriously, forget that I designed that blood graphic for him... take it away and look at his signature bass without it.

I'm not really sure why you find Alex Webster or his bass "laughable". I know Alex personally and he's one of the most serious, intense musicians I've ever met. He's a deeply talented, amazing multi-instrumentalist who writes the majority of the music for his band.

Death Metal isn't my thing, but listen to Blotted Science, his instrumental project, and you tell me if you honestly think this guy's talent is the punch line of a joke.

He's been very supportive of Spector, he's one of the most technically gifted bassists I've ever met. He's a sincerely humble and nice guy who will talk to fans after shows when a lot of guys in smaller bands rush to their busses or whatever... and he's capable of sitting down and having conversations about music on a theoretical level that many PhD music candidates would have trouble keeping up with.

I think Spector is really lucky to have him be willing to be a 100% Spector artist (when he's played Spector and Modulus side-by-side for a decade), and I couldn't be more happy with his signature bass.

It's a super-fast necked 18v 3-band neck-thru fully-carved gloss black Spector. It's exactly what a ton of people have always asked for. And it sells as fast as it can be made.

So I'm not really sure why it makes you laugh.

And I'm not picking on you other than to point out that yes, Death Metal is a joke to a lot of people, but not to me, and not to people who can move past the over-the-top lyrics and croaking and get into the sheer technical mastery it takes to pull it off musically.

Just my thoughts on your comment... and I'm not being defensive about the graphic. It's nothing I would order for myself, it's not my thing. I did buy one just because I DID design it and I became a serious fan of Alex during the process of working with him and PJ to develop it.

He's really a great guy. And his wife is super chill and one seriously talented photographer. So these are people I personally like and enjoy knowing.

The Alex bass I bought is set to be signed and hung in my office in a special frame I'm having made. I'm not going to play it. It's a happy piece of memorabilia from my experience working with Alex.
 
#753
Clearwave said:
Maybe I'm being Mr. negative today but the slap, blues, and reggae examples don't impress me much.
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Yeah... someone got the Sunday morning grumpies today. :D

Seriously, I agree. I love Nicki. She's a true professional and she's a classically trained and educated musician. She teaches music when she's not running the recording studio she owns and she's not playing in three or four groups/bands in the LA area.

She's a sweetheart of a person. She'll also be the first to tell you that she's a metal/industrial rock bassist.

And PJ, Stuart and I spoke and we've decided that since we've had a bunch of Spector artists step up and want to do these videos, we'll be offering more than one video per model... to honestly give the best representation of the tone.

What you saw in the Nicki video was Nicki's take on slap, reggae, etc... and her take will be very different than Aalics Bronson, who is being brought up in the biz by Doug Wimbish.

And Lane Baldwin, who is a country/blues guy... that's all he does. Or Doug Grigsby, who besides being Teena Marie's music director and bassist, has worked with Michael Jackson and Patti LaBelle.

I've got 5 tone videos scheduled for filming in March. So hang on and be patient.

The plan is to have at least ONE video per model... for EVERY model Spector makes, and some models will have two or three or more videos.

It seems that everyone wants to do an NS-2 video. LOL. That and the Coda-4/5.

So in time it'll come together. I've got 4 My Spector Stories from NAMM, one done last week with Christy Lichtenstein and 3 more Spector Care videos to finish editing and get online.

Plus the new version of SpectorCentral, the new version of SpectorBass and SpectorGuitar. LOL.

No enough time in the day it would seem.
 
#754
delucajohn2000 said:
Trace, you should always post this after you quote Monty Python's The Holy Grail :) Not sure if everyone will get the reference, LOL.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
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You're mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberry. LOL.

LOVE this movie.

And you know, I was inspired by the black knight and the bridge "none shall pass" scene for Alex Webster's bloody bass. LOL.
 
#756
Clearwave said:
I'm sure the Coda is great, maybe that will introduce folks to the brand who would have overlooked it otherwise. But I'm a NS guy and I'm saying I believe it is good more more that just metal/hard rock.

I like old skool tones as much as a like modern spector tones. I keep my P bass around for old skool stuff. After about 2 minutes, I'm ready for a Spector!
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And with this I TOTALLY agree with you.

And please don't think I was being defensive. I really do want to understand why you feel the way you do because like you, I'm an NS guy and I totally think the NS is underrated in so many categories... it works just fine for country, for blues, for folk and for progressive... I've used it for everything from playing Staple Sisters (I'll take you there) to NIN.

My NS-4 has the best tonal range of any bass I've ever played.
 
#757
I know I always seem to jump to defend Alex Webster so I am sure everyone was expecting me to reply :) All I have to say is watch this video:

Cannibal Corpse - Frantic Disembowelment (Guitar, Bass & Dru - YouTube

There are no vocals in it since it was from the studio but I only wish I could have a fraction of the talent this guy has. Death Metal is not for everyone but there some seriously talented musicians that play that type of music so I will always give them the props they deserve.
 
#758
Clearwave said:
Oops, I should have wrote:

The blood splatter isn't for me......

Consider that fart smelled.
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No worries... I designed it and honestly it wouldn't be something I saw and said, "Yep, got to have me one of those!' LOL.

The bass sells better without the blood graphic. At least more have been ordered that way.

So no offense taken. I agree with you. It's a little over the top for my tastes.
 
#759
A few things.....

1.) Have you guys seen Johnee D'Shea's custom ordered US REX basses? OMG!!!
Link Removed

2.) Patrick, I don't think its that Spector is marketing towards metal bassist, or even that the website is skewed that way. I think it is that more and more popular hard rock/metal bassists use Spector and it is a lot more visible than say some one like Abe Millet that is using a bass that looks like a fender. It just doesn't stick out like the NS basses.

3.) I don't think Clearwave thinks Alex or his bass are a joke. It is simply a very custom looking bass. Its kind of like someone who isn't a KISS fan (they exist right?) might laugh that those guys dress up, wear makeup and platform shoes. I don't take Clearwaves comments as negative really. Just the POV of someone maybe not into a bass with graphics.

4.) Clearwave, Nikki's reggae and slap sections where enough to showcase the bass, I think. I wasn't blown away, but the video was just to show the range of tones, not Nikki's playing. Plus remember that bass is strung BEAD, so its not going to have the same killer slap that standard tuning would


had a killer gig last night. The CR4FM performed amazing. This thing slays my NS2A, I might have to get another one!!!
 
#760
JPSBassist said:
No worries... I designed it and honestly it wouldn't be something I saw and said, "Yep, got to have me one of those!' LOL.

The bass sells better without the blood graphic. At least more have been ordered that way.

So no offense taken. I agree with you. It's a little over the top for my tastes.
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Perhaps you guys should exchange shrubberies and make amends.
:hiding:

And yeah,over the top would be a good way to describe the blood graphic (and cannibal corpse). But dang, Alex can really play. Blotted science FTW

I will say this about versatility, I am a bit of a metal fan, and the tone works great in that setting. However, I don't get to play metal much because there aren't a lot of people who play metal near me. I've use my legend for jazz/Latin at jazz camp, pop rock, regular rock, and third wave ska. The bass sounds great in all these settings.

I think the 'metal' image still exists because a lot of the more 'visible' Spector players play metal. Arif mirabdolbaghi, Dan Briggs, Colin Edwin (porcupine tree sort of blurs genre lines, but they've done some metal-ish stuff), etc. those were some of the big Spector players I knew of before I got one. After I got my legend I started browsing the Spector site more and checking out other Spector players.
 
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