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The best European basses?

#121
european basses that i've tried out have mostly been mentioned here, but thought i should re-iterate my favs:

- Mørch (i own 2 of em!!! - best bass out there IMHO)
- Marleaux (consat, M Bass, betra)
- Bassline (worp, buster, universal)
- Basslab (something totally unique sounding and looking)
- Boerjes (really dig the groover model)
- Wal (duh)
- Bass Culture (played a singlecut fretless and doublecut fretted, singlecut was amazing)
- Jerzy Drozd (duh)
- Aries (very unique designs, similar to K.Lawrence, with a touch of something different)
- Leduc (ubass, pad, maurad)
- LeFay (the rough crystal pickup has amazing tone)
- Kopo (interesting designs, wasn't crazy about the basses though)
- Ritter (i've played some ritter's that blew me away and some that, well...just blew, but his designs will always give me GAS)
- so many more to go...
 
#123
Gus

Here's my G3 5-string
GusFull.gif

GusBody.gif
 
#124
As a Polish guy, I've had my fair share of Polish basses ;) There are some very good luthiers and small instrument-building companies in Poland.

Personally, I've had:

a Mayones Be5
Mayones_Be5.jpg


a Malinek fretless 5 (I still have it - bought it for a really low price taking its sound into consideration)
MalinekCustomFretless5.jpg


a Nexus Shining 5 (I really liked it - I recorded 3 albums with it, played countless gigs... the most comfortable bass I've ever owned, great growly sound... I miss it a lot)
NexusShining5string1.jpg


and my current main axe - a Kolasinski Bass V (a decent bass, nice strong sound but nowhere near the Nexus)
KolasiskiBassV1.jpg


Mr Jacek Kobylski - the man behind the Nexus brand - is a true artist. I talked to him as he made some repairs to the Shining (it was a bass with a history, btw - one of his early works, and he originally made it for himself) and he has many a story to tell.

I'd also recommend having a long hard look at basses made by Invalid Link Removed - a friend of mine has a Kania bass and really loves it. Mr Kania make great basses and guitars for very reasonable prices.
 
#126
nemo said:
A voice from Czech:
AV bass - Invalid Link Removed
Mazl - http://www.mazl.cz/
Jurkovic - http://www.jurkovic-guitars.com/
Prochazka - http://www.guitar-makers.com/
K&K - Link Removed
Vivian - http://www.vivianinstruments.com
and Slovak Republic:
Greben - Link Removed
Sivcak - http://www.sollerguitars.com/

Not sure how many of these compare to US boutique master luthiers, but I liked Sivcak, Mazl and Prochazka best.
Click to expand...

I have a czech made Dean Edge 4 Improv ( I know czech Spectors were made at the same factory) Do you know if it was AV that made these?
 
#131
Yup, +1 for ACG. I have my 9 string on the way and it's looking good :D

I had a bass de-fretted and ramped by Jon Shuker, but unfortunately I didn't have time to stick around and play some of his basses. The work he did for me was really great though.

I also have a Sei bass which is just an awesome instrument. There's the owners club here on TB as well. Again, the link is in my sig.
 
#135
A real master piece is the custom made DAILY BASE Fretless from HUMAN BASE, the well known German company of master luthier Siggi Jaeger: www.humanbase.de

messeneuheit_daily_base_5_saiter_fr.jpg


Great punch, incredible sustain, fantastic singing tone as well as grumpy sounds like Jaco, Gary Willis ot whatever your fingers get out of it :-)! My absolutely favorite Fretless bass! It is such a fun with this instrument - it has all I dreamed about!
 

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