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The Ken Smith Club

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#842
vision said:
I had a Cirrus for years as my main bass before I started getting into Smiths. The Cirrus is a GREAT bass, and it can do a reasonable ballpark of the standard Smith tone. But outside of that there are many differences. I found Smiths to be WAY more easy to play, and more versatile in terms of the different sounds you could get besides the well known basic Smith tone. Also, while the Cirrus could do a ballpark version of that tone, it was never quite right because it didn't have the ebony "ping" on the front end attack like Smiths have. I never played one of the custom shop Cirrus basses with more wood options (not sure if you could get an ebony board or not), but the standard Cirrus pau ferro definitely didn't have that Smith attack. Both the Cirrus and the Smiths have nice preamps, but they sound very different when using the eq.

Honestly, I think the main reason that Cirrus basses are compared to Smiths is because at the time they came out around 97 or 98 there wasn't anything else out that would get you anywhere near to the Smith tone, and there definitely wasn't anything else out in that price range offering you some of the shared features like the exotic woods, neck through design, etc.
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Wow, hey Vision, that was an excellent , I mean Excellent comparison, especially from someone who knows both the Cirrus and the Smiths well.

Ironically, I just sold my custom Cirrus because it has too much ebony. It didn't have ebony board, but it has stringers and it was way too "pingy" for me. I did have a flagship Cirrus, too with all ebony board and I didn't like the quick decay on the attack. I prefer pao ferro for the "blossoming" attack.

I did play a Smith one time at a Craigslist deal years ago. It was a dream to play and he said he bought it from a down and out dude for a grand. So, all Smiths play that well ? I do remember the bridge being about 3/4 the mass of an ABM, so that was cool.

I guess for now, I will stick with my trusty Cirrus until the timing is right to buy a Smith. I wish the Cirrus had the two toggles (single coil , series/parallel ?) Thanks.

Also, I went on youtube and watched the Al Turner bass solo. SWEET Smith tone !!! Definitive Smith tone to me.
 
#847
mb94952 said:

Ironically, I just sold my custom Cirrus because it has too much ebony. It didn't have ebony board, but it has stringers and it was way too "pingy" for me. I did have a flagship Cirrus, too with all ebony board and I didn't like the quick decay on the attack. I prefer pao ferro for the "blossoming" attack.

I did play a Smith one time at a Craigslist deal years ago. It was a dream to play and he said he bought it from a down and out dude for a grand. So, all Smiths play that well ? I do remember the bridge being about 3/4 the mass of an ABM, so that was cool.
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If a Cirrus was too pingy for you then the Smith's tone may be a move in the wrong direction for you. But I definitely recommend playing a few Smiths before making any decision, if you can get to a city that has a dealer with a few in stock that would be perfect.

And yeah, I've played tons of Smiths and they ALL played great. Nothing else like them IMO...I've played some Foderas that were as playable but the Smiths are more consistent in the experience that I've seen. But playability is definitely a personal preference type of thing - I'm only pointing it out because it was the biggest difference I noticed in moving from a Cirrus to a Ken Smith.
 
#851
After a decade long Smith drought...... I am back in thankfully!
My new to me 1996 CR5G
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#854
Now there is a new person looking after the club, would it be possible to get a number now?

I am loving my Tiger! I am playing through an Ampeg SVT Classic head & a 8x10 cabinet, and playing fairly rocky, heavy funky stuff and it HONKS and GRRRS!!
I have a Boss GT-10B effects unit and hardly ever touch it. Maybe a bit of chorus now and again, but I've pretty much stopped playing through it, just love the clean sound of bass & amp! :hyper:
 

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