"The Official Marleaux Bass Club"

[marijn van gils]

Congrats!

I bought mine second hand, so I can't speak from personal experience, but from what I read and from my limited interaction with him I think dealing with Gerald Marleaux will be one of the best possible custom experience possible, as far as waiting time, sticking to timing, and delivering what was promised is concerned. Deutsche gründlichheit for the win!

I had my Consat converted to fretless in januari. As a fretted, it was a quite similar bass to my Jerzu Drozd Excellency, which I still preferred (marginally), causing the Consat to see much less action than she deserves. That problem is now solved, and she made the move to my living room wall, ready for every-day playing!

 

[MattyBass]

Alright Congrats, on officially locking in the order.. It is an exciting time to be you.
Keep us posted.. drool

 

[NeonVomit]

So, there were some delays in production but everything is going ahead on schedule. I even got to choose the top wood:

Quilted maple

• NeonVomit
• Aug 11, 2016
• marleaux

Figured maple

• NeonVomit
• Aug 11, 2016
• marleaux

I of course chose the quilted maple top. I'm having a custom inlay made as well (which may have contributed to the delay)

All in all, I am really, really excited about this instrument!

 

[tombowlus]

Congrats! I am sure it will be stunning!

 

[rodneyat]

Played this one at the Atlanta Bass Gallery the other day. Quite a good deal for a Consat since they don't pop up very often.

Marleaux Consat 5 Redwood

 

[mrufino1]

I had to leave the birdsong club to join this club, but so far its working out! My new (to me) consat sopran strung in standard tuning, good for arthritis! Taken last Friday on my first gig using this bass, just an iPhone video with the phone propped up on my keyboard.

 

[Cliff Bordwell]

Congrats!

I bought mine second hand, so I can't speak from personal experience, but from what I read and from my limited interaction with him I think dealing with Gerald Marleaux will be one of the best possible custom experience possible, as far as waiting time, sticking to timing, and delivering what was promised is concerned. Deutsche gründlichheit for the win!

I had my Consat converted to fretless in januari. As a fretted, it was a quite similar bass to my Jerzu Drozd Excellency, which I still preferred (marginally), causing the Consat to see much less action than she deserves. That problem is now solved, and she made the move to my living room wall, ready for every-day playing!

Killer combo!

 

[NeonVomit]

Got an email from Gerald today...

So this is what it's looking like now. Woodwork to be finished this week, finish (hi gloss translucent blue) and electronics next week.

Time is almost upon us!

 

[marijn van gils]

Killer combo!

Thanks Cliff!
It sure is. For me, it is the perfect fretted/fretless pair to combine live, as they are very similar basses.

And @ Neonvomit: that's shaping up very nicely! I'm sure the waiting stress is killing you at the moment…

 

[crossover]

Marleaux fans and enthusiasts: If you need a Votan Deluxe in your life... no wait, right here in the US, details found here (<-- please click).

 

[interp]

Last year I bought the Marleaux Contra I mentioned in an earlier post on this thread. After more than a year of playing it I am loving it more every day. I had a three-way coil tap switch installed for each pickup, and the tonal palette is now VERY wide and rich.

This is the finest bass I have ever held in my hands.

 

[Flabzilla]

Hi all, been lusting after a Diva for a year or so, finally bit the bullet.

 

[gadgetgirl]

Hi all, been lusting after a Diva for a year or so, finally bit the bullet.

View attachment 957657

Beautiful!

 

[NeonVomit]

That is awesome, as always. New? Used? Give us a review!

Still waiting on the delivery of mine... something held up production, the wait is killing me!

 

[Flabzilla]

That is awesome, as always. New? Used? Give us a review!

Still waiting on the delivery of mine... something held up production, the wait is killing me!

It's new, had it for a few hours!

I'll try make some sensible comments shortly.

 

[Flabzilla]

Some impressions of the Diva so far.

I bought this bass because it's beautiful to look at. There are none in Aus to try, no distributor or dealer so this was a big punt.

Looks better in the flesh than pics which is saying something; it's bigger in the body and slightly heavier than I imagined. Not an issue.

The sound. I've had a few fretless basses and have always needed to fiddle around with eq-ing, strings etc trying to get a sound I'm happy with. This Diva sounds wonderful without any external adjustments. Growly and deep down low while clear up high. I've found with my other fretless ones (Ibanez Portamento 5 and MM Bongo 6, both great instruments) that without compression they're both a bit lacklustre in some areas of the fretboard. Not so the Marleaux.

Playability. I have a preference for thin necks, the Diva hasn't got the most agile neck but it's close, very close. The action is very low, which I love, although because of the fretboard going from nut to bridge there's bugger-all clearance if you're of a mind to dig in while playing. A bit like a continuous ramp perhaps?

Workmanship; can't fault it.

If some comments seem somewhat negative it's because I'm trying to be objective.

Not easy to do as I really, really like this bass!

 

[goes to 11]

 

[goes to 11]

these are a couple of my Marleauxs. the one on the far right has become of sweet fretless with a paduk fretboard to match the body color exactly. I also have diva fretless.

 

[goes to 11]

my fretless Diva
My fretless Diva - that is gold in the grain Gerald adds

 

[jjmf]

I just bought this diva from Gerald (new). Similarly - I could not try one here in Canada before buying - but it was so beautiful, I had to pull the trigger!

I was hoping to get some insight from the experiences of other Diva owners here -

I notice I can get a fantastic low action (as noted above) but have a bit of a buzz / rattle on the low B & raising the relief a lot is something I want to avoid (raising saddle required too much increase - so its not improving the buzz enough with out distancing it too far from pick up for my taste) - so I will have to increase relief but wanted to get a feel for what others have for clearance etc)

- right now fretting at 1st and 24th frets the relief on the b string is less than .5mm, but the relief on the A,D,G strings are higher than that - is that normal? - also - seems the edge of the FB & neck from nut to heal/bridge is not quite a straight line - ie most basses in my experience have gradual (but straight) edge as they get wider (meaning vertical face of FB from B - G string) but the Diva has a slight bulge or extra increase in width at around the 8-9th fret position resulting in the neck not having a straight edge from nut to body/bridge in this case) - again I assume that is a design standard ?

any input on what clearance other users set it to is appreciated !! - love it, now I just want to fly it correctly!!

and Gerald has been very accommodating to deal with - he truly exudes a desire to ensure his customers are very VERY satisfied