Let me echo everyone else. Stunning bass!
Looking forward to hearing about how it sounds!
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The Valenti Megathread Part IV
- Thread starter smperry
- Start date
Let me echo everyone else. Stunning bass!
Looking forward to hearing about how it sounds!
mark beem
Wait, how does this song start again??
The bass is fantastic! Very light which is important to me as I have back and hip issues. Fit and finish is top notch but I’d expect nothing less from Nino.
I plugged it into my Markbass CMD 151 combo. The all Aguilar electronics suite is new to me. Never had a bass with it before. The AG 5J-HCs are dead quiet but still have (most of) that single coil spank. The bridge pup is VERY aggressive!
I couldn’t be happier with it! Thanks again @Nino Valenti
I plugged it into my Markbass CMD 151 combo. The all Aguilar electronics suite is new to me. Never had a bass with it before. The AG 5J-HCs are dead quiet but still have (most of) that single coil spank. The bridge pup is VERY aggressive!
I couldn’t be happier with it! Thanks again @Nino Valenti
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Did you decide on all Aguilar electronics to try something new or did Nino provide you with his insight on how it would sound?
Sounds like you chose great electronics!
mark beem
Wait, how does this song start again??
When I initially spec’d out the bass I was looking to get Bartolini pickups & pre. But I have that already in the Mike Lull M5V and ultimately wanted to try something different. I researched different brands but in reading reviews and watching some video demos, I went with the Aggies.
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My Valenti 5 (#217) has the Aggie P/J set and Aggie preamp. I'm very happy with both pickups - quiet, clear and powerful! Overall the electronics are very versatile and sound great!
I’m curious about the Aguilar preamp. My Valenti (#151) has the 70’s style Aguilar single coils with a Sadowsky pre. While I’m quite happy with it, I’m just wondering if anyone had A/Bed the two. I know Aguilar has a few different options as far as preamps go but in general, how different are they?
Chef
In Memoriam
Done laying basic tracks; now it’s guitar players doing guitar things in isolation booths
My NBD was last week... but I've been having so much fun playing it over the past few days, I'm just now getting around to putting together this note for TB.
Here are the deets:
V21-J5 #245
34-inch scale
solid alder body in Shoreline Gold with parchment pickguard
asymmetrical maple neck with carbon stabilizer bars
rosewood fretboard with clay dots and mother-of-pearl side dots
stainless steel frets in 6230 fretwire
unbleached bone nut (1 3/4" width)
Nordstrand Fat Stacks with Nordstrand 3B preamp
Hipshot Ultralite tuners
Hipshot B bridge in brass (19mm spacing)
Dunlop straplocks
total weight: 9 pounds
control layout:
1) master volume (pull for humbucking, push for single-coil)
2) blend
3) VTC (pull for passive, push for active)
4) treble/bass (boost and cut)
5) toggle for midrange boost
My thoughts:
This bass packs an ULTRA-versatile array of tones that sound killer and are useable! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the electronics in this bass. Hats off to Nino for pulling everything together and assembling an ideal control panel... and a big salute to Carey Nordstrand and his crew for making such sweet components. This preamp and pickups is a phenomenal combo. I'm wow'd every time I plug in.
As others have described, the Nordy 3B preamp is very natural. It's super, it delivers and it gives you just what you need without being excessive. It's not too "modern" sounding, nor is it dark. I would DEFINITELY buy this preamp again.
Before this bass arrived, I had seat time with Nordstrand's Big Splits and NP4 but not with the Fat Stacks... and a fella can only listen to so many YouTube links... so that was the component I was most anxious to take for a spin. After plunking around for a few days, I can tell you these pickups are truly fantastic! The single-coil tone is organic, raw and edgy without being overly clangy. In humbucking mode, you get the expected output drop and the elimination of hum (mind you, this thing is quiet even in single-coil mode), but I'm happy to hear the character doesn't change that much. I especially enjoy panning over to the neck pickup in single-coil mode, rolling back the tone and treble and giving the bass a tiny boost = a delicious P-Bass tone!
As expected, the solid alder body and rosewood fretboard is warm and mellow with the perfect amount of attack.
I'm thrilled with the feel. For a 5-string solid body, this is a comfortable weight. I DIG the asymmetrical neck! I've owned a couple of instruments with asymmetrical necks and don't see why more makers don't make this a standard feature. It may not be everyone's cup of tea but it makes perfect sense to me. Also, thanks to the shaping on the back of the lower horn, access to the upper register is so dang easy. I could drive my car up to the 21st fret on this puppy!
NOTE -- after considering adding Luminlay side dots (which I'm sure is a fine product), I gotta tell everyone that I'm especially pleased with my choice to save a few pennies and go with mother-of-pearl. Maybe I got lucky with mine but in a low-light scenario, the iridescent mother-of-pearl reflects the available light and shows up brilliantly.
Terrific job, Nino! I look forward to playing this bass and bragging about your services for years to come!
Here are the deets:
V21-J5 #245
34-inch scale
solid alder body in Shoreline Gold with parchment pickguard
asymmetrical maple neck with carbon stabilizer bars
rosewood fretboard with clay dots and mother-of-pearl side dots
stainless steel frets in 6230 fretwire
unbleached bone nut (1 3/4" width)
Nordstrand Fat Stacks with Nordstrand 3B preamp
Hipshot Ultralite tuners
Hipshot B bridge in brass (19mm spacing)
Dunlop straplocks
total weight: 9 pounds
control layout:
1) master volume (pull for humbucking, push for single-coil)
2) blend
3) VTC (pull for passive, push for active)
4) treble/bass (boost and cut)
5) toggle for midrange boost
My thoughts:
This bass packs an ULTRA-versatile array of tones that sound killer and are useable! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the electronics in this bass. Hats off to Nino for pulling everything together and assembling an ideal control panel... and a big salute to Carey Nordstrand and his crew for making such sweet components. This preamp and pickups is a phenomenal combo. I'm wow'd every time I plug in.
As others have described, the Nordy 3B preamp is very natural. It's super, it delivers and it gives you just what you need without being excessive. It's not too "modern" sounding, nor is it dark. I would DEFINITELY buy this preamp again.
Before this bass arrived, I had seat time with Nordstrand's Big Splits and NP4 but not with the Fat Stacks... and a fella can only listen to so many YouTube links... so that was the component I was most anxious to take for a spin. After plunking around for a few days, I can tell you these pickups are truly fantastic! The single-coil tone is organic, raw and edgy without being overly clangy. In humbucking mode, you get the expected output drop and the elimination of hum (mind you, this thing is quiet even in single-coil mode), but I'm happy to hear the character doesn't change that much. I especially enjoy panning over to the neck pickup in single-coil mode, rolling back the tone and treble and giving the bass a tiny boost = a delicious P-Bass tone!
As expected, the solid alder body and rosewood fretboard is warm and mellow with the perfect amount of attack.
I'm thrilled with the feel. For a 5-string solid body, this is a comfortable weight. I DIG the asymmetrical neck! I've owned a couple of instruments with asymmetrical necks and don't see why more makers don't make this a standard feature. It may not be everyone's cup of tea but it makes perfect sense to me. Also, thanks to the shaping on the back of the lower horn, access to the upper register is so dang easy. I could drive my car up to the 21st fret on this puppy!
NOTE -- after considering adding Luminlay side dots (which I'm sure is a fine product), I gotta tell everyone that I'm especially pleased with my choice to save a few pennies and go with mother-of-pearl. Maybe I got lucky with mine but in a low-light scenario, the iridescent mother-of-pearl reflects the available light and shows up brilliantly.
Terrific job, Nino! I look forward to playing this bass and bragging about your services for years to come!
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Chef
In Memoriam
Fat Stacks and the Nord preamp are my current favorite thing and have been for a while now.
That came out great!
That came out great!
Chef, thank you for answering my questions in late 2016 and early 2017. The information you shared influenced my choices on this build... and yup, it turned out brilliantly.
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Chef
In Memoriam
Glad it helped.
I bought an alder/rw bass from Nordstrand loaded with that and liked it so much that I had the same package put in the ash/ebony bass Nino built for me as my retirement present to myself.
I really dig it.
I need Blades in something now and I haven’t figured out what to do about that yet.
I bought an alder/rw bass from Nordstrand loaded with that and liked it so much that I had the same package put in the ash/ebony bass Nino built for me as my retirement present to myself.
I really dig it.
I need Blades in something now and I haven’t figured out what to do about that yet.
I bet a Lakland 55-02 style bass with a J-Blade & a Big Blade Man would be pretty cool.
Chef
In Memoriam
I’ve never bonded wit the Stingray thing; tho some folks totally do.
Different strokes and all
Different strokes and all
So, I had to repair my Valenti VTP5 #106 after suffering a complete and total...
Crack in one pickup cover. Which Nordstrand promptly replaced for me at no cost. Seriously, this thing has been bullet proof. 400-ish shows the past 8 years, zero issues. Strung with Chromes, I barely have to tune the dang thing. I think I've tweaked the truss rod twice? Amazing.
I'm not a small man and I'm not easy on gear. I'm not a studio musician, I play live-hours at a time. Small bars to medium sized music venues. Before this I went through Fender, MusicMan and Lakland basses like I changed socks. That all changed when I got my Valenti. It's the single best instrument purchase I have ever made. Buy one. Hopefully you'll love yours as much as I love mine.
Ok, commercial over. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.
Crack in one pickup cover. Which Nordstrand promptly replaced for me at no cost. Seriously, this thing has been bullet proof. 400-ish shows the past 8 years, zero issues. Strung with Chromes, I barely have to tune the dang thing. I think I've tweaked the truss rod twice? Amazing.
I'm not a small man and I'm not easy on gear. I'm not a studio musician, I play live-hours at a time. Small bars to medium sized music venues. Before this I went through Fender, MusicMan and Lakland basses like I changed socks. That all changed when I got my Valenti. It's the single best instrument purchase I have ever made. Buy one. Hopefully you'll love yours as much as I love mine.
Ok, commercial over. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.
Attachments
mark beem
Wait, how does this song start again??
I hear ya. I just got my new T21-J5 in last week and the thought's running through my mind to just go ahead and sell everything else!So, I had to repair my Valenti VTP5 #106 after suffering a complete and total...
Crack in one pickup cover. Which Nordstrand promptly replaced for me at no cost. Seriously, this thing has been bullet proof. 400-ish shows the past 8 years, zero issues. Strung with Chromes, I barely have to tune the dang thing. I think I've tweaked the truss rod twice? Amazing.
I'm not a small man and I'm not easy on gear. I'm not a studio musician, I play live-hours at a time. Small bars to medium sized music venues. Before this I went through Fender, MusicMan and Lakland basses like I changed socks. That all changed when I got my Valenti. It's the single best instrument purchase I have ever made. Buy one. Hopefully you'll love yours as much as I love mine.
Ok, commercial over. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.
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mark beem
Wait, how does this song start again??
So, I had to repair my Valenti VTP5 #106 after suffering a complete and total...
Crack in one pickup cover. Which Nordstrand promptly replaced for me at no cost. Seriously, this thing has been bullet proof. 400-ish shows the past 8 years, zero issues. Strung with Chromes, I barely have to tune the dang thing. I think I've tweaked the truss rod twice? Amazing.
I'm not a small man and I'm not easy on gear. I'm not a studio musician, I play live-hours at a time. Small bars to medium sized music venues. Before this I went through Fender, MusicMan and Lakland basses like I changed socks. That all changed when I got my Valenti. It's the single best instrument purchase I have ever made. Buy one. Hopefully you'll love yours as much as I love mine.
Ok, commercial over. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.
I came to the same conclusion, everything else just feels like a let down in comparison. Basically have what was my favorite bass up for sale in order to get another Valenti.
mark beem
Wait, how does this song start again??
Full disclosure, were that to happen, I would keep my Lull M5V. Aside from being an incredible bass, I bought it from TB member Adrian Garcia (R.I.P.). So that one's not going anywhere....been there (and buy another Valenti)
Is the 6 bolt neck attachment standard on all his new basses? I don't remember seeing this on a Valenti before.
