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The Valenti Megathread Part IV

#1,822
My bass is off to paint. Post from Nino.

Mine is the middle neck and the body on the far left.

40352553_1483945558374194_1313786747309522944_o.jpg

40374086_1483945601707523_1055607033262243840_o.jpg
 
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#1,825
This is a shameless cross-post on a soundclips thread I put out here recently. But, here it is in case some of you guys are interested. Might be good reference info in the megathread anyhow.

____

Recently I decided to try a set of Chromes on my Valenti 5 string J bass. As a contribution to the ongoing "flatwounds vs. roundwounds" debate, I thought it would be fun to create some comparison soundclips of that bass with the rounds and the flats, so that you could all hear them and argue about which sounds better.

First, the bass. This is a Valenti 5-string Jazz bass with a maple neck and an ash body. It has Nordstrand NJ5 pickups and a Sadowsky preamp. This is an incredible bass. It weighs about 8 pounds, the pickups are very growly, and the bass is rather bright by nature. The neck is relatively shallow and feels great to me. @Nino Valenti I have 4 or 5 electric basses, but this one goes to 75% of the gigs I do in the party rock/funk band I'm in. I've had it 11 years.

Here's the bass:

View attachment 3128341
View attachment 3128342

Now for the recordings.

I decided to record simple 16-bar loops for Latin, Rock, and Funk styles and playing as close to the very same bass parts as I could, recording them a couple of weeks apart.

All of the recordings are Bass-->Cable-->iRig-->iPad (GarageBand). The VTC on the bass was rolled off about halfway, the preamp bass was very slightly boosted, and the preamp treble was flat. This is how I use this bass 99% of the time on gigs. In GarageBand I used the simple directbox input setting and added some drums to make the part sound more authentic.

The "roundwound" strings are actually GHS Pressurewounds and fairly broken in, so certainly not as sparkly as roundwound strings can be. Again, this bass is bright by nature, and I've found that I have to move one step in the "mellow" string category direction to get the tone I'm after.

The "flatwound" strings are Chromes, pretty much straight out of the box with perhaps an hour of play time on them. The do indeed still have some zing, which I think you can hear more in the room than you can on the recordings. I might return later and do a third take once these have settled in.

Both sets of strings were medium gauge.

To the tracks. Crank it up!

The Funk Track
I did an aggressive funk lick, vaguely Mark King-ish, and tried to hit all of the strings a little, except I didn't play the B ever.

Pressurewounds:


Chromes:


The Rock Track
Straight 8th notes track, I dug in to try to pull some of the growl out of the bass, which it was happy to provide. I played this with a pick and I am NOT a pick player, so please forgive my terrible technique.

Pressurewounds:


Chromes:


The Latin Track
This is a Mozambique pattern, one of my favorites because I heard Patitucci and Weckl kill it on all those Elektric Band records. On this one I tried to keep the tone of the bass a little smoother.

Pressurewounds:


Chromes:


Conclusions
Given that the Chromes were fresh and the Pressurewounds weren't, I expected the tracks to sound more similar than different, and I think they do. To my ears though, the bass takes to the Chromes very well and I could certainly play a convincing set with my horn funk band using this setup. I wonder whether I will still feel that way after ~20 hours of play time.

I think I like the Pressurewounds better on the Rock track. The added sparkle and additional growl really work well in that style.

The Latin track sounds essentially the same to me with either string - which means I would 100% choose the Chromes if that were my normal gig style, for the feel and ease of upkeep alone.

In any case, I think Pressurewounds and Chromes are both fantastic strings, and the Valenti bass is still a winner 11 years after Nino built it for me (it is #51).

Please let me know what you think too. I hope you enjoy!
 
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#1,827
Altitude said:
This is a shameless cross-post on a soundclips thread I put out here recently. But, here it is in case some of you guys are interested. Might be good reference info in the megathread anyhow.

____

Recently I decided to try a set of Chromes on my Valenti 5 string J bass. As a contribution to the ongoing "flatwounds vs. roundwounds" debate, I thought it would be fun to create some comparison soundclips of that bass with the rounds and the flats, so that you could all hear them and argue about which sounds better.

First, the bass. This is a Valenti 5-string Jazz bass with a maple neck and an ash body. It has Nordstrand NJ5 pickups and a Sadowsky preamp. This is an incredible bass. It weighs about 8 pounds, the pickups are very growly, and the bass is rather bright by nature. The neck is relatively shallow and feels great to me. @Nino Valenti I have 4 or 5 electric basses, but this one goes to 75% of the gigs I do in the party rock/funk band I'm in. I've had it 11 years.

Here's the bass:

View attachment 3128341
View attachment 3128342

Now for the recordings.

I decided to record simple 16-bar loops for Latin, Rock, and Funk styles and playing as close to the very same bass parts as I could, recording them a couple of weeks apart.

All of the recordings are Bass-->Cable-->iRig-->iPad (GarageBand). The VTC on the bass was rolled off about halfway, the preamp bass was very slightly boosted, and the preamp treble was flat. This is how I use this bass 99% of the time on gigs. In GarageBand I used the simple directbox input setting and added some drums to make the part sound more authentic.

The "roundwound" strings are actually GHS Pressurewounds and fairly broken in, so certainly not as sparkly as roundwound strings can be. Again, this bass is bright by nature, and I've found that I have to move one step in the "mellow" string category direction to get the tone I'm after.

The "flatwound" strings are Chromes, pretty much straight out of the box with perhaps an hour of play time on them. The do indeed still have some zing, which I think you can hear more in the room than you can on the recordings. I might return later and do a third take once these have settled in.

Both sets of strings were medium gauge.

To the tracks. Crank it up!

The Funk Track
I did an aggressive funk lick, vaguely Mark King-ish, and tried to hit all of the strings a little, except I didn't play the B ever.

Pressurewounds:


Chromes:


The Rock Track
Straight 8th notes track, I dug in to try to pull some of the growl out of the bass, which it was happy to provide. I played this with a pick and I am NOT a pick player, so please forgive my terrible technique.

Pressurewounds:


Chromes:


The Latin Track
This is a Mozambique pattern, one of my favorites because I heard Patitucci and Weckl kill it on all those Elektric Band records. On this one I tried to keep the tone of the bass a little smoother.

Pressurewounds:


Chromes:


Conclusions
Given that the Chromes were fresh and the Pressurewounds weren't, I expected the tracks to sound more similar than different, and I think they do. To my ears though, the bass takes to the Chromes very well and I could certainly play a convincing set with my horn funk band using this setup. I wonder whether I will still feel that way after ~20 hours of play time.

I think I like the Pressurewounds better on the Rock track. The added sparkle and additional growl really work well in that style.

The Latin track sounds essentially the same to me with either string - which means I would 100% choose the Chromes if that were my normal gig style, for the feel and ease of upkeep alone.

In any case, I think Pressurewounds and Chromes are both fantastic strings, and the Valenti bass is still a winner 11 years after Nino built it for me (it is #51).

Please let me know what you think too. I hope you enjoy!
Click to expand...

Those pressure wounds are the clear winner in all three styles to my ear.
 
#1,828
All his basses look and sound great from the videos and sound files. I just wish he had a 5 string hollow body with a 34 inch scale modeled after the classic Gretsch 5 stringers. Basically this in a 34 inch 5 string
gretsch-white-falcon-bass-2006-cons-full-front-jpg.jpg
 
#1,829
Another impeccably crafted instrument from, Nino. I got it on Thursday and immediately took it to three shows this past weekend and I’m happy to report that the new 33” P bass worked perfectly. A great blend of old and new, it really can do anything you could ask of a P bass. It really exceeded my expectations!
8DEB0C60-3E77-42F1-9B6F-5EC3DAA4F764.jpeg
 
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#1,835
roller said:
Wow, you've got multiple high-end 5-string Jazz Basses! Just curious about the differences in them. Do they each have a designated role?

Any words of general experience and/or opinion to bestow upon us regarding varying body woods, bridge styles/materials, construction methods, etc.? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Thanks! No, no designated roles with them. I've used both basses in my country and rock bands with great results. The two I have currently are both swamp ash with maple fretboards and both have 35” scales. The differences between them is that the Mike Lull has all Bartolini electronics (18 volt preamp) while the Shoreline Gold Valenti has an Aguilar set up (9 volt pre). With the new bass, I wanted something a little more “traditional”. It’s 35” scale as well (I prefer 35" scale 5 strings) but it’s passive (with Aguilar AG 5J-60 pickups) and has an alder / rosewood wood combo.

For me personally, simple is better. Maybe it’s a reaction to my crazy custom bass days of yester-year with the Conklins and other basses I've had, but these days give me the traditional J bass and P bass setups with Fender wood combos; ash + maple, alder + rosewood. IMO you can’t go wrong there. I also prefer the simpler Hipshot B style bridge over the A style.
 
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