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Tobias Officially Back
- Thread starter BaltBass5
- Start date
I ended up picking up the Growler IV from Sweetwater. Some initial thoughts and observations:
1. Weighs in at 5 lbs and 14 oz. ULTRA lightweight.
2. Despite the low weight, neck dive is minimal.
3. Crazy amount of tonal options. Basically the Bart is a split coil. There is a Master Volume, Blend (for the coils), 2 stacked knobs for tone (one for each coil with bass on the bottom and treble on the top) and then the (2) 3 position toggles (one for each coil). For the toggles middle position is flat, down position is mid boost, up position is treble boost. On the back of each there is a trimpot for adjusting treble boost and mid boost.
There was no manual at all included from Gibson but I was able to get this from Bartolini:
The fit and finish is great! No rough fret edges, setup from the factory is great with low action. The Babicz bridge is essentially the Babicz version of a Fender style flat plate with beefier saddles (so not high mass).
I am not typically a fan of so many electronic settings, trimpots etc... and typically rely upon active P Bass pickups (I'm a Spector player) but I was VERY easily able to get an equivalent sound by running only the neck coil with everything flat and a slight bump of the treble on the stacked knob for the neck coil. All in all no issues at all with the Paulownia as far as tone goes.
If I have ANY criticism it is only that the natural finish is a little bit minimalistic but being as though it's a bolt on neck it should be easy enough to stain so I'm thinking of staining it to a dark semi transparent black.
For the $1399 you get a decent Tobias padded gig bag (Pretty robust and not a flimsy cheap one) and a pretty killer bass!
DID I MENTION how damned light this thing is???
1. Weighs in at 5 lbs and 14 oz. ULTRA lightweight.
2. Despite the low weight, neck dive is minimal.
3. Crazy amount of tonal options. Basically the Bart is a split coil. There is a Master Volume, Blend (for the coils), 2 stacked knobs for tone (one for each coil with bass on the bottom and treble on the top) and then the (2) 3 position toggles (one for each coil). For the toggles middle position is flat, down position is mid boost, up position is treble boost. On the back of each there is a trimpot for adjusting treble boost and mid boost.
There was no manual at all included from Gibson but I was able to get this from Bartolini:
The fit and finish is great! No rough fret edges, setup from the factory is great with low action. The Babicz bridge is essentially the Babicz version of a Fender style flat plate with beefier saddles (so not high mass).
I am not typically a fan of so many electronic settings, trimpots etc... and typically rely upon active P Bass pickups (I'm a Spector player) but I was VERY easily able to get an equivalent sound by running only the neck coil with everything flat and a slight bump of the treble on the stacked knob for the neck coil. All in all no issues at all with the Paulownia as far as tone goes.
If I have ANY criticism it is only that the natural finish is a little bit minimalistic but being as though it's a bolt on neck it should be easy enough to stain so I'm thinking of staining it to a dark semi transparent black.
For the $1399 you get a decent Tobias padded gig bag (Pretty robust and not a flimsy cheap one) and a pretty killer bass!
DID I MENTION how damned light this thing is???
I am thinking about trading in a couple of Basses I never play and grabbing a Growler or Killer B at GC while supplies last. Other than weight difference (which seems substantial, 6 pounds, wow) does anyone have opinions on considerations/differences/advantages between Growler versus Killer B? I have never played a Tobias (either these new ones or the old ones)
I am a P-Bass guy and gig a Fender Elite.
I am a P-Bass guy and gig a Fender Elite.
The choice really comes down to how many different tones you want from the bass. If you are mostly a P-Bass guy and don't generally need a lot of different tones, the Growler might really suit you. You can get some pretty "fat" tones from it, great for blues, rock, funk, even reggae, just not that nasally, bridge-pickup tone, like a Fender Jazz.
Cheers,
EG
Cheers,
EG
Thank you @evilgus that is helpful. That Classic looks nice also, I am a fan of neck-throughs. So many choices....
I have also been looking at MTDs Kingston line, people seem to really like those as well. It looks like final setup and QC for those is actually done in the MTD shop in New York, which is appealing. I can't justify the price of a US-made MTD, lol.
I have also been looking at MTDs Kingston line, people seem to really like those as well. It looks like final setup and QC for those is actually done in the MTD shop in New York, which is appealing. I can't justify the price of a US-made MTD, lol.
An update, I've noticed these basses are available on Reverb as well as Sweetwater.
Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt
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The Kingston MTD basses are really good and definitely high quality! They don't (can't) quite match the U.S made models for sound and looks, but can go reasonably close, especially with the pickup/pre upgrade package. (And not a bad stepping stone, if you think you would ever be able to afford a U.S made MTD...)
EG
EG
Are you sure? The press materials promote the reintroduction of the brand and I didn't see anything about any of these models as being limited production models. Are you referring to an interview perhaps?
A lot of bears in your family?Maybe it's my puerile sense of humour, but there is now way I could play anything called a Growler
Beautiful looking basses though.
Anyone have one of these new gig bags? How is the quality? The cost tells me it probably isn't as robust as higher priced ones. My current bags are the Gator ProGo and ProTec Contego.
I've got the Killer B.. owned it for a year now and to be honest, structurally, its one of the best basses I ever owned. I was a bit skeptical on the electronics and the bartolini preamp had this hiss when the gain trim pot is increased. The pickups are low output and are wired in series and wasnt getting a good slap tone esp on the D string. BARTOLINI was kind enough to send a replacement preamp and that did the trick. Guess I had a defective preamp. I also installed the bartolini AGDB dual buffer preamp so that the electronics is close enough to the original killer B preamp. That made the pickups brighter the tone is better. Andertons UK are doing a 50% off on Tobias basses and I am tempted on getting the Growler...
