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What Happened to all the SX Love?
- Thread starter bassbully
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You are the living example of why never to take pontificating by musicians seriously. First you tell us that 99% (wonder where you got that data) of great bassists play "great" basses. Never mind one I know who rocks the house with his Squier and Ibanez cheapos. (But then you COULD argue those are great basses (they are!) he just didn't worry about the name on the headstock or the price when he hand-picked them) I believe my SX basses are "great basses". Why because they have functionality. How does wood suitable for high end furniture produce anything but looks and extreme cost? Does it make the bass "great" in the sense of a player? NO. We've already run tests here between tonewood and an old piece of lumber and the ability of the expert bass players here to tell the difference did not rise anywhere above random guessing.
Well, my 5 SX basses have REAL tonewood. Ash and alder. They are not particleboard or cement form plywood. They are nothing like a "Reynolds" or "First Act". They are 90% the same as many other expensive basses. And that last 10% can easily be changed by me for FAR less than the cost of some boutique bass (of which I already own a few). And the "Chunger" threads have shown the ability of SX to be able to approach "great bass" quality without boutique priced changes.
So after your gigantic harangue over how you can't have a "great bass" with SX on the headstock, THEN you tell us that the "answer" is a $400 bass ukulele? THIS is the "bad party joke". The point isn't that I don't believe you about the ukulele. I do. I am a strong believer that tone is where you find it, not "you get what you pay for". The point is you have just negated everything else you have been arguing up to this point!
Ok, the headstock killed It for some people. But some of us had already bought what we wanted (apologies to those who have seen my pics more than they would like)
OK, only 2 of these are SXes, so sue me, but the love still lives at my place!
OK, only 2 of these are SXes, so sue me, but the love still lives at my place!
I contacted Kurt as well- its not 'no interest', its "I would have to develop a custom pickup for that right?"
This is after I asked him if we could hope for a 5 string Douglas '51 P anytime soon.
I get his point. For under $200.00 its not viable to create a custom pickup when he can simply use J5's to build all his FMIC clone 5's. And I don't see a sudden interest in $500.00 SX/Douglas basses due to increased R&D that hed have to charge back to you and me.
Somebody should tell Kurt he doesn't truly need to develop a new P pickup for 5 strings, just don't expose the pole pieces. Here's the thread for my new Franken-Bass w/ SX PJ pickups that I mentioned at the start of this thread.
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/nfbd-new-franken-bass-day-768183/
I decided to use 4 string pickups because it's a 4 string body and I didn't want to mess up the skull graphic. Some 4 string pickups will do fine w/ 5 strings, others won't - I got this info from TBer Ric5 who does 4->5 string Ric conversions. I went through two Ibanez sets and 1 unknown set that were very weak on the A string, but when I tried the SX PJ set they worked fantastic!
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/nfbd-new-franken-bass-day-768183/
I decided to use 4 string pickups because it's a 4 string body and I didn't want to mess up the skull graphic. Some 4 string pickups will do fine w/ 5 strings, others won't - I got this info from TBer Ric5 who does 4->5 string Ric conversions. I went through two Ibanez sets and 1 unknown set that were very weak on the A string, but when I tried the SX PJ set they worked fantastic!
Fill out your profile, then I will take what YOU just wrote seriously.
99%? Maybe I should clarify what I meant. Let's say 100% of PRO players use quality instruments. I base this on 1000 years of bass player magazine photos and other photos of PRO player NOT routinely using SX basses. There is plenty of photographic evidence to prove my point. But, a kool-aid drinker like you would never admit it, right?
The SX phenomena is restricted to amateur and semi-pro players on internet forums. Not in the real world.
And before you waste my time, don't bother to scrounge up ONE picture or maybe a couple of pictures of Richard Bona or Victor Wooten or Rocco Prestia playing an SX....there are far too many pictures I could post that would show PROs playing quality instruments...AND WE DON'T HAVE THE BANDWIDTH!
And maybe the supposed "experts" on this forum (and there certainly appear to be a LOT of those around here!) can't tell the difference between good instruments and bad instruments in these supposedly unbiased A/B youtube or soundclip tests.....but I can, and I am NOT even an expert!
I have already wasted too much time trying to explain to posters just like you, what a good bass feels and sounds like when you personally play it...but unfortunately, it's like trying to explain the difference between an excellent, craft beer and a regular, american beer....if you only like Bud and Miller lite, you will NEVER understand the difference. In fact, you won't probably like some 10 dollar bottle of beer made by trappist monks...you would not understand what you were drinking...so of course you can't tell the difference sonically between an SX and a Fodera.
set 3 by Lucas Vigor on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free
john turner
You don't want to do that. Trust me.
i own 13 instruments that many folks would consider "boutique" - conklin, ritter, lowend - along with a 77 jazz, an 81 pedulla and a couple of 70's rickebackers.
i've played quite a few essex instruments owned by other folks too, and i thought they were fantastic instruments for the money. if they made a viable 7 with the same quality as the jazzes that i had played, i'd own at least a couple, if for not other reasn than to customize it.
i'd also be more than happy to gig with it if i got one.
I am guessing you are a pro player? Even so, you would be the exception, rather then the rule. If you read back, you will see I am not the only one who thinks there is excessive hype about these basses. Basically, if you folks are all claiming these basses are just as good as basses costing many dollars more, it's basically, if not directly, saying that all the high end and medium-high end companies are price gouging us, seriously! I mean, we are talking some kind of severe price mark-up on a majority of these basses. An SX P-bass copy is 150, but an MIA P-bass is 1200....and basically everyone except me here is saying they sound basically the same. I have said it before, and I will say it again: let's hear from one of the owners of the high end companies why they justify hand building or precision CNC building qood quality basses and then charging 10 to 20 times the amount of an SX, which supposedly is made from the same wood. They might have something to say about the 1000s of factors that together, make a bass sound great. How all the good parts working together after being created with care, work together to make a sound that the vast majority of PRO (and I mean signed, recording artists...maybe I should have made that clear) bassists want?
It's more then just the name on the headstock or the fine furniture look....it's quality built product. An SX is an ok product, not really terrible but definitely not great, either..and to insist that it does the job just as well as a bass that costs fundamentally and epically more, is an insult to the high end luthiers.
http://soundcloud.com/lucas-vigor/sets/set-3/
It's more then just the name on the headstock or the fine furniture look....it's quality built product. An SX is an ok product, not really terrible but definitely not great, either..and to insist that it does the job just as well as a bass that costs fundamentally and epically more, is an insult to the high end luthiers.
http://soundcloud.com/lucas-vigor/sets/set-3/
There's one of these
at my local GC for $99 "used" but it looks like someone bought it and immediately sold it to GC. It looks really nice but sounds close enough to my other bass that it's probably not worth buying for me. I don't like the new headstock too much in pictures but it looked alright on this bass in person. I would have preferred the old headstock, but the new one is okay.
at my local GC for $99 "used" but it looks like someone bought it and immediately sold it to GC. It looks really nice but sounds close enough to my other bass that it's probably not worth buying for me. I don't like the new headstock too much in pictures but it looked alright on this bass in person. I would have preferred the old headstock, but the new one is okay.
The key part of my comment was "on TB"...everyone knows you can google anything nowadays. It's less convenient to go in/out of the site when you're already in it.
Also how do you narrow your search to within an individual subforum of TB by using google? To search SX within TB classifieds for example...or search SX just within the basses section still with google to avoid pulling up all the other hundreds of irrelevant thread where the 2 letters SX were used.
This is why I've found TB search function is more useful than google. You just get too many topics to wade through using google.
Even if there is a way to narrow the search to subforums with google, the average person isn't going to know how to do it. So sometimes I can see how it would be easier to just make a new thread since you can't search SX with the TB internal search function. I think that helps to explain why there were so many of the same SX discussions repeated over & over, and that people might have tired of it.
I think the lack of model and color choices are a main culprit. I'd buy a yellow 5 string P or a nice green or red 5ver Jazz SX tomorrow! And I've seen some at a Spanish SX website. But none here, it seems.
Yeah......*sigh*....you are probably right.
And you got moderators chiming in, and I am sure soon enough Hadrien Feraud or perhaps Tal Wilkenfield herself will soon add their love for the mighty SX bass, and by then I will know I have already lost this argument big time, on this forum, at least.
Well, I am passionate about this subject...basically because when I was starting out on bass, I could never afford good gear. Finally when I got to the point when I could kinda/sorta afford good gear, I was proud of myself to have made the sacrifice and the leap....only to find out that I could have spent the money on drugs, booze and cheap hookers instead if I had just bought an SX which will easily replace the very finest basses I desired and no one would have ever noticed.....I guess I was a fool, like so many other gear hounds! Yeah, that was sarcasm of course.....but I will let it go now. Enjoy your SX basses. I won't keep on trying to ruin your good time!
set 3 by Lucas Vigor on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free
Brings back memories.I couldn't afford "good" gear either, so I learned to appreciate and work with what I had. At the time it was a used Silvertone/Dano "dolphin nose" bass and a cheap guitar amp. This was before the in-rush of asian made "copy" instruments of the '60s in my area. I still play a Silvertone at times.
Headstock, slightly raised priced, and the fact squier is coming out with some awesome stuff lately.
I have owned a few sx basses, some stock some modded, either way they are great for the value. But the options they currently offer to what they used to offer just are not as appealing. There used to be like 5 or 6 pages or basses on their home page, now maybe 1 or 2. They started offering different options, granted, but as far as the number of choices of what you can get just ain't what it used to be.
I have owned a few sx basses, some stock some modded, either way they are great for the value. But the options they currently offer to what they used to offer just are not as appealing. There used to be like 5 or 6 pages or basses on their home page, now maybe 1 or 2. They started offering different options, granted, but as far as the number of choices of what you can get just ain't what it used to be.
It always amazes me how worked up some people can get over a subjective topic. A bass may sound/feel/play great to person A while person B hates it. The flashy additions and improvements brought on by a $1,000+ bass may be appreciated by some and disregarded by others.
Personally, I've found that price has no bearing on my appreciation for an instrument. Unfortunately, it took me a lot of time and money to figure this out
The basses that I've held onto over the years are not the most expensive basses I've owned. The boutiques came and went BUT THAT'S JUST ME. Heck, I have a Squier CV 60's Jazz that I picked hands down over a US 75 RI after playing both in a music store - and I had gone to buy the 75.
Brand names can get in your way - play everything, buy what you like, and stop worrying about everyone else. If you feel threatened that someone likes something less expensive than what you have, find your peace with it.
In the words of The Dude: "That's like, your opinion, man."
Personally, I've found that price has no bearing on my appreciation for an instrument. Unfortunately, it took me a lot of time and money to figure this out
The basses that I've held onto over the years are not the most expensive basses I've owned. The boutiques came and went BUT THAT'S JUST ME. Heck, I have a Squier CV 60's Jazz that I picked hands down over a US 75 RI after playing both in a music store - and I had gone to buy the 75.Brand names can get in your way - play everything, buy what you like, and stop worrying about everyone else. If you feel threatened that someone likes something less expensive than what you have, find your peace with it.
In the words of The Dude: "That's like, your opinion, man."
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