The Last Bass Outpost

Gear Discussion Forums => Other Bass Brands => Topic started by: ack1961 on February 25, 2011, 10:01:38 AM

Title: Lace-Helix?
Post by: ack1961 on February 25, 2011, 10:01:38 AM
I was in Florida over the past few days and stopped by a shop and saw (but didn't have enough time to play) a neck-through 4-string made by Lace-Helix.
Natural Maple/Mahogany body w/ twin Lace "Alumitone" pickups, gigantic DAT-type knobs and a chunky neck.

Anyone here ever play one?  I'm curious, as I've never heard of Lace-Helix before.  They're not giving it away either...

The bass in question is on the top-left of the bass section:
http://www.lacemusic.com/guitars/Helix/helix_series.php

Thanks,
Steve
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: Dave W on February 25, 2011, 10:49:15 AM
That would make my list of ugliest basses  :puke:

Lace is always claiming to have pickups that improve on conventional designs. The only ones I've heard are their Sensors, which IMO didn't sound good at all.
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: jumbodbassman on February 25, 2011, 11:45:42 AM
fugly..  someone on here has some experience with the pups.  Carlo maybe????
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: Chris P. on February 26, 2011, 12:42:24 PM
I played the pick ups and they're sound very wide and big. They're very strange.. It's just a cover and a wire. No magnet, no coils.... So very light. At the Lace booth at the NAMM I saw some Alumitone guitar pick ups... ... with Fender on it.
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: dadagoboi on February 26, 2011, 12:56:07 PM
I played the pick ups and they're sound very wide and big. They're very strange.. It's just a cover and a wire. No magnet, no coils.... So very light. At the Lace booth at the NAMM I saw some Alumitone guitar pick ups... ... with Fender on it.

Great pickups, I agree with Chris on the sound, big and wide from top to bottom.  They weigh 2 ounces.  Don't mind the basses looks but it's VERY poorly set up from the factory, saddles need major filing to get decent action.  Uwe has one.  I bought one from Musician's friend just to try the pup in 08, then returned it.

I'm gonna put an Alumitone in my JAEbird II, have one in my ERGO.  Quite a few threads on TB about these pups.
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: Highlander on February 27, 2011, 03:14:45 AM
You might like to watch this - techie stuff about the pups...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI8sMJVjHrY&feature=related
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: Highlander on February 27, 2011, 03:23:39 AM
Fell on this whilst looking up the Lace stuff...

Anyone know of anything more "out-there..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRRQHRqWZ6s&feature=related
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: ack1961 on February 27, 2011, 05:55:05 AM
You might like to watch this - techie stuff about the pups...


good information, thanks
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: ack1961 on February 27, 2011, 06:00:49 AM
The Lace-Helix is even fuglier in person...however, the top contour was really nicely done and the Maple/Mahogany itself (especially when looking at the back of the neck) was beautiful. Those pickups would look great on almost anything.  The knobs are simply atrocious as is the headstock (reminds me of Brownsville). All that being said, it's almost so fugly that it's almost appealing. Next time I'm in FL, I'm going to see how it sounds.

IMO, the alien stingray brain-stem bass might take the cake for fugliness. Unique, but fugly.
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: rahock on February 27, 2011, 06:13:39 AM
Fell on this whilst looking up the Lace stuff...

Anyone know of anything more "out-there..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRRQHRqWZ6s&feature=related

Wow, this guy has obviously just had his dream come true but that mans' dream is this mans' nightmare :o.
That is the ugliest thing I've ever seen.
Rick
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: nofi on February 27, 2011, 09:08:37 AM
i like the fretboard. otherwise...
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: the mojo hobo on February 27, 2011, 06:13:12 PM

The bass in question is on the top-left of the bass section:
http://www.lacemusic.com/guitars/Helix/helix_series.php


Just so you all know, when I clicked on the above link my Norton Internet Security blocked access to it saying it is "a known malicious web site"
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: Dave W on February 27, 2011, 06:48:24 PM
Just so you all know, when I clicked on the above link my Norton Internet Security blocked access to it saying it is "a known malicious web site"

I won't click it again -- no need to hurt my eyes a second time -- but Malwarebytes and MS Security Essentials show my computer is clean.
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: uwe on March 06, 2011, 03:03:43 AM
I like its look a lot. Was immediately endeared by it, reminded me of the Suzuki Katana motorbikes that cane out in the early eighties, classic Asian design.

Those basses sound great. A big sound but nuanced. Very natural. Neck is wider than to my liking - 4 and 5 string have the same width, but it nevertheless is easy to play with lots of sustain.

I like some basses with an off the wall modern design. I like the Kubicki, the Parker Fly bass and I like this here.
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: ack1961 on March 06, 2011, 06:11:15 AM
Good observation about the neck, Uwe - that was the widest 4-string neck I've ever had in my hands.
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: felig on March 12, 2011, 08:04:35 AM
I've got one of these--my guitar player has a shop in Ft. Myers, Florida & when he first got one in a couple of years ago he called me because he knows I like the odd ones.  I bought it & took it home & realized that it that the pickups had some issues--he sent it back, & got another that looked like it should have been a second or a third, at best.   A misplaced side dot (how would that have happened $$) was covered over with opaque stain, plus a few other cosmetic issues) and it had a pickup selector toggle and a master volume & tone instead of the two volume pots & tone on the production basses--not a big thing, but it was not what I wanted.  This one sounded & played great, but it should have been maybe used as a demo & not for retail sale as a factory new bass.  That one went back & the next one that came in had at one of the fret positions a crescent of maple and rosewood board had been grafted in, apparently to fix some damage before it left the factory and some other cosmetic issues that should have also made this a second or third.  That one never got sent back, but my guitarist got in another one that was perfect.  However, by this time I was frustrated & got my money back.  About a year later, I got a really great deal on the imperfect one that didn't get sent back.  I use it frequently because it is light weight, it plays & sounds great as well.  The rest of the band loves its sound & the way it sits in the mix.  The neck on mine is not excessively wide--not as wide as a Precision--it is very comfortable to me.

If they could have gotten their quality control & consistency together, they would have had a winner IMHO.   The pickups are great.
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: dadagoboi on March 12, 2011, 10:27:33 AM
...If they could have gotten their quality control & consistency together, they would have had a winner IMHO.   The pickups are great.

That's why if/when I move production to Asia I'll be moving with it.

I loved the sound of the one pup bolt on Helix I had, nothing wrong with it except saddles that needed to be filed.  I couldn't help thinking that if an actual bass player had been involved he would have pointed out the action was ridiculously high and couldn't be easily fixed by the end user.  Shimming would have probably done the trick but I just sent it back and bought an Alumitone Bassbar instead.
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: uwe on March 17, 2011, 07:17:15 AM
I played mine last night at the rehearsal. It probably has as modern a sound as a bass can be without sounding active. I don't mean that as a criticism, it just struck me that in comparison to the other basses I played (a sixties Epi Embassy, a 69 EB-1 and a ltd. ed. budget Ibanez Iceman, the chequered one) the Lace had the most nuances in sound. It converted my Ampeg rig into a Trace-Elliot one. Bit like a beefy mahogany body Jazz bass in sound really and as such very versatile.
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: dadagoboi on March 20, 2011, 11:24:22 AM
Here's my JAEbird II prototype with a Lace Bassbar in it.  According to Jeff Lace they have a little more bottom end than the pups in the Helix bass which are guitar pups.  Very vintageThunderbird II sounding IMO.

(http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae241/cata1d0/Project%20JAEbird/P1020705.jpg)

(http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae241/cata1d0/Project%20JAEbird/P1020705-1.jpg)

(http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae241/cata1d0/Project%20JAEbird/P1020728.jpg)

Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: BigRedX on May 05, 2011, 08:54:28 AM
I've got a Helix 5-string fretless. Nice and comfortable body shape to play and I like how it looks!

However the side dots are in the wrong place for a fretless (they are where they would be on a fretted bass between the frets rather than where the fret would have been), the bridge difficult to adjust and the Alumitone Pickups while having a good range and sounding clear are very low output. Also the finish isn't particularly good considering the list price...

I've heard that the inconsistencies in output, the position of the side dots on the fretless models and the bridge design have been addressed on the more recent models, but I would still want to try one before buying. When they are good they have the potential to be awesome, however with the issues that mine has it's just an averagely made bass with a weird design.
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: uwe on May 05, 2011, 01:36:11 PM
Essentially, they are platforms to show that the pups work, we shouldn't forget that.
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: clankenstein on May 05, 2011, 01:51:42 PM
(http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae241/cata1d0/Project%20JAEbird/P1020728.jpg)thats clever whereyou have put the strap button.
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: dadagoboi on May 05, 2011, 01:59:34 PM
Essentially, they are platforms to show that the pups work, we shouldn't forget that.

That's what it did for me, the pups kick butt if raised to the proper height which is difficult without using a thick piece (or 2) of foam with a space cut out for the coil.  I sent the bass back and just bought the pup...but what a wasted effort putting out a bass, that to me at least, had some fresh design ideas but was poorly executed.  Maybe in 20 years it will be today's equivalent of...(fill in blank here).

Thanks, Tubehead!  A few guys have done similar to their JAEbirds, just taking cues from them.
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: jumbodbassman on May 05, 2011, 02:11:47 PM
I actually put chrome lace helix pups in the black jaebird carlo built as i really hated the barts.  Very clean ,nice sound.  IMO  similar to the 76 bird i have.  As carlo stated  PUP placement is key.  they are weird shaped and getting them close,  but not too close,  to the strings makes a huge improvement.  Pretty much same size as the tbird pups as i usd the rings Carlo made ith them. 
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: Freuds_Cat on May 10, 2011, 05:22:47 PM
What? Wider than an Epi Explorer neck?  :o
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: uwe on May 11, 2011, 08:50:28 AM
Yup, wider than an Epi Explorer neck. It would make a comfortable 5 string. But you get used to all that room quickly though I don't really need it as a pick player.
Title: Re: Lace-Helix?
Post by: dadagoboi on May 11, 2011, 09:17:30 AM
The four string bolt on Helix has a P width neck.  The bridge is the same as I use as a donor for JAEbird bridge/tailpieces.  It has the standard 19mm spacing.  I'm pretty sure they use that same bridge on the thru neck Lace.

My Epi TBird bolt on neck doesn't seem to be any wider than a vintage  P neck.

Uwe, IMO a bass with bad factory setup is an expensive way to showcase pickups.  I said as much to Jeff Lace when I called to have missing pickup screws sent after I buying a Lace bassbar.  I don't think he cared what a bassplayer thought.  Otherwise he would have had a few try out the prototypes.  OTH, I did buy a pickup after returning the bass