The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Gibson Basses => Topic started by: ilan on March 08, 2019, 07:15:39 AM
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Uwe - can you please repost a pic of that bass? I was telling a friend about it but can't find a pic online.
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(http://www.thegibsonbassbook.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Super400close1500-300x300.jpg)
(https://www.elderly.com//media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/8/0/802-1_7.jpg)
(http://www.thegibsonbassbook.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/super400headback1500-300x300.jpg)
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Yup, in all it's full glory. Amplified (with a passive piezo), it sounds very much like an upright bass - like no other acoustic bass I have. The very thin top is wonderfully responsive - so responsive that you could never play this bass live except at a very quiet unplugged session, it is THAT feedback prone. An unamplified loud bass drum already gets the top a-pumpin' even in a midsized room.
But in the right surroundings and the right musical setting, the sound is too die for. Not all my expensive basses have a sound to match their price, but this one is one-of-a-kind and was worth every Dollar.
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It is also, hands down, the best looking bass in the world, ever.
Does the fingerboard have side dots, or can you move the bridge upwards and have a 32" scale bass, for example?
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It is a 32" scale bass! Miraculously, I don't know why Phil Jones chose that scale (not a scale I really like), but the lower tension somehow enhances the upright bass feel and sound though that doesn't really make sense as an upright has a much longer scale and a higher string tension. I wager to guess that the lower string tension sounds livelier with the almost "breathing" top. Whatever, with this bass everything fits. Maybe, if they had produced it in series, it might have gone somewhere as a specialists' instrument though the neccesary price would have most likely been prohibitive.
It has side dots, yes. In theory I could move the bridge backwards or forward to either increase or diminish scale (and then ignore the side dots and play by ear - it can be done), but in practice there is a thin chord/cable/wire leading from underneath the bridge base to the output jack through a small hole in the top and that is pretty short so the bridge is "kept on a short leash". It is the only instrument I know that has a passive piezo - I didn't even know that worked until I got this bass - and that piezo has none of the unpleasant characteristics we know of active ones. (I wonder whether the choice of medium scale also had something to do with the piezo bridge, less taut = less bony/warmer & fuller sound?)
Thanks for the compliment on the looks, Ilan, if you're ever in Frankfurt you're welcome to try it out. To me the look is very puristic and classic, sort of what you would expect on a still life painting of a bass guitar. It's not exactly a rock 'n' roll axe (and with my penchant for Explorers, Thunderbirds, Flying Vs and Icemans, I admit I have a juvenile love for those), but then that wouldn't fit with the sound it emits.
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It is also, hands down, the best looking bass in the world, ever.
I agree, it´s soooo good looking, even better than Vixen and Cliff Williams together!
Nothing else can touch this masterpiece!
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I'm sure I will pay you a visit one day, warm up that Ampeg. I have held McCartney's '63 Höfner and 1960 LP, I have held David Garrett's 1718 San Lorenzo Strad, the time for me to try out that bass is nearing.
I have forwarded the pic to my friend, now he's picking up his jaw from the floor.
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Uwe, what happened to that photo of you playing it?
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It's still somewhere in Photobucket, but the problem is that Photobucket is no longer accessible from my office pc.
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I sent you a bunch of pics, Herr Westheimer, post here as you like.
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(https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/uwehornung/_ZEN6085.jpg) (https://smg.photobucket.com/user/uwehornung/media/_ZEN6085.jpg.html)
(https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/uwehornung/_ZEN6076.jpg) (https://smg.photobucket.com/user/uwehornung/media/_ZEN6076.jpg.html)
(https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/uwehornung/_ZEN6029.jpg) (https://smg.photobucket.com/user/uwehornung/media/_ZEN6029.jpg.html)
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(https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/uwehornung/_ZEN6030.jpg) (https://smg.photobucket.com/user/uwehornung/media/_ZEN6030.jpg.html)
(https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/uwehornung/_ZEN6020.jpg) (https://smg.photobucket.com/user/uwehornung/media/_ZEN6020.jpg.html)
(https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/uwehornung/_ZEN6007.jpg) (https://smg.photobucket.com/user/uwehornung/media/_ZEN6007.jpg.html)
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Is this now instagram or what? :mrgreen:
Danke!
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No instagram, but let's make it more instagram-ish:
#fitboy
#germanhunk
#bassplayer
#slappindabazz
#teutonicplague
#wokeuplikethis
#nomakeup
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That is quite an amazing beast. Bass is nice too! ;D
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Lovely bass, and a pretty big one, too. Nice photos!!
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There is a certain purity and single-mindedness to its design. It might be just, uhum, serendipity ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePU2Ux9JIMM
but it seems that everything with this bass - stability of top, comfortable size for playing it standing up, long scale, versatile active electronics, feedback resistance - was sacrificed on the altar of achieving a sound as close to a double bass one as possible. It was achieved in an umcompromising way, I kinda like that.
Phil Jones did say that he was really proud of it.
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I'm still torn between wondering if these pics were about the bass or a shoot for a fashion magazine. :mrgreen:
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It's called photogenic, Dave, I can't help it if cameras are smitten with me.
It can be a burden sometimes.
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Would you buy a bass from this man?!
Such a handsome fellow!
(https://i.imgur.com/XECJ7Dz.jpg)
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Sometimes, I'm sure glad I can't see those pics on my work pc!
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Sometimes, I'm sure glad I can't see those pics on my work pc!
Somehow, that's not right since it's you at your work! ;D
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It's called photogenic, Dave, I can't help it if cameras are smitten with me.
It can be a burden sometimes.
Did you notice the tags Chris posted? especially #fitboy and #germanhunk. Are these German magazines?
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Weird. Now all the photos I posted are overlaid with Photobucket's logo. It wasn't that way yesterday, you probably exceeded your paid data limit.
You need to upload from your hard drive to Imgur. Or maybe you can download them from your Photobucket at home without the overlaid logo.
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I saw the PhotoBucket some days ago already.
Uwe sometimes reminds me a bit of Quentin Tarantino. Like his slightly older brother. So I really like Uwe and at the same time I wonder when he starts to shoot people.
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I saw the PhotoBucket some days ago already.
Uwe sometimes reminds me a bit of Quentin Tarantino. Like his slightly older brother. So I really like Uwe and at the same time I wonder when he starts to shoot people.
No firearms required, thanks.
(http://saysomethingfunny.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/woodchipper-fargo-2.jpg)
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I see the pics of me you posted on my BlackBerry.
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I see the pics of me you posted on my BlackBerry.
It's odd. If I view it in Firefox, either on the forum or on Photobucket from the direct link you sent me in the emails, the Photobucket logo is overlaid. But when I view it in Opera, there's no overlay. I'm not logged into my own Photobucket account in either browser. Bandwidth issue? I don't know. Whatever it is, I hope you have these and your other pics on Photobucket backed up to your hard drive.
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I own quite some guitar books about many models and brands. After watching the great 5 Watt series on YouTube - I recommend that channel! - I decided to buy one of the few books missing. It's one of Tony Bacon's books called: Flying V, Explorer, Firebird, Ann Odd Shaped History of Gibson's Weird Electric Guitars.
In it is a part about the Gibson Thunderbolt: an April's Fool guitar as a joke of a guitar mag. Later some people made one themselves and later even Gibson 'reissued' one, but that's a different story.
Phil Jones: "I decided it (the Thunderbold, CD) would be the special project for the NAMM show that year. We'd always make something special, something unusual, to grab attention - I'd done a Super 400 fretless bass for example."
Is it common knowledge here it was a NAMM special? Special to see that bass mentioned!
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I don't remember ever hearing that before. Uwe would probably know since he's been in touch with Phil Jones.
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Yes, it was made for a NAMM show, of course. Didn't I ever mention that? Struck me as irrelevant, sorry! Lots of my stuff is initially NAMM only (Grabber Blue, Silly Purple Clown Bass etc).
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That bass is a true work of art.
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Yes, it was made for a NAMM show, of course. Didn't I ever mention that? Struck me as irrelevant, sorry! Lots of my stuff is initially NAMM only (Grabber Blue, Silly Purple Clown Bass etc).
You may have mentioned it long ago. I don't remember.
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Missed this one completely... what a beautiful instrument... Now this is one I'd love to play some day...
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I think it is the prettiest bass in Ze Kollekshun.