Thornton, having played all three basses (Icon, Cont. and German), can you give a description of how the two lower priced models compare to the German 500/1? Does the Contemporary sound so different that it wouldn't 'work' for someone who wanted that Beatle Bass sound? I'm drawn to the supposed better quality of the Contemporary, but it would be less attractive if it didn't sound like a Beatle Bass to me.
OldManC, fyi both Icon and Contemporary Series of basses come with cheaply made poor quality Chinese made ROUNDWOUND strings on them from the factory. The first thing that I did with my HCT500/1 was to replace them with another set of roundwounds. I had a new set of short scale D'Addario's XL-160S that I was keeping for a rainy day and decided to put them on. They work well on this bass.
As I mentioned above, the HCT500/1 has a block of wood sandwiched between the top and the back of the bass that runs the full length of the body. The result is that it does three things in my opinion;
- adds structural strength to the instrument
- adds sustain to the instrument (giving it more of a solid body sound)
- eliminates the hollow body sound associated with semi-acoustic ibasses
I have to mention to you that I don't gig with my HCT500/1. It's what I call a recreational bass for me. I don't take it to the studio or anywhere else for that matter. I bought it because I wanted to have a new well made Hofner violin bass that I didn't have to invest $2000 + in, only just to have it sit around the house. I've been there and done that a couple of times before. I gig and record with Musicman Stringray 5's only. The Icon B-Bass was not a bass that I wanted to own, so I bought the CT.
I'm running out of time right now, but l'll come back later on today and give you my feelings on the 3 versions Hofner is offering.
TD
