Time capsule G-77

[ilan]

On eBay. $1,199 BIN. No affiliation.

[chromium]

These are great basses (FujiGen) if you like the look, and the synth stuff works fairly well - best in the mid-upper register.  The predecessor units to these (G-33, G-88) track REALLY nicely and have a more conventional look... but the range of synth sounds is a bit limited in comparison.  The only thing to be careful of with that auction is that he states the interconnect cable is not included, and those are fairly $carce (uses obsolete connectors).  Nice pics, though!

I am a bit of a synth geek (juuuust a bit  ), and have ended up with several old Rolands through some opportunistic Craigslist deals.  Ironically, I sold off the bass, but kept the guitar systems.. love 'em.  Guess my taste in basses just leans toward the conservative.

G-88 bass:


Guitar systems- GR-700, GR-100, GR-300:

[Aussie Mark]

These are great basses (FujiGen) if you like the look

How does the bass perform as a standalone instrument without the synth?  It does like very cool

[chromium]

How does the bass perform as a standalone instrument without the synth?  It does like very cool

The G-88 bass was beautiful- top shelf build, comfy neck (shallow, P-ish width), and the 2eq pre was actually pretty nice.  I didn't really need the synth part of it, though, and as a bass I felt it sounded vaguely similar to my Stingray and P (sorta); therefore, I ended up selling it to fund other stuff.  The two six stringers I have are fantastic guitars- sold my Strat and SG, and kept those instead.

I've played the G-77 basses (the one in Ilan's post) a few times in the past, and remember them being equally nice.  Feels typical of mid-80s Ibanez.  The bar on top is graphite (IIRC) and supposedly works to improve the tracking of the synth.  As a bass, though, they felt very rigid and stable to me (in a good way)

Keep an eye on TB- every once in a while one will pop up there.  There were black (my fav), red, and white versions of that bass, and they all have 1/4" jacks and can be used as a normal basses/guitars without all the synth stuff.

[godofthunder]

I know this must appeal to some but you couldn't give me that thing.

[Dave W]

I know this must appeal to some but you couldn't give me that thing.

Same here. I can't think of any music I would play on it. OTOH I imagine it's useful for some genres.

[hieronymous]

A guitar player I've been playing with a bit the past year or so has one of the guitar versions - he's just using it as a regular guitar here:





I remember seeing ads for them in the '80s when I lived in Japan - for $500 I might consider it!

[chromium]

Cool clips!  Don't see those guitars out in the wild too often.  Which bass is that, btw?

The only video footage I have of mine is on a brief tape-loop demo.  It shows the guitar+synth in action at 1:30 (50/50 guitar/synth mix).  The synth unit is similar to the one in the OP.  Kind of an odd feeling having a mellotron following everything you play! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANeC66Q2R8E#t=1m30s

[uwe]

I remember reading an interview where a bass player who played it for a year-long tour said that since it has a slightly delayed signal, he got used to playing ahead of the beat so much that he had timing issues when he reverted to normal bass after the tour.

But très cool, they were, no doubt.

[chromium]

I remember reading an interview where a bass player who played it for a year-long tour said that since it has a slightly delayed signal, he got used to playing ahead of the beat so much that he had timing issues when he reverted to normal bass after the tour.

Yeah its true, you have to adapt your playing to these.  The problem with bass boils down to physics- low notes=longer wavelength, and in turn requires more time to count the frequency and tell the synth what to do.  That resulting latency can be pretty bad in the lower register - especially if you are shooting for a real punchy, fast-attack synth sound.

I found with mine that it did a decent job if playing up high on the neck (and you just tune the synth down an octave), and I've read of folks using piccolo bass strings on these.  I figure at that point, just get a guitar 

The earlier Roland units would simply process (clip, reshape) the actual sound of the bass or guitar as a starting point for the synth, and those track really well all over the neck as a result.  These only offers one waveform to work with, though, and so the synth sounds are pretty limited compared to the unit in the OP.  Still, these are the most enjoyable units to play on IMO

[Hörnisse]

How does the bass perform as a standalone instrument without the synth?  It does like very cool

Lynott employed one in the latter days of Lizzy.  (I don't think he ever used the synth portion of the bass)



Also can be seen in the video he did with Gary Moore.