This just came in from Jasaman who has #3:
"I'm amazed at how much I'm digging
this bass and it's been fun playing it for the last two days. I took it
on a gig last night I and thought I would post a couple of clips for you
all to hear. The quality is not very good but I plan to record other
gigs with this bass and I'll try to give you a better idea on how this
bass sounds in a live situation. It's amazing how many different sounds I
can get out of this passive bass. I kept discovering great sounds all
night. It was often hard to settle on something! I ended up keeping the
pickups in series which gave the bass an incredible P-bass tone. It was
soooooo fat! The thing plays incredibly well and sounds great through
the entire range of the neck. It's been a blast discovering what these
basses can do with Chunger. You da man!"
http://files.me.com/jasaman/wan7kq.mp3
http://files.me.com/jasaman/9z84vn.mp3
I would not have started this project without talking to Jasaman and
both of us feeling there is a market for a entry level bass. I don't
think either of us expected it things to go this well. More than that, I
did not expect at all that he would like one so much that he would want
to use it personally. Freak accident and alignment of the planets? or
something consistently possible with these SX's? I'm game for finding
out (if I can find enough copies now to continue).
Right now, it looks like 2 of the 3 done are home runs. Those are not
bad averages. Under normal circumstances, I would have returned #1 for
it's neck pocket issues, but being as these were the last ones
available, I did not have that option. . . and honestly, #1 has it's own
sound that someone else might prefer and holds its own quite admirably
when compared to off the rack fenders. All of these basses complete the
job expected of them. 2 are somewhat over-achieving.
Jasaman is helping me push the boundaries of these basses quickly and
get rapid feedback on settings and problem areas. We are tweaking down
to quarter turns of the bridge set screws. I'm amazed that he even
feels adjustments that minute. The pickup problem is becoming obvious
now. I am suspecting that the initial clips I recorded actually did not
distort while being recorded but reflect deficiencies in the pickups.
Diz likes to knock the hell out the basses. In our critical setup
session yesterday, I had to back the neck pickup up to the edge of
reasonable in order to let the bass hold together under slapping (which I
don't do very often, so I didn't discover this problem in my noodling).
This is a known issue though with the SX's. I just did not want to
change anything without proof. I do not know why the neck pickups are
wound slightly hotter than the bridge pickups but they are on all of the
ones I have. Someone on the other side of the ocean may have munged up
the specs. But, within a certain intensity threshold, these pickups
produce a great sound. Go beyond that threshold, and they start
mis-behaving.
We are looking for some replacements. I am wondering if I need to find a
"standard" pickup to use instead and just put them in from the get-go
on these. We also know the nut is deficient. I have ordered nut files
and black TUSQ blanks. All of these processes would drive the cost up
though. I think I may need to "grade" the basses somehow and leave some
stock while modding better copies all the way.
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