Salutations crustaceans! LowEndLobster is the fastest growing bass-centric gear channel on RU-vid! Focusing on reviewing and modifying basses of all sorts, we take an objective look from the perspective of the consumer. Our bass reviews are not paid for and we do not accept any sort of money or compensation for our opinions or reviews. New videos are posted weekly! Welcome aboard!
Hey! I dont know what the chances of getting a reply on this is, but what do you think of this, vs the squire vintage 60s jazz bass fretless? I know you didnt super love that one, but cost difference aside, is it better than this one?
SIRE BASSES rule. I play Alembic, Peavey Cirrus, and SIRE, the top 3 in my book. Sire is like the new Peavey - Incredible value for the money. Like Cirrus, it's a $5000 bass in sheep's clothes. EDIT : Awesome that you're doing basses in the mix with a live band. That's the ONLY way to know. A Cirrus is one of THE BEST sounding basses in the mix.
Not even DiMarzio demoes their DiMarzio DP 120 / Model One pickup.. here some shortcuts to whomever wants to hear differences between serial and parallel 🥳🥳 6:17 Fingerstyle, Series, Tone open 7:57 Fingerstyle, Parallel, Tone open 9:36 Pick, Series, Tone open 11:09 Pick, Parallel, Tone open
Thank you for the great review. I've been considering buying this bass, I'm still hesitating between this one and the portamento, and I also have in mind the Ibanez SRF500F, which only has piezo, but it's also cheaper.
love this bass! if they made one in lefty id be paying for same day shipping right away. i got the chance to play a righty and deeply enjoyed it, backwards and all. Have you ever considered giving warwick or shadowsky a shot? In my experience as a bass nerd, there are hardly any reviews on youtube and more just demos from the respective brands directly.
I had a Portamento for a little while. My big problem with it was basically that it seemed utterly incapable of "mwah". Tried rounds and flats, and it just sounded flat. I've heard ones with better pickups fitted, and they don't sound much better, so it must be something to do with its construction. This doesn't seem to have addressed the problem, unfortunately. I guess it depends what you want out of a fretless, but I want that warm, singing, growling tone we used to hear a lot back in the 80s. Also, fretless basses with active electronics NEED a mid control. The voice of a fretless is entirely in the midrange. The segment playing through the Hologram did sound great though. :D
Dear Miss L - is it possible to emulate a Stingray's sound with my Glarry GIB? - the distance from nut to center of the Artec ceramic "Big Pole" pup =31.25" - I may try using some shunt capacitance. With Joyo's $14 "amp" its impossible to differentiate much of anything. Is the center of the MM pup at the lower poles? - upper poles? "in between"? Cheers !
I think they both sound great! But one thing worth considering - at least for me - is that the pole pieces are covered with the pickup upgrade. I like to use humbucker pickups like a ramp and let my fingers drag across them sometimes. When you have exposed pole pieces, that will sometimes cause noise from your fingers to come through. You may be able to get covers that will fit the pickups from a 3rd party, or have them custom made, but just something to consider.
I have the 6-string Portamento, and I usually find myself liking to control the brightness of the bass with the piezo tone control, with the treble control usually cut all the way or almost all the way. I do really like the sound of those Nordstrand pickups, though! Great review!
When I was younger, I only wanted set necks and through body necks. I like the way they look and feel, but these days I much prefer a 4-bolt neck so that I can shim the neck when needed. We've all had basses where the action is high even with a straight neck and all of the saddles buried. A bolt-on fixes that. Some Fenders, Peaveys, etc. have tilt adjustment, and I'm fine with that too.
The video I have been waiting for; proud owner of the SRF700BBF - a superb instrument by the way!!!! But that new one makes me nervous 😊😂 thanks for the video! Gives all the answers I had! The fretlines and dots in the Portamento are genious - dont know why they made them so confusing in the new one - maybe they take the wrong medications nie 😂
Unic lady with a fretless bass I could feel the magic in the air .and try 2 compare this bass 2 pedula fretless or Yamaha fretless only if you want the effects just made this sound more amazing from amazing only good things love you 😊
how would you rank this bass against a sire v3 5 string? I'm torn between these two, the ibanez being 25% cheaper (i don't know why, but sires are pricier in my country)
I enjoyed your playing very much :) But those fingerboard markers though.. ruin the whole fretless look :( And maybe you shouldn't call this bass a sardine near your cat :)
That sounded great and I loved the tonal variation. The fret lines do not bother me per se. The reason the inlays don’t quite match the lines is that the note and correct intonation is often in front of the fret, on the fret, or well behind the fret. So Fender has been lying to us all the time. There is another RU-vidr who only plays unlined fretless bass for that reason. He also recommends it is better ear training for bass players. Sorry I saw that sometime ago and I dump my history and cookies frequently. I simply cannot remember the players name or the channel’s name. For those who don’t get my Fender comment here is an explanation. The Fender Precision bass was so named because of the frets that supposedly gave the player the ability to play the correct note and tone. As I explained and as the other RU-vidr did, that is not true. Anyhow. I like your setup and rig Lobster. That trick fish and your effects are great.
This is not the first time I've seen a fretless come out and be like "did anyone actually try to play on it with this configuration of fret markers?!" It seems so well designed otherwise, that's such a crazy oversight...
I bought an SRC6NS alst year, and I love it, but like you, I am befudlled by the fact that I paid north of $1K for something, and didn't even get a case. Great review!
I think I would get the old Portamento and then upgrade to Nordies. Or better yet just skip straight to the GWB205. The unlined and unmarked fretless board on that bass looked way more premium and classy. This one just screams "we just defretted a normal SR neck to save money, face markers and all". Also not really a fan of face markers on a fretless, the material and thus the tone changes when a note is stopped on one. And if the wood ever shrinks or swells around them you are all kinds of screwed.
