The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Recently picked up a Conrad lucite bass for $250 via Craigslist (Irving, TX). man, what an amazing player!

spent a couple of hours with it thru my stage rig (SVT4Pro > Acoustic 2x15) last night. luckily the SVT has a graphic on it, so i was able to dial in a pretty solid tone by adding some stuff it lacked and removing some of the boom/mud. when soloed, it's still pretty weird and honky (thud on the bottom and nasally 1k in the mids), but some EQing helped a lot.

at full volume with bande, it just BOOMS. low end just blossoms and destroys everything in its path. sounds great with some dirt (modded Boss DS-1), too. curious to try it thru an 8x10 at volume to see if that attenuates some of the mud (which 15s, esp old Acoustic ones, are famous for).

Also, this is the first short scale bass that's ever felt right to me. same gauge strings as i always use (off-the-shelf, cheapo 45-105s), but it feels less spongy than other short scales i've played. flexible and bendable, but still taut. feels great.

i wouldn't mind a more pronounced arm contour (skin + dry lucite + repetitive motion = pain), but i can certainly live with it -- it's not like they tried to engineer the world's most uncomfortable right-hand position (i'm looking at YOU, Rickenbacker!).

so, all in all, a complete and utter success!

I had the six-stringer sister to your bass and it was definitely a cool guitar. I let go of it a year or two ago but don't regret it since the new owner absolutely loves it. It was in about the same condition as yours. Defintely cool guitars, and quite an eye catcher on stage.

Whoa, Very cool.
Liked your comments about Rick basses. Well said.
I finally broke down and got a 4001 a couple of years ago because I've always dug the look and that sound. Gotta admit it see's a lot less action
than my other basses for precisely the reasons mentioned.
( still looks cool, and if I ever start that Deep Purple tribute band.............)