Alien output

[mart]

Ok, here's a blast from my new Alien. I recorded the electric output from the bass with my Mac while simultaneously recording the acoustic tone with my Boss Micro BR, and I've put the acoustic tone on the right channel (with all the ambient hiss you could possibly want!) and the piezo tone on the left. Apologies for the poor intonation - as you can tell, I'm still getting the hang of the intonation on this bass at the high end - that heel is gonna take some getting used to!

All in all I'm pretty happy with the sound, but not with the feel. I've been playing flats almost exclusively for over fifteen years, and just got into Thomastik Jazz Flats, so acoustic bronze strings do not suit me. So now I just have to figure out what sort of flats to put on the Alien!

 

[lasteffect]

Sounds pretty good... So, that's what an Alien sounds like, nice.

 

[Curtis]

Why don't you put those Tomastik's on this bass?

Nice!

 

[da-vonk]

Congratulationz on your new Alien..she soundz nice Mart !...8:

But wut I'd like to know is how this baby soundz when she's unplugged...is she loud enuff and does she in any way sound like an electric Wick ? ... :lol:

 

[mart]

Congratulationz on your new Alien..she soundz nice Mart !...8:

But wut I'd like to know is how this baby soundz when she's unplugged...is she loud enuff and does she in any way sound like an electric Wick ? ... :lol:

Thanks! If you want to hear the unplugged sound, then adjust your balance control all the way to the right. It's a nice sound. There is probably a touch of the Warwick sound in there but, of course, what would strike you first would be that it sounds like an acoustic. Is she loud enough? I haven't yet played along with anything else so I can't say for certain. I was going to get my wife to hammer out some chords on my 12-string guitar while I play along on the Alien and I'll let you know how that goes. So far my guess is that the Alien is going to be quite low in the mix

 

[mart]

Why don't you put those Tomastik's on this bass?

Nice!

That's pretty much what I was thinking of doing. Strangely enough, a search for "flatwound acoustic bass strings" didn't show up anything ..... but a few people have recommended putting Thomastiks on an acoustic, so that's what I'm planning to do next.

 

[Curtis]

I always have something against electric acoustic basses. Mind you: I do like the Alien, and I think you made a right choice. It's just me personally Why? They're never loud enough to compete with acoustic guitars, without being amplified. And the ones which are quite loud are too big. So you always have to aplify them and that's why I prefer to use semisolids like the Star Bass. I used to have a DeArmond Starfire and an Epiphone JCS and now an Epiphone Rivoli reissue and a Rickenbacker 4005WB. They sound woody and nice in acoustic sets.

But I would like one for playing at home!

 

[mart]

I always have something against electric acoustic basses. Mind you: I do like the Alien, and I think you made a right choice. It's just me personally Why? They're never loud enough to compete with acoustic guitars, without being amplified. And the ones which are quite loud are too big. So you always have to aplify them and that's why I prefer to use semisolids like the Star Bass. I used to have a DeArmond Starfire and an Epiphone JCS and now an Epiphone Rivoli reissue and a Rickenbacker 4005WB. They sound woody and nice in acoustic sets.

But I would like one for playing at home!

Well, I bought it partly for playing at home, partly because an acoustic look suits one of the projects I'm involved in better than an electric does, and partly (for that project) to get a more acoustic tone, even though I'll have to rely on amplification. From the sound clip it seems to me that, even when amplified, it still sounds very much like an acoustic bass rather than an electric.

As for the volume, I did a test last night with my dreadnought 12-string. If the 12-string were gently strummed or fingerpicked, then the balance was good and the bass sat nicely in the mix. But when the 12-string was strummed at a normal volume the bass just disappeared. Some of the high notes on the G-string were just about discernible, but the rest was impossible to pick out. Having said that, this was based on me playing and trying to listen at the same time, which is not entirely objective. I might try another recording test to establish this more precisely.