I'm glad the algorithm surfaced this video for me after my last comment on the original review of this bass… cool to see the evolution! I am a big fan of the cream-colored pickup cover look… I installed some on my P-Bass (in my profile pic, not that you can tell there) last year.
I'm really glad you did this one. I've been looking for a good, filter based pre since ACG bowed out. I have great amps and cabs, so I don't need to go over the top with active, on board preamps. That dry, penetrating midrange is perfect in a band situation and you can always add top or bottom from the amp head. I probably wouldn't have found this outside of your channel. So, thanks again!
The V5 looks soooo great without the pickguard and with cream pickups! And I love filter-based preamps - I have one in my Alembic Essence 5 and it's absolutely fantastic. And a fretless Wal bass is my #1 bass dream. Mick Karn's tone (and playing), OH MAN
Wow, sounds great. Very often when these upgrades are done, they sound better, but this one in particular on this already great sounding fretless bass, sounds really exceptional,....for my personal taste in tones and sounds.
Great video Lobster. I too would love a passive tone control, but otherwise the Lusithand is a great sounding preamp on your fretless. I'd love to hear it with a chorus or flanger (or both!) in the signal chain just to see how out of bounds it would sound. Cheers!
I might just incorporate this preamp into my project Squier fretless on which I've already replaced the tuners, bridge and pickups. I think the Lusithand does as you say, suit the fretless instrument. This will allow me to get those Percy Jones-like tones. Thanks for the very interesting review!
Sounds great both way!! I was just telling my band I’ve been needing another fretless!! And was telling them about this bass!! I’ll definitely be picking one of these up when it’s Time. I think for the money this is the best fretless I have ever seen or heard. A fretless stingray would be ideal but their so expensive and I wouldn’t even want to gig out with it lol. Thanks for the mod video 🙏🙏 I love watching these!!
I'm sure Nuno will be happy to see a fretless demo. He was asking if mine was going to be. I haven't finished my project yet. But I did hear from Veijo and my pickups for the Spector will be here soon. New way wiring and Special in the Rex and Old Way and Standard in the Frankenstiener.
Hmmm...I like the variations of tones you can get with the Lusithand but I don't know when I would use all of that range. Sounds great though! Thanks again!
If you ever sell that thing, I call dibs!!! Beautiful instrument my friend. I never really looked at Sire, but they are looking like a perfect price point mod platform better then Squire or MIM Fenders.
This is crazy! So cool. This makes me wonder if other products will eventually come around that have other effects built right into the preamps. Maybe that's already a thing?
Thank you. I have fancier fretless basses... but this one is usually my go to and it always sounds fabulous (and looks the part too). It's def a favorite.
Thanks John! It's an Albridge fender drop in replacement bridge. My V7 has the Sire model which is a drop in, but this model is the fender unit and required some drilling. Albridge will have the drop in Sire units in stock in a couple weeks hopefully
I'm thinking about getting a Washburn t24 for my 24 fret cause I don't have a jazz bass anymore since I sold my six string sx ursa I was thinking about sticking a preamp in it too and changing out the pups
Great review! I used to play an Alembic in the 90's that had this Q switch (I think that's what they called it) The smallest turn made a big difference and I ended up constantly adjusting on the gig, looking for the "perfect sound" . A bit distracting but that's just my OCD. Nice bass! Is this a one piece neck? Also, would you check your Sire P5 for that? Those are advertised as one piece and I have one on order. Thanks Lobster!
Great review as usual lobster, bass sounds even sweeter, you had almost a flanger or chorus type sound at some point there turning those knobs. Hey would you recommend those same pickups as a good replacement to put in a Harley Benton Ash/maple Jazz bass or something else?
Kinda cool but you could make all your basses sound similar by tightening the fulcrum screws on a wah wah pedal and using it as a fixed frequency filter. The advantage of course is you can use the wah wah pedal :)
I think any Fretless bass sounds better with a preamp or active pickups . This one is more versatile then stock . Passive fretless basses tend to be a one trick pony. I also find it funny that a Sire has standard pickup routing while Fender ( player series) has the small round hole and swimming pool route for the neck pickup under the pickguard.
It seems really cool. But I don’t get it. Do you buy a whole set up pre wired plate? I tried the link for n the description, but I’m guessing you have to have Facebook to check it out. I don’t and won’t use Facebook...so I guess this is something for bass players that use Facebook only??? Cool video anyway. Cheers
The bass sounds great. A very interesting preamp option. Glad to see new tech available for old bass designs. I installed a 12 position varitone tonepot on my jazz and it is so versatile and i find myself using it a lot more now that it does more than cut the high end. Maybe im forgetting, but has there been a warwick on the channel? Given the slapping it seems like it might be a good option.
If jaco had a roasted maple neck ... this thing is definitely not burpy tho. the hell? Always sounds like your amp is stuck inside a solo cup and I don't mean like the normal stuck inside a solo cup, it's like the amp is in a solo cup that's in a video that's also recorded in a red solo cup :-) This is a nice platform I think. Although I used to think a lacquered neck was a style point, a few minutes ago I just realized that if you can get people to like a lacquered neck, you can finish your basses faster by just dipping the neck in lacquer and waving it around until it's dry...but it's still more finish and more work to do, so I guess the unfinished necks always terrified me for very good reasons - it's like we're not doing ANYTHING watch out for splinters and we don't mean wood ones.
Now that I have watched the preamp comparison series, I understand why it sounds so odd compared most of the other ones. I think if people would have understood more about what a filter based preamp is that they would have gotten more out of this video. I would have - I understand filters, but you only have to learn that once. Once you learn what a filter is, there are literally more applications than I can imagine for them and I am learning all the time. I understand music and basses well but their relationships to each other and tools applied/created in the domain I am still absorbing. Maybe another year before I've found all the obvious things on the planet. I'm a hyperpolymath with ADHD. Do I need to say I bore easily? I'll learn all this and then I'll learn what everyone knows, in order to come up with hopefully new knowledge while not losing old knowledge. Lost knowledge sucks. /digression Got the rest of the base construction gear, time to build up materials. :-) It's on! (finally)
That bass sounds great already with the bridge and the Dimarzios you installed! Are those saddles brass? I’m not sure yet if I like the preamp. The filter based thing is interesting but I’m not really sure that I like what it does to the tone. Of course, hearing it solo is different than hearing it in a mix. I’m anticipating more LEL mad scientist mods!
@@LowEndLobster Sweet! The frets on my LE custom Thumb are bell brass. I’m really impressed by how good that bass sounds even before you installed the preamp. It has great bloom all over the neck. I bet it would really bark down low with round wounds.
I appreciate your interest! This one is 100% not for sale. However you can absolutely order a Sire V5 fretless and mod this the same way, parts are listed in the description.
Great Mod.. I just don’t like the sound of the strings. Would love to hear that with either a set of TI flats, black tape wounds or D’Addario flat wounds . (I do realize that you have an endorsement with Ironworks which I currently have on my bass and like a lot ). Lastly I’d love to see you review the new Micheal Kelly Pinnacle bass.
Whoops! I gotta update the description. These are LaBella deep talkin flats, my flat of choice. MJC doesn't do flats, it's just an automatic bit that goes into my descriptions.
@@LowEndLobster Really ? I need to listen through headphones then, my bad. Through the iphone speaker they sound like stock old school flats. But the tone is a bit rubbery for my taste
@@WyattLite-n-inn I'll be doing some string experiments later (probably a few weeks, is my guess) because there aren't enough demos that include the variety of taped strings that are available these days. It's an investigation I'm also doing for treble guitar. Just because something has flats doesn't mean it has to sound spongy or stretchy. Also, it's going to be trying to apply its filtering design across a single coil (unless those are area J split coils) where it was designed to work, sonically, with a system that has each pole piece individually wrapped with a small coil (much like the GK hex model pickups from Roland, each string has a tiny humbucker for it, that's why Roland's designs are so quiet as well as being cleaner than other "MIDI" or "synth" pickups. This means that it's trying to waveshape over the entire signal coming out of the guitar instead of being able to be tuned for each string individually so you can really dial in what you're getting in all your primary frequency ranges instead of them mushing together. After seeing what's up with the actual Wal pickups, I think this is the right tree to bark up if you're chasing that tone but you might have to go to something like a Bart of DMZ that has multiple coils in a pickup - like the Bart quad coils. And I just had a stupid moment of clarity...lol this is also why the barts sound so good in particular applications. :-) I understand what filters are but I'm crash coursing myself in how that relates to onboard bass preamps. I guess I'll never not be a french horn primary even though I've never owned one and am still waiting 35 years later to have a safe home for even a crappy one. :-) thanks for listening
@@WyattLite-n-inn I have a set of extra light labella white gold tape wraps waiting a few weeks now for me to get set up to record me replacing the pickups on my Peavy Unity p j 4. I've never felt tapes in my life and just taking them out of the package was a delight. I am having trouble waiting to be safe about it because I want to just throw it on my bed and start soldering but hooo boy does the wife hate that
I bet a bass with a true neck pickup or wider pickup spacing would sound humongous with the filter preamp. I’d be looking hard at dual filters on that Ric, but I’m a sick puppy. Killer product, I’m going to look into them now…I mean soon.
Sounds so dead both the LaBellas… but the PUs are really great. I highly suggest trying Thomastik flats or even Chromes or Dunlop’s if you really want to make it sing.
hi lobster. in two days it’s going to be my birthday. it would be nice if you could play me an e minor funky kind of thing for me on your next video. thanks!
Okay, the Alembic preamp is ok, but I don't like the sound of those frets. It sounds empty, like an empty bucket....Lobster, you do it masterfully, but Sire basses are modest, "thin" with sound....
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
I'm glad the algorithm surfaced this video for me after my last comment on the original review of this bass… cool to see the evolution! I am a big fan of the cream-colored pickup cover look… I installed some on my P-Bass (in my profile pic, not that you can tell there) last year.
That preamp is fabulous to me as a passive bass player. It's like a tone knob on steroids! I need this.
I'm really glad you did this one. I've been looking for a good, filter based pre since ACG bowed out. I have great amps and cabs, so I don't need to go over the top with active, on board preamps.
That dry, penetrating midrange is perfect in a band situation and you can always add top or bottom from the amp head. I probably wouldn't have found this outside of your channel. So, thanks again!
The V5 looks soooo great without the pickguard and with cream pickups! And I love filter-based preamps - I have one in my Alembic Essence 5 and it's absolutely fantastic. And a fretless Wal bass is my #1 bass dream. Mick Karn's tone (and playing), OH MAN
Wow, sounds great.
Very often when these upgrades are done, they sound better, but this one in particular on this already great sounding fretless bass, sounds really exceptional,....for my personal taste in tones and sounds.
Man some of those tones are sick!
Damn that sounds so freakin good!! Wild clarity and punch
Great video Lobster. I too would love a passive tone control, but otherwise the Lusithand is a great sounding preamp on your fretless. I'd love to hear it with a chorus or flanger (or both!) in the signal chain just to see how out of bounds it would sound. Cheers!
I might just incorporate this preamp into my project Squier fretless on which I've already replaced the tuners, bridge and pickups. I think the Lusithand does as you say, suit the fretless instrument. This will allow me to get those Percy Jones-like tones. Thanks for the very interesting review!
Sounds great both way!! I was just telling my band I’ve been needing another fretless!! And was telling them about this bass!! I’ll definitely be picking one of these up when it’s Time. I think for the money this is the best fretless I have ever seen or heard. A fretless stingray would be ideal but their so expensive and I wouldn’t even want to gig out with it lol. Thanks for the mod video 🙏🙏 I love watching these!!
Thanks Lobster, I learn a lot from your mod vids. The bass sounds great btw.
Great video. I'm having one of the singles put into an enclosure
I can hear your finger pulls. Very nice.
I'm sure Nuno will be happy to see a fretless demo. He was asking if mine was going to be. I haven't finished my project yet. But I did hear from Veijo and my pickups for the Spector will be here soon. New way wiring and Special in the Rex and Old Way and Standard in the Frankenstiener.
I bet this preamp plays really well with an envelop filter.
Another great video.
How cool is that filter? It's like having an effects pedal in your bass. Neat!
Hmmm...I like the variations of tones you can get with the Lusithand but I don't know when I would use all of that range. Sounds great though! Thanks again!
If you ever sell that thing, I call dibs!!! Beautiful instrument my friend. I never really looked at Sire, but they are looking like a perfect price point mod platform better then Squire or MIM Fenders.
Great shirt! I am a Trekie geek too! Even have a Star Trek tattoo!
Great job....now its a really cool fretless bass.
Pretty rad Lobster! Way cool... Thanks for the review 🎸
Glad you liked it, Keith!
Sweet! Nice shirt too. 😎
This is crazy! So cool. This makes me wonder if other products will eventually come around that have other effects built right into the preamps. Maybe that's already a thing?
*laughs in Chet Atkins Super Axe*
Gorgeous bass.
Thank you. I have fancier fretless basses... but this one is usually my go to and it always sounds fabulous (and looks the part too). It's def a favorite.
Excellent Lobster 🦞 Cheers
Thank you Will!!!
Thank YOU!
Looks simple sound's great i love fretless bass!😃👍
Thank you Ram!
I'll have to see if they can make one of these for my Serek fretless... I don't have it yet but maybe someday if I need a little something extra lol
Thanks for this
Great demo, would like to try that pre amp on my fretted V5. What brand is the bridge are you using. Thanks
Thanks John! It's an Albridge fender drop in replacement bridge. My V7 has the Sire model which is a drop in, but this model is the fender unit and required some drilling. Albridge will have the drop in Sire units in stock in a couple weeks hopefully
I'm thinking about getting a Washburn t24 for my 24 fret cause I don't have a jazz bass anymore since I sold my six string sx ursa I was thinking about sticking a preamp in it too and changing out the pups
the passive StellarTone "tone styler" does a similar thing but stepwise rather than continuous and requires no battery, maybe a nice alternative
Great review! I used to play an Alembic in the 90's that had this Q switch (I think that's what they called it) The smallest turn made a big difference and I ended up constantly adjusting on the gig, looking for the "perfect sound" . A bit distracting but that's just my OCD. Nice bass! Is this a one piece neck? Also, would you check your Sire P5 for that? Those are advertised as one piece and I have one on order. Thanks Lobster!
Great review as usual lobster, bass sounds even sweeter, you had almost a flanger or chorus type sound at some point there turning those knobs.
Hey would you recommend those same pickups as a good replacement to put in a Harley Benton Ash/maple Jazz bass or something else?
Thanks Stephen! Great question. The Area J pickups will be great (and silent) in all applications :)
Tone at 17:19 is taaaasty to a T!!!!
Mick Karn like…
I love that preamp.There you go corrupting me again.My wife says you're a bad influence on me.
Hahaha! Though the preamp is no replacement for true love... it's darn close ;P
can you take a pic of the pickup wiring and terminal? ty, sounds great. great video pal.
Juicy 🤩
Kinda cool but you could make all your basses sound similar by tightening the fulcrum screws on a wah wah pedal and using it as a fixed frequency filter. The advantage of course is you can use the wah wah pedal :)
I'd love to see how close you could get to replicating the sound of a Wal
This sounds awesome I wonder how it would sound on a ray4.
Try it with a G&L l2000 pickup!
Sounds awesome Lobster. Which Sire 4 string would you recommend best for the money for me to buy, ? 👍
All I can say is “WOW!” Best Fretless sound to date!! Like that ‘preamp!’😌🎶❤️👍🏾
n0pe
I think any Fretless bass sounds better with a preamp or active pickups . This one is more versatile then stock . Passive fretless basses tend to be a one trick pony.
I also find it funny that a Sire has standard pickup routing while Fender ( player series) has the small round hole and swimming pool route for the neck pickup under the pickguard.
Awesome
Thanks SlapNSniff!
It seems really cool. But I don’t get it. Do you buy a whole set up pre wired plate? I tried the link for n the description, but I’m guessing you have to have Facebook to check it out. I don’t and won’t use Facebook...so I guess this is something for bass players that use Facebook only???
Cool video anyway. Cheers
Thanks Tommy! Lusithand is only on FB right now but I'm hoping they make a regular merch page as their stuff is very cool!
Also it comes with the plate prewired!
@@LowEndLobster don’t make it worse
Can you review the ibanez gwb35?
You need to add this along with a multi coil mm pup to a sub and see what that sounds like. I have a SUB you can use 😉😉
Hehehe, I actually have another NFP that they sent me that I'll be using with a VERY interesting MM combo.
@@LowEndLobster wire both of them to an area j split coil so you can have a filter for each pair of strings :-)
wow its like 100 basses in one now
The bass sounds great. A very interesting preamp option. Glad to see new tech available for old bass designs.
I installed a 12 position varitone tonepot on my jazz and it is so versatile and i find myself using it a lot more now that it does more than cut the high end.
Maybe im forgetting, but has there been a warwick on the channel? Given the slapping it seems like it might be a good option.
If jaco had a roasted maple neck ...
this thing is definitely not burpy tho. the hell?
Always sounds like your amp is stuck inside a solo cup and I don't mean like the normal stuck inside a solo cup, it's like the amp is in a solo cup that's in a video that's also recorded in a red solo cup
:-)
This is a nice platform I think.
Although I used to think a lacquered neck was a style point, a few minutes ago I just realized that if you can get people to like a lacquered neck, you can finish your basses faster by just dipping the neck in lacquer and waving it around until it's dry...but it's still more finish and more work to do, so I guess the unfinished necks always terrified me for very good reasons - it's like we're not doing ANYTHING watch out for splinters and we don't mean wood ones.
Now that I have watched the preamp comparison series, I understand why it sounds so odd compared most of the other ones.
I think if people would have understood more about what a filter based preamp is that they would have gotten more out of this video.
I would have - I understand filters, but you only have to learn that once. Once you learn what a filter is, there are literally more applications than I can imagine for them and I am learning all the time. I understand music and basses well but their relationships to each other and tools applied/created in the domain I am still absorbing. Maybe another year before I've found all the obvious things on the planet.
I'm a hyperpolymath with ADHD. Do I need to say I bore easily? I'll learn all this and then I'll learn what everyone knows, in order to come up with hopefully new knowledge while not losing old knowledge. Lost knowledge sucks. /digression
Got the rest of the base construction gear, time to build up materials. :-) It's on! (finally)
That bass sounds great already with the bridge and the Dimarzios you installed! Are those saddles brass? I’m not sure yet if I like the preamp. The filter based thing is interesting but I’m not really sure that I like what it does to the tone. Of course, hearing it solo is different than hearing it in a mix. I’m anticipating more LEL mad scientist mods!
Thanks Jeff! The saddles are bell bronze, really cool stuff.
@@LowEndLobster Sweet! The frets on my LE custom Thumb are bell brass. I’m really impressed by how good that bass sounds even before you installed the preamp. It has great bloom all over the neck. I bet it would really bark down low with round wounds.
The new Pre sounds better to me...
Thanks BP!
Kaplah!
Today is a good day to BASS!
@@LowEndLobster Bass long and prosper!
CAN I BUY THIS ONE FROM YOU??
I appreciate your interest! This one is 100% not for sale. However you can absolutely order a Sire V5 fretless and mod this the same way, parts are listed in the description.
Great Mod.. I just don’t like the sound of the strings. Would love to hear that with either a set of TI flats, black tape wounds or D’Addario flat wounds . (I do realize that you have an endorsement with Ironworks which I currently have on my bass and like a lot ).
Lastly I’d love to see you review the new Micheal Kelly Pinnacle bass.
Whoops! I gotta update the description. These are LaBella deep talkin flats, my flat of choice. MJC doesn't do flats, it's just an automatic bit that goes into my descriptions.
@@LowEndLobster Really ? I need to listen through headphones then, my bad. Through the iphone speaker they sound like stock old school flats. But the tone is a bit rubbery for my taste
@@WyattLite-n-inn I'll be doing some string experiments later (probably a few weeks, is my guess) because there aren't enough demos that include the variety of taped strings that are available these days. It's an investigation I'm also doing for treble guitar. Just because something has flats doesn't mean it has to sound spongy or stretchy.
Also, it's going to be trying to apply its filtering design across a single coil (unless those are area J split coils) where it was designed to work, sonically, with a system that has each pole piece individually wrapped with a small coil (much like the GK hex model pickups from Roland, each string has a tiny humbucker for it, that's why Roland's designs are so quiet as well as being cleaner than other "MIDI" or "synth" pickups.
This means that it's trying to waveshape over the entire signal coming out of the guitar instead of being able to be tuned for each string individually so you can really dial in what you're getting in all your primary frequency ranges instead of them mushing together.
After seeing what's up with the actual Wal pickups, I think this is the right tree to bark up if you're chasing that tone but you might have to go to something like a Bart of DMZ that has multiple coils in a pickup - like the Bart quad coils. And I just had a stupid moment of clarity...lol this is also why the barts sound so good in particular applications. :-)
I understand what filters are but I'm crash coursing myself in how that relates to onboard bass preamps. I guess I'll never not be a french horn primary even though I've never owned one and am still waiting 35 years later to have a safe home for even a crappy one. :-)
thanks for listening
@@WyattLite-n-inn I have a set of extra light labella white gold tape wraps waiting a few weeks now for me to get set up to record me replacing the pickups on my Peavy Unity p j 4. I've never felt tapes in my life and just taking them out of the package was a delight. I am having trouble waiting to be safe about it because I want to just throw it on my bed and start soldering but hooo boy does the wife hate that
I bet a bass with a true neck pickup or wider pickup spacing would sound humongous with the filter preamp. I’d be looking hard at dual filters on that Ric, but I’m a sick puppy.
Killer product, I’m going to look into them now…I mean soon.
Great thinking Jon on both accounts! Now you have me thinking ahahaha
I never get close to first comment of view anymore.........you're too popular 😭😜
Sounds so dead both the LaBellas… but the PUs are really great. I highly suggest trying Thomastik flats or even Chromes or Dunlop’s if you really want to make it sing.
hi lobster. in two days it’s going to be my birthday. it would be nice if you could play me an e minor funky kind of thing for me on your next video. thanks!
Even though my next video has already been filmed, your wish will likely happen lmao. Happy birthday XD
@@LowEndLobster NO WAY THANK YOU!!
@@CarSimping I mean like I already play a lot in E and A so I'm probably inadvertently fulfilling your request lol
@@LowEndLobster why do you choose those two keys? is it hard for you to play other keys in front of the camera? (happens to me tbh)
@@CarSimping Nah, it's just easiest to demonstrate open strings and notes all over the fretboard in a cohesive manner. A especially
Nice, but I am thinking I am not so keen on these filter based pre-amps. Something tells me this bass might just want to be passive for it to shine.
It sounds... kind of weird, IMHO.
It's perfect cause I'm a weirdo ;P
Okay, the Alembic preamp is ok, but I don't like the sound of those frets. It sounds empty, like an empty bucket....Lobster, you do it masterfully, but Sire basses are modest, "thin" with sound....
Maybe one passive control away from greatness.
if you don't look at your fret of your fretless bass , you will be out of tune , hahaha ,
Schroedinger's intonation - you are both in tune and out of tune until you look at your fretting hand ;P
Be careful with those nine volts. They burn a lot of houses down.