NBD - Squier vi

gusman2x

Wow, lots of change eh?

Had this a couple off weeks. Got it from GAK in their first shipment. Sorry about the demo, it was only the second day I'd had it. Can make it sound much nicer now, but I can't be arsed to do another demo yet. Well worth the money IMO.

I've not really played bass before, so I'm maybe not the best equipped reviewer, but so far I like it a lot. build quality seems excellent, feels a little sturdier that the vm jag I got. That's maybe just because it's bigger and heavier though. Sounds really nice to me, but I'm running it through a guitar amp, so again not a fair appraisal of the bass toanz. Finish is really nice, can't find any flaws on it so far. Set up was pretty damn good. I normally try and drop the action on any guitar I get to as low as it goes, but I don'y suppose that's all that necessary on a bass. The D string was buzzing as it was just touching the intonation screw, but dropping that saddle one screw turn completely resolved that. Tuning seems OK(ish). I guess the stringa are new, and it's pretty fuckin hard tuning the bottom E. My snark gets wobbled into oblivion   . Haven't tried intonating yet, as I haven't spent more than an hour or two with it yet, but it certainly doesn't sound a mile off.

So far very pleased. I've wanted a bass of some description for a while. I probably wouldn't have bought a straight up bass as I wouldn't really get the use, but this may act as a bit of a bridge gapper.

Pics







And a rough demo. Sorry about the shit playing.

monquixote

That's proper cool. 

I've always wanted to play a bass VI

stickyfiddle

Can anyone explain the purpose of these things? They seem to get a lot of love but the only band I've seen using them are Placebo and they were shite. I recall the Beatles used one on the White Album a bit.

How is it tuned? Presumably it's not great for chords other than doomy sludgy stuff?

horse

^^

Same here. What gauge strings does it use / is it tuned as low as a standard bass?

I like the look of them, but don't understand what they are!

monquixote

It's a guitar tuned an octave down. 

It's kind of it's own thing and good for swampy dirty blues stuff and also used by some country players. 

As for chords, I play loads of chords on my Warwick

redrighthand

Lovely! Very tempted by one of these. Not sure how much I'd use it, but at the Squier price point, there's a lot less money to be lost if I sell it on.

Pity they don't do it in this colour:

www.youtube.com/embed/51nA8g_t84c

Sporky

I think The Cure used 'em.

gusman2x

Yeah it's a short scale (30") 6 string bass. It is classed as a bass, mainly because of it's scale length. It's tuned e-E but an octave down. The strings are .024-.085, but that's too light really, especially for the low e.

I'm surprised at how much i'm enjoying it, i was worried too about applications. But it's basically all over the cure's disintegration so it's perfect for melodic lead lines. It's also really cool to capo at the 5th or 7th and you've then got a baritone tuned to a or b.

I love it so far, and for me it's well worth a punt at the price.

TheCurefan

Sporky said:

I think The Cure used 'em.

yes they did, though RS now uses a Schecter Ultracure VI

received my Squire VI a couple or 3 weeks ago, went straight in for new nut, new strings (LaBella SS flats .026-.095), minor fret work and a setup. now plays as a VI should.

randomhandclaps

Ladies & Gentleman.... Mr Robert Smith & his original Bass VI -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNBJ1rBAlN8

ROOG

Interesting idea, thanks for the demo Gusman.

I am going to give Bass a go (just as soon as I pluck up the courage to tell Mrs Roog that there will be another guitar in the family  house)

It's probably going to be a 4 string Squire P-bass or Jazz though.

frankus

Congratulations, listening to the demo atm I'm making one atm and I'd contend the "it's a bass" thing.

The strings are closer than on a bass, it's going to be less of a percussive instrument than a standard bass guitar.

Think about it, Leo made these after inventing the electric bass... the electric bass guitar was a total game changer - it created musical styles that could not exist without the electric bass...

Not long after this amazing break through Leo keeps doing what he did changing the game by giving musicians the tools to make new sounds - I think the Bass VI shows he didn't know how people would change the game - he just trusted musicians to do it - in terms of the Bass VI this hasn't happened yet.

My attitude to the bass is "keep it tight and low" - anything above the 5th fret is sacrificing rhythm for melody and not a bass players role (if there are enough people in the band). I love Victor Wooten and Marcus Miller because they're bass players and never forget it... it's a different beast from the guitar.

Wes Montgomery was interested in the bass vi and he wasn't a bass player - he was a jazz guitarist. What attracts some people to the bass vi is the tonal quality... above the 12th fret the bass sound more like a trumpet or horn - it's tone is really distinctive... it also has far far stronger harmonics than a guitar... listen to Portraits of Tracy (played on a bass of course but...)- some of those harmonics are played millimetres from each other on the 2nd fret - they can't easily be coaxed out of a guitar. Imagine the capabilities for harp harmonics on a bass VI! (it's got the neck and middle pickup so that could be promising... catching most nodes in that range)...

I don't like playing the guitar above the 12th fret - it's quite difficult to make it sound musical and not like a hysterical girl. So getting all the range of sounds - plus the ability to bass and comp below the 12th is pretty awesome.

I know Lennon, Jack Bruce, the Band used them as bass guitars - of course you can use them like that, I just think it has more potential

UnclePsychosis

I tried the Fender version recently and it sounded ace, but not sure what I'd "do" with it to get the most out of it. Its not really a bass or a guitar, its in the middle and in my opinion needs a totally different playing style to either. I think people who have a real creative bent could do a lot of cool stuff with one, people who want to just play conventional covers (nowt wrong with that) may struggle to find a real purpose for it. 

Sounds awesome, though. I'd have one if I had the money going spare. 

geoffbyrne

I have one on order and it's going to be used as a bass.

First thing is to get the string gauges right.  I have a set of custom LaBellas at 108, 84, 54, 44, 36, 28.  We'll see how I get on with those when it's delivered.  I have a feeling even those will be too light.  Circle K strings reckon the Bass VI needs a pull of at least 30lb per string to come alive -- their set starts with a 130.  We'll see.

Since a lot of numbers in my band are riff-based and I'm often in unison with the guitar, I'll give this a try & see how it goes.

G.

Mosfed

These are super cool.

I have to agree that I am not totally sure what I would do with one, but that doesn't make them any less cool.