the time has come, and i'd like to advance to playing a fretless bass. as of right now i am playing a ltd F-255FM which is nice but not exactly what i'm looking for, i really want to have a nice versitile, bassy bass, that many styles can be played on. i have been looking at a cort b4FL but i'm not sure if thats the right one for me. any suggestions on a good fretless thats not too expecsive or a nice 6 string mother fucker. help me out! thanks
recomend a fretless bass?
- Thread starter only_ash_remains
- Start date
Satanstoenail
My Larpstyle determines my Derpstyle
Save up, spend the money, get something good. Customs are best. Find a good craftsman and get him to make you something amazing. You'll be set for a long time. Here's mine:
Higon
No Blest´s Bassist
I have a Cort B4fl. The old model, that one with Mightymite pickups... Tell you the truth, it has the most confortable neck I´ve ever seen, it´s trully smooth, but unfortunately it does not sound as good as it plays.
I don´t know if it´s due to the fact that it have active pickups and they don´t sound as good in a fretless bass as they do in a fretted (I have another Cort, a fretted C5 with Mightymite as well, and I love that bass, both tone and playability are great). It certainlly have a deep deep low, but the tone does not sound as defined and good as I would like it to. Also, my bass is really friken old, that can affect it´s tone as well I guess.
Maybe the newer versions have a better tone, given that they come with Bartolini pickups - and word in the street is that they are awesome. Anyway, tone is a very particular thing, give it a shot, maybe it´s what you are looking for.
I don´t know if it´s due to the fact that it have active pickups and they don´t sound as good in a fretless bass as they do in a fretted (I have another Cort, a fretted C5 with Mightymite as well, and I love that bass, both tone and playability are great). It certainlly have a deep deep low, but the tone does not sound as defined and good as I would like it to. Also, my bass is really friken old, that can affect it´s tone as well I guess.
Maybe the newer versions have a better tone, given that they come with Bartolini pickups - and word in the street is that they are awesome. Anyway, tone is a very particular thing, give it a shot, maybe it´s what you are looking for.
Allfader
Kvelding
in stevedigiorgio.com check out the steve's basses... the green ESP is beautiful 
buy an Ibanez sr 506 with bartolini pickups and send it to a luthier to make it fretless
buy an Ibanez sr 506 with bartolini pickups and send it to a luthier to make it fretless
Nero666
Bass Tard
I have a Carvin fretless, but in all honesty if it's your first fretless you might not want to drop that kind of money.
I started on a fretless Fender Jazz to get a feel for it. Really great tone and feel on the neck and it didn't rape my wallet.
I started on a fretless Fender Jazz to get a feel for it. Really great tone and feel on the neck and it didn't rape my wallet.
Nero's right.The first bass fretlees i had was a copy of musicman with frets took out (by me
) with some adjustments made by a local craftsman (like changing the fingerboard to a frettless- ebony or rosewood /ebony=lifetime) now i own carvin and- well - it's a killler machine but only if one can REALLY play frettless , not if you want to learn by it -just a waste of money
) with some adjustments made by a local craftsman (like changing the fingerboard to a frettless- ebony or rosewood /ebony=lifetime) now i own carvin and- well - it's a killler machine but only if one can REALLY play frettless , not if you want to learn by it -just a waste of moneyI have one of the new Cort B4FL's with the Bartolini Pickups, it's sounds awesome, but then again, it's like the only fretless I've ever owned (besides my shitty peavey that I defretted), so I can't really tell you for sure if the tone is good for a fretless haha.
Heres a short video of me playing it, if you can tell from that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiNpkQvqxG4
But anyways, it plays fucking great, that's for sure.
e/ That custom fretless in the second post is fucking sexy O_O
^ is the cort comfortable?
and thanks for the advice guys
and that custom bass is fuckin awsome, quite possibley the nicest looking bass i've ever seen, its exactly what i like in a bass. i wish i had the money haha
and thanks for the advice guys
and that custom bass is fuckin awsome, quite possibley the nicest looking bass i've ever seen, its exactly what i like in a bass. i wish i had the money haha
I have a Dean Edge, cost $300usd new. It plays and sounds great, but the active preamp's a little noisey. It wasn't noticeable thru a rig, but when direct into a recording consols and monitors you could hear a slight hiss when you stop playing. When i have the money a nice set of EMG's will fix that for me.
Disincarnate
I'm but a wave to...
yea steves bass is real nice.i dont like the stock esp stuff though.allmost all of them have an agathis body..which is not good imo
_Wes
StrangeBass
_Wes
StrangeBass
Oh - and check out some of the great luthiers here:
http://fretlessbassist.com/gallery
Be prepared to drool.......
http://fretlessbassist.com/gallery
Be prepared to drool.......
_Wes
StrangeBass
Knulla
Member
WOW. That is a nice bass.
As for me, I don't have a fretless yet, mainly because I don't have the money. I want to get a 6 string custom fretless eventually.
Nice bass. I got a fretless about a year and a half ago. If money is not an option, then the rockbass I got for $500 more than pays for it self in terms of affordability and sound for the price. Suprisingly light too.
_Wes
StrangeBass
You know - I got to play a $$ (double-buck???) warwicks when I was in St. Louis looking at gear. Very nice - much nicer than I expected. Had a really great growl to it. . .
Which Rockbass version do you have?
Thanks!
Satanstoenail
My Larpstyle determines my Derpstyle
Very nice.
Love the Eden rig as well, I'm running an Eden 4x10 in my set up, It's easily the most quality component in my rig. I need to replace my old Hartke head with an Eden one of these days. And an 18' Eden cab would be very nice also.....
genocide roach
DOOOOOOOOOOM
- Aug 18, 2002
- 9,421
- 16
- 38
ooh, another fretless page
anyways, i have a pedulla hexabuzz. sweet blue/green burst. i like it alot. dingwall has also started to make some fretless basses. i have a dingwall ABII 5 string, and its the best bass i own. i cant imagine their fretless being anything but great.
there are alot of custom luthiers out there that have reasonable prices. ive been checking out stambaugh, and thor lately. good prices for high end stuff! thor even has a couple of fretless basses for sale on their site. we'll see what the future holds
http://www.thorbass.com/
http://www.stambaughdesigns.com/
http://www.dingwallguitars.com/
http://www.pedulla.com/
metal needs more fretless
~gR~
anyways, i have a pedulla hexabuzz. sweet blue/green burst. i like it alot. dingwall has also started to make some fretless basses. i have a dingwall ABII 5 string, and its the best bass i own. i cant imagine their fretless being anything but great.
there are alot of custom luthiers out there that have reasonable prices. ive been checking out stambaugh, and thor lately. good prices for high end stuff! thor even has a couple of fretless basses for sale on their site. we'll see what the future holds
http://www.thorbass.com/
http://www.stambaughdesigns.com/
http://www.dingwallguitars.com/
http://www.pedulla.com/
metal needs more fretless
~gR~
HippieOfDoom
The 13th Monkey
Man...I love the Thor bass...! Think I might have to get me one...
I guess I could be a pretty good company rep for somebody. Because my answer is always the same on this. I don't think any one bass maker, any one company has the best. Each to their own. But also keep in mind that good wood, good pickups and your attack style have a lot to do with it. I think for example, ash and maple are pretty fool-proof for bass contruction, as where alder (trust me!) sucks ass. Now once again this is my opinion, but I think what gives a fretless a more fretless sound are passive pickups. I think they allow the sound of the wood and strings to come thru as opposed to being more influenced by frequency modulation and volume boosts from active systems.
As far as a recommendation... I would suggest starting out on a middle of the pack bass. Obviously don't get a piece of crap cheapo, and to the other extreme the really high-dollar basses are so well made that to me they are almost too warm. Sound great alone, but too rich for a mix with crappy distorted guitars and loud ass boomy toms and shitty clicky bass drums samples. A middle of the road fretless bass, with new strings, EQ with some of the low end rolled off and some of the mid-low-mids bumped up and as much high end as your over-compressing engineer can stand. And for LowEnd's sake, play the fretless to sound like a fretless, sometimes, at least.
SDG
I guess I could be a pretty good company rep for somebody. Because my answer is always the same on this. I don't think any one bass maker, any one company has the best. Each to their own. But also keep in mind that good wood, good pickups and your attack style have a lot to do with it. I think for example, ash and maple are pretty fool-proof for bass contruction, as where alder (trust me!) sucks ass. Now once again this is my opinion, but I think what gives a fretless a more fretless sound are passive pickups. I think they allow the sound of the wood and strings to come thru as opposed to being more influenced by frequency modulation and volume boosts from active systems.
As far as a recommendation... I would suggest starting out on a middle of the pack bass. Obviously don't get a piece of crap cheapo, and to the other extreme the really high-dollar basses are so well made that to me they are almost too warm. Sound great alone, but too rich for a mix with crappy distorted guitars and loud ass boomy toms and shitty clicky bass drums samples. A middle of the road fretless bass, with new strings, EQ with some of the low end rolled off and some of the mid-low-mids bumped up and as much high end as your over-compressing engineer can stand. And for LowEnd's sake, play the fretless to sound like a fretless, sometimes, at least.
SDG
