Show your Smith bass!

[Kirk P Brosius]

Hi all,

I have actually had some dummass say to me; "hey dude, nice Carvin" at which time I told him that he was mistaken. I informed him that the bass was really a "Sears", couldn't he plainly see the big "S"?

Gotta love a wiseass!!

Later, Kirk

[Rory Lane]

A couple of photos of my basses, I am a very happy man...

[Roy Diza]

Wow, a MD7 and BSR6EG. Now,, that's a totally heaven pair of Smith's. What year are they respectively?

[Rory Lane]

Hey Roy

The Cocobolo/Walnut MD7 is a 2001, 9 volt pre-amp and Ebony/Tiger Maple is 2011, 18 volt pre-amp that I just received. Two very different instruments for tone, there is nothing similar in the way that they sound.
The Ebony to my ear is really brilliant across the tonal spectrum with lots of punch. The Cocobolo is very smooth and deep on the low end with crystal like highs, mids are very complex which I roll off quite a bit. The Maple/Mahogany that I just sold had a very classic Smith sound that was warm and punchy with strong mids that Smiths are known for and sat well within the mix when playing live.
I am probably giving you more information than you need but I really enjoy these instruments and thought this might be info that you are others could use if looking at something similar in a Smith bass.

Rory

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Rory Lane

Hey Roy

The Cocobolo/Walnut MD7 is a 2001, 9 volt pre-amp and Ebony/Tiger Maple is 2011, 18 volt pre-amp that I just received. Two very different instruments for tone, there is nothing similar in the way that they sound.
The Ebony to my ear is really brilliant across the tonal spectrum with lots of punch. The Cocobolo is very smooth and deep on the low end with crystal like highs, mids are very complex which I roll off quite a bit. The Maple/Mahogany that I just sold had a very classic Smith sound that was warm and punchy with strong mids that Smiths are known for and sat well within the mix when playing live.
I am probably giving you more information than you need but I really enjoy these instruments and thought this might be info that you are others could use if looking at something similar in a Smith bass.

Rory

Rory, good information here and description of sounds. Thanks for sharing.

[JuanVasquez]

I was the one who bought the BSR6EG mahogany and maple bass from Rory what a great bass

[Rory Lane]

Juan, I am glad you are enjoying the bass.

Rory

[Hector Corrales Campos]

Originally Posted by Rory Lane

A couple of photos of my basses, I am a very happy man...

Attachment 2189

Attachment 2190

Attachment 2191

Hi Rory! I was watching your Smiths, they are really beautiful basses, but seeing the setup of your series/parallel switches I noticed you use the neck pickup in series (switch up) and the bridge pickup in parallel (switch down), and see that configuration in both of your basses; so my question is, why you like this setup? I ask because I have had this doubt for some time and also because I have noticed that other Smith players use that configuration too.

Thanks for sharing!

[Roy Diza]

I just got this and I'm totally blown away. It plays just like buttah with
looks that kills

[Tim Bishop]

Hmmm, nice back of the neck!

[Roy Diza]

Originally Posted by Tim Bishop

Hmmm, nice back of the neck!

Weird. I guess I have to post one per:

[Roy Diza]

[Rory Lane]

Very, Very nice Roy. What is the core, my eyes are getting old and I can't see like I used to.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Rory Lane

Very, Very nice Roy. What is the core, my eyes are getting old and I can't see like I used to.

The Core is Walnut!

[Dirk Blarinckx]

Very nice Roy!

I recently traded my 5EG for this KSA-5 20th Anniversary in Flamed Redwood. I'm very pleased with it! It's not to heavy, balance is perfect. It has some playwear but it sounds and plays like a dream (what did you expect?... it's a Smith :-)

[Rory Lane]

Hey Hector, sorry to take so long to respond I just noticed the post. As you know tone is very subjective and what sounds good to me may sound like crap to the next guy. I like a big warm tone with a lot of bass on the bottom end. While I like plenty of highs I like them in the background and mids to be present but not to overwhelming. The selection of the Series/Parallel switch in this position seems to help me achieve these tones.
Keep in mind both my basses sound very different from each other but the setting still works for me. For this conversation I would say that my Melvin Davis 7 string bass sounds similar to what you might hear from Nathan East and my Ebony 6 would be similar to what you might hear from Stanley Clarke. Of course these comparisons are just my evaluation but I think this is close.
I have been dealing with carpal tunnel in both hands and some other nerve damage so I have not been playing much just teaching. If anyone else is dealing with or has dealt with carpal tunnel please chime in on remedies or exercises that have helped you. Hector, I hope this information helps but as I stated in the beginning tone is very subjective.

Rory