I don't really have a "band" at the moment, but three other friends and I have been playing together on a pretty regular basis. All four of us are guitarists though and since I'm the only one with an 8-string guitar that goes down lower than the rest, I've ended up mostly running that into a bass amp and playing low register bass kind of parts on it. It works pretty well, but at some point one must admit that using only the low two strings on an 8-string guitar is a bit silly, so I decided to take the plunge and get a real bass (my roommate has a *really* cheap old Dean bass, but it's so painful to play that it really wasn't an option).
I'm a major Parker fan and I've always been curious about their basses. I saw a used 5-string Parker Fly Bass go by on eBay a while back and it got away from me. I've been kicking myself ever since and waiting for another to show up. Unfortunately, all I've seen since are the Asian manufactured, non-carbon-fiber PB models. I'd like to hold out for a full-on, high end, US made Fly Bass, but my patience ran out when I found this Matte black PB41 for a price that was low enough that I was willing to take a chance:
So far, I'm impressed. I love the look of it (I know the shape isn't for everyone). I think it looks like a sniper rifle. I could mount a scope on it and it wouldn't be out of place.
The neck (maple) is thin for a bass, straight as an arrow, and I was able to get the action really, really low. Plenty of access up to the 24th fret. The "carbonite" fretboard isn't anything special compared to a Fly's carbon-fiber/composite one, but it's feels as good as any other bass I've played.
It's pretty heavy. 9lbs. I guess that's pretty typical for a bass and is pretty comparable to my Agile 8-string, but it still feels massive compared to my Fly guitars. Most of the weight is clearly coming from the "urethan" body, which is some dense material. The acoustic tone is pure win though. Whatever that material is, it's nice and resonant and does the job. It just sounds really rich unplugged or plugged in.
Pickups are real EMG 35CS. A lot of info you'll find on the web about this model lists it as having EMG-Hz pickups, but that was a typo from Parker that just got repeated everywhere.
The knobs are neck volume, bridge volume, and active bass and treble EQs (with nice center detents). Holy smokes is this thing high output. With the EQ centered, I have to roll back the volume quite a bit to keep it from clipping the inputs of whatever I put it into.
The shape may be strange, but it's very comfortable to play in pretty much any position. The upper horn doesn't even dig in like on Parker guitars. The body has a nice contour to it that makes it feel very natural:
A couple more closeup shots:
I'm a major Parker fan and I've always been curious about their basses. I saw a used 5-string Parker Fly Bass go by on eBay a while back and it got away from me. I've been kicking myself ever since and waiting for another to show up. Unfortunately, all I've seen since are the Asian manufactured, non-carbon-fiber PB models. I'd like to hold out for a full-on, high end, US made Fly Bass, but my patience ran out when I found this Matte black PB41 for a price that was low enough that I was willing to take a chance:
So far, I'm impressed. I love the look of it (I know the shape isn't for everyone). I think it looks like a sniper rifle. I could mount a scope on it and it wouldn't be out of place.
The neck (maple) is thin for a bass, straight as an arrow, and I was able to get the action really, really low. Plenty of access up to the 24th fret. The "carbonite" fretboard isn't anything special compared to a Fly's carbon-fiber/composite one, but it's feels as good as any other bass I've played.
It's pretty heavy. 9lbs. I guess that's pretty typical for a bass and is pretty comparable to my Agile 8-string, but it still feels massive compared to my Fly guitars. Most of the weight is clearly coming from the "urethan" body, which is some dense material. The acoustic tone is pure win though. Whatever that material is, it's nice and resonant and does the job. It just sounds really rich unplugged or plugged in.
Pickups are real EMG 35CS. A lot of info you'll find on the web about this model lists it as having EMG-Hz pickups, but that was a typo from Parker that just got repeated everywhere.
The knobs are neck volume, bridge volume, and active bass and treble EQs (with nice center detents). Holy smokes is this thing high output. With the EQ centered, I have to roll back the volume quite a bit to keep it from clipping the inputs of whatever I put it into.
The shape may be strange, but it's very comfortable to play in pretty much any position. The upper horn doesn't even dig in like on Parker guitars. The body has a nice contour to it that makes it feel very natural:
A couple more closeup shots:
