I received my 4004 Laredo this morning. Since it is in the 20's here I was surprised that the box/case arrived in somewhat warm condition.....after unpacking I found the metal on the case was in the upper 40's and the guitar surface itself was 45 (using one of those laser thermometers thingies and opening/closing the case quickly). Considering that my house is in the low 60's and from info on the subject gathered in the past I felt it was plenty safe to check it out.
The setup from POTR was excellent but that didn't matter much since I began taking it apart right away to swap the hardware. My pics don't do it justice (IMO). I just have to wait to hear back from Dale for final info on when I can get the neck refinished.
I had a Cii, Bob.. the sound was incredbly bland and dull.. almost like a single-PU Aria or something, It was an incredibly boring, lazy, listless sound. No bite or character, whatsoever. I don't know if it was the Walnut in the Cii or the HB1s themselves... but I tried all sorts of combinations and just couldn't get a good, biting tone out of it, so I sold it. The last thing it sounded like was a Precision. I have a 1976 Precision and that has a gutsy, ballistic tone... a la John Wetton.
And it's not just me, either. A few of my companions have also experienced the same predicament. So, I had a bass that had the looks, the feel, the style... but a **** tone, thus I sold it.
I am anxious to hear what other people have to say. I heard the Laredo sounds a lot different, see.
(sorry, Brian for highjacking the thread, I'm sure yours will sound great.)
the 4004 is not bland when wired volume, volume, tone ... it growls ... the 4004ci is the warmest ... the 4004L is the coldest ... and the 4004CII is in the middle ... then there are the 2 different pickup locations ... and the different fretboard materials ...
The Laredo is solid maple and the Cii has a walnut sandwich between maple front/back.....so the tone may be different.
I haven't hooked this up to my rig yet and probably won't have a chance until my gig on Saturday so I'll know more then. I hope it sounds at least a little like my Ci and LK. I find the tone of those to be very full and Ric-like (with plenty of "growl" as some say) with just a slight boost to the low end.....I would classify it as anything but listless, lazy or boring. Another thing to consider is that my amp and cabinets are geared towards getting the tone I want out of the basses I prefer and the effects I use.
As a side note.....I stopped playing stock single coil 4003's because I thought the tone was too thin and didn't have enough of a low end kick. Switching to Bart p/u's helped the issue some but I find the 4004's to be better overall for my needs. Different models for different tastes.
Brian, we all hear a slightly different sound in our head....glad you found yours! Congrats on the new WMD!
(to save a post...Weapon of Mass Destruction...)
"They make great f***'n basses". - Lemmy, NAMM 2009
