Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I've been Jones'n for a Hofner 500/1 lately anything I should look out for, flock to or avoid? Any help would be appreciated, Thanks!

Buy a V63.

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They are really great basses. If you're looking to save a few bucks, I quite liked the CT I had.

Forget the violin; go for the Club.

Now that I read JB's post I agree go for a Club.

Hofners sound best with low-wattage tube bass amps coupled to cabs with compliant paper-cone speakers run at their limit of just wanting to break over to power tube distortion to get natural compression to sound their best. Through most modern solid state or even tube amps with rigid speakers into ported cabs, they sound like a pebble dropped on wet cardboard.

Don't be afraid to try round wound strings on it.My 500/1 sounds great with the chinese Hofner strings on it.
And played thru a 200 wt Ampeg or a 300 wt Behringer ,as well as my tube amps.

Hofners are just awesome!
Every single hofner I've ever played have just been great.
The icon is awesome as well, but the quality is not all there, I do beat the thing up though.

Here she is!
As much as my friends and I joke that this is a '****** instrument' and sure it is rough around the edges, yes, a botched repair job or two, but I near learned everything on this bass. Hofners are awesome, get one!

I'll vote with Jeff on this one. I love my V63. I had both fretted and fretless versions but found that for fretless stuff I didn't use it as much as my Pedulla, Gibson or U-bass. The fretted one however, is something I wouldn't be without.

I love Jeff's old 500/1 V63. It quickly became my favourite gigging bass by virtue of its light weight and deep, rich tone. It still has the Pyramid flats on it that Jeff put on many years back, and still sounds as you'd expect. My current band plays swing, so the woody, tubby tone works really well. I usually play it either through a Line 6 bass pod set to emulate a Vox AC-50 or Bassman, then to front of house, or through an old GK MB200 with an Ashdown compressor. It sounds brilliant in all applications.

One drawback is that due to the nature of their construction, Hofner's are a bit delicate and can't take the kind of punishment or neglect that one can dish out to a sold-body bass - a higher degree of care is needed in terms of handling and storage. The Chinese instruments may be a little more robust as they have a central sustain block rather than being fully hollow-body.

I also note that you will need to adjust your playing style quite a bit if you're migrating from a "classic" solid-body bass. The short scale, body depth and pickup placement take a bit of getting used to, particularly if you play finger-style.

JB has a good point - I would love to find a 500/2 Club bass, or an old 500/5 in decent condition, but they're rare as hen's teeth, particularly down in Oz. The 500/1 is wonderful but its iconic shape isn't perfect for playing when seated, which is a drawback when you're an old fogey like me....

Evan brings up a great point that I neglected to mention. My first Hofner was a 1966 Club Bass that was just amazing. I brought it out on a gig the first week I got it and was horrified to find that after the 1st set, there were several nasty pick scratches in the top above the E string. And I was being careful with it! These finishes are DELICATE and you must be very careful.

antipodean wrote:I love Jeff's old 500/1 V63. It quickly became my favourite gigging bass by virtue of its light weight and deep, rich tone. It still has the Pyramid flats on it that Jeff put on many years back, and still sounds as you'd expect. My current band plays swing, so the woody, tubby tone works really well. I usually play it either through a Line 6 bass pod set to emulate a Vox AC-50 or Bassman, then to front of house, or through an old GK MB200 with an Ashdown compressor. It sounds brilliant in all applications.

One drawback is that due to the nature of their construction, Hofner's are a bit delicate and can't take the kind of punishment or neglect that one can dish out to a sold-body bass - a higher degree of care is needed in terms of handling and storage. The Chinese instruments may be a little more robust as they have a central sustain block rather than being fully hollow-body.

I also note that you will need to adjust your playing style quite a bit if you're migrating from a "classic" solid-body bass. The short scale, body depth and pickup placement take a bit of getting used to, particularly if you play finger-style.

JB has a good point - I would love to find a 500/2 Club bass, or an old 500/5 in decent condition, but they're rare as hen's teeth, particularly down in Oz. The 500/1 is wonderful but its iconic shape isn't perfect for playing when seated, which is a drawback when you're an old fogey like me....

The Contemporary has a sustain block, the Icon doesn't.

In regards to JB's post, the Icon's paint is not delicate, it is very durable, but it does chip easily, so when I have a chip, I usually sand it out.

Here is some great tone from a 500/1.

Speaking of tone, Jeff. The icon IMO does not sound thumpy, I have old flats and a mute in there, it is close, but I am still chasing THAT Beatle sound.

The thing I like best about the German Hofners is that hollow, woody tone that's pretty hard to come by with most other basses. I haven't tried the Chinese models, but for the more folk-based stuff that we play, sometimes the V63 is just the ticket. It's solid in the low registers and I really ike the way the woody tone comes into its own when you start playing pretty far up the neck. There is a sample of what I'm talking about in this string of short clips. Unfortunately, it's the last one, but at least it points out the differences between a few different basses. The running order for the clips is (1) my fretless Kala bass Ukulele with rubber strings (2) my old fretless Frankenstein Gibson walnut LP (3) my modified Rick 2030 with half-rounds and dialed in to sound like an acoustic bass guitar (4) my '69 Hagstrom 8-string (5) my Pedulla Buzz fretless (with rounds) and finally (6) The Hofner V63 (fretted) with TI Jazz Flats.
http://webpages.charter.net/tbradshaw/M ... amples.mp3