Which track is the Starfire bass quiz! For fun!

[Westerly Wood]

Thanks for your replies, y'all, and taking the time to listen.
I am very surprised!
The Starfire is "Number 1".
Only guilded liked the sound of it! Good on you!
To my ears the Starfire has a nice flabbiness to the low end that the Gibson does not. Also, my Starfire seems to not sound like a typical Starfire, which I have noticed before, after hearing lots of online sound samples from others. I don't know why that is.
After putting the bisonic in the Gibson, and being generally the same shape, though smaller body, I noticed how similar they sounded. So I thought it would be fun to put them both up here for your all's thoughts.

wow, so I prefer Gibsons after all...who knew?

 

[lungimsam]

Another question for OP:

Where was the "blend" knob set on the converted SFI during recording?

My guess is "at the detent".

It was 100% neck pup.

 

[lungimsam]

wow, so I prefer Gibsons after all...who knew?

Specifically, you like Les Paul DC Tribute basses with Bisonic.

The reason I say that is because it sounded a lot different with the stock Gibson pick up before the Bisonic was in. And also I used to own a Gibson SG base which sounded horrendous.

 

[Minnesota Flats]

"It was 100% neck pup."

Just call me the Strike Out King!

I'll probably be traded before the season goes by...

 

[lungimsam]

The center detent with both pick ups full up is too nasally and comb filter effect sounding so I just like the neck pick up best.

 

[lungimsam]

There were two subtle clues to hint at which one was the starfire that I was wondering if anyone would pick up on:
1. Flabbiness of tone from neck pup, indicating a neck pickup in use.
2. Starfire is noisier electronics because not shielded.
Gibson very quiet cuz shielded (indicating the easier to shield solid body).

 

[Minnesota Flats]

When you start routing a stock SF signal through tone-shaping electronics (vs. a straight shot into the amp) it's pretty amazing how much you can expand possibilities . I only have a compressor, an old Hartke pre-amp pedal and an MXR 10-band EQ on my pedal board, but even just those open up a whole new, nuanced world.

 

[lungimsam]

Starfires are very flexible, it seems.

This was recorded plugged into a Aguilar Tonehammer, then direct to focusrite to computer. No amp.

 

[fronobulax]

There were two subtle clues to hint at which one was the starfire that I was wondering if anyone would pick up on:
1. Flabbiness of tone from neck pup, indicating a neck pickup in use.
2. Starfire is noisier electronics because not shielded.
Gibson very quiet cuz shielded (indicating the easier to shield solid body).

Neither of which I noticed because if I could only fix one thing it would have been the fret clack on both basses. But I find isolated bass tracks from James Jamerson difficult to listen to for the same reason so...

 

[lungimsam]

“Once you klack, you never go back!”.

I am a heavy handed finger style player and cannot control the klack. Never could no matter how hard I try. Would need 1/2” action to do so.
Using a pick eliminates the klack though since the movement is sideways.
I mostly play pic now. Only fingers when needed.
But I did do these recordings with fingers.

 

[fronobulax]

“Once you klack, you never go back!”.

I am a heavy handed finger style player and cannot control the klack. Never could no matter how hard I try. Would need 1/2” action to do so.
Using a pick eliminates the klack though since the movement is sideways.
I mostly play pic now. Only fingers when needed.
But I did do these recordings with fingers.

I made the Jamerson reference because klack is a Feature and not a Bug at least for him. It is certainly true that isolated bass makes klack more noticeable.

Upon reflection I find the exercise interesting but ultimately disappointing because "my Starfire seems to not sound like a typical Starfire".

 

[lungimsam]

Sorry to disappoint, frono.
"my Starfire seems to not sound like a typical Starfire" was my impression.
Part of the experiment was to see if others thought so, too, as would be evidenced by listeners being able to identify which was which.
Apparantly, the Starfire and Gibson are so similar in tone that noone could identify which was which.
Based on the responses, it appears that this Gibson bass sounds more like a Starfire than my Starfire does.
So that kinda confirms it is true that my Starfire sounds atypical. I was wondering. I don't know how that could be, but obviously it is so.
If people had confidently stated that the Starfire tone was obvious then I would know it does sound like a Starfire. But that is not the case.

 

[fronobulax]

Sorry to disappoint, frono.

If I had answered "Which is the Starfire?" with "Neither" does it make my point better? Neither bass sounds like a Starfire in spite of appearances to the contrary.

 

[lungimsam]

Right, I guess I was thinking if someone might’ve said “oh for sure that one’s the StarFire because it sounds like a Starfire “ then I would know mine sounds normal but I guess it doesn’t.
Hopefully one day in the future there will be a mid Atlantic Guild meet up and then I can hear and play some real Starfires one day.

 

[gilded]

Uh, I'm the only one who guessed it?

Hmm.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like to thank the Academy for this wonderful award. My Agent fronobulax, plus the formidable Production Team of Lungimsam, West and Wood, are just as responsible for this Award as anyone. Finally, I must not fail to mention all the 'little people':
You Know Who You Are!

(Frankly, I liked the execution of the bass lines, plus I've played my early-ish '66 SF1 for hours and hours and hours and hours over the last 10 or so Years).

gilded

 

[mellowgerman]

Well I'm late to the party again... answer is already out there. For what it's worth however, I listened before scrolling and actually guessed correctly. The tip-off was actually not that one sounded more like a Starfire to me than the other, but rather that #2 had a distinct middle-position single-coil sound. A lot like a '51 P bass.

I will also say that my ears have a lot less experience with the reissue import Bisonics. My 1970 Starfire with a Dark Star and a Novak sounds very different, but I also prefer my Maxima flats which are a lot less bright and have a completely different midrange to them.

 

[lungimsam]

Mellow, haha!!!!
I knew you were going to be able to deduce which one was which based on the pick up position sound!!!
I don’t know why I thought that, but I thought to myself “When mellow chimes in I bet he will figure it out based on pick up position sound!”!
I guess because you have spent so many years experimenting with Bisonics in all kinds of positions and basses.

 

[mellowgerman]

I wish I would have seen this thread earlier! The anticipation of finding out if my ears were right or wrong is probably the best part.

It really is pretty amazing how different a vibrating string sounds even just an inch down the line; if you've got an honest pickup anyway.

Speaking of honest pickups (preemptively sorry for the oncoming veer), I recently read a little background on the history of Joe Barden and his approach to pickup design, which was super interesting. The aim being noiseless and big, broad frequency response... As a result, I just put a set of Joe Bardens in my Gibson and I'm totally floored by the outcome. He doesn't have a ton of different shape options, so it took a little work to get the Rickenbacker sized set to fit. Once installed though with dual Jtex Distiller filters... What a trip! My Novak Bisonic that was in there previously, being a single coil, could get a little hissy in combination with some of the Q switch settings. Normally 60cycle doesn't bother me much, but at a certain point of resonant peak boost, any non-hum-bucking pickup will start to sound like the the gales of Cape Horn. So these Bardens made for a great workaround.

 

[lungimsam]

I made the Jamerson reference because klack is a Feature and not a Bug at least for him.

Ouch!!

 

[Minnesota Flats]

Gee, Mello, you've fixed the two main things that ailed that bass: pickups and bridge!

I've frequently toyed with getting one of those and similarly modding it, since really nice, reasonably-priced JS-IIs are pretty hard to find.