Look What I got in the Mail Today

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Very cool, Tony Levin is a phenominal player. How is the OLP?

nice lookin bongo. OLP too?

I just looked again, isn't that the new Stealth Bongo? NIIIIICE!

It's been a long wait, but the Stealth is here and beautiful. I like the SC/H config and am getting used to the feel and sound. It's very light and smooth to play, as you all know. Aside from an annoying rattle on the open E and A strings, it's virtually perfect.

As for the Levin bass, you oughta see the color in person. It's very cool and changes it's character in different light. Sometimes it looks like salmon, sometime like the barbie doll, sometimes outright orange.

Please, please write a review of the Tony Levin Olp as soon as possible! That looks like it could be a great budget backup to my SR5.

Are those levin basses in stores yet? I would go out and drop the money right now if they were out and atleast decent quality.

Andrew

Two new basses in one day? Sweeeeet! Life is good.

They both look very nice... the Stealth is killer!

Thanks for your enthusiasm! I'll write more about these basses as soon as I get a moment. As to the Levin OLP, I don't believe they're in stores yet. I understand they will be shipping at the end of the month. In my case, I was very persistent in tracking one down through a dealer I know out west. I was told that I was the first to get one, but who really knows? I do have some interesting comments on it which I will get to in a bit....

What a good day for you. Sweet basses.

Is the OLP a 3 band?? That would be a heckuva budget bass.

I could be wrong, but I think it's their first active bass and it does indeed have a 3 band pre. If it plays decent , I WANT ONE. I'm a huge Tony Levin fan and could use a cheap backup.

Andrew

Could you P.M. how much you purchased the TL bass for?

Which one did you play first?

I wish EBMM would make a Tony Levin signature, that would be hella' cool.
By the way, awesome basses.

Yes, it was a fun day- getting them both at once. Believe it or not, I actually opened the OLP first- I kind of knew what to expect with the MM, but had never seen a TL "peach" bass before. It came in a cardboard box within another shipping box. The color is the first thing that you notice. VERY different and cool. I cleaned it up and plugged it in...more on that in a minute. The STEALTH was next, and was really beautiful as well, though side by side the satin black finish is completely outshined by the shocking Barbie Doll pink of the OLP! The Stealth is so nice and light and perfectly balanced.

As requested by Dr. Cheese, here's my first review of the OLP (please don't think I'm giving too much time to a lesser beast here, but we all know about the Bongos, right?)...

The first real feeling is of great weight. This thing weighs a ton. Having looked at a regular OLP 5'er last week, I expected a flimsy knock off. The TL is a tank. I believe the body to be thicker than the standard OLP and more like the Stingray 5. The contours are not quite as sculpted as the SR5, and it may lack a little of the sculptural sex appeal, but the proportions are pretty much the same. The neck seems very wide to me (though this is my first 5 string), maybe a tad wider than the SR5. It is, however, very solid and appears to be well engineered and constructed. The tuners are stock OLP, with thin chrome, but seem OK. The neck bolts were not tightened all the way, but the neck was firm.

The set-up was pretty bad and the factory string were horrible. I tweaked the truss rod (very stiff) and action, and installed EB Slinkys right away. Be sure to have the dealer throw in real strings with the deal! Now it plays very, very well. The neck feels great and the fingerwork is a breeze.

Now, about the tone. The active EQ is treble, Mid, Bass. No switching. The tone on my TL bass is unfortunately very poor. With all knobs at the "middle" position, it is so overrun with midrange as to be unlistenable. It sounds like you're playing through an old radio (which I am not). Tinny and throaty and nearly distorted. Putting on the new strings helped the clarity and response. In order to get anywhere near a workable tone, I reduced the Mid control to zero, increased treble and Bass to full, and took out all Mids on my amplifier's EQ. Clearly, this is not a tone to go gigging with, but will suffice as I practice playing a 5'er at home. By the way, when not plugged in, it has a very loud, snappy sound, so I think with the electronics fixed up, it should have a good tonal personality.

I'm hoping that maybe mine is just a fluke and needs a little tweaking of the electronics or something. I'm taking the bass to Jim Mouradian (the maker of Chris Squire's green machine) to have him go over the bass completely and make it the best it can be. I will be keeping the instrument, even if it means replacing the electronics, because I feel that it has a lot of character and soul and of course that extremely groovy color. I'm not really a 5 string player yet, so this is a good one to start with.

The tone problem is a big issue here, but beyond that, it would be an excellent value, a lot of bass for the buck, and nearly indestructable construction. Perhaps the later ones will have better tone. There you have it; I hope I haven't stepped on toes or alienated anyone!

That is unfortunate that the tone is lacking but I figured I'd drop in upgraded electronics if I got one anyway so its not a huge set back for me. Thanks for the review!

Andrew

I want one of those tony levin OLP's. No question, I want one. I love OLP's, I love tony levin, I love mass Mids. It's fate.

Thanks for the review. I would definitely check oneof those out in person bfore I spent any money on one.

agplate said:

I'm taking the bass to Jim Mouradian (the maker of Chris Squire's green machine) to have him go over the bass completely and make it the best it can be. I will be keeping the instrument, even if it means replacing the electronics, because I feel that it has a lot of character and soul and of course that extremely groovy color. I'm not really a 5 string player yet, so this is a good one to start with.

The tone problem is a big issue here, but beyond that, it would be an excellent value, a lot of bass for the buck, and nearly indestructable construction. Perhaps the later ones will have better tone. There you have it; I hope I haven't stepped on toes or alienated anyone!

Click to expand...

Has Jim Mouradian done any work on yr TL bass? How's it doing now? Think its still worth buy despite the needed extra work and possible upgrades?

Thanks,

r

Hey DGCE- Welcome to the forum! I did have Jim work on the bass and I played it out for the first time yesterday. It sounds and feels wonderful. Very Solid and playable. As to the end value, there's two ways to look at it. If what you're really after is a Stingray 5, then I would say it may be a better idea to save up a little more and find a good used one. If you're after the charm of a "Tony Levin" bass complete with the "Peach" color that would be otherwise difficult to find, then this is a very good value. After playing it yesterday, I'm sure it will be a keeper. I had many, many comments on the color too, btw.

In case you didn't see it yet, I've posted a more detailed review here:
http://www.ernieball.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9012