Rusty's Custom Series II 5-string

[David Houck]

Love the video; the depth is really striking.

[rustyg61]

Thanks Dave!

[dead_head]

The video was great. It really does look 3-D, like blue satin under the light. Beautiful bass, Rusty! Congratulations!

[rustyg61]

I made a HUGE mistake tonight, I set up both my amps & went STEREO! Oh My God!!! This Series II was MADE for stereo!!! It was like uncapping the headers!!! More about that tomorrow, I will shoot video......

[edwin]

Stereo is indeed awesome. I recommend it, even if it's just for the front end.

[rustyg61]

Just when I was happy with the sound I was getting from my Fender Rumble 350 with my SCSD, & glad to not be hauling my 4X10 & 1X15 Eden cabinets with my WT 800 Eden amp, now I have experienced the incredible sound of the Series II in stereo with the bridge pickup going to the Rumble & the neck going to the WT 800 & 4X10 box! The SII sounded good with the Rumble alone, but it is like it is way over compressed compared to the sound I get in Stereo. I commented to Mica that my Europa didn't have the highs that my SCSD has, but it does in stereo! It really comes alive! Currently I set my Rumble up tilted back & facing backwards like a monitor so it doesn't affect the FOH mix, but it is going to be really hard to not bring both amps & set them up in a traditional backline now that I have heard the difference in sound. I have a gig tomorrow night at one of our smaller venues & the stereo rig would be way overkill, so I will just bring the Rumble & see how the Europa sounds with the band, but if I can't get the sound I want I'm going to start bringing the stereo rig. I left the rig set up & will shoot some video tonight & post it so everyone can hear how incredible this bass sounds. I took another Family Photo with all my gear last night. The last time I took this picture I had 9 basses & guitars & that prompted my wife to say I needed one more to make it an even 10, & that got the ball rolling for building my Europa. So here is my 10.  
 

[elwoodblue]

Love those kind of mistakes.
Its good to hear the highs are available.It would be hard to fathom that blue beast doesn't have a little bite.
 
11 is a good number too ,though I'd be happy with '1' if it was like your Europa !!

[rustyg61]

Well, I tried 4 times to record video of me playing through my stereo setup but apparently the sound was too awesome for my camcorder to comprehend because it kept distorting. I put the camera in AGC & tried turning down to TV volume level & it still distorted. I was surprised because I video my band all the time & it never distorts. I'm going to video my gig tonight so maybe I can post some videos of the Europa with the band.
 
Elwood, I can't imagine ever improving over this Europa, so I think I'm going to stick with 10! If I was a fretless player I would consider getting a fretless Alembic, but the bass on the right in my picture is a fretless I built in woodshop in high school, so I have no need for another one. You can probably tell by the symmetrical shape & Mahogany laminates that it was inspired by the Stanley Alembic. It was originally a fretted Mighty Mite neck, but I always loved the sound of a fretless so when I got my Rickenbacker I had the frets pulled out & they filled in the slots so I can still see the fret lines for a cheater fretless. I would definitely consider getting some Activators for it!

[rustyg61]

I played my first gig with my Europa Saturday night & it was AMAZING! The sound is much fuller than my SCSD & it plays like a dream! It is much easier on my fingers than my SCSD too, but I think that is because I found myself playing between the pickups VS right over the bridge pickup like I do on my SCSD. I had lots of comments on the look & sound. One guy told me it was the best sounding bass he had ever heard! I'm still getting used to the string spacing & playing a 5 on every song, & still tweaking the controls, but they are not nearly as complicated as I thought they would be & was able to get a sound I was VERY happy with! I videoed the whole night but haven't had a chance to watch it to see if it came out good enough to post. I will post some songs if it sounds good.
 

[rustyg61]

As it turns out, the video from my gig isn't any good. The house lights were stuck on red so the video is dark & the mix wasn't good. We have another gig at a much better venue on the 23rd so I will video that one & try to post some songs with the Europa. I got a great sound on stage with just using my Rumble combo amp, but I set it up at home last night & got an even better sound! I have found out that the Series II is much more sensitive to small changes in my settings than my SCSD is. I turned the frequency knob on the low channel of my SF-2 about 1/16 & it made a huge difference! I also switched it from Low Pass to Band Pass & that cleaned up my low end & gave it a tighter punchy sound. In Low Pass, there were some overtones that were drowning out some of the high notes. It still sounds better in stereo, but I'm extremely happy with the sound I got last night!

[dhagopian]

Beautiful. I love the finish.

[rustyg61]

It's been really hard to capture the exact color of this bass in pictures, but the ones my wife took at my gig Friday night are the True Blue of the bass. I also bought an Ampeg BA112 to run in stereo & I now have the sound I have been looking for! I run my neck & bridge pickup through the Fender Rumble 350 in mono & my bridge pickup through the Ampeg to enhance the mids & highs. The Ampeg is only 50 watts so it is not adequate to run full stereo & compete with the 350 watt Rumble, but thankfully Ron, in his infinite wisdom built the DS-5R where the treble jack is still hot even in mono mode.  
 
On another note, I have worn red hi top Converse Chuck Taylor shoes at every gig since 1985, but to honor my new Europa I switched to blue ones!
 
 
 
 

[rustyg61]

It's been really hard to capture the exact color of this bass in pictures, but the ones my wife took at my gig Friday night are the "True Blue" of the bass. I also bought an Ampeg BA112 to run in stereo & I now have the sound I have been looking for! I run my neck & bridge pickup through the Fender Rumble 350 in mono & my bridge pickup through the Ampeg to enhance the mids & highs. The Ampeg is only 50 watts so it is not adequate to run full stereo & compete with the 350 watt Rumble, but thankfully Ron, in his infinite wisdom built the DS-5R where the treble jack is still hot even in mono mode.   On another note, I have worn red hi top Converse "Chuck Taylor" shoes at every gig since 1985, but to honor my new Europa I switched to blue ones!  

 

[jazzyvee]

When I was trying out bi-amping at home I i connected a  low volume Roland JC120 on the bridge pickup from the high pass output of my F1-x and that was superbly crispy on the top without being harsh. Easy to do at home but probably a headache to organise and transport and set-up so much gear on a gig.

[rustyg61]

I bet the JC120 sounded sweet with the chorus effect! The little Ampeg I bought is small & light, so it's not too much more to carry to the gigs. It really adds to the clarity & fullness of the sound.