V-Bass

Anyone ever tried one of these out? I've got the opportunity to either a) get another bass or b) spend a similar amount of dosh on a different piece of equipment. Being as I've been with this particular 4003 for so long, I'm thinking new bone nut, refret and a nice, professional V-p'up installation, but info is a bit sketchy.

I've gotten the impression that Roland may be discontinuing the floor-unit (or maybe MF is just going to stop sellin' 'em), but there doesn't seem to be any lack of them online. I think it seems like a cool unit, but I have this nagging feeling in the back of my head that in 6 months, it'll be collecting dust in a closet...

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GKKitBG/ undercover, incognito--very slick.

http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.aspx?ObjectId=241&ParentId=116

Anyone ever tried one of these out? I've got the opportunity to either a) get another bass or b) spend a similar amount of dosh on a different piece of equipment. Being as I've been with this particular 4003 for so long, I'm thinking new bone nut, refret and a nice, professional V-p'up installation, but info is a bit sketchy.

I've gotten the impression that Roland may be discontinuing the floor-unit (or maybe MF is just going to stop sellin' 'em), but there doesn't seem to be any lack of them online. I think it seems like a cool unit, but I have this nagging feeling in the back of my head that in 6 months, it'll be collecting dust in a closet...

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GKKitBG/ undercover, incognito--very slick.

http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.aspx?ObjectId=241&ParentId=116

Listen to your inner sensible voice ... seems like a lot of these floating the used market. I had a very brief fling with guitar synthisis. Not the same but actually from a pickup and sensitivity standpoint it is. It's all based on the GK-2 or 3 midi pickup. My experience was that inorder to get the midi thing happening your right hand or picking hand technique is going to change. It takes a very quiet and very constant approach. it can be done but you have to slave to being a synth-guitarist or synth-bassist is my take on it. It becomes a totally different instrument.

My response was to start shedding key's and forget the synth guitar approach. I think that is a fairly typical response.

Well, I was gettin' the impression that if I was gonna get much response, it was gonna be from guitar players. Thanks.

I don't think I was plannin' on becoming a full time synth-player, I was just hoping it might be useful for putting in fills that sounded more like horns than bass. Occasional tunes like Chameleon would be pretty cool to have, but not a way of life.

Thanks, again for the input.

Well, I was gettin' the impression that if I was gonna get much response, it was gonna be from guitar players. Thanks.

I don't think I was plannin' on becoming a full time synth-player, I was just hoping it might be useful for putting in fills that sounded more like horns than bass. Occasional tunes like Chameleon would be pretty cool to have, but not a way of life.

Thanks, again for the input.

I'm bassist first, guitarist second and keyboardist third ... Key's really are the place for synthisis IMO, YNNV, and all that.
I would highly recommend snagging something like a MicroKorg, or an R3 or other small synth. Key's are relatively easy to get mediocre at - which is all I aspire to with them. I mean Booker T lines & rythms, Chameleo - the bass part kind of fluency is easy to come by.

Recommended at least by me. An Alesis QS 6.1 - maybe $250 to 300 in the used market - lot's of very good sounds. Cheap, plentiful and built for bar band use... I bought it to learn with, figured I'd go buy a Motif/Triton/Fantom later. Well, it's going to be a hwile before I top this guy out for what I'm doing...