Pioneer Bass – 34″

• Body : A solid, yet light weight 2 piece obeche body provides the foundation of the bass
• Top : We then cap the light weight obeche with maple. This helps tighten up the low end and adds some brightness.
• Neck : 3 pieces of 1/4 sawn rock maple, are laminated together with a black pinstripe between each. The neck then has the truss rod fitted with carbon reinforcing rod each side before being carved to a very comfortable ‘C’ profile. Then neck is then glued into the body, it is paramount we set our necks in rather than do bolt on with the Pioneer bass as it has a fundamental impact on the tonal characteristics of the bass.

• Fingerboard : You have the choice between Ebony, Flame Maple, Birdseye Maple or Rosewood. We prefer ebony because it looks classy and tends to go with every single finish option you can think of!
• Headstock Veneer : These match the maple top, although you cant see it under the paint, it provides the perfect platform to get the headstock matching the body finish. A black headstock face is also an option if you prefer that look.
• Nut : We use black corian for our nuts. It’s a man made composite that unlike bone, is consistent in its hardness all the way through and polishes up beautifully.
• Frets : As standard we use the Dunlop 6105, but if you’d prefer 6000 or 6100, we’ll happily put that in for you instead
• Scale Length : 34″ – Just in case you couldnt guess by the name.

• Pick Ups : The pick ups and position of them are completely by design. The keen eyed amongst you will notice the humbucker is placed further forward than you would usually find it. We use the Delano MC4 FE/M2 humbucker in the ‘out of position’ bridge, running on a 3 way micro toggle, allowing for SERIES / PARALLEL / SINGLE COIL modes, and a Delano PMVC 4  AL/M2 in the second position.
• Electronics : The pick ups then run into the Sadowsky 4 knob pre amp… we really weren’t kidding when we said this will have you covered, not matter the tone you’re after, and yet you’ll still find something unique about the sound of the Pioneer bass.
• Weight & Balance : These really are often overlooked on a lot of basses, but not here. We aim to keep the weight of the finished Pioneer bass around 8 – 8.5lbs, not only are they light weight but they balance perfectly, each one is held in one hand, horizontally at the heel where we test the balance before they head into the spray booth. This small details ensures that every Pioneer bass is not going to neck dive on you at any point.

• Machine Heads : Gotoh GB707, These have great tuning stability, a lovely action when turning and are light weight!
• Bridge : The Schaller 3D4 is still one of the best bass bridges out there today. It allows you not only to adjust for intonation and string height, but also you can adjust your string spacing at any point if you wish. Whilst this bridge is top loading, to alleviate any slight drop in string tension (which is negligible anyway) the Pioneer bass headstock has a 12 degrees angle on it.
• Tour Ready : Each Pioneer bass is designed for maximum reliability when on the road. The carbon reinforcing rods along side the truss rod in the 1/4 sawn maple neck provide incredible stability, no matter where or when or how long you’re using your bass. Whilst the Sadowsky pre amp is active and requires a battery, you get over 800 hours of use from a single battery, not bad, but it can also be flicked to a passive system by using the push pull on the 3rd knob. When you do have to change the battery, fear not… the cavity cover is held in place by high strength neodymium magnets. More than strong enough to hold the cover in place until you’re ready to pop it up and change the battery. No screwdrivers needed.
• Finish : We all know that bass players are the cool cats of the band, so with that in mind we’re really liking the metallic fades, like the one pictured here from gold to blood orange, which we’ve affectionately named ‘Mystique tequila sunset’. You tell us which colours you want faded and it’ll be done. If you just want to play it safe with a solid pastel colour, thats fine by us as well. Each Pioneer bass should be as individual as its player.

Passive, D.I. Sound Clips.

The following 5 sound clips have been recorded by D.I. which as we know is brutally open and honest. There is no further processing on any of these clips. The idea is to give you and idea of the range of sounds available on the Pioneer bass, before really dial in your tones with the blend pot and active EQ.

More Passive, D.I. Sound Clips

The following 3 sound clips have also been recorded by D.I. remaining brutally open and honest with no further processing on any of them. What sets these 3 apart from the 5 above is that these all have the passive tone set to 0. This in itself opens a whole new world of tones, from fretless violin territory through to 4001, and we haven’t even gone active yet…

Active D.I. Sound Clips

The following 5 sound clips have used the same riff as the first 5 passive sound clips so you can directly compare the passive & active D.I. tones. From here you can use the active EQ to dial in tone along side the passive tone, and the blend pot.

D.I. Sound Clips With A Plectrum

You play bass a little bit harder, with a plectrum you say? We’ve got you covered – the following sound clips have all been played with a plectrum both active and passive so you can compare.

Slap Bass D.I. Sound Clips

Lets face it, if you don’t “slappa da bass man’ then you’re really missing out!

Lastly…

We thought we’d leave you with several clips without telling you the settings. Sometimes players are too wrapped up with what they think a certain configuration should sound like, rather than actually dialling in a tone for themselves that might be just a little off the normally walked path.