Intro
Having met Bernie a number of times and watched Stuart Clayton demo his basses at music shows, I was interested to see how his custom basses would perform in a number of real life playing situations. I’m a great fan of versatility and adaptability in an instrument, and my plan was to put this bass through a number of different live and studio tests to see how it holds up.
Before we get started lets be clear about one thing – this bass costs more that £2000 – I expect a serious piece of gear. Bernie has spent nearly 15 years developing the active circuitry in his basses and he’s constantly searching for new ways to make instruments that are built without compromise, sonically or aesthetically, so this should be fun…
Straight out of the case and it’s off to a good start – this bass looks immaculate, and the attention to detail is second to none. The woods used are absolutely beautiful – a burr maple front with a swamp-ash back prompted numerous comments about how lovely my new bass looked. It’s instantly striking and aesthetically very pleasing. The layout of controls is clean and uncluttered and the black and gold hardware adds a touch of class.
I have a huge grumble with heavy basses, and was pleased to find this five was comfortable and reasonably lightweight, without feeling flimsy. The back strap pin is located on the lower half of the bass, causing it to balance in a slightly different way than most basses I’ve played – this took about 10 seconds to get used to and once I familiarised myself with it, the bass hung nicely both for standing and seated playing.
The fretboard is made of snakewood, with ‘classic’ ivory binding and sits atop a birdseye maple neck with dots on the side to keep you right. It looks beautiful, and the fretwork is immaculate throughout, with everything smooth and well finished. The neck itself is very comfortable to play – not too chunky, not too shallow, and with no camber on the fretboard it allows easy access all the way to the highest frets.
Hipshot lightweight machine heads help to prevent a neck heavy instrument. (A pet hate of mine.) The bass held it’s tuning even through some serious slap punishment and when detuning and retuning, the machine heads felt smooth and precise.
Strings are fed in through the back of the body through a black Schaller 2000 series bridge. It looks good, feels strong and is easily accessible and hugely adjustable for precise string action, string spacing and intonation tweaks.
The string spacing, action and neck relief were set up with comfort and playability in mind, but left lots of room to dig in. You can really feel that there’s a solid instrument in your hands and this feeling of stability helps when you want to play something aggressive – a college performance workshop of Deep Purple’s ‘Black Knight’ involved some serious rocking, and the Spitfire didn’t complain when I dug in hard.
There are two little extras built in that are particularly worth mentioning. First off, the control cavity – turn the bass over and have a look in. You’ll see a pulsing LED – when it slows right down, you need change your batteries – no more mid gig paranoia about power failure, just check your pulse! It’ s a simple feature, but a great idea and very practical.
Secondly, the jack socket locks your lead into the bass, and you have to press a button on the socket to release it again. We’ve all done a gig where someone’s stood on a lead and left us without bass for a few bars! Problem solved. (Bernie’s newest basses also come with a button you can press on the control cavity cover that emits a G note for you to tune to. Brilliant!)
I tend to find that most basses that come with a huge array of technical options deliver one or two great sounds and loads that you’ll never use. Once you specify the type of sounds you want and your custom circuitry is installed, the controls are simple and straightforward. I took this bass out at a trade show and played it straight away – no chance to tweak and get comfy – I wanted to see how accessible it was under pressure. With a simple pickup blend, master volume and treble / middle / bass configuration, you can’t go far wrong.
Also included is a series/parallel flip switch that gives brings out the ultra-high end that slappers love – it’s extremely bright, but avoids being brittle or harsh and can always be trimmed off with the treble control until you find a pleasing balance. Take note though, to get the most out of a bass with such hi-tech tonal options, you need to have a serious amplifier – if you run this into a little practice amp or an old combo you’ll only get a small part of the picture. Tweeter city, here we come!
The controls on this model allow a whopping 21db boost/cut, which allows to some serious sculpting. If anything the boost almost felt overpowering – use those controls with care!! Some basses you have to crank all the way up in order to get a powerful sound – on full throttle this bass was too much for me! Again, the boost/cut controls can be specified when having a bass made (up to +/ – 24db!) – I’d personally go for something that I can pull back a bit more.
The only tone I couldn’t really get was an old thin vintage type sound. Even with all the controls backed off it sounds fairly beefy. At times when I’m doing solo shows, creating loops or playing with a synth bass part, you may need your lines to be thin sounding to create a certain texture. The Spitfire just packed too much punch for me! This isn’t necessarily a criticism – this bass was built with a player’s tastes in mind.
Aside from the lack of a thin sound, the range of tones are fantastic – the sculpting options allow you to move from ultra bright slap to Jaco honk with ease. The two Gb custom humbuckers can be built to deliver a number of different characteristics, from a deep and clicky Musicman-style pickup to a nice fat Bartolini soapbar or whatever else takes your fancy!
When switching between pickups, the middle setting on most basses suffers from ‘harmonic cancellation’ – a drop in volume when both pickups are on. The GB active circuit detects this drop in volume and a compensator 
kicks in, keeping your signal strong as the tone changes. It’s very effective – no more using tone controls to compensate for certain pickup selections!
Bernie describes the sound palette as ‘studio quality sound for a live setting’ and I know exactly what he means – particularly with the top end, which is crisp and clear and could easily cut through any ensemble I played with. Given this much power it helps to spend time twiddling knobs during a rehearsal and record this rehearsal if you can – it will give you a clearer idea of what works in a band setting.
Also, serious discretion is advised when you’re recording. This bass gives out so much signal it sent my rackmount compressor straight into the red – it needs some taming! Once I dropped my preamp’s input gain right down, we were in business, and I recorded a piece layering a slap riff, harmonics (natural and pinched), chords, percussive thumps and a melody/solo line.
With no added effects, I used different pickup settings with tonal boosts and cuts to get all the necessary sounds. The slap tone is virtually identical to Victor Wooten’s Fodera, the harmonics were clear and could ring for days and the melody parts sang out with a great blend of midrange presence and high-end clarity.
Each of the sounds was individualistic enough to sit comfortably on top of the others (a great test of an instruments sonic range) and it also worked nicely in a band recording in a number of different styles – great for rocking with a pick, punchy 16th note funk and fat dub-reggae grooves.
Ultimately, the best (and worst) thing about custom basses is that they’re made with a specific player in mind. I suspect the recipient of this bass wants to play punchy hard-edged funk or full-on rock with a big sound and some serious presence onstage – he could even be a bandleader, needing to step forward with commanding melody and solo parts, and it’s here that the Spitfire really shows it’s quality.
I believe it’s always better to have too much of something rather than not enough, so you can choose what you don’t need and trim it off – to try and boost a weak bass with pedals or amps always sounds harsh and unnatural to me. Every aspect of this bass sound feels big, solid and powerful.
The Spitfire simply lacks a weak spot. From the open strings right up to the 24th fret on every string (even the low B!!) the bass delivers clear, pure tone. Each string has it’s own character (i.e. – a phrase played around the 7th fret on the G string would sound tonally different from the 12th fret on the D string. This is very natural and even allows you to change the character of a phrase by moving it to a different part of the neck.) Try as I might, I couldn’t find a dead spot, a note that wouldn’t sustain or a range that felt weak.
The price tag definitely puts this bass beyond the reach of the casual hobbyist, and some semi-pros. It’s important to remember that having a custom bass made is a big commitment – do you truly know what you want? Which woods deliver which tones? Which pickups? Scale length? String spacing? Weight? Flashing LEDs? (They are fun..)
If you know what you want, it seems the sky’s the limit – the price is high, but the results are undeniable. My criteria are playability, comfort, versatility and a strong build quality, and while this bass delivers all those it isn’t exactly the bass for me. That’s the whole point – stick a sixth string on it, tweak the boost/cut range and suddenly it is the bass of my dreams. So if you’ve got £2000-plus burning a hole in your back pocket, and you have a vision of your dream bass, it may be worth going to see what GB Guitars have on offer…
Specs:
Prices start at £2350
Made in: UK
Body: (Front) Burr Maple (back) swamp-ash
Neck: Birdseye maple
Fingerboard: Snakewood, 24 frets
Hardware: Gold and black
Pickups: 2x GB custom humbuckers
Controls: Active, 18 volts, Pickup pan, master volume, treble, middle, bass, GB tone switch series/parallel (with compensator)
Neck width: Nut 44mm 24th fret – 78
Options: Woods, electronics and dimensions can all be adjusted to the customers specifications. Neck-thru option also available.
Rating
Build Quality: I simply couldn’t find a weak spot on this instrument – everything on it feels robust and well constructed.
20
Sound: Custom electronics allow a great range of powerful, usable tones- the only thing it wouldn’t do was sound like an old passive vintage style bass. Although I’m sure that could be arranged. Your thumb will love that top end switch too..
18
Playability: Built for real life playing, this bass is comfortable and easy to play but fights back when you need it to. Reasonably lightweight and very well balanced, I played it for hours without strain.
19
Value: These basses cost serious money – there’s no denying that. Although it will be outside a lot of people’s price range, those who splash out will get a beautiful instrument that represents bass building at it’s finest.
20
Wow factor: Everyone loved how it looked, loved the sound, and with extras like the battery pulse and the GB tone switch, other bass players will try to hide their envy, but we know what they’re thinking…
20
Total score: With options available to alter dimensions and select the highest quality woods and electronics, it’s like having free reign in the bass shop of dreams. If you can afford it.
97
Contact: Tel: 01273 220055
GB Guitars Website
