As many regular visitors know, part of my job as Eden's Special Projects Coordinator is to travel to dealers around the country, providing in-store training. This year, the plan is to have me out on the streets two trips per month - about three days average per trip. At NAMM, David and I had some discussions with the Washburn and Parker Division Managers (also part of the US Music Corp family), who both agreed to provide me with one of their basses to use on these trips. This way, not only would their divisions get a little promo, I'd have BLACK basses to take with me so I wouldn't have to worry about whether or not a store had one that sounded good and played well.

This past week, I received a real treat -- a (flat) black Washburn Bantam Bass 6. I had played a blue BB5 at the show (it had a little black on the headstock, so I was covered enough for a short demo) and was quite impressed with the feel and tone. Of course, I told Washburn Division Manager Matt Cantlon I'd need a black one, but had no idea he was going to have them build me a 6-string. Normally, only the 4-string is available in black; the 6 is available only in Gun Metal Grey - close but not close enough for my needs. So, Matt is now definitely on my Holiday card list.

The BBs feature a basswood body, maple neck (bolted to the body with six screws) and 24-fret rosewood fingerboard. Two soapbar pick-ups are fed through active 2-band EQ (plus Volume and Balance). List price is $849.90, including gig bag.

I know what you're thinking: "Lane, you've got a custom Spector 6-string; what the heck are you thinking?" Yeah, I love with my Spector. But I'm not about to gamble more than $8,000 by taking it on the road for dealer training. I'm scared to death that something might happen to it. And if something did go wrong, I can't replace that bass. I could get close, but Spector no longer offers the fiber-optic markers. So, that bass is a one-of-a-kind, can't-be-replaced kind of thing. That's really what got this whole idea started. I really wanted to take a bass with me on my travels, but didn't want to take my Spector. Anyhoo...

So far, I am very impressed with my new Bantam. For many years, I auditioned lots of "budget" 6-strings, only to be disappointed time and time again. Either the neck didn't feel right, or the tone wasn't there, or both. The BB6's unfinished neck feels solid without being overly large, and feels natural to my left hand. Access to upper frets is very good. The low B string sounds very full and authoritative without sounding dull.

One thing that really caught my attention was the set-up direct from the overseas factory. Because Matt knew I intended to change over to black strings, and that I have my own tastes in string height (I'm a medium-heavy finger player) he didn't run this bass through final set up. And yet, the set up is very well. The neck is properly bowed ever so slightly, and the string height was lower than I normally use, yet without any untoward buzzing. The 12th-fret harmonics are dead-on for four of the strings and *very* close for the other two. Bridge adjustment is very easy to accomplish, so I'll have no trouble dialing in those two strings when I change over.

The first amp I played the BB6 through was the new Nemesis N8 practice amp -- which isn't supposed to do well with a Low B string, yet did surprisingly well - and the BB6 sounds pretty darn nice. As usual, I ran the tone controls flat and was very impressed with the tone. From low B to high C, every note rang true.

A few days later, I pulled my Thunder Rig (a WT1205 and D610XLT cabinet) out of storage in a closet in my sweetie's house. I set it up in the living room and cranked it up. I set up the rig in my usual manner, with tone controls flat, a bit of Enhance and the Dynamic Boost circuits kicked in. The tone was again very good, and I didn't have to fiddle with much of anything to get what I wanted to hear. I'll have an even better idea when I change over to my normal strings.

Last night, I used the bass in rehearsal, using my WT400/210MBW rig. Again, the bass performed admirably and the tone was very nice and full. I found that a slight nudge of the balance control towards the bridge pickup added a nice edge to the sound, allowing me to quickly change tone if desired for a certain song. Likewise, a nudge toward the neck pickup gave me fuller, bassier tone that works well with slow Blues tunes. With either change, there was no need to adjust the Bass and Treble controls.

Over the past few years, Washburn has invested a lot of energy into improving the quality of their basses. With the BB series, I think they've taken a very big step forward. I'm looking forward to getting to better know my new friend in the coming months.

By the way, as a side note, SKB Cases has been kind enough to supply me with a Base Safe for transport. I hope I'll have it in time for my trip next week. I've heard very good things about the Bass Safe, and look forward to trying one out for myself. Once I've got it in-hand, I'll report on my findings.

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