NBD: Gotta love a bargain!

[brucebruce]

"Something wicked this way comes..."



So I picked this up today... got an AWESOME deal on this beast at EastGate Music (Drew, the bass salesman was great to deal with). If anyone else is looking to buy an NS 4 WAV Radius Bass, they are selling their 4 string, floor stock (last lot with rosewood boards before NS switch to composite) at amazing prices. BTW: They also have one 5 string NS 5 WAV Radius (not sure on the pricing but very hard to come by)...

Many of you long time OzBass members would know that I have an on again-off again love of headless basses... which came to a crescendo last year when I purchased (unplayed via the web) a Status all carbon fibre, neck through, headless bass. A the time, the Status was my dream bass but I quickly discovered that I simply prefer the tone of basses made from wood (yeah, I know funny that)and I really disliked the composite fretboards (also found on the Washburn Status Headless Basses)... When I bought the Status, I was aware of the NS CR Radius but at $4-$5K, it was simply out of the question and even when NS released the NS WAV Radius 4, at around $2K I was still in two minds about the bass.

Today I had a win... I love the the striped rosewood board (which was pure luck as none of the other ones had that type of look in the grain) and as ever, I'm glad I stuck to my guns and played these things prior to purchase because like all instruments, despite the fact that the 3 in stock at EastGate were identical models they all played, felt and sounded slightly different.

So here it is, the Metal Flake White (hard to spot in the pics) NS WAV Radius 4:

[ozrider]

lovely fretboard - nice score! What colour was the fiver?

[brucebruce]

lovely fretboard - nice score! What colour was the fiver?

5er was in Matte Black.

[aphekgreg]

So how is it?

[drbass]

Nice one, Chris.

The board has a ziricote vibe to it, love it.

It's not really headless, is it? I just doesn't have tuners on the small headstock .

Not surprised that none of the seemingly identical instruments sounded the same. When I bought my Sandberg (some time last century) they had 4 there, and only one of them "spoke to me" - not that the others didn't sound good but that one was different.

Curious about the sound. The pickup seems to be located in the Stingray humbucker position - does that come through at all, or is the EMG (together with the piezo) an altogether different beast?

Let us know.

Regards,
Michael

[brucebruce]

Nice one, Chris.

The board has a ziricote vibe to it, love it.

It's not really headless, is it? I just doesn't have tuners on the small headstock .

Not surprised that none of the seemingly identical instruments sounded the same. When I bought my Sandberg (some time last century) they had 4 there, and only one of them "spoke to me" - not that the others didn't sound good but that one was different.

Curious about the sound. The pickup seems to be located in the Stingray humbucker position - does that come through at all, or is the EMG (together with the piezo) an altogether different beast?

Let us know.

Regards,
Michael

Thanks Michael. Yep - she's headless! AND a big +1 on the try before you buy - I originally went in to play the 5 string version but as you put it - this white 4 string just 'spoke' to me - it felt better in my hands than the others.



It doesn't really have the Stingray or typical MM sound... the EMG Radius PUPs are made specifically for the NS Radius Basses (including the high end CRs). It's certainly a 'modern' sound - articulate and hifi in terms of tones but you can still 'hear the timber' (which I prefer over the Status basses) - so to speak and there's great clarity across the fretboard. I haven't quite mastered the Piezo PUP yet... I've been soloing the EMG... it certainly can produce a lot of tones. It's interesting that the WAV models have the EMG pup in the centre/MM/'sweet spot' where as the CRs have two EMG Radius PUPs in the 'typical' twin pairing position.