Hello! Another newbie representing the US (had to follow the trend of the thread at the topic of the board when I made this), but long-time fan of Status...and now at point where placing an order is FINALLY close to reality. It would be the first time ever buying a bass without playing it first, but that is literally the least of my worries. Since I'll probably never get that opportunity to play a Status until I own one, I figured the least I should do is run some questions by this place - rather than make multiple threads, I'll post those here as well.

While I'm certainly looking for a KB, I'm curious as to how significant of a difference you guys think there is between the sound of a standard and an artist. I've tried listening to countless youtube videos with two issues. First - I can rarely tell if I'm looking at a standard or an artist if the video description doesn't specify..And second - every video seems to have a different tone! (which may attest to the versatility of these instruments, clearly a good thing) I know the bolt-on is supposed to be 'warmer' and according to the website, 'have less higher frequencies', but isn't that somewhat of an oxymoron when it comes to KBs? Isn't the ability to get that zingy tone what attracts a decent amount of people to the KB?

So long as the standard can attain still attain that hi-fi, modern sound (sometimes I like to describe it as a "croaking" sound), that's the direction I would like to. I can't help but ignore that price difference...and I do not consider increased warmth/punch a bad thing at all.

I did a quick search for sound clips on these boards, but most of the links I came across were dead. Any info you guys could provide there would be awesome.


Second - does Rob still offer any sort of "spalted" woods? I've seen the moo wood - amazing. I'm a maple fan, but would definitely want to try to get some sort of grit or dirtiness to it. Maybe not buckeye burl dirty, but some character..

Lastly - can any other US owners give me a ballpark of the range of added costs to get one of these bad boys over here? That's not going to stop me from placing an order at this point (at least I hope not), but it'd be nice to be able to budget that as well.

Thank you all for the help! Looking forward to being able to post in the 'On Order?' forum soon! :D

Welcome aboard!

You're right, you can get all sorts of different sounds from most Status basses, the clips that are around make it difficult to judge what you'll be getting. It's probably most of those sounds and more ;)

The Kingbass comes with either the 300 series board which has bass and treble, plus a three way switch that either boosts the mids by about 6 db, a flat setting, or a cut of 6 db. There's a mid sweep control that lets you choose exactly which mids to cut or boost which allows you to change the sound drastically. And gives you three different sounds at the flick of a switch.

There's also the Paramatrix which gives you an enormous amount of control if you want to go that route. It's more control than I need but a lot of people love it.

It terms of facings Rob usually chooses slightly less figured woods than some boutique bass manufacturers, personally I think a bit more tasteful. I was looking at a buckeye burl Fodera at a show, my first reaction was Wow, second reaction was it looked like a pizza. ;)

Best thing to do is send him an email with the kind of thing you're after and see if he can find any. They'll also be able to let you know the delivery costs.

Good luck!

Hi There, I am another US Status owner. I bought a Streamline 5-stringer in 2009 and it has been my main bass ever since. I am making the transition to 6-strings so I ordered a Stealth 6 about 6 weeks ago (I cut my 6-string teeth on the Yamaha John Myung model and am now upgrading the bass I really want).

I had never played a Status before I purchased the Streamline. I had been playing headless Steinbergers for about 4 years prior to the Status purchase and wanted a higher quality, headless instrument. I ordered it with the narrow string spacing (16.5 mm) as that was I was used to on my Steinberger 5-strings. I like a mellower sound so I strung the Streamline first with Rob's Nylon coated strings and then with half-wound when I wanted to change from BEADG to EADGC.

As for extra costs, shipping was 100 UK pounds and I believe it will be the same for my Stealth 6. I also had to pay a customs fee, I received the bill a week or so after the bass was delivered; I do not remember exactly how much it was but I believe it was around $100 USD.

Since Rob bills in UK Pounds, there is some slight uncertainty in the final payment (I pay 50% down and 50% when it ships) due to currency exchange variability.

Thank you both for the help! I sent them an e-mail over the weekend with as many details as possible of what I'm looking for, in hopes of getting an order placed soon...anyone know how long it typically takes to hear back?

Want to make sure I shouldn't be concerned that they may not have gotten the e-mail altogether. I'd just call if weren't so darn busy at work (time difference doesn't help), but I struggled to find time to send out a detailed e-mail alone :@

I think they've had a lot of interest from the London Bass Guitar show, plus the Easter break so it may take a little while for Rob to get back to you ;) They seem to be very busy at the moment.

Noob from Portland, Oregon USA. I just created another post saying that my Modulus neck that has been on order since Dec may never get to me. So it was suggested that I look at a Status neck as a replacement for my J-bass.

Im sure some of you guys have j-basses with a Status neck on it?

You could try PMing nineironus about his jazz basses which have Status necks. Link below to his thread.

http://www.statii.com/forum/forum/vie...post_46463

Ah, I see I made great timing! I understand it takes time to individually respond to everyone, estimate quotes, etc...just would be nice to know they at least got the e-mail. Managed to sell one of my other basses this week which puts me at about a 95% chance of placing an order :)

I've had both the Std and a few artists.
Very hard to tell them apart. You will get the Hi-Fi out of the Bolt on.
I had my Std made with Malple over Alder similar to the Artists and I had a mahagony with passive pickups (very growly)
Good luck