Kahler with GK3B

this is interesting, kahler tremolo on bass with GK3B, I've tried to search the video @ youtube, but can't find the video that show using kahler with GK3B properly
only this video, but Tony Smith was just slapping around and the GK3B wasn't on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxOkvxztebw
so, here's some pics http://patflanagan.com/photography/tony-smith-endorsement-promo-photos-111911/

any opinion?

Players with the downward thumb picking style drive me crazy. Seems like the most un efficent way to attack the strings ... but there you have it. Tony is flying with it ... then he's got the sick slap going on.

I see flatmount installs like that and I wonder if it is in fact a stock fender jazz 5 or something he had built. Ive still never been able to flatmount a kahler without not being able to get the action down or the strings buzzing on the manifolds.

Those promo photos, he's got all kinds of custom stuff on that bass; it looks like a cyborg.

That is some sick slappin' there!

Playing with the thumb like that isn't my cup of thee as well. But the set up is the same as I have at home, kahler with GK3B. I wanted to get the most out of my bass, so I wanted both midi and a kahler on there. You can see a modded kahler by John Brown I purchased recently under new toys. In my oppinion the GK3B needs to sit really close to the strings for optimal tracking, since I read piezo tracks better I'm going for that. When my build is ready you'll get all the juicy details.

I've been trying to get comfortable with that picking style just to get myself out of the rut that I've been in lately but I'm like 5 times faster plucking with my fingers.

slybass from here plays with his thumb. I wish I could like that to just have an excuse to say I can do it.....

plucking or picking? I can pick just as fast but either way works for me.

I laugh at the "new revolutionary" trem style this poster commented....

Tony Smith is outrageous. You think he's playing fast, and then he kicks it into another gear. Tony is one of a few players I've heard who is pioneering new bass sounds with his Kahler - I believe he has a Roland installed there too. I think we're only at the very beginning of learning what the Kahler bass tremolo can do in the hands of a talented artist.

must be a 20 something old kid who don't remember that kahlers have been around for 25 years and a LOT of older people did wild stuff with theirs long before he was born.

amimbari wrote:

slybass from here plays with his thumb. I wish I could like that to just have an excuse to say I can do it.....

plucking or picking? I can pick just as fast but either way works for me.

I laugh at the "new revolutionary" trem style this poster commented....

Tony Smith is outrageous. You think he's playing fast, and then he kicks it into another gear. Tony is one of a few players I've heard who is pioneering new bass sounds with his Kahler - I believe he has a Roland installed there too. I think we're only at the very beginning of learning what the Kahler bass tremolo can do in the hands of a talented artist.

must be a 20 something old kid who don't remember that kahlers have been around for 25 years and a LOT of older people did wild stuff with theirs long before he was born.

probably not even that, it wouldn't surprise me if it was a teenager who picked up bass a year ago and just found out that Les Claypool's main bass has a Kahler.

Hell, the Fender Bass VI came out of the factory with a tremolo and that thing is older than a fair number of the people here. A lot of younger people don't realize just how old the concept of a bass tremolo is.

I agree, Boots. And I'd be willing to take that concept a step further, in that the idea of a bass tremolo probably came about right around the same time as the first guitar trems did. Maybe not on a commercial level, but I'd be willing to bet that somebody way back in the day thought of it. The fact is, we have seen numerous examples of unorthodox ideas that have come from the minds of individual players, and it is entirely possible that a few bass players back in the infancy of the electric bass asked themselves "what if?".

Honestly, I think that is what is so great about what we do as players. We have the freedom, and the creativity, to push the boundaries of the instrument. Just the fact that we all love bass trems is a testament to this idea. To be able to look convention in the face, and say "this is what I want to to do" says a lot. We may not be famous, or have all of the money in the world, BUT, we ARE pushing the boundaries. Not for money, or fame, but instead to simply bring to life what we envision in our heads. I have nothing but pride and applause to all of You who embrace this concept by doing something unique. And to the short-sighted naysayers who seem to think they have some God-given right to say "no, you can't do that on a bass", I have but two words:

Screw you!

OK. Soap-box diatribe is over with.

You put tears in my eyes Eric.
How poetic. But indeed that's the way it is. The great people around here who say;
Don't tell me what I can and can't do.
Don't tell me what a bass is! (I think nobody really knows (It is a modern not well defined instrument, is still grows and not in one direction.)
Don't tell me how I can and can't make music (It's expression, you can't tell someone how to paint, sing, sculpt or whatever can you?)

That's what I love here, we make our own rules and are proud of it. To all who want to learn and hear about it, you're welcome. To all who say don't do that because (why? not even a single good reason can be given) go think about wat would have happened if someone had told van Gogh that's not a painting. it looks like sunflowers but they are stripes and points you didn't paint what you saw, YOU CAN'T DO THAT! Impressionism wouldn't exist.
Why tell Pablo Picasso: Why does that bull on on la Guernica look so fucked up? Thats not how a bull looks! YOU CAN'T DO THAT! Abstract and modernistic art would not have existed!

You can have a oppinion about it! You can not tell the artist (It might seem like a big word, but that is what we are artists) what he/she can or can't do!

a lot of people who talk about a bass tram as a foreign entity usually have 3/4 of a dozen pedals in front of them to change their sound in the first place...
tell those people to not use those when they are being creative and all hell breaks loose.

That was poetic eric.

amimbari wrote:

a lot of people who talk about a bass tram as a foreign entity usually have 3/4 of a dozen pedals in front of them to change their sound in the first place...
tell those people to not use those when they are being creative and all hell breaks loose.

Ill use the trem, and all the effects pleeze.

you missed the joke....

Thanks, Guys. That's what happens when I drink coffee so late at night!

I've ranted and raved for so long on the subject that, for me, it comes down to a few simple points.

1. Create the art you wish to create.

2. Accept criticism about your art without taking it personal.

3. Don't change something about your art simply because someone else says you ought to.

Without going into another long diatribe, I remember talking to many players over the years who would do the whole finger-pointing thing, insisting that "bass wasn't meant for such things", and I would throw back into their faces "well then, what about Jaco? Entwistle? Stanley Clarke? Geddy Lee? Billy Sheehan?" which would inevitably lead to a rather flustered response along the lines of "well....that's THEM. They're different."

Oh really.



As I said before, SCREW YOU.

OK Guys, back on topic.

In thinking about the addition of the GK3B to a bass, does anyone remember the old full-sized Roland bass synths? These were some of the first MIDI instruments made, back in the 80's as I recall, and the controller was an actual bass loaded with MIDI electronics. It had this stabilizer arm that came off the body, and onto the headstock. Not the best in terms of tracking, as I recall trying one in a Guitar Center in the 80's, and it skipped every 2-3 notes as I did hammer-ons. But the idea was interesting. I've often wondered how a trem would work on one.

Ah! Here 'tis!



To be honest, I realize this is a moot point, since MIDI tracking has evolved light-years since those early days. I'm certain that trying to compare this old beast with a GK3B would be like comparing an Edison wax cylinder recording with an MP3.

As is said I do have a kahler with a GK3B and it works fine for me. It is just on a project bass of mine, so I don't use it as often as I'd like to but the tracking is great. I use it in combination with a axon ax100 in many people's oppinion (who know their stuff about midi way better than me) the best midi converter out there (sadly it was taken out of production and cost me about 400 euro's second hand (and that was a cheap one!))

Back when I first started playing bass I joined a band and the guitar player was rocking a G707. I played it once or twice and it was pretty damn cool.

It had a Kahler-esque tremolo on it and it worked extremely well, I wouldn't be surprised if it worked amazingly on bass.

well Eric, it would be like giving a kid a Atari2600 or a Commodore-Vic20 to play a cartridge game on, the "this is different daddy, you actually had games that sucked this bad?" and they would go back to the ultra modern game soon after, but the thrill of messing with something different would surely keep them occupied for a while.

same as that old Roland junk, I would soon lose interest, but while the honeymoon was happenin', I would f*** the s*** out of it.
A friend of mine is a senior manager for Roland, and shows us the new cool junk that comes out every 6 months or so as he travels to shows all over the world.
( business/studio production hardware audio and video editing equipment that is so unbelievable )