Thought I'd bring this around again - we have some new members who might enjoy seeing this remarkable bass in action (and Bruce's great pix!):
I was in the music store the other day and had the chance to see a demo of a pretty remarkable product. Not new to the market, but it was the first I’d seen of it.
It’s called the Lightwave Optical Pickup Bass. Instead of using magnets to pick up the vibration of the strings, the Lightwave uses optical infrared sensors to read the movement of the string, and then transfer that information to the amplifier.
Controls for the accuracy of the sensors are on a motherboard inside, and it’s there where you have to go to fine tune the alignment when you change strings, gauges, etc.
He played a black fretted 4-string model, but it comes as fretted 5 as well, and a fretless 4 or fretless 5.
The sound was very good - totally different to the sound of magnetic pickups (IMO), but it still sounded like a bass. Extremely clean and crisp - no buzz at all. In fact, he said there is no buzzing on this bass.
He played Smoke on the Water and a softer instrumental piece. Smoke on the Water rattled the rafters and the other piece was soft and relaxing. Ahhhhh.
With the number of people there, I didn’t get a chance to ask everything I wanted to, so I looked the product up online and came up with plenty of information.
http://lightwave-systems.com/product/product.html
Why not let Ed Friedland tell you more?
This bass starts at approximately $1000.00.
Would you make the switch?
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