Now that renovating the sales floor is nearly complete, we are starting to see the further arrival of excitingly heavy boxes full or fun stuff. Korg creatures great and small, Marshall beasts, well groomed Vox statesmen, and more guitars and basses.
Last night was filled with satisfyingly mundane retail tasks, involving laser barcode zappers and wireless laptops, instead of the usual gloved hands and cordless drills. Once this work was completed, I decided that we were remiss in having bass amps and basses in boxes, rather than in our hands. Moments later, a Marshall MB30 and a Traben Neo were plugged in and making some noise.
The Traben Neo is a fine piece of craftsmanship! It has great action, and a very ergonomic body. It hung perfectly from a strap, and it was nicely balanced on my lap. My right hand found its way to a comfortable perch for fingering, and my left hand was able to move up and down the neck with no tension.
The little Marshall bass combo has a modern clean channel, and a "classic" grungy channel with separate gain and master volume. It's got some kick for a practice amp, and really solid tone. Through it, the Neo was able to sound punchy and clear, or growly and warm. The Neo's T3 active preamp offers a very usable tonal range - not that "clicky" high end many active electronics are guilty of, unless you want to crank the highs to dial that in. The over-sized bridge is characteristic of the Traben approach: more hardware on the body sends more mojo through the wood. I guess I could argue that, but I can't argue the nimble feel and great sound of this bass.
This morning I looked over the pricing for that bass, and my appreciation turned to surprise. At $399 street price, this is a far less expensive bass than I had thought.
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