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 Post subject: Bach BTH-1 TRD
PostPosted: October 3rd, 2010, 10:44 am 
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Joined: April 19th, 2009, 6:37 am
Posts: 33
So here’s the promised review of the Bach BTH-1 TRD LH. Sorry for my terrible English writing. I will try to keep it somewhat readable.

Doing business with Roman at Bach is OK. Friendly questions get you a friendly reply and he is patient. His Englisch is a bit limited but good enough to communicate. Not all my questions got answered though so i advise to send a reminder or ask for a confirmation if you really want to be sure about things.

My first impression straight out of the box was that they did not use the best looking woods for this particular instrument. The Sipo they used on the body has a couple of big knots in it and several smaller ones. Its mostly an optical issue but in my opinion they better not have used this on a transparant finished bass. But i love the colour! It is slightly darker than my transred Stingray. The neck is made out of some very nice looking Mahogany. The laquer goes right up to the upper edge of the fretboard, maybe i am going to sand that off in the future. A weird thing on the neck: they drew a pinstripe with a black boardmarker along the length of the neck where the fretboard is glued on to the neck wood. Totally unnessecary IMO. I don't know if they have done that to mask something or out of esthetic reasons but on the E side the line stops around the 7th fret... Very sloppy! Its underneath the laquer so i cannot restore this myself. On the G side of the neck the pinstripe is ok. Frets are fine, no Sharp edges. The edges of the nut are a bit scharp and some strings sit a little to high in the nut but that is a easy DIY job with the right tools. The bass needed some adjustment on the neck because it was dead-straight and therefore had some stringrattle. Intonation was spot on. I gave the trussrod half a twist but it still needs some more relief.

The bridge is wide enough to have sufficient intonation travel. Bridge hight adjustment is a less perfect situation. I screwed it down to its max, so it rests full on the pivots only allowing upward adjustment. String hight is just like i want it right now but i still need to adjust the neck some more. Maybe i have to file down the bridge saddles.

I put an extra strapholder at the back where the neck is attatched to the body. It does not help to cure the basses neckdive problems, but it moves the bass a little to the left so the neck has better access. Also it allows me to play with the neck a little more upright and gives my left arm more room to rest on the body making neckdive much more manageable. Less heavy tuners would help but that is something i have to investigate. Gotoh Res-O-Lite´s are lighter but i don´t know if they come lefthanded.

The bass arrived Friday so i was able to test drive it in a band situation the next day. Comparing it at home, soundwise this bass sits somewhere between my Fender P and my full sounding high output Ibanez Blazer. Also a bit of the thickness of my Stingray is present because of the humbucker charactaristics. The Bach still has its factory strings on it. My other basses all have stainless steels on them.
The bass is a eye catcher! Normally my bandmembers are not that interested in my bass gear, but now they gathered around the instrument and started to ask questions about it and its manufacturer. So big points on looks.
Once i found the right position to be comfortable with this funny shaped instrument it proved to be very playable. The width of the neck at the nut is right between a P and a J bass so it feels nice and comfortable. No need to get used to it at all! At rehearsal i used my Bassman 135 head with my SWR Henry 8x8 cab. The knobs were in the position i normally use with my Fender P: all knobs on 5. With the Bach this setting sounded a little to boomy for the hardrock/metal we play, so i turned the bass down to 4 and dialed in a little mids. This bass sounds good! It is punchy, has big but tight lows and full highs and even overall response. Sustain is pretty good also. I have a set of Hanson Chisonics laying around. There’s a good chance they will end up in this bass to get a clear powerfull sound. This was the original plan but i have to say, i like it just the way it is allready!!

All in all i think it is a very nice instrument. Sure, improvements can be made in the balance and Electronics department but imo are not a absolute necessity. Once Bach gives his quality checks a little more attention, all is well. On a Dutch bass forum where i tend to waste my precious time, there are a bunch of satisfied Bach owners.

Hey, for the price i would pay for a Epiphone EB-3 i own a nice lefty NR Thunderbird!


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 Post subject: Re: Bach BTH-1 TRD
PostPosted: October 4th, 2010, 2:33 am 
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Joined: November 26th, 2008, 6:14 am
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Location: Oahu, Hawaii
Sounds like a great bass! Would like to see pictures of both sides of the neck, so I know what you're stripe issue looks like. Bottom line, It's a great looking bass, and I'm glad to hear that with just a little tweeking so far, you like the bass.

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 Post subject: Re: Bach BTH-1 TRD
PostPosted: October 4th, 2010, 11:22 am 
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Joined: April 19th, 2009, 6:37 am
Posts: 33
I made some pictures today and sent them to Roman at Bach because he did not know what kind of stripes i was talking about. I'll wait for his reaction first before i post them here. I probably can tell you more about it tomorrow.


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 Post subject: Re: Bach BTH-1 TRD
PostPosted: October 5th, 2010, 8:36 am 
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Joined: June 18th, 2009, 2:36 pm
Posts: 847
Location: Londinium
Thanks for the great review Thunder! I rarely get GAS but this item is really starting to get to me and I may cave in.

Do you have any idea how much it weighs?


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 Post subject: Re: Bach BTH-1 TRD
PostPosted: October 5th, 2010, 8:48 am 
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Joined: April 19th, 2009, 6:37 am
Posts: 33
Mine is just under 9 Lbs (4 kilo).

By the way, I hear from non-lefty Bach owners that the sound benefits from replacing pots and cap with quality items.


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 Post subject: Re: Bach BTH-1 TRD
PostPosted: October 5th, 2010, 8:51 am 
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Joined: June 18th, 2009, 2:36 pm
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Location: Londinium
Bach posted some demo clips on YouTube of this bass and also the Fenderbird and, at least on the net, they sound pretty close to the originals. I'm sure upgrading the electronics can only help.


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 Post subject: Re: Bach BTH-1 TRD
PostPosted: October 6th, 2010, 6:15 am 
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Joined: April 19th, 2009, 6:37 am
Posts: 33
fivebass52 wrote:
Sounds like a great bass! Would like to see pictures of both sides of the neck, so I know what you're stripe issue looks like. Bottom line, It's a great looking bass, and I'm glad to hear that with just a little tweeking so far, you like the bass.


Here's the pics. They are only of one side but on the other side its the same (slightly thinner stripe).
Photo 2 shows the pinstripe stopping on the E side at the 7th fret.

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 Post subject: Re: Bach BTH-1 TRD
PostPosted: October 6th, 2010, 12:22 pm 
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Joined: July 1st, 2010, 1:32 pm
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Location: Ewing , New Jersey
i wanna buy one but i dont have a bank account just a credit card and paypal and they dont accept neither.


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 Post subject: Re: Bach BTH-1 TRD
PostPosted: April 1st, 2011, 8:45 am 
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Joined: April 19th, 2009, 6:37 am
Posts: 33
Had my Bachbird upgrated with Hanson Chi-sonics pickups. It's a bit more versatile now. Also, it also looks a bit better.
On this picture it might look like the bridge pickup is not in line with the neck pickup but its fine.

Sorry for louzy lighting... I make terrible pictures.

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 Post subject: Re: Bach BTH-1 TRD
PostPosted: April 2nd, 2011, 4:43 am 
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Joined: November 26th, 2008, 6:14 am
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Location: Oahu, Hawaii
It does look better. Glad to hear the pickups have improved the versatility for you.

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 Post subject: Re: Bach BTH-1 TRD
PostPosted: April 4th, 2011, 1:53 am 
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Joined: March 25th, 2008, 1:34 pm
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Location: Garda
Oh, that's nice. Are they single coils or humbuckers?

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 Post subject: Re: Bach BTH-1 TRD
PostPosted: April 4th, 2011, 10:29 am 
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Joined: April 19th, 2009, 6:37 am
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They are humbuckers.

This is where you can hear them. Its another Dutch guy who put Chi-Sonics in a righty Bachbird.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_DHLjmwCB0


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 Post subject: Re: Bach BTH-1 TRD
PostPosted: April 4th, 2011, 12:30 pm 
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Joined: March 25th, 2008, 1:34 pm
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Location: Garda
Yeah right, that's the Deluxe version Rob is having bach to build, Did you swap the elctronic parts too?

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 Post subject: Re: Bach BTH-1 TRD
PostPosted: April 15th, 2011, 12:25 pm 
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Posts: 33
Yes i did. There is a Orange Drop inside and CTS lefty volume pots. I am going to compare the cap with a MOD oil cap soon. The lefty volume pots still have some on/off function in them by the way. Because the guy who did the routing for the pickup cavities put the humbuckers awfully close to each other i was afraid the sound would not have enough variation but this turned out ok. The bridge pickup has a powerful tight hollow sound where the neck pickup sounds big and a little more open. Combined they rock! The tone pot works pretty well. Turned back all the way this bass almost gets too bassy but not too muddy. Great for bluesy ballads. In fact, this bass would do fine with one volume, one tone and a three way switch.


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 Post subject: Re: Bach BTH-1 TRD
PostPosted: April 25th, 2011, 11:47 am 
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Joined: March 25th, 2008, 1:34 pm
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Location: Garda
It seems to me he putted it in the right spot, where othe Tbirds have the second PU. I'm pretty sure you've got some nice tone combinations. Sweet bass.

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