KLOS Bass

[pjmuck]

KLOS makes affordable carbon fiber instruments. Their acoustic guitars and ukes are already on the market. While their electric bass (and electric guitar) is currently in development and due out later this year, they offer lefties of all of their instruments for no uncharge.

https://klosguitars.com/pages/electric-bass

I signed up for future updates.

[Jeroen]

Looks promising! Their acoustics look cool and reasonably priced, especially the full-carbon models but I like the hybrids with graphite-reinforced wooden necks too.
I signed up too, looking forward to updates.

[superheavydeathmetal]

I might be interested in one with jazz pickups. Maybe even coil-split humbuckers.

[Jeroen]

I found a newsletter in my mailbox today with updates on the introduction of the KLOS solidbody guitars and basses. They look really interesting! The newsletter says they'll be released within the next two weeks, and will be on Kickstarter first. No word on lefties yet. Looks like they're using Fishman Fluence pickups!

I'm not a fan of the tiny headstock, it looks weird on such a tall and long instrument (especially with the long body horns). Very practical though.

KLOS Bass.jpg (416.23 KiB) Viewed 39864 times

[pjmuck]

I found a newsletter in my mailbox today with updates on the introduction of the KLOS solidbody guitars and basses. They look really interesting! The newsletter says they'll be released within the next two weeks, and will be on Kickstarter first. No word on lefties yet. Looks like they're using Fishman Fluence pickups!

I'm not a fan of the tiny headstock, it looks weird on such a tall and long instrument (especially with the long body horns). Very practical though.

KLOS Bass.jpg

Cool! Any indication what they will be charging for these?

[Jeroen]

Not really, the newsletter stated something like "between $699 and $1699 depending on the upgrades you choose" but didn't differentiate between the guitars and the basses. Not bad for an American-made instrument with a graphite neck either way though!

[superheavydeathmetal]

If they were to offer a bass with jazz pickups, I would be VERY interested. I would almost be willing to put a deposit down right now.

My guess is they are just going to do an active dual-humbucker.

What would be really awesome is if they were to sell the necks separately with a Fender bolt pattern now that Moses is out of the game. I would love to throw a graphite neck on a CV Jazz body.

[ch willie]

I have a friend who is a Klos freak. He bought their travel guitar, and while he owns some incredible guitars, he's nuts about his Klos. They've made him an "ambassador". He's in his mid 70s, still physically active, and is excited like a teenager about guitars. Today, he sent me a message about the Klos electrics coming out. Awful headstock or not, I almost wish I could buy one just to help make him a Super Ambassador or whatever companies do these days. So guys, let me know if you buy a Klo--this guy would be tickled to death to hear that one of you bought one.

[Jim_k]

Saw this thread the other day, checked the link. That night I checked facebook, and of course there was an ad for KLOS.

[superheavydeathmetal]

The kickstarter is live! And it has already met its goal! I just got the e-mail a few minutes ago and they have more than doubled their goal.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kl ... ref=86gxa0

The Apollo bass starts at $800 and the Apollo Pro is $1700. I don't see anything about lefties.

[Jeroen]

They're on Kickstarter now, as of today: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kl ... ref=86gxa0
No mention of lefties.

I'm not a fan of the limited room between the neck pickup and the end of the fingerboard, there's little room for popping. Overall it does look nice.

Edit: late to the party

[tim]

Yup, I got the email as well. I think it looks great and the price seems reasonable. Having bought three basses during the pandemic (and a new computer last week), I'm a little purchased out. But I will follow with interest...

[pjmuck]

I got the e-mail too. Sounds pretty much as I would expect: a bit sterile/clean. Have they mentioned if and when they'll be offering lefties?

[jersey bluesdude]

I got the e-mail too. Sounds pretty much as I would expect: a bit sterile/clean. Have they mentioned if and when they'll be offering lefties?

I asked if lefty basses would be available. Kyle replied "We will be offering lefty options. The lefty option will be available to choose once
we send out the backer surveys for Kickstarter"
No mention of any lefty upcharge.

I'm definitely interested in the Apollo Pro version.

[fivebass52]

Watched the video on the Bass demo... maybe it's the small Ibanez amp, but early on the video, there's a weird mid-range(?) "whoomp", that is not as balanced, nor as focused, as the other strings, as he plays down to the E-string... as a Blues/Classic Rock player, I want to hear something that approaches the classic P-or-J sound... and, I"m more of a 5-string player these days, so I'd want to see what that would cost, and how their low B-string would sound... and played through something approaching a gig-rig, as that small Ibanez combo isn't, in my opinion, doing the bass justice....

[pjmuck]

Here's an update I got from Pat at Klos regarding lefties:

"Thanks for writing! We're going to be making lefty basses, but the lead time is closer to 2 months on those because of the speed of shipping. When we had our initial preorder on Kickstarter, we didn't have any lefty orders so we air-shipped that batch without any leftys. The lefty bodies (and most of the right-handed bodies) are all in a container on a boat, hence the long lead time.


If you have any other questions, please let me know,

Pat"

It's not clear to me if these will only be Apollo Standard models (Okoume body), Apollo Pro (Ash with the Fishman Fluence PUPs), or both. Standard starts at $999 and Pro starts at $1999. I am curious about the Fishman PUPs (even though I generally hate every PUP they've ever made for acoustic guitars), but not at a $1000 price difference. Not sure about whether or not there's a lefty uncharge either, but I can inquire.

Screen Shot 2021-07-28 at 8.08.10 AM.png (43.68 KiB) Viewed 37896 times

[pjmuck]

I thought I would offer an update to this thread since some specs/options (and pricing, unfortunately), have since changed.

The Standard passive Apollo model starts at $1399 base. There's a $35 charge for lefties, and they are only offered in the golden brown transparent finish. To add 5 knob/3 band active EQ would be another $85.

The Apollo passive Apollo Pro Model, which features higher appointments and a gig bag, starts at $1999. Same deal, $35 upcharge for lefties, and only available in golden brown transparent finish. Here, you also have the same $85 uncharge for their 5 knob/3 band active EQ preamp as well as a Fishman Fluence 4 knob option for $165 more.

I've watched several YouTube demos, and honestly, I much prefer the sounds of the cheaper Apollo over the Pro (warmer, more organic, not thin and sterile sounding). All told, even with the $400 markup now compared to the original $999 price they advertised a year ago for the standard model, I still think it's a reasonable price for a carbon bass.

https://klosguitars.com/collections/klo ... 1310955563

[iozz]

Did someone ordered one? They seem very interesting!

[paulo]

Surprised no one else ordered one but here's mine:

Wanted to order one of these before they raise their prices like everyone else and I think you should do it too if you're on the fence. Great bass for the buck and sounds fantastic.
This is a great review on it with live gig video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeZE-iZQpPI&t=184s

[pjmuck]

That looks awesome, Paulo. Is that the Standard model? I'm a little confused by their website because it says that the left handed option can only be ordered in golden brown, but are other colors available? Also, is that body wood Okoume? If so, it looks very close to ash. (which they offer in the higher priced Pro model).