“It has no business sounding this good… specially when playing with the band, it’s permanent bass stank face!”
Review by: Talkbass user piixtu
I have bought already 4 LHZs from Lonnie. They have worked wonders on all the basses I have tried them: Spector NS Icon, Spector Pulse 5, LTD Surveyor 87… each one with its own personality even if sharing identical electronics at some point. The Icon is the classic NS sound, the Pulse is a more aggressive variant, and the LTD is a very ballsy sounding bass with the LHZ dimed due to it’s almost 5kg and classic P arrangement.
Recently I started to experiment further. I have an LHZ-05 in a Harley Benton enhanced, the Sandberg California copy, with EMG P/MM pickups. It has a mix of qualities from the Pulse and LTD: heavy bass with swamp ash body. It’s very bold and deep, but doesn’t really have the same attack as the alder basses like the Icon or the LTD.
But the biggest surprise is my “rescue” Squier P special standard. It’s a parts bass now: Squier P/J body, modified to reverse P, Fender high mass bridge and a Harley Benton P bass neck. And just for science, dropped a set of EMG P/Js and a LHZ 04 on it… and it’s the best sounding bass I’ve ever had! It beats all of the above. It’s deeper and bolder than the Spectors, while retaining all of the attack and transients. It has no business sounding this good… specially when playing with the band, it’s permanent bass stank face!
There’s more science to come, I ordered another Harley Benton Enhanced from Thomann but this time it’s the alder body. Going to drop another P/MM with the LHZ05 into it.
Also I want to shoutout LHZ Preamps improved shipping to the EU: at least when shipping to Spain, there’s no duty/import taxes or paperwork anymore. Taxes are paid directly in the check out and you’ll get your preamp in 72h at your doorstep. For comparison, I bought my second LHZ from Bassdirect.uk and it took 11 days and filling 3-4 forms to receive it. If you guys are in the EU and have doubts about the import, check it again because now it’s a piece of cake.
Original post: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/reverse-engineering-vintage-haz-labs-pre.1558894/post-29620409