Reviewer: Bruce Craig
e-mail: brucecraig777@yahoo.com
Date submitted: March 8, 2003
Purchase Price: $3000
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Sound & Tone
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Rating:
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9
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Comments:
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This is one of only 18 (I was told by Deagan employee) Bass Marimbas
built by Deagan, and the 12th of 15 that are electronically amplified
rather than with resonators. I ordered it in 1977; it was delivered in
1980. I bought (on the recommendation of Deagan) a Road 440 amp and
18" speaker. As a bass instrument, it is generally not for solo work,
and was always used for ensemble performances.
Sound:
The bars sound great to my ears although a couple of the bars have
a slightly different "tone" than the others; this difference is
more apparent with higher amplification levels. The electronic amplification level is very difficult to adjust to blend with
accoustic instruments. New 5-octave marimbas extend the low range
to match the low C on this Bass, but I prefer the sound of the bars
on this bass to those on the new marimbas. My opinion is the "better" sound is due to the larger size of the bars and because the bars are
"relieved" on both bottom and top so they are more symetrical across
the length than they would be if relieved only on the bottom. The low
C bar is 3-3/4 x 21-1/4 x 1; the high F is 2-3/4 x 17-5/8 x 7/8. I
believe the sound of this marimba would be better if it had accoustic
resonators. I once put an open-topped plywood box under the naturals
and it amplified quite well. I've thought it would be interesting to
build "trough" resonaters, but have never implemented the idea.
The two sets of mallets supplied by
Deagan were quite unsuitable for the low
bars as they were much too hard. I wrapped
my own set of mallet starting with Musser
I-12s as the core. I wrapped a layer of
foam around the I-12s and then layered
over the foam with yarn. The additional
mass of the mallets works well to make the
bars ring, and the softness prevents the
woody thunking harder mallets produce.
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Design & Construction
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Rating:
| 9
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Comments:
| The frame is a larger version of Deagan's traditional portable
marimba and xylophone frame. The two diagonal leg braces unsnap
from spring-loaded knobs and the legs fold under the frame. As there
are no resonators to remove, there is no assembly or disassembly.
Folding the marimba takes about 30 seconds. The bars are Honduras
Rosewood, natural stained. I've seen one other Bass Marimba and it
had dark-stained bars. I much prefer the natural wood grain on mine.
The frame is not height-adjustable, the casters are the standared
Deagan "portable" casters, ditto the cords and bar suspension
hardware. No noise or rattles from the instrument, and it stood up
to several years of travel. It is not the easiest to haul around
because of its physical size, 48" x 41" (okay, so it's not nearly
as large as a 5-octave ...).
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Appearance
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Rating:
| 7
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Comments:
| The frame is in the style of the portable Deagan instruments. That says it all for the frame. The bars, on the other hand, are very attractive
to me because of their impressive size and natural Rosewood grain. The
frame gets a "5", the bars get a "10".
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Customer Support
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Rating:
| 10
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Comments:
| The instrument got dropped (by another person) and three of the
electronic pickups got ripped out. (Each bar has its own pickup
embedded into the nodal point nearest the center of the frame).
I had to send the three bars to Deagan for repair which they did
timely and reasonably. Of course, that is no longer an option at
this writing ...
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Overall Rating
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Rating:
| 9
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Comments:
| Way "yes," I'm happy with it; I'd buy it again. I also had a Deagan
872 4-octave xylophone, so I'd buy Deagan again. I also had three
Musser 4-octave marimbas, have played on Jenco, Leedy, Deagan, etc.,
so I'd also buy other brands. The intrument was used for marimba
ensemble, including at various times, xylophones, vibes, and celest,
and with organs, strings, and other orchestral instruments. Used
for a wide variety of music; classical, church, contemporary, exotic,
Latin, etc.
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