Thank our global economy for bringing genuinely novel engineering at an affordable price. The Lace Helix bass bodies are made in China, with pickup manufacturing and final assembly at Lace’s Southern California factory. The Helix’s sinuous body is cool, but the Alumitone pickup is the star of this show. Its one similarity to conventional magnetic pickups—that the bass’s vibrating string creates flux changes in the pickup’s magnetic field, thus inducing a signal analogous to the string’s vibration—is vastly outshined by its significant differences. There are no coils of copper wire as in a conventional pickup, rather the Alumitone’s aluminum exoskeleton itself functions as one large wire surrounding ceramic magnets, visible as the darker areas on the pickup surface. This “wire” is inductively linked to a secondary coil, or transformer, which outputs a signal to the amp. This system yields a high-current, low-impedance output with a high resonant frequency, resulting in high output (relative to a standard pickup) and an even frequency response that extends further into the bass and treble extremes.
Considering the Alumitone’s genuinely clever design, Lace could have stuck it on an otherwise dull bass body, but the company also dreamed up an appropriately stylish and intelligently engineered instrument. For the most part it works ergonomically, although I found that the short lower horn tended to slide off low-traction dress slacks. It balanced well, especially due to the low weight, and the pillowy body contours mated well with my arms, hands, and belly. I dug the neck joint, a well-shaved six-bolt design, but I didn’t care for the neck profile, which to me felt overly thick and baseball-bat-like. But neck shape is probably the most subjective aspect of bass evaluation, so go check one out for yourself. I didn’t love the rear-mounted Strat-style output jack, either, which put cables in a weird position, but the Helix’s construction and hardware was solid for the price, with neat fretwork and good stuff all around. I especially liked the big, rubberized jog-dial knobs. Why not?
Peppy & Tidy
Discounting the natural tone limitations of a single pickup, the Helix presented a seriously broad palette, owing to the Alumitone’s broad frequency response and the deep cut of the tone knob’s filter. With tone all the way up, the Helix was bright, but grounded in a low-mid thrust with peripheral smoothness. It reminded me a bit of a Precision Bass, but with a little less of a midrange hump and deeper low-end extension. Rolling off the tone knob elicits progressively drippier and gooier tone until arriving at a seriously dark, but delicious, ultra-concentrated syrup at the full-off position.
When plowing the recesses of my brain for appropriate descriptions of the Lace’s sound, I felt like I was traipsing through my mental dairy aisle. The Helix is like a big, thick butter bomb. If you like plush, smooth tone—not just dark, but super smoove, then check out the Helix. I’m not entirely sure I get how the design correlates to this sound (could it be the even frequency response?), but the results are obvious: Rich, thick, and milky cho-co-late.
TECH SPECS
Body Mahogany
Neck Maple
Fingerboard Rosewood
Scale 34”
Weight 7 lbs
Pickups Lace Alumitone Bass Soapbar
Controls Volume, tone
Nut Plastic
Finishes Black, transparent blue, transparent red
Made in Body, China; pickups and assembly, U.S.A.
Warranty Five years limited (bass); lifetime limited (pickups)
List $599
Street $420
Pros Delicious syrupy tone with excellent balance
Cons Output jack in an uncomfortable location
Bottom line A legitimately bad-ass, inexpensive bass with a cool new pickup design.
Contact (714) 898-2776 www.lacemusic.com