Hamer CH12 12-String bass

Nice newer Hamer CH12 Chapparral 12-string bass, the Korean version of the "Tom Peterson" model. Very solid construction, contoured mahogany body, nice set-neck. Finish is solid black (color choice is either black or white) and very durable. Active pickups with active electronics with volume, pan, bass & treble controls. Very quiet and low noise. Normal 34" scale and 21 frets. Neck is wide and fat - about like a Les Paul neck for a 5 string bass. I normally play a Warwick Corvette 6 string, so the width was nothing to get used to. It has 2 truss rods and a plastic nut (which I've replaced with a graphite nut. Brass nuts are useless except for open strings. Otherwise you get the fretted sound - think about it). I'd always wanted a 12 string bass, both for the novelty and the sound. I admire both Tom Peterson & Doug Pinnick and wondered what I could do with a 12ver. Now I know. I have yet to have tuning problems with it and the bridge is a joy to work on, with seperate saddles for the large string and drones (8 saddles altogether). The drones are the same size, so why have seperate saddles for them? The tailpiece sucks, though. Running 3 strings thru each hole kinda blows. Also, she is neck heavy. Get an extra-wide leather strap to help compensate for the neck weight.

Sounds great for alot of styles of music. Because of the string spacing - the neck's the width of a 5 string bass - it's ALMOST impossible for slapping and tapping (although I have a good friend who plays funk and loves this thing). I play blues, rock, country, R&B & Motown and it sounds great for all of them. If you play Godsmack, POD, Disturbed, etc and want to flesh out the sound, get one of these. I have no problems fingerpicking it, but it took practice. Use picks until you get used to it. One thing I will say - it stands out sound-wise. It's just simply huge. The tone controls are great and easy to use, but because of the 2 drone strings I have to roll off some of the high end - duh. But then again, I'm running an older Ampeg SVT head thru 2 Hartke 410XL cabinets...

The guy in Tucson that I got it from had it set up very nice. He hadn't had it too long, though, as he was waiting for his USA Hamer 12ver to show up. The 2 truss rods help out lots keeping the neck from going nuts on me. I like the Strat-style jack plate on this thing. Very nice idea. Also the battery holder on the Korean model (they dont use one on the USA model - why not?) is cool. The case is very sturdy and form-fitting - another plus.

Built like a tank. 2 truss rods. Heavy-duty finish and a nice case that came with it help it out lots. I've only had 2 problems with it since I got it. The output jack was wired wrong so the pickups were always on and it would drain a battery in no time. Easy fix. Also one of the tuning machines was shot when I got it. 1 quick call to Hamer thru Kaman (their distributor) got me a free machine and a wiring diagram about the fix on the jack (the newer basses dont have this problem, so they say). As far as a backup bass goes, since I normally play with a 6 string I miss the low B string. I'd love to check out a Warrior 15 string. but I'd have to find a dealer AND scrape up about $7k....

They were easier than any other company I've dealt with about the fix and getting a machine. Since they have 3 different sized tuning heads, they wanted to know which machine died and I got it before the weekend. Very cool. It didnt matter to them that it wasn't under warranty, but then again, it wasnt that old either.

As I stated, I play alot of different kinds of music, ranging from blues to rock and have been playing for maybe 20 years. It's a very versatile bass, although you cant play it on every song (you're playing 3 strings each time you press down for a note) it just simply slows you down. The painted neck blows and makes it slower also. My other basses are a Warwick Corvette 6 and an Ibanez SR406 (since I got the Warwick the Ibanez stays in the case usually at home). If someone stole it I'd definitely replace it, although at $80 retail for a set of DR strings... Either way, I'd still replace it. All I can say is, if you get one, get a graphite nut. Brass nuts only help out on open strings for sustain and sound. Otherwise what you hear is the fretted note - duh. Think about it.

This is a new Hamer CH12 12-string bass, the Korean import version of the famous 12ver. Construction is solid and no-frills, with a contoured mahogany body, gotoh-style bridge assembly, set neck with vry comfortable joint. Finish is solid black, very durable. Electronics are active EMGs, two humbuckers running into a preamp with volume, pan, and active bass and treble controls. Very quiet, no noise, but they're active anyways. Standard scale length, 34". Neck is absolutely massive and takes some getting used to-- wide and fat. Two trussrods. Nut appears to be some sort of synthetic. WHen looking for a 12ver, the major competition for this bass was the Dean, which has a brass nut. When I take this in for a setup, I think I'll have a brass nut added to the Hamer to see if that gives a more piano-like bottom end. IMHO Hamer should have put a brass nut on these to begin with, as the difference is bloody obvious. I bought the Hamer because it felt better, though. THe tuning stability on this bass is also somewhat problematic (it'll go a quarter-step out of tune over two nights) so a new nut might help there too. The bridge is very complex and its design makes it very difficult to correct intonation problems.

Sounds good overall. THe onboard electronics are a bit of a pain, since nobody at Hamer or the retailer (Victor Litz Music Ctr) seem to know exactly which knob does what. It's kind of redundant in that you can change sounds by either panning between the pickups or fiddling with the bass and treble knobs. I usually keep the treble turned down to about halfway and the bass up about 3/4, with pan in the middle, otherwise you get either mud or all octave and no bass.

If you can stay in the middle ground between mud and bright, the bass sounds wonderful-- HUGE, with the proverbial "Godzilla-chewing-railroad-cars" sound. It's not a terribly versatile instrument, but then again it's designed for one purpose only. If you want to sound like Jeff Ament, Doug Pinnick, or Tom Petersson, this is it. That's why I bought it. The 12-string bass gives you a combination of overtones and nuances that effects pedals cannot recreate-- it's the same reason some people still prefer 12-string guitars. If you want to sound like James Jamerson or Stanley Clarke, look elsewhere. Currently I'm running it through a Sansamp Bassdriver and a Peavey TNT (loud and cheap-- I'm a student). I use some overdrive (Ibanez PD7) and some slight compression to clean up the transients. Stuff like wahs and so on don't do well with these instruments.

Sounds good onstage so far, have not recorded with it yet. Word of warning-- this bass sounds great on its own but by its nature it makews it very, very easy to step on the toes of guitarists, etc, which is why you usually see these mostly in 3-piece bands. They're great for filling up space, as long as you have space that needs filling up. Please note that even Pinnick and Ament don't use 12vers on every song. This bass's sound is about as subtle and delicate as a battleship, especially if distorted.

String spacing is very narrow, (literally a couple millimeters) so most people play these with a pick. Fingerstyle is doable with practice and careful technique. Normal slap-and-pop is right out. You can probably forget tapping too, unless you're Tony Levin or somebody. Ergonomically, the bass has a few severe quirks. It is extremely neck-heavy, and coupled with very small body, this demands a good wide strap. I also wrapped some lead weights in electrical tape and stuck them to the inside of the electronics compartment cover, which helped.

From the purchaser (via Ebay special) the bass was in excellent shape, no noticeable flaws. Since then I've had some trouble with fretbuzz around the 1st-3rd frets on the D and G strings but some careful trussrod adjustment keeps that in check. THat and the poor balance (headstock like a cricket bat, small body) are my only complaints. The countersunk output jack is a very good idea.

This bass is definitely solid enough. My personal benchmark for reliability is a Fender, and this hold up to snuff very well. I wouldn't gig with it sans backup since #1 it's NOT for every song, and #2 gigging without a backup is just bending over and asking for it.

Aside from the lack of a manual or anything, warranty and customer support from both Hamer and Victor Litz was excellent.

I've been playing............ ye gods has it been twelve years already? My other basses are all Peavey or Fender 4-strings. If it was stolen I'd buy another, but not right away-- it's definitely a specialty item. I've already listed all my thoughts on the bass so I'll spare you them now. Overall it's a good solid bass designed for a specific purpose. Not versatile but great at what it does. I wish the electronics were a little more clear-cut-- say lose the pan and just make it a 3-band EQ.