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Anthony Jacksons new Fodera bass

#201
Mitchthebassplayer said:
I know....Vinny really outdid himself on this bass. And on my wall it doubles as an expensive art piece! haha

It's actually been a difficult instrument to tame, sonically. It's incredibly bright and often harsh in the high-mid region, but has this inherent thickness in the low end that almost prefers no EQing. In the studio it's just beastly. I've had several amazing engineers just flip out over it since I got it. No EQ, nothing, it just delivers these perfect sitting tracks every time. Live, things are a bit more difficult. Any amp with ANY voicing of it's own will not work. Frequencies clash, and regardless of EQ the bass just doesn't sound right. I've found it works best with my Monique pre/Minnie power amp/Epifani cabs. The Monique helps make those high-mids sound a little more musical. At first, I had Joey wire the pickup in series rather than parallel, but I've since gone back to parallel and had a friend install a 250k passive tone pot/.047 cap in the back cavity. Getting pretty close to what I want, but the bass still just makes me want to play ALL the time.
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That's interesting. With a bass like this, wood choices are more important than ever.
 
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#203
I've also got this guy, but this is strictly for bass porn purposes only :)....AJ would NOT approve of this bass! haha


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#205
Bernie Connors said:
I've always loved that hybrid! You have a lot of ground covered with those two!
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for sure. I still prefer the Presentation, but they're very different instruments. The P-shape (I only use it in passive mode) has a way more focused sound, and the Braz RW board is a little sweeter and rounder sounding than the pink ivory which is a little more precise and bitey (but in the nicest way), IME. That 70s pos back pickup def comes in very handy for more articulate stuff, but I think if I could do it all over, I'd maybe move that single DC of the Presentation 3/8" towards the neck. I think for me, THAT'S the spot!
 
#206
Mitchthebassplayer said:
for sure. I still prefer the Presentation, but they're very different instruments. The P-shape (I only use it in passive mode) has a way more focused sound, and the Braz RW board is a little sweeter and rounder sounding than the pink ivory which is a little more precise and bitey (but in the nicest way), IME. That 70s pos back pickup def comes in very handy for more articulate stuff, but I think if I could do it all over, I'd maybe move that single DC of the Presentation 3/8" towards the neck. I think for me, THAT'S the spot!
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I've always been a P player and prefer a rounder/smoother tone that a P lends itself to.

I'm thinking that a Imperial with the Presentation shape, a mahogany body, ebony board, and a single dual coil wired passive is right up my alley.
 
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#207
Bernie Connors said:
I've always been a P player and prefer a rounder/smoother tone that a P lends itself to.

I'm thinking that a Imperial with the Presentation shape, a mahogany body, ebony board, and a single dual coil wired passive is right up my alley.
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I'm not a huge fan of ebony. It's too bright of a fb wood to my ear, at least of the basses I've played. Cool for solo stuff, but can easily get lost in the mix with a band unless you favor the back pup and go for more of that Jaco, Janek, etc. kind of thing, IME. But I'm with you on the mahogany. I often think about whether a mahogany body/alder block would sound better to me than an alder body/ash block. My last Imperial had a chambered mahogany body and it was great. I just preferred the 36" scale, which I kind of feel is what the Presentation is mostly about. Yeah, it's about the bare minimum with incredible components, but the scale gives it that huge sound. I think if you're gonna go that shape for the body and the single pup, you GOTTA go full scale! It really doesn't feel that big compared to 34", IMO.
 
#208
Mitchthebassplayer said:
I'm not a huge fan of ebony. It's too bright of a fb wood to my ear, at least of the basses I've played. Cool for solo stuff, but can easily get lost in the mix with a band unless you favor the back pup and go for more of that Jaco, Janek, etc. kind of thing, IME. But I'm with you on the mahogany. I often think about whether a mahogany body/alder block would sound better to me than an alder body/ash block. My last Imperial had a chambered mahogany body and it was great. I just preferred the 36" scale, which I kind of feel is what the Presentation is mostly about. Yeah, it's about the bare minimum with incredible components, but the scale gives it that huge sound. I think if you're gonna go that shape for the body and the single pup, you GOTTA go full scale! It really doesn't feel that big compared to 34", IMO.
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I like the tone of it when it's combined with softer or mellower body woods. Ebony with Ash? I wouldn't dig that but I like the definition or 'point' it can give a note when used with the proper woods.

I agree in that the 36" scale is one of the biggest elements of what we consider to be AJ's tone. I love how the B-string on a Presentation is so balanced and homogenous in relation to the other strings. Some basses have that way wrong but a Presentation is perfect from top to bottom.
 
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#209
Bernie Connors said:
I like the tone of it when it's combined with softer or mellower body woods. Ebony with Ash? I wouldn't dig that but I like the definition or 'point' it can give a note when used with the proper woods.

I agree in that the 36" scale is one of the biggest elements of what we consider to be AJ's tone. I love how the B-string on a Presentation is so balanced and homogenous in relation to the other strings. Some basses have that way wrong but a Presentation is perfect from top to bottom.
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totally. it's the most, even sounding bass I've ever played. And I feel you on pairing the brighter fb woods with the darker bodies. Maybe i just haven't played the right combo, but pink ivory seems to be where I draw the line as far as fb brightness goes. After having both of these instruments, I would say if I had to build another from scratch I would prob do a dark sounding body combo (either chambered alder/ash or chambered mahogany/ash) and a darker sounding board like RW. It might not sound as piano clear, but I think contextually it would be perfect in a band setting. Just straight thickness to hold everything up!
 
#210
Mitchthebassplayer said:
totally. it's the most, even sounding bass I've ever played. And I feel you on pairing the brighter fb woods with the darker bodies. Maybe i just haven't played the right combo, but pink ivory seems to be where I draw the line as far as fb brightness goes. After having both of these instruments, I would say if I had to build another from scratch I would prob do a dark sounding body combo (either chambered alder/ash or chambered mahogany/ash) and a darker sounding board like RW. It might not sound as piano clear, but I think contextually it would be perfect in a band setting. Just straight thickness to hold everything up!
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Totally! I can get behind that spec, too. Mahogany with something like a rosewood top and a Brazilian fretboard? Yep!

And for all of those who think AJ never smiles.

Screen Shot 2014-10-09 at 9.03.43 PM.png
 
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#211
Seems that on some extended range basses, the B string either comes in too weak or on others it just overpowers everything else. Then to get it balanced, you gotta do tweaking and/or modify your technique to get the sonic balance. One thing I was curious on for my EII was that sonic balance and I gotta say with the 35" scale length combined with the large body mass and the neck through construction, the B is just there. I'm sure even more so with the 36" scale.

ImageUploadedByTalkBass1412907235.268049.jpg
 
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#213
No doubt the 36" scale would be a tone monster in the lower register. I've had this Presentation Jr. idea going on,
slightly downsized with a 36" scale in a 5 string version, all passive. I had a Smith 6 prior to the Foderas I have now,
But since I don't do the chordal stuff, a 5 was a better fit and my fretting hand was begging for mercy on the 6. I find
that the 35" on my EII required no adjustment from my ES5. So may the 36" scale might be an option for the next go around.
Flamed maple top, alder tone block and body, modified Imperial body with a Presentation shaped top cut. Single DC with
Passive volume & tone. Oh, and the AJ pickup position is a must. Yeah it deviates from AJ a bit, but having the controls on
on the bass works a little for me.

Now the hard part, what to sell to help fund it, LOL.
 
#214
SRFSterling5 said:
No doubt the 36" scale would be a tone monster in the lower register. I've had this Presentation Jr. idea going on,
slightly downsized with a 36" scale in a 5 string version, all passive. I had a Smith 6 prior to the Foderas I have now,
But since I don't do the chordal stuff, a 5 was a better fit and my fretting hand was begging for mercy on the 6. I find
that the 35" on my EII required no adjustment from my ES5. So may the 36" scale might be an option for the next go around.
Flamed maple top, alder tone block and body, modified Imperial body with a Presentation shaped top cut. Single DC with
Passive volume & tone. Oh, and the AJ pickup position is a must. Yeah it deviates from AJ a bit, but having the controls on
on the bass works a little for me.

Now the hard part, what to sell to help fund it, LOL.
Click to expand...

I'm still not 100% sold on the positioning of the pickup on the AJ bass. It's for sure in the "sweet spot" range, but having no tone controls makes it's exact location just THAT much more important (though I now have a tone pot in it). I find myself getting the sweetest tone out of it by plucking maybe 3/8" up from the pup towards the edge of the board. I imagine having the pup there would result in a slightly thicker, sweeter tone that "sits" better in a mix rather than "cuts". Just my .02 after owning two of these beasts!
 
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#220
Mitchthebassplayer said:
I'm still not 100% sold on the positioning of the pickup on the AJ bass. It's for sure in the "sweet spot" range, but having no tone controls makes it's exact location just THAT much more important (though I now have a tone pot in it). I find myself getting the sweetest tone out of it by plucking maybe 3/8" up from the pup towards the edge of the board. I imagine having the pup there would result in a slightly thicker, sweeter tone that "sits" better in a mix rather than "cuts". Just my .02 after owning two of these beasts!
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Remember, tone is subjective. Joey, Vinny and AJ did EXHAUSTIVE research to determine where the pickup sits and in their collective wisdom, the position on a Presentation (or Presentation II) represents the best overall tone. The work they did involved placing the PUP in multiple different positions on a "test mule" before locking into the final measurements. That does not mean that you will personally prefer it. In recent years we have also experimented with a PUP wound with silver wire (instead of copper), allowing the dual coil to be tapped so that either coil can be soloed and switching between series and parallel. At the end of the day and after all of these experiments the pickup in the Presentation II and its location remains the same compared to what it was on the last version of the Presentation.
 
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