You're right, the tone I get out of my Roscoe ($4K not $10K though...) with all the knobs set flat is a killer tone. However, there's a simple reason for wanting fender tones out of this bass - I play in a jazz quartet that does some Jaco tribute tunes, and for those I dial in a J tone which this bass does nicely.
I saw a Richard Bona video once where he was playing Liberty City in a big band on his Fodera and he must have been using his Roland V Bass because he was getting a pretty good fretless Jaco tone during the opening signature bass riffs.
My point, posted with a little bit of 'tongue in cheek', is that most high end boutique basses, like Fodera, for the most part, use relatively standard Jazz Bass spacing with the pickups, many with dual coils. This gives ANY bass (regardless of cost) a distinctly J bass type tone (there are MANY J Bass derived tones). Now of course, some sound more like J Basses with the single coils swapped out for Bartolini stacked coils and a preamp installed versus a more stock Fender offering
, but that 'J quality' is definitely there in these basses.
However, every bass has its own voice, its own feel, and of course, the 'coffee table' type wood options. If you are unfortunate enough to really dig a VERY expensive bass's tone and feel more than a moderate priced bass, then unfortunately you will need to get out your wallet. Of course, that doesn't mean that any of these basses (MTD, Fodera, Sadowsky, FBass, etc., etc.) are IN ANY WAY superior to the other high end, expertly crafted instruments... some just cost a lot more due to lack of economies of scale, inefficient production methods, and pure demand based on brand familiarity, endorsement buzz, etc., etc.. Nothing wrong with that as long as they can find customers who feel the price is justified.
It wasn't in any way about the music you play, I was just making a point
