Fodera Club Part IV

[xqusemuah]

That buckeye bass is going to be such a beauty when completed. It's already so nice.

yes i imagine when its cleared it really going to come to life

 

[syw902]

Wish I could be part of this club........... How's you guys afford these babies?? Saved up for years? didn't eat for months? lol.. wish i could save up for one..

I'm not starving but I ALWAYS pack my lunch.

 

[Bernie Connors]

for me, i would rather have one bass that is totally "it" , its really no big deal, plop down a deposit, then you have a couple years to save up the rest,

when you break it down you are more than likely pissing the money away anyway

This is very true.

 

[Bernie Connors]

not really, i thought the fingerboard looked really brownish to me as well. Jason says its quite flamey ebony. Should be done in two weeks

Incredible bass. I'm sure you'll love it.

 

[climb]

Question for the pickup analysts:
Both of my Foderas have dual coils (Fodera DC in my Emperor and SD in my Imperial fretless). I use them almost exclusively in single coil mode.

How do you compare the SD dual coils in single coil mode to SD single coils in terms of tone? If I'm always playing SC mode, does anybody have a good reason to recommend dual coils? If anything, I prefer a more open tone that I can tame rather than a more compressed sound that I want to open up.

 

[Joelc73]

Question for the pickup analysts:
Both of my Foderas have dual coils (Fodera DC in my Emperor and SD in my Imperial fretless). I use them almost exclusively in single coil mode.

How do you compare the SD dual coils in single coil mode to SD single coils in terms of tone? If I'm always playing SC mode, does anybody have a good reason to recommend dual coils? If anything, I prefer a more open tone that I can tame rather than a more compressed sound that I want to open up.

If you use them in SC mode, dual coils are definitely a compromise. I have them in two of my Foderas but if I were to order them today I would go with singles.

 

[Just Thumpin']

No question that if you NEVER use humbucking mode, then you are better off tonally with Single Coils. Dual Coils are for those (of which I am one) that like the humbucking tone (at certain times) and / or want to solo one of the pups without any hum...

Question for the pickup analysts:
Both of my Foderas have dual coils (Fodera DC in my Emperor and SD in my Imperial fretless). I use them almost exclusively in single coil mode.

How do you compare the SD dual coils in single coil mode to SD single coils in terms of tone? If I'm always playing SC mode, does anybody have a good reason to recommend dual coils? If anything, I prefer a more open tone that I can tame rather than a more compressed sound that I want to open up.

 

[Lennard III.]

when I ordered my two ones I was a big fan of Humbuckers... if I would order them today I would go also only with Singlecoils. I also have SD DC in both basses which I play 95% in SC mode.

But as Jason says it right, I also like the possibiliy to solo on the neck PU in Humbuckermode which has this famous creamy Fodera tone (when you also turn the Tonepot down)

 

[thepontif]

heh heh. I was hoping you'd chime in.

So I could put it in the signal chain before the SA200 after the pedal, I assume? Would I go passive on the onboard preamp with the MPP-1 in place?

I assume the SA200 has an effects receive. So you go from the bass into the MPP-1 then into the SA200 so you use it for power only.

I recently sort of had a revelation in terms of how to explain the way I use EQ/multiple preamps. If you think in terms of "your sound" and "your tone" being different things (which I do)...like the sound makes up the aspects that determine how it sits in a mix, how big it is, how airy it is, how it supports the band, etc., while the tone describes the idiomatic aspects...is it a pointy finger tone or a fat disco thing or a real generic pop sound...stuff that is more specific to the music you're playing...then I like to use my MPP to get the SOUND first and then use the onboard (including coil and PU selection switches) to bring what I need for the music in the moment.

Does that make sense?

 

[Wilbyman]

If you use them in SC mode, dual coils are definitely a compromise. I have them in two of my Foderas but if I were to order them today I would go with singles.

+1

 

[thepontif]

No question that if you NEVER use humbucking mode, then you are better off tonally with Single Coils. Dual Coils are for those (of which I am one) that like the humbucking tone (at certain times) and / or want to solo one of the pups without any hum...

Totally 100% completely and in every way agreed!!!!

I can say that with the dummy coil duals, there doesn't seem to be as much difference between single with the coil off and single with the coil not there at all. I've done that comparison too.

BTW...slightly off topic, but speaking of humbuckers in single coil mode, Jason and I recently did some experimenting with a colleague who has been using a single humbucker in his bass for years. We added a coil tap switch so we could A/B the two. IME estimation, and it seemed in most everyone's estimation who heard it, that in his case, the single coil sound was "the same" but MUCH, MUCH better.

 

[emjazz]

BTW...slightly off topic, but speaking of humbuckers in single coil mode, Jason and I recently did some experimenting with a colleague who has been using a single humbucker in his bass for years. We added a coil tap switch so we could A/B the two. IME estimation, and it seemed in most everyone's estimation who heard it, that in his case, the single coil sound was "the same" but MUCH, MUCH better.

AJ? So is he going to be running his pickup in singlecoil mode now? Does that mean it's not a Presentation?





I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself....rest assured it was a light hearted joke. I have nothing but enormous respect for the man......enormous respect. To me, AJ is the highest example of talent + dedication + consistent work toward your craft = mastery.

 

[harrybosch]

Could be Lincoln Goins, too.

 

[emjazz]

Could be Lincoln Goins, too.

Then the joke wouldn't have worked.

 

[thepontif]

Really the ideal humbucker for someone who likes the single coil sound would be a situation where one coil picked up normally, and the other picked up absolutely NOTHING but noise in exactly the same way that the string sensing coil does. But when you start talking subtleties, that is much, much harder to achieve than you might think...particularly the issue of keeping all of the string sound out of the dummy coil. It seems like the part of sound that still leaks through is the really high end airy stuff...which stands to reason based on how they sound. The airy high end tends to go away in humbuckers because that part of the string vibration is in both coils and is hence being phase cancelled. Then you have the issue of having to mix the two PU's which means a loading situation. Changed impedance characteristics change the basic overall response of the PU. The only way around that is to mix them actively so there is no loading, but that also has it's down sides.

Making a quiet PU that sounds like a single coil PU will always be a compromise in some area. It's like making a watermelon with no seeds. They never taste as good as the ones with seeds because they're inherently different on some level. Single coil PU's make noise, and watermelons have seeds. Is what it is.

 

[j-raj]

AJ? So is he going to be running his pickup in singlecoil mode now? Does that mean it's not a Presentation?





I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself....rest assured it was a light hearted joke. I have nothing but enormous respect for the man......enormous respect. To me, AJ is the highest example of talent + dedication + consistent work toward your craft = mastery.

.... or could be Linc.

 

[climb]

Thanks for the info/thoughts. I'm not overly distressed by some noise if the tone is better; most of the time I've got both pups on anyway. Even on my DC pickups, I keep it in single coil mode when I'm soloing one pickup b/c I feel the tone is purer. I don't understand any of the physics behind the dummy dual coils, but I'll definitely take your word for it.

In the end, I'm concluding that if I put in an order for a new Fodera (should I do it? should I??), it would be with single coils.

While we're on the topic--do exposed poles change the tone?

 

[mrbassman_de]

Question for the pickup analysts:
Both of my Foderas have dual coils (Fodera DC in my Emperor and SD in my Imperial fretless). I use them almost exclusively in single coil mode.

How do you compare the SD dual coils in single coil mode to SD single coils in terms of tone? If I'm always playing SC mode, does anybody have a good reason to recommend dual coils? If anything, I prefer a more open tone that I can tame rather than a more compressed sound that I want to open up.

If you only use SC mode, then definitely go with SCs. The double amount of magnets have an irritating influence on the string waves. To be very clear here - we are talking about quite subtle differences, but these differences are much more evident than the often mentioned distance between string and pickup (which should be not too small for the same reason - irritating the waving string ).

If you already HAVE Dual Coils and play them only SC, what about pulling out one row of the magnets and use the remaining coil only as humbucking/dummy coil (no magnet = no irritation) ? Does anybody have experience with that ?

 

[mrbassman_de]

Really the ideal humbucker for someone who likes the single coil sound would be a situation where one coil picked up normally, and the other picked up absolutely NOTHING but noise in exactly the same way that the string sensing coil does. But when you start talking subtleties, that is much, much harder to achieve than you might think...particularly the issue of keeping all of the string sound out of the dummy coil. It seems like the part of sound that still leaks through is the really high end airy stuff...which stands to reason based on how they sound. The airy high end tends to go away in humbuckers because that part of the string vibration is in both coils and is hence being phase cancelled. Then you have the issue of having to mix the two PU's which means a loading situation. Changed impedance characteristics change the basic overall response of the PU. The only way around that is to mix them actively so there is no loading, but that also has it's down sides.

Making a quiet PU that sounds like a single coil PU will always be a compromise in some area. It's like making a watermelon with no seeds. They never taste as good as the ones with seeds because they're inherently different on some level. Single coil PU's make noise, and watermelons have seeds. Is what it is.

Ah, Mike, you got it before I finished editing my post ...

 

[jonno1707]

In the end, I'm concluding that if I put in an order for a new Fodera (should I do it? should I??), it would be with single coils.

While we're on the topic--do exposed poles change the tone?

I did and absolutely love the tone...

My gut is putting something between the poles and strings can only buffer the connection between the two so besides esthete's why?