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Ok, after two al pastor sopes from King Taco I'm much happier. Spent a couple of hours at BPL. Sort of a mini-NAMM. We saw a ridiculous show by JoStLe (Jonas Hellborg, Steve Bailey and Lee Sklar). I was lucky enough to be at Victor's BNC earlier this year so I'd met Steve there. I've never heard 3 basses be so musical all at once. Amazing stuff.
Jason and Joey were gracious with their time at the Fodera booth while I waxed philosophic and we traded some war stories. I got to spend some time with the new Emperor 5 Std. The short story is that those of you who plunked down your deposit will likely be blown away.
I'm really picky about 5-string basses. Well, I'm picky about any bass, but 5s are a challenge for me as I happily played my Zon Lightwave fretless 5 for almost a decade before I decided that I wanted/needed to change things up. I've since gone through at least a dozen high-end 5'ers looking for one that thrilled me as much as my RA Deep 5 (only one I've kept). And to be honest, I generally prefer about 18mm string spacing on a 5 and a tad narrower neck. So like the YYS, the E5Std shouldn't really be a fit for me. And like last time, I was proven wrong. If anything, the past few months have reinforced a message that people on TB (and everywhere) should stamp on their forehead: measurements and specifications mean little to nothing with regards to how well an instrument will work in someone's hands.
The E5Std has the same preamp as the YYS so I knew what to expect there. Only difference is the coil tap switch. First thing that struck me was the neck profile. It is svelte and incredibly comfortable. Now that is a subjective measure but this was on par or better than my Nordy (now sold), which previously held the prize of most comfy fretted 5 neck. The fretboard is fairly flat and/but (depending on your taste) very fast.
The B-string is perfect. Nothing bad I can say about it. It is balanced with the other strings, I didn't have to baby it (which I've had to do with some basses, especially 34" scale), I didn't have to dig into it to get it to speak. It was just like another E string, just lower in pitch. Clarity was great up the neck, which is a key factor for me on a 5-string. I don't play 5s mainly to get the low notes (those are a bonus). I play it to get extra notes in any given position. That is helpful when reading charts or at the end of a long night when I don't want to have to stretch to the nut.
Balance seated was perfect. I didn't have it on a strap so I can't comment on that. The sound...well, it sounds like a Fodera with dual coils. That said, I instantly fell in love with the bridge pup. It has the snarl of a single coil when you dig in but has enough beef to stand on its own without extra eq. You can get a nice fat neck pup tone, especially when you roll the tone off, but to me this thing would kill for chords/comping, then diving low to smack a few groove notes off the walls.
Downside? Only one I could really find is that I'm not a gold hardware kinda guy. Just not my aesthetic. And no, I didn't put down my deposit because I've got a pair of 5-string Skjolds that are in progress along with a Deep 4 and some other things in the hopper so I'm at my limits on that. But I could easily see trying to grab one if one of the Skjolds doesn't work out. Then again, maybe I should hedge my bets and get in line for one now
Apologies if the above sounds fanboi. At age 50 I'm far from a gushing teenager (I leave that for my son), but every once in awhile you have instruments that come across your transom that really speak to you. My RA and my YYS are in that camp. The E5Std is definitely a special instrument.
Ok, after two al pastor sopes from King Taco I'm much happier. Spent a couple of hours at BPL. Sort of a mini-NAMM. We saw a ridiculous show by JoStLe (Jonas Hellborg, Steve Bailey and Lee Sklar). I was lucky enough to be at Victor's BNC earlier this year so I'd met Steve there. I've never heard 3 basses be so musical all at once. Amazing stuff.
Jason and Joey were gracious with their time at the Fodera booth while I waxed philosophic and we traded some war stories. I got to spend some time with the new Emperor 5 Std. The short story is that those of you who plunked down your deposit will likely be blown away.
I'm really picky about 5-string basses. Well, I'm picky about any bass, but 5s are a challenge for me as I happily played my Zon Lightwave fretless 5 for almost a decade before I decided that I wanted/needed to change things up. I've since gone through at least a dozen high-end 5'ers looking for one that thrilled me as much as my RA Deep 5 (only one I've kept). And to be honest, I generally prefer about 18mm string spacing on a 5 and a tad narrower neck. So like the YYS, the E5Std shouldn't really be a fit for me. And like last time, I was proven wrong. If anything, the past few months have reinforced a message that people on TB (and everywhere) should stamp on their forehead: measurements and specifications mean little to nothing with regards to how well an instrument will work in someone's hands.
The E5Std has the same preamp as the YYS so I knew what to expect there. Only difference is the coil tap switch. First thing that struck me was the neck profile. It is svelte and incredibly comfortable. Now that is a subjective measure but this was on par or better than my Nordy (now sold), which previously held the prize of most comfy fretted 5 neck. The fretboard is fairly flat and/but (depending on your taste) very fast.
The B-string is perfect. Nothing bad I can say about it. It is balanced with the other strings, I didn't have to baby it (which I've had to do with some basses, especially 34" scale), I didn't have to dig into it to get it to speak. It was just like another E string, just lower in pitch. Clarity was great up the neck, which is a key factor for me on a 5-string. I don't play 5s mainly to get the low notes (those are a bonus). I play it to get extra notes in any given position. That is helpful when reading charts or at the end of a long night when I don't want to have to stretch to the nut.
Balance seated was perfect. I didn't have it on a strap so I can't comment on that. The sound...well, it sounds like a Fodera with dual coils. That said, I instantly fell in love with the bridge pup. It has the snarl of a single coil when you dig in but has enough beef to stand on its own without extra eq. You can get a nice fat neck pup tone, especially when you roll the tone off, but to me this thing would kill for chords/comping, then diving low to smack a few groove notes off the walls.
Downside? Only one I could really find is that I'm not a gold hardware kinda guy. Just not my aesthetic. And no, I didn't put down my deposit because I've got a pair of 5-string Skjolds that are in progress along with a Deep 4 and some other things in the hopper so I'm at my limits on that. But I could easily see trying to grab one if one of the Skjolds doesn't work out. Then again, maybe I should hedge my bets and get in line for one now
Apologies if the above sounds fanboi. At age 50 I'm far from a gushing teenager (I leave that for my son), but every once in awhile you have instruments that come across your transom that really speak to you. My RA and my YYS are in that camp. The E5Std is definitely a special instrument.
