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Fodera Club Part VII

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#701
These are only my personal observations and since I have never had a Standard preamp in the same bass as a Custom preamp, these observations are somewhat hypothetical...

They are both dynamite preamps and share these common "themes"...

Great signal to noise ratio
Long battery life
Boost and Cut control over Bass, Mids and Treble
Passive Tone Roll Off (like on a vintage Fender)
Pickup Blend Pot
Ability to run in Passive Mode and completely bypass the Bass, Mid and Treble controls.

My personal sense of the way they sound is that the Custom Shop preamp is slightly more neutral / transparent sounding and that the tone controls tend to impact the sound a bit more abruptly on the Standard Preamp than they do with the Custom Preamp. My personal experience has also been that the lows coming out of the Custom Preamp are slightly tighter and focused, but I am really splitting hairs here and unless you A/B them side by side, I am not certain that these observations would be readily apparent.

I really would love to hear Mike's take...

phishaholik said:
Could you please give us a little more detail into the differences between the two Fodera preamps sonically? I have a Yin Yang standard on order and I used to have an old Fodera/Pope preamp from an Emperor and a Fodera preamp pedal and I was just wondering how they sound compared to each other.


Thanks,

Michael
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#704
fivestringdan said:
M bass are bad muthas!

You know I am considering ordering another Fodera because of the back order. Maybe a five string or a NYC?
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It seems that now is the time to order a Fodera. With everything that Jason has done for the business side, and with the fact that Vinny won't be building them forever....if one can afford it than it's a great choice! I'd love to have one myself. We'll see what happens when I get out of school. Because of my specific needs from a bass I could never buy used, so it'd be a good amount of money to have one made.
 
#705
emjazz said:
Hey Dan, my bass was made by my good friend Brian Ristola. It has a cherry body/top, ebony board and maple/purpleheart neck....Bartolini quad coils. I put the Barts in because the bass was too bright with other pickups. It helped. The bass sounds great (and plays like a dream) but it's still too bright and doesn't have the low end I'd hoped for. I had played an M Bass that was similar, but with a kingwood fingerboard. That was one of the best sounding basses I've ever played...ever. It was so good I've thought about having the ebony board taken off of my bass and having a kingwood board put on instead. It'd be labor intensive but a great, great deal cheaper than having a new bass built, which won't happen for a couple of more years while I finish school.
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as much as i didnt think i ever would, i think im starting to believe more in the crapshootivity of wood rather than
"x wood=y tone".

case in point. i just pulled the neck of my 62 jazz to get a new decal put on the headstock. that bass is fat. super fat cushiony,spongy low end. i put another neck on there so i could keep playing the bass. a 93 mexican jazz neck that has had the board trued and refretted. same thinish profile, maple/rosewood. the bass is now considerably thinner and is now lacking low end. it has a harder more biting sound now. the same thing i hear in the modern jazz bass clones. super responsive, even, attack when you dig in, but not as fat and spongy as the actual vintage stuff. hey, maybe ive just been hearing the necks all along.:eek:

whos to say its the cherry causing the lack of low end?
 
#709
Both of Richard's Imperials are Passive, but I am embarrassed to admit that given the resolution of the video I am having a tough time telling which of the two this one is although I am leaning towards this being the original...

Cheers,

J

j-raj said:
I can't tell for sure, but is that the newer passive Bona model Fodera?
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#710
narud said:
as much as i didnt think i ever would, i think im starting to believe more in the crapshootivity of wood rather than "x wood=y tone".
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imho, everything can change the way a bass reacts. take the preamp out and just run the p/ups to the jack (leaving the cavity empty), the bass sounds differently acoustically. i've changed tuners and noticed a difference in sound. same with different years of fodera bridges.

the differences may be subtle, but i think they're noticeable.

note: these changes were *not* expected.
 
#711
Johannes Oehl said:
Very entertaining performance :-)
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Great interplay between the horn player and Richard.

Just Thumpin' said:
Both of Richard's Imperials are Passive, but I am embarrassed to admit that given the resolution of the video I am having a tough time telling which of the two this one is although I am leaning towards this being the original...

Cheers,

J
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I saw a midi p/up on the one in the video, does that help to distinguish?
 
#713
Of course I can only speak from my own experience but when I worked for gibson building Tobias it was obvious to me when we used different woods, for instance on the Killer B model, that the overall tone of the instrument changed drastically. Swamp ash, Mahogany, Walnut and Bubinga all had very different vibes and I could easily tell which was which. I also had a long conversation with Adrian Legg about how the grain pattern can have a controlled affect of the acoustic properties of an instrument. I really can't get to far into that chat, Adrian really blew my head musically and technically with his knowledge of guitar luthiery.

Working with any organic material will have a fair amount of variability in all aspects of the instrument. In my experience there are some "loose" tone standards I can expect from a particular species of wood.

Of course that doesn't even begin to answer the tone variances of wood that has been played for a long time. Old fiddles usually sound better than new fiddles.





narud said:
as much as i didnt think i ever would, i think im starting to believe more in the crapshootivity of wood rather than
"x wood=y tone".
whos to say its the cherry causing the lack of low end?
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#714
narud said:
whos to say its the cherry causing the lack of low end?
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My humble guess is that it's a combination of the stiffer cherry wood, the stiff purpleheart in the neck and the stiff ebony fingerboard....and the hard finish the bass has (I'll never have a hard finish like that again). The M Bass that I played that was as close to "my sound" as I've ever heard had a 3 piece maple neck, a kingwood board and a lighter finish. My bass, even with a shorter scale, has a better B string though...probably attributed to the stiffer neck....and it plays better for my needs. The sound of the other bass was better all around though....again, entirely my fault for not just leaving the options up to the luthier and telling him the sound I was looking for.
 
#715
emjazz said:
My humble guess is that it's a combination of the stiffer cherry wood, the stiff purpleheart in the neck and the stiff ebony fingerboard....and the hard finish the bass has (I'll never have a hard finish like that again). The M Bass that I played that was as close to "my sound" as I've ever heard had a 3 piece maple neck, a kingwood board and a lighter finish. My bass, even with a shorter scale, has a better B string though...probably attributed to the stiffer neck....and it plays better for my needs. The sound of the other bass was better all around though....again, entirely my fault for not just leaving the options up to the luthier and telling him the sound I was looking for.
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strip the finish?
 
#716
Ok, quick question. Having just received my Yin Yang (!!!!) I am now trying to get the recessed strap locks into my strap. Obviously I want to make sure I do it right and not damage the strap locks. From what I can see, you have to pry off the retainer clip - and then slip the lock into the strap - then put the washer and the clip back in place. I think that's right but want to make sure. Also - what's the best way to get that retainer clip off and on?
 
#718
pringlw said:
Ok, quick question. Having just received my Yin Yang (!!!!) I am now trying to get the recessed strap locks into my strap. Obviously I want to make sure I do it right and not damage the strap locks. From what I can see, you have to pry off the retainer clip - and then slip the lock into the strap - then put the washer and the clip back in place. I think that's right but want to make sure. Also - what's the best way to get that retainer clip off and on?
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That's right. I personally use a flat head screwdriver that I push flush against the clip to get it on and off. The key is to not bend the clip, because if you do the strap gets more wiggle room than you want. It's not a hard thing to do, but I totally understand the caution you're taking :D
 
#720
Just Thumpin' said:
In terms of Neck Woods...over the years Vinny and Joey have determined that Maple and Ash work for 99% of what they want(and our customers want) to do. We have built an occasional Wenge neck also, but the vast majority are Maple and Ash. There really is no need to turn to an exotic material when these do such a great job both structurally and sonically.
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I'm glad you brought this up cuz I've been wondering what's the sound difference between maple and ash necks are. Lately I've been trying to finalize the specs on what I eventually want to get in the (hopefully near) future, and I got pretty much everything down but the neckwood.
 
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