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Fodera Club Part XXV

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#742
Thanks Guys. And just to be clear, I love the bass exactly as it plays right now!! Just wondering if I should expect more tonal changes, as more months pass, based on all of your experiences. But, again, I totally dig the way this baby plays right now.
 
#743
i'd say yes, but others might scoff at that. i actually believe that it takes a while for a bass to "open up" . . . and sometimes the wood does take a while to settle for things like the neck and certain tweaks to get it "just so" . . . imho, ymmv, etc.
 
#744
I think there's also a lot of mental change that goes on the longer we have a "new" bass. Over time, we start to become used to the feel and sound of it, and maybe what we perceive as a bass "settling in" is just our minds and bodies becoming more acclimated with the instrument. Maybe this doesn't happen to everyone but it DEFINITELY happens to me. My newest fodera felt quite different from my last one, and while I A/Bd them, it was really tough to decide which I really loved more. Now having owned my new fodera for half a year and pretty much playing it exclusively, it's settled in as the sound I always want to hear and I have difficulty playing other basses. Has the wood settled in and the tone changed since I first got it brand new? Maybe, but I def think it's more of a mental thing in my own head. IMHO of course....
 
#745
bassdoubler said:
I think there's also a lot of mental change that goes on the longer we have a "new" bass. Over time, we start to become used to the feel and sound of it, and maybe what we perceive as a bass "settling in" is just our minds and bodies becoming more acclimated with the instrument. Maybe this doesn't happen to everyone but it DEFINITELY happens to me. My newest fodera felt quite different from my last one, and while I A/Bd them, it was really tough to decide which I really loved more. Now having owned my new fodera for half a year and pretty much playing it exclusively, it's settled in as the sound I always want to hear and I have difficulty playing other basses. Has the wood settled in and the tone changed since I first got it brand new? Maybe, but I def think it's more of a mental thing in my own head. IMHO of course....
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+1, this is definitely part mental and part wood physics.
 
#746
The piece used on Brent's bass is Indian Ebony. We generally use either Gaboon or Indian. We do have Macassar Ebony as well, but that would be specifically called out in the Spec.

J

Vic said:
I also asked, but I suspect it is actually Gaboon/Cameroon. With the whole ebony thing going on, we're going to see a lot more of that kind of ebony with similar figuring as Mac.
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#747
yeah, which is why i also say i have to understand the bass and the i make a lof fo minute (and not-so-minute) tweaks to get it where i like it. that being said, i do have some basses that definitely took a while for their necks to settle.

i think sometimes people have expectations of what a specific bass (especially if you got one because so-and-so uses one and you base your purchase on that) should sound like . . . a lot of times, it doesn't work like that. it's gonna sounds like *you* playing it.
 
#748
steubig said:
i think sometimes people have expectations of what a specific bass (especially if you got one because so-and-so uses one and you base your purchase on that) should sound like . . . a lot of times, it doesn't work like that. it's gonna sounds like *you* playing it.
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Agree completely.

I am not of the belief of "it's all in the fingers" but more that the fingers are a very big part of one's tone but so is the overall bass, pickups, woods, EQ and amp to a lesser extent.

If I pick up a P or a Jazz or a Fodera or even a Hofner, I sound like varying degrees of me. My attack and style is unique, I tend to EQ my basses and amps exactly the same, etc.

A friend of my wife's is a close relative of Geddy Lee's and told me that Geddy owns a nice Spector bass and was playing around with it recently. The friend said Geddy sounded just like Geddy. His completely unique and hard attack, the treble and bass always completely dimed, etc. Bet he would sound like himself with a Fodera or most other basses.
 
#749
Baird6869 said:
A friend of my wife's is a close relative of Geddy Lee's and told me that Geddy owns a nice Spector bass and was playing around with it recently. The friend said Geddy sounded just like Geddy. His completely unique and hard attack, the treble and bass always completely dimed, etc. Bet he would sound like himself with a Fodera or most other basses.
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i've heard stories that parallel this of miroslav vitous playing someone else's upright and john bonham playing a gretsch jazz kit (!).
 
#753
Kmrumedy said:
Not sure if this was posted yet.

Interesting vid of 5 Berkley students soloing of which one is playing a Fodera while they trade 4's. Tonal differences are very interesting. Not sure what some of the other basses are.

You can skip to 2:30 mark for the start of the solos.

http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2014/01/23/chuks-okpu-chuk-for-chick/
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Not for nothing, I feel the slap bass is out of place in that. But hey, all of them can play rings around me so I can't say anything.
 
#755
Sounds like he has the mids boosted a pretty good amount and that he has rolled off the lows. Finally, I cannot tell what kind of strings he is playing, but they definitely are not ours...overall not a typical presentation of the E5S's tone. But that is the thing about tone...they player EQ's it that way, so I assume that he digs it!

J

bassdoubler said:
I actually thought the slapping was pretty tasteful for what it was. Funny though, I thought the fodera sounded the worst of all of them! Def not my cup of tea sonically at all....I wonder what's going on EQ wise there to make that emperor standard sound so thin and hollow....
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#756
Just Thumpin' said:
Sounds like he has the mids boosted a pretty good amount and that he has rolled off the lows. Finally, I cannot tell what kind of strings he is playing, but they definitely are not ours...overall not a typical presentation of the E5S's tone at all. But that is the thing about tone...they player EQ's it that way, so I assume that he digs it!

J
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Funny - I enjoyed the ES5 sound.
 
#757
bassdoubler said:
I actually thought the slapping was pretty tasteful for what it was. Funny though, I thought the fodera sounded the worst of all of them! Def not my cup of tea sonically at all....I wonder what's going on EQ wise there to make that emperor standard sound so thin and hollow....
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The Fodera sounds bad but the Warwick is really great :)
I guess the sound is in the hands
 
#758
I definitely am not placing a value judgement on it one way or another as, again, "good tone" is a highly personal thing. I did, however, want to point out that the E5S in that clip is EQ'd in a pretty significant way and would not be what someone would typically expect to hear if they started off with an E5S set-up neutrally on the preamp (or running passively).

adambarringer said:
Funny - I enjoyed the ES5 sound.
Click to expand...
 
#760
Just Thumpin' said:
I definitely am not placing a value judgement on it one way or another as, again, "good tone" is a highly personal thing. I did, however, want to point out that the E5S in that clip is EQ'd in a pretty significant way and would not be what someone would typically expect to hear if they started off with an E5S set-up neutrally on the preamp (or running passively).
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+1

My E5S does not sound like that at all... Not a sound I like, but since it is a very personal thing, to each their own.
 
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