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Fodera Monarch Trio

#81
sps500 said:
My 0.02's..... Is it possible to get the three basses on a different amp set up? My reasoning is that when I play the same bass through a different set up but at the same settings they all sound different. Example... When I played my Sadowsky WL5 through my Genz Benz setup I rarely use the mid boost but when I play it through my Orange AD 200 tube amp it can't sound sweeter with the mid boost on.

Trying my Monarch deluxe through the same experiment yields differences as well although not as pronounced but I will say playing through the set up at the Fodera shop I believe they use a Walter Woods with a Epifani 210 my monarch sizzled a lot more then my set up at home.

So going back to my original question...Is it possible to say get the 3 basses played through a different set up but by the same player. Just to take the the amp out of the equation?
Click to expand...

Any statisticians in the house? We need someone to work out the permutations and combinations on this.
 
#82
pickles said:
This is cool!

To me it's:

Bolt on - throatier, more raw, most trad slap sound.
Dovetail - sweeter, more even, killer -- the one I'd pick. Plenty punchy, refined, unique.
Neck though - deep bordering on dark, less dynamic, more polite.

I definitely hear a lot of that dual coil phasing on all of these, I generally prefer singles.
Click to expand...

I agree with your assessments, and I'm glad I'm going with bolt-on with this one - same pickups, electronics and body wood. Should sound amazing.

FoderaTopCutouta.jpg
 
#86
It seems like "traditional wisdom" follows through here, at least to my ear. The bolt-on had the most growl and sounded the most aggressive. The neck-thru was noticeably more tamed, and had a sweeter, more piano-like tone though somewhat muted. The set-neck sounded like somewhat of a mix between the two but leaning more towards the neck-thru.

I suspected as much before but this me more reason to stick to the bolt-ons that I dig so much. Now, if only I had Fodera money... Heck, as much as I want one I still don't think I could bring myself to drop the cash.
 
#87
They all sound great, sounds as if a different kind of overtone is slighty emphasized. You TBers on here are gifted to be able to attribute the variations to the design ... They all sound delicious .lol . So far I only used my denons ahd 5000s and grados and krk v6 monitors. I gotta try a few more systems....although I like the chording on the dovetail so far.thx to the fodera crew. This is unheard of that a company would build basses for an audio project ,but then again I can't expect anything less from fodera. Thx Matt .
 
#89
Just like to say "thank you" to all that were involved in this experiment..truly required!!

My impressions:
Bolt on: Crisp /Great Attack of note/ highs to upper mids pronounced/ fantastic sound
Dove Tail: Well Ballanced tone/broad spectrum/ pronounced sustain/ lower highs to mids pronounced/fantastic sound
Neck Through: Smooth Balanced Tone/ pronounced mids to lower mid +bass/ glassy resonance (piano like appeal) fantastic sound

Im a personal fan of the "neck through" but all serve as an incredible versitile "Tool..."and Im not even going to get into aesthetics or craftmanship that went into each individual bass..unbelieveable.
..I wish i could own all three...but truly this is the one and only thing this experiment is missing...the personal interaction with the instrument,...i just love the feel of hitting a note and feel the body/neck bloom and resonate...for me that is the amazing thing about owning a neck through instrument...(others experiences will vary.)

Thanks
 
#90
They all sound good. Part of me wonders if the neck thru was recorded with slightly less gain. The nt tracks seem softer in general -- especially compared to the bolt on. I recognize that some of the perceived loudness and "life" you hear in the bolt on tracks is undoubtedly due to the neck joint itself (ie harmonic content, etc.) but there seems to be slight gain advantage there also.
 
#91
Could be that you're hearing the typical neck-through compression, giving the impression that it has lower output. Based on tone, I would not buy either of the three, though I would certainly take one if it were given to me. My dislike stems from a combination of the woods used and the dual coil pickup phasing issues.
 
#92
Gain levels were identical for all three...

J


Joelc73 said:
They all sound good. Part of me wonders if the neck thru was recorded with slightly less gain. The nt tracks seem softer in general -- especially compared to the bolt on. I recognize that some of the perceived loudness and "life" you hear in the bolt on tracks is undoubtedly due to the neck joint itself (ie harmonic content, etc.) but there seems to be slight gain advantage there also.
Click to expand...
 
#93
Seems like it is with amps ... The NT is converting more of the pluck energy into deep lows, which take more energy to get to the same loudness, and your ears are less sensitive to lows than high mids. So it seems quieter, but deeper.
 
#94
really interesting exercise.

overall, i feel that the dovetail feel more focussd than the bolt-on and the neck through feels more focused than the dovetail.

open strings sounded less even on the bolt-on, but i could change my mind on the 12th listen.

there are variations in each performance, so i think it's not literally possible to have this be a "perfect test." still really cool. and thanx to matt for spending the time to do it.

now for the blasphemy: i really wish there had been few more different types of examples:
1 held note played in the middle of the fingerboard to hear how long each bass sustained and the quality of the decay

2 same as 1, but higher up on the G string (12th fret, say)

3 harmonics

these are the kinds of things i always check when playing a bass or through an amp for the first time.

i know this comes under the category of "looking a gift horse in the mouth."

maybe it just means i have to take a trip to sd to hear for myself.

thought: how many of us like one style based on what we normally play and are used to?

thanks again to the fodera crew for doing this. pretty awesome thing to do.
 
#97
The main point of this exercise was to let you all hear the difference between the three builds. Tone, feel, sound...all of it is highly subjective. Why muddy the waters of your personal experiences with our perceptions of them?

Cheers,

Jason


pickles said:
So are we going to hear the reviews from the fodera team? You guys got to actually play the instruments and hear them in person.
Click to expand...
 
#99
I'm coming into this party a bit late. I was in a financial situation where I thought that I had to sell my Fodera and I've been ignoring all the Fodera threads so I didn't fall into a pit of depression. I might be able to keep it after all, so I finally checked this one out.


I'm really surprised by the results and which ones I liked the best. After listening to them all through quality headphones I found that I really liked the bolt-on best and it makes me happy that I decided on getting the bolt-on to save money versus the set-neck.

The bolt-on bass seemed to have a lot more attack and a much more aggressive tone. A good bit more punch and upper mid throatyness. The top end was a good bit more abrasive and it seemed a little uneven up and down the neck.

The set-neck bass just sounded beautiful. It was very sweet, especially those highs. Just as sweet and beautiful as can be. It was a little too polite for me though. I mainly play classic rock/blues rock and love punchy basses. If I had a good bit of sonic space to fill, I would love to have this bass.

The neck-through really surprised me a lot. I wasn't really a fan of it at all. It just seemed kind of sonically dead to me. Maybe it was just too even sounding and compressed. It definitely sounded way too polite to me and I think it would easily get lost in a busy or heavy mix.

Just my 2 cents. There's definitely a lot more experienced people than me when it comes to this stuff.


A very cool experiment and this just might be the most intriguing thread in the past year.


Thanks!


Michael
 

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