Getting the most out of "modern" sounding (as opposed to "vintage" sounding) basses?

So, I'm in the market for a new rig. I've noticed that my current rig (Eden WT 400 through a Bag End s15D) sounds absolutely, utterly PHENOMENAL with my more "vintage" basses (active and passive Fenders with both stock and DiMarzio pickups, a Hofner beatle-bass clone, and my fretlesses), but with more 'modern' instruments (Zon, Kubicki, and recently demoed with Fodera and Sadowsky) it's... noticeably unpleasant and thin-sounding. I spent some time talking with the guys over at Sadowsky and Fodera about why this is, and they seem to think I need a more "full-range" rig to be able to faithfully reproduce the full signal range of more 'modern' axes.

Now, this whole thing started when I took a trip to NYC specifically to play around with high-end basses like Sadowsky, Fodera, Pensa, etc, and after all that I took the plunge and ordered a Fodera. It'll be here around February of 2010, and I'd really like to be able to take full advantage of the tones its capable of, but I still want my 'regular' basses to sound good. The guys at Fodera seemed to really like Epifani gear (perhaps because the Epifani shop is directly below the Fodera shop ), and the guys at Sadowsky seemed to really dig their Sadowsky SA200 amp and a Walter Woods through what I seem to recall was a Bergantino cab. If I were *just* playing the Fodera all day every day, I'd probably get a full Epifani rig and just call it good. However, I still plan on gigging out with the other "children", so I'd like to have a rig that sounds good with them as well. What would be SUPER would be a rig that the Fodera would shine on, ditto my Fender and Fender-like basses, that I could ALSO play my upright through!

Budget-wise, I've probably got an absolute maximum of $1500 I can front for this, maybe a little more if I find Bass Tone Nirvana. I plan on selling my Eden and Bag End to defray that cost a little bit too.

Other than that, my requirements are that the head is no larger than 2U (so it'll fit into my existing 4U roadcase with the power conditioner and Korg tuner), and that the cab not be TOO much larger than the Bag End (which is 18.5"x18.5"x15") so I can fit it into the back seat of my car. If I can get the rig smaller than that, and still keep it at a minimum of 400 awesome-sounding watts, then even better!

So far, I'm looking at amps and cabs from the following manufacturers, and I'm kind of leaning towards an Epifani head through a Bergantino cab. If anyone has any experience with these, or combination of these, I'd be exceptionally grateful if you could share your thoughts! Heck, if you know of a manufacturer that I should be looking at that meets the above requirements, let me know about them too!

The List (so far):
Epifani
Bergantino
EA
MarkBass

Oh, and as far as types of music I play, it's literally a little bit of everything. I do jazz gigs (modern and classic), as well as "modern rock" covers, blues gigs, Top 40, country/bluegrass stuff, folk/Americana, funk (slap and fingerstyle), Zydeco, you name it. I also do a fair amount of theater and studio work, so some kind of integrated DI would be awesome!

 

Hey guys, thanks for the input! As for the whole vintage vs. modern thing, what really got me thinking about it was the time I spent in Sadowsky's showroom. I tried this one Modern jazz bass through their SA200 and WW amps, and it was just awesome-sounding through that 210 they had in there. They also had an Eden WT400, which is the exact amp I play though now, so I figured "Awesome! An A/B comparison!" I put the Sadowsky through the Eden through the Bergantino, same EQ settings that I have at home (everything flat, the 'Enhance' knob at 12 o'clock) and... it sounded like crap. I'm talkin' noticeable, ***-happened-here, lack-of-booty crap. The huge difference reminded me EXACTLY of my Zon being run through my Eden->Bag End rig at home. When I take that exact same Zon and put it into a friend's Mesa Boogie or Genz Benz rig (granted, they're coming out of a 410 and a 610, respectively) it sounds GREAT! That's where I get the impression that my Eden rig just isn't so hot for 'modern' basses. I love the Zon, it sounds pretty sweet unamplified (for an electric bass) and the feel of the neck just can't be beat. It is, in my opinion, a well-made quality instrument that just doesn't 'pair right' with my current rig. What I *love* about the Eden/Bag End combo is that its very 'woody' sounding (my fretless gets KILLER 'mwah', and my fretted's mids are present in a very pleasant, almost 'warm' way) without getting a ton of trebly high-end (to wit, running a guitar through that rig sounds... sub-optimal).

My "active" fender is a 75RI with DiMarzio pickups and a John East J-Retro preamp. It was VERY 'trebly' with roundwounds on it (sounded great for rock gigs and Top 40 stuff!), but I tamed it with a set of TI jazz flats and by raising the action so I have to really dig in (kind of like playing a horizontal upright). Now it sounds like sex on four strings, and is my go-to Country bass.

My other two Fenders are a vintage 1969 Jazz with replaced pots (CTS) and pickups (SD Quarter Pounders) and a completely stock 2008 American Jazz Standard. Both of those basses sound PHENOMENAL through the Eden rig, even though their 'voices' are slightly different.

My fretless is a G&L L2k with an ebony board and those sweet, sweet G&L pickups (MFD?). It's very aggressive-sounding, even with flatwound strings, so I tend to just play it in passive mode and only on gigs that specifically ask for 'something different', or in my own jazz quartet where I get to do whatever because I book the gigs

As it is, the '69 is my default go-to axe because it just sounds good with everything! My biggest kvetch with it is that the neck will go nucking futs when it gets humid out, and in outdoor gigs it gets noticeably higher action as the afternoon goes on. I don't want to cause weather-related damage to it over the years, so my trip to NYC was to find a bass that could replace the '69 as the 'go-to' axe. Sadowsky was great, don't get me wrong, but Fodera was just THAT much better. Yes, it's substantially different from the Fender with everything set flat and the preamp on, but just dinking around with it in the Fodera shop, I got the sense that (with very little effort) I could MAKE it sit well in the wide variety of gigging situations I encountered. I could get a wide variety of nuances and subtleties to come out just by moving my right-hand plucking fingers around, stuff that I've been "aware of" playing my other basses, but that came into sharp relief on the Fodera->Epifani rig. I've never had that experience where I could get so... I guess "intimately involved" is the best way to put it, with my dynamics and tone. It was very different, but in a good way. If I'm ever in a situation where a bandleader or engineer INSISTS on "that Fender sound", I'll grab one of 'em off my wall. In the meantime, Fodera isn't intimidatingly-aggressive in the mix like the Sadowsky was, felt AMAZING in my hands (to put it lightly), and made it astonishingly easy to dial in a variety of GOOD sounding subtle tones that I can make fit into the wide swath of musical situations I find myself in.

I did not get a chance to try the Fodera specifically through an Eden/Bag End mix, but Vinnie Fodera himself (along with Roger Sadowsky) seemed to have heard my lament before with their instruments through Eden/Bag End gear, and their opinion was that their instruments are "full range", whereas that particular combo is voiced more towards "good ol' fashioned standard bass", whatever that means. I am totally open to the idea that that sentiment is complete and total BS, and I welcome experiences that support that! I will definitely try a 210+tweeter cab out on the Eden, and see if that helps with the 'no booty' factor I've been experiencing

 

Really? 410s?! Damn! Any reason why that is?

Also, as to the suggestion that I might be being super-critical about my tone, I try to be as easy-going as I possibly can. I don't use effects at all, preferring to go straight from the axe into the amp (alright, I have ONE Q-tron micro that I break out when I wanna screw around, but that's IT!), and what I love about the Eden is that I never have to touch the EQ. Everything's set at 12 o'clock, and I don't think I've ever moved from that in the 4 years or so I've had the amp!

 

What do you mean?

 

Ah hah, fair enough. My big concern with the 410 is portability. I'm diggin' my 15 because its so portable and easy to throw around. What sort of compromise would a well-made 210 or 212 with tweeter give me?