Good funk bass (no price restriction)?

I dunno about Tone, but I head the MM/EBs are funk monsters...and I know that MTDs are funky, if played right. Maybe Modulus Quantum, which can be funky, IMHO...of course, that's just me...hey Doesn't Bootsy Collins and Rocco both play just Fender Ps? Seems if they can do it well onna P...

 

No, neither of them do. Bootsy's been playing custom multi-pickup jobs for over 20 years. Rocco has a Conklin.

 

My bad. I coulda swore....

Anyway....Other than those two glaring oversights, I think I was fairly accurate.

 

Ernie Ball/Music Man has always been synonymous with "funk" bass. However I feel that any bass can suffice. It's more in the player than the guitar IMHO!

 

I saw Zender playing "Alright" which, to me, has the same sound as those Jamir. songs you mentioned, (it has even more popping to my ears), and he was using an F Bass.

Much as I usually hate to hear someone say something this hackneyed, but - doing funk well is much more a matter of the bassist than the bass, IME. My bread and butter is funk and one of the best fingerstyle funk tones I know is from a guy with an old Steinberger L-2 and a Hartke Kickback!....Go figure

 

BTW, ever played a Streamer SII? The necks are far smaller than most Warwicks, IME.

 

With no price restrictions, why don't you go to the folks at the Fender Custom Shop. They'll make whatever you want.

 

I know you said you were looking into Sadowsky, but I gotta say that I continue to be impressed with the funk sound I get from my sadowsky Vintage 5. Those single coils... yum!

Jeff

 

Modulus! I use a Modulus Q6 in the US Army Band. I use a Q5 and we do tons of Funky/Modern Jazz. I get a great old school slap tone and loads of bottom. I also use a Q6 for my personal(non-Army) gigs and it too is a funk machine. I had Stingray 5's and G&L's and they were great. I actually thought that my G&L L2000 was a better slapper than my Stingray. I did also finally get to try a G&L L2500and I was totally disappointed, no slapping tone at all. The Stingray 5 has a great sound but I understand about the Stingray not cutting through on some music styles. We have had this discussion over in the Dudepit too. It seems that for "some music" and to "some peoples ears" the EB Stingrays and Stingray 5's are EQ'd in a way that keeps them from cutting through in certain situations, mostly onstage in very loud bands. Anyway, since I have been using Modulus, I have had great funk tone and with the 35 inch scale, the tone is very articulate to me.
Good luck Dave

 

A Rickenbackers have awesome slap tone...pair it up with a good 4x10 and tweeter and it sounds terrific

 

Mine sounds grand on my 8 inch amp....maybe I just got eqed perfectly or something...And tight spacing? Spacing is much bigger then a jazz band. Are you guys like uncoordinated cuz I can slap on the tightest spacing as long as it is bigger then my knuckle

 

I just never found it hard to hit strings....I use to do it perpendicular to the strings when I had my Sting Ray....my Rick has a p/u cover on it and its hard to do it perpendicular and switched to parrel technique. I later found out thats very hard to slap this way...go figure...

 

Well, it may be that with the advances in preamps and pick ups that you can get a great finger funk and slap sound from the same bass. But that may not be your best option. If you can afford it, a specialized tool will generally give better service than a swiss army knife.

I usually associate those sounds with two completely different basses, with different pickup setups. Finger funk has a sound I associate with aggressive mids, but not overly bright (vintage jazz, ash body). Good slap seems to go with a scooped mid, bright sound with very defined bottom (the "modern" sound).

If this is real question for you (and not just a pipe dream ), I suggest you contact the premier luthiers and discuss it with them. You may end up with a matched set of basses.