Last year my neighbours bought their youngest son a Mark Hoppus Bass for Christmas, the only thing missing was the arrows as the neck came with a ridiculous amount of bow in it! That's what I call quality control.
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How can they make a signature series ?
- Thread starter crispygoat
- Start date
Musiclogic
Commercial User
- Aug 6, 2005
- 6,505
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- Owner/Builder: HJC Customs USA, The Cool Lute, C G O
The original pre that is in his famous Jazz is in deed a Stars guitar pre amp.
Not according to his site:
What modifications have you made to your Jazz Bass?
I have a pre-amp installed in my Jazz - a Bartollini installed by Roger Sadowsky. Roger also installed a Bad-ass bridge.
The rest of the bass is stock.
Who is Roger Sadowsky and what has he done for you?
Roger Sadowsky started out as a guitar technician. NY studio musicians would take their guitars and basses to him for alignments, fret jobs, new pick-ups, etc.
That's what he originally did for me. One day he suggested I change my bridge from the standard Fender bridge to a "Bad-Ass" bridge. He also suggested he install an on-board pre-amp in my bass to boost the highs and lows. He installed a Bartolini pre-amp back then (1981).
Since then Roger has created his own bass and guitar line (Sadowsky). He's also developed his own out board pre-amp box which sounds very much like the Bartolini he put in mine although there are some subtle differences which he thinks makes the pre-amp more useful.
I own one and sometimes plug it in along with my on board pre-amp. It really makes the bass sound phat.
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JAUQO III-X
Inactive
I've seen that and I'm sticking to what I said.
next time you run into Marcus ask him about his connection to the Stars Guitar pre and his J Bass.
If you can't find a vintage P-bass from his day...
...alder body, rosewood fingerboard, put in Nordstrand p'ups, and string 'er up with flatwounds. Beyond that, you'd have to dork around with the EQ to nail the sound.
Last August I was up at Mt. Charleston (a favorite destination for Las Vegans because it's 75 degrees in the summer, and a crapload of snow in the winter) and some Black Sabbath tribute band (well, that's all they played) was playing some party next door.
I didn't see, but it sounded like the guy was playing a funked-out MusicMan! His tone was funkier and poppier and slappier (and he wasn't even slapping/popping) than when Faith No More covered "War Pigs."
Maybe it's just because I'm a bassist and a Sabbath fan, but it really cut through the mix excessively, and though they were entirely competent (Las Vegas coverbands are unequaled because of the great number of people who do it for a living and the resultant competition), it sounded very un-Sabbathy. Didn't sound right at all. I was like "flatwounds!!! At least string it with flatwounds!!!" :scowl:
My guess is that the people throwing the party knew some gigging musicians and asked them to do a "Sabbath" set for their party. If anyone could do that on five minutes notice, it would be Vegas cover band pros. So that's probably what it was, minimum notice. Hell, some of those guys are so good they could have whipped out a 90 minute set of Sabbath tunes totally impromptu with whatever equipment was lying around that house. Maybe that's what it was.
I ment no disrespect by disagreeing with you Jauqo. I was just going by what I've known through his site.
I'm assuming you have spoken to Marcus and gotten a different answer. But I can't say that I have that experience. So for now, I gotta go with what I have
I like what Jaquo said:
But I'll actually say it. The preamps used in his REAL basses, the ones he uses on the road, particularly the 76 Jazz that started it all, use Bartolini preamps. The first one was installed by Rodger Sadowsky. No, its not a Sadowsky preamp, and no, he didn't modify the preamp. Its just a stock Bart 2 Band preamp.
His Artist series basses that we buy have a Fender preamp. Perhaps it is modeled after the Bart, or maybe its just a stock Fender active preamp. That I can't say for sure.
I can tell you the Fender MM4 sounds very close to Marcus' original. When I got my MM4 a friend arranged for me to go meet Marcus at his studio to autograph my bass. Marcus and I talked about the basses and he took my off the shelf MM4 and A/B'd it with the original. So I've heard both basses played by the man himself. His comments were mine was a bit brighter sounding, but contributed some of that to the stock strings I still had on the bass. For slap he prefered his original bass, but he had been working on some new fingerstyle stuff and like how that sounded on my MM4 for fingerstyle. So no matter who makes the pre-amp and etc the two basses do sound very similar. That's why I say the Fender MM4 is one the best bang for buck Fender JBasses.
JAUQO III-X
Inactive
I didn't take it as that at all.I think if you do some serious research into his connection to Stars Guitars pre you'll have a better understanding of my comment.
It's true! I already miss mine; I recently sold it.
I think that signature basses are a good way to get some features that aren't on a "run of the mill" model.
I like that gold Lakland Precision he's been playing a lot. He always sounded best with a Precision. Hated him with the Vigier, though. Too pretty for him.Fat, Boomy, and distorted......basically
You know, Marcus is one of the nicest guys at his level that I've ever seen. Always answers his forum messages, gives comps to people on his forums, talks to anyone, loves music, likes to meet people, never talks down to anyone. He's about as big as it gets in the industry, and he takes time to A/B a fan's MM bass with his at a gig. Meanwhile I know guys who play in bars that are complete jerks.
Did someone say signature bass?
I love my Tony Franklin signature fretless Fender P
Sorry, had to say it...
I love my Tony Franklin signature fretless Fender P
Sorry, had to say it...
Yes, for instance, all of Stuart Hamm's Urge II basses are built by Todd Krause in the custom shop. IIRC, not one "off the shelf" Urge II was used to record Outbound (and he used his custom built basses on all of the GHS records too).
Once I get me the higher-end version of the Gary Willis 5-string fretless, I'll never need to get another fretless ever again. *sigh*
I don't think there is any other I could get... unless it was all custom. The string-spacing on that thing is incredibly narrow and the neck is slim even by Ibanez standards... but solidly built. which is exactly how I like it. He does these fast crazy chords on his thing (and on a fretless)... and that's what I aspire to. It also has an ebanol fretboard because it's intended to be strung with roundwounds. Ups the "oomph", says I. Otherwise, all I need do is tweak the EQ to bust out the metal... when the need arises.
When I get the higher-end version, all I can imagine doing is getting a sunburst or transparent color dye finish as opposed to the clear finish (on ash). I don't like clear finishes unless it's a truly unusual body wood like white korina or padouk or something. Otherwise... everything as is!
I don't think there is any other I could get... unless it was all custom. The string-spacing on that thing is incredibly narrow and the neck is slim even by Ibanez standards... but solidly built. which is exactly how I like it. He does these fast crazy chords on his thing (and on a fretless)... and that's what I aspire to. It also has an ebanol fretboard because it's intended to be strung with roundwounds. Ups the "oomph", says I. Otherwise, all I need do is tweak the EQ to bust out the metal... when the need arises.
When I get the higher-end version, all I can imagine doing is getting a sunburst or transparent color dye finish as opposed to the clear finish (on ash). I don't like clear finishes unless it's a truly unusual body wood like white korina or padouk or something. Otherwise... everything as is!
I see your point - but - by that logic, how can you still call the company Fender?
BTW - That's a cool username. I used to have a pet goat. He was awesome...
JAUQO III-X
Inactive
Straight from Marcus
He had the Stars Guitar preamp installed in the early 80's and it got blown out by a direct box around 83 and that's when he had the Bartolini installed(I didn't aske him what model).
That's what he told me today.
He had the Stars Guitar preamp installed in the early 80's and it got blown out by a direct box around 83 and that's when he had the Bartolini installed(I didn't aske him what model).
That's what he told me today.
Awsome. I'll take it as true, from the man himself. Thanks Jauqo.
Now that that's been cleared up
JAUQO III-X
Inactive
You're very welcome.
This is what I meant by understanding the the history of Marcus and the Stars Guitar pre and I felt it would be best to share this info to set things straight for those who may be interested.
I just wanted to add (this may be beating a dead horse...) that I remember reading an article about Sadowsky Guitars. In it, Roger stated that Fender approached him to be a part of the MM signature bass. He didn't want to work with a production instrument. Or something like that.
If anyone's really interested, I'll pull up the paper I wrote and find the source. It's been a few years since I've looked at it.
If anyone's really interested, I'll pull up the paper I wrote and find the source. It's been a few years since I've looked at it.
