Joe dart .. Ernie ball jazz !

[Scarysharkface]

Just got a magical notification in my inbox that it's here --

Joe Dart II | Basses | Ernie Ball Music Man

Thoughts?

I can't afford it anyway, but it's sure purdy.

It's nice that MusicMan has a passive Jazz Bass now, and I'll support anything that Joe's been working on even if it's not my particular cup of tea.

John

 

[GregC]

Nothing against Joe Dart, or with MM, but this 'signature' thing is a little dubious to me.
It's not exactly the bass he played whilst becoming renowned for his playing. Even the first MM Joe Dart was one made to emulate something the Vulfpeck family used in some recordings that was cobbled together out of parts.
A Joe Dart Fender MiM Jazz bass would be a smash, and make all the sense in the world.

With the exception of Rudy Sarzo, and Stu Hamm 'signature' basses (oh, so many), most 'signature' basses are the basses we most associate with players throughout their careers. Not 'here's what he'd like to play if only someone would make one for him.'

I think there are a lot more exceptions than that. Adam Clayton's Fenders and Warwick, Flea's Modulus, Fleabass and various Fenders, Chuck Rainey's sigs, all the Marcus Miller Sires, Verdine White's Sadowsky, Larry Graham's Moon, the new Gene Simmons T-bird--all are signature basses that don't match what these musicians played for most of their careers.

I don't begrudge them or Joe Dart for their sig basses. It's a matter of economics--maybe Fender turned Joe down at the time or didn't give him as good a deal as EBMM. It's tough to make a living as a bass player these days.

Edit: I thought the MM-style bass Joe previously played was a stock Carlo Robelli. Maybe I'm wrong.

 

[foolforthecity]

I don’t know… their spiel didn’t do much for me. I’ll stick with my Sterling

 

[ThudThudThud]

I think there are a lot more exceptions than that. Adam Clayton's Fenders and Warwick, Flea's Modulus, Fleabass and various Fenders, Chuck Rainey's sigs, all the Marcus Miller Sires, Verdine White's Sadowsky, Larry Graham's Moon, the new Gene Simmons T-bird--all are signature basses that don't match what these musicians played for most of their careers.

I don't begrudge them or Joe Dart for their sig basses. It's a matter of economics--maybe Fender turned Joe down at the time or didn't give him as good a deal as EBMM. It's tough to make a living as a bass player these days.

Granted, I know endorsements can help line pockets, but imagine what's next...The Joe Dart Iceman?

 

[GregC]

Granted, I know endorsements can help line pockets, but imagine what's next...The Joe Dart Iceman?

Haha! I don't think that would be appealing to most JD fans.

 

[steveinohio]

Looks sweet! Legitimately the only jazz style bass I've been interested in trying for a long long time.

 

[Shadi]

I personally liked his sound better with his MIM Fender Jazz Bass....a big "meh" for this....

 

[jmattbassplaya]

I still can’t get over the prices. I would have loved a JD1 if it could have been had for ~$1,400. A stripped down, passive StingRay? Absolutely. For $2k+? No way.

It’s a shame. I’m a huge fan of MusicMan, but I feel like they’re move away from being an “every man’s” company into something like “mass boutique.”

 

[6-3-2]

I LOVE the tone, but yeah, a bit too plain for me. Here's hoping MM extends those pick-ups to other basses.

The lack of tone controls feels a bit too cheeky for me, especially for MM, but hey, he sounds great.

 

[Kaa]

I like Joe Dart's playing, I like this bass. I do not like the cost of this bass, however.

 

[naetog]

Joe Dart is a good, creative bassist and I don’t discount that he is worthy of a signature bass at all. Interestingly, Cory Wong has a signature Fender Strat too.

But OK, Ernie. There are over 200 celeb endorsees on your website. Only 9 are female! And let me remind/rant that the most successful MusicMan signature series all time is by a woman. Maybe, just c’mon, maybe before Dart gets a model 3 maybe pick one of your mere 4% of endorsees and give another woman an opportunity to move the needle.

Again, not saying Joe Dart doesn’t deserve 2. Just saying for next time.
St. Vincent’s signature guitar has sold more units than total EBMM basses since its launch. Level up.

I really like this. I find the EB guitar offerings much more exciting than their basses these days.

 

[BaltBass5]

To me it looks like a piece of cheap cabinetry!

 

[ThudThudThud]

Haha! I don't think that would be appealing to most JD fans.

Shrugs. It's tough to make a living as a bass player these days.

 

[Gustopher]

I still can’t get over the prices. I would have loved a JD1 if it could have been had for ~$1,400. A stripped down, passive StingRay? Absolutely. For $2k+? No way.

It’s a shame. I’m a huge fan of MusicMan, but I feel like they’re move away from being an “every man’s” company into something like “mass boutique.”

When were they an "every mans" company? They have always been a little pricey. Thats why there was OLP and then Sterling. This new model is only a couple hundred more than their least expensive model and less expensive than many others they currently sell. They have been very expensive for a while now, people usually don't mind because they make great instruments.

 

[truand85]

Joe Dart is a cool cat. If you don't know him check him out, he's got chops for days.

 

[_One//Man//Mutiny_]

There’s gonna be a deluxe version that has a tone pot!
I think these are cool, but for so much money I’d spend it on something more versatile than a jazz bass, not less.
This G&L SB2 looks weird!

 

[Gizmot]

I don’t think they expect to sell a lot of these, and that is another reason the price is so high. I also think EBMM is just running into the limits of pricing a very high quality production bass with well paid labor in the USA.

Conceptually I'm okay with that. The only thing that bothers me is charging more for less. Here's a good analogy for you - - many makers of large-diaphragm condenser microphones charge more money for transformerless designs than they do for transformer-coupled outputs even though it costs them less money to make those. A Stingray, with its active preamp, costs them more money to make than a passive bass, especially one with no tone control(s).

 

[PrimitiveMan]

There's clearly a market for them, so if it's the bass Joe wanted, it's smart of EBMM to make them.

I'm not interested in it, but hope this is a sign we may get a 5 string jazz style bass from EBMM in the future. I'd buy that in a second...

 

[andare]

The knobs are one of the things that really stand out to me. I like them. I think they suit a retro aesthetic and they're unique. I can't recall any other signature instruments that got custom designed knobs.

They're not custom designed. They are cheap reissues of older RCA knobs. I have a bunch of these in cream, maroon and black. The line is badly painted and you can see it in this product picture they put on their website, see how the thickness of the black lines is not even? They feel cheap too.

Of course I might be mistaken and the knobs they use are actually custom made with high quality plastic but this picture makes me doubt that.

 

[Vodyanoi]

I dig that body shape, I love ash, and comes without a pickguard; What a sweet combo! Would love to see a fretless version, and I could certainly do without those oversized knobs...