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Marcus Miller is on SWR now !

#82
Not sure if it's been mentioned in the thread previously, but I'd think one of the aspects of any big-name bassist's endorsement deal is how "large" the company is and therefore how effectively they can support them on the road. I'd heard stories about artists switching companies because their equipment couldn't be found on the road for backline support. With EBS not being the largest of companies, I can see this being a potential problem.

With someone like Marcus who does a large amount of "fly-in" clinics and appearances, an endorsement is tantamount to a paycheck as you don't have to bother with the cost or hassle of renting gear - give your dates to the company's Artist Rep. and you're set (a friend was the Artist Rep for a major company, and that's easily 1/2 the job.)
 
#83
hands5 said:
I've always dug Poogie because of his pocket. I also dug his playing on the Erikah Badu " Live DVD/CD
Click to expand...

About 8 years ago, when I didn't know who Poogie Bell was, I sat about 10 feet from him at a small jazz venue.

I have never been so impressed with any drummer in my life. He played for 2 hours with is eyes closed, so into the groove.

Then the artist, Alex Bugnon, announced that Poogie had written most of his (Alex's) songs. Incredible...
 
#85
MikeBass said:
I could get in trouble for this, but here it goes...
One of the best sounding rigs I ever owned and played thru (and I've owned a LOT of nice gear over the years) was my old Redhead (not the "Super Redhead") and a Gollith II 410.
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Mike.I've actually have gone back to this rig,because I got tired lugging around the Goliath III so I bought a used early 90's Redhead ( in mint condition ) for $400.00,and hook it up to my son of Bertha ' 15,and It's " Slammin " and I've gone thru a ton of gear in the last few years, Aguilar. Ampeg, Epafani,Ashdown Pro, Eden..you name it
 
#86
MikeBass said:
They are not going to be able to make those things fast enough if it ever comes out.

So many guys will buy it thinking they will have found the "Marcus tone in a bottle". And all of a sudden, it will be "better than EBS" for basically no reason at all.
And Marcus will still sound exactly the same.
IMO- I can't tell (or really care to be honest) what kind of rig he plays through. And I've seen him with both SWR and a few years back with the EBS. Funny thing, he still sounded like Marcus Miller to me.
Oh, wait, thats because he IS Marcus Miller!!

Sooner or later maybe someone will actually figure out, -and this is crazy talk I know-, that it's all in your hands & soul, and no one, I mean NO ONE will ever sound like Marcus (except for Peter Muller that is!:D).
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I do one better, I saw him with Roberta Flack back in 80 and Lonnie Liston Smith in 78 and there was no SWR,( well it was but only to players had them @ the time Phil Chen and Louis Johnson ) and he was playing thru the old Guild Hartke/Galien Kruger combo,and sounded the same way then ( proably better IMO ) as he does now
 
#88
hands5 said:
Mike.I've actually have gone back to this rig,because I got tired lugging around the Goliath III so I bought a used early 90's Redhead ( in mint condition ) for $400.00,and hook it up to my son of Bertha ' 15,and It's " Slammin " and I've gone thru a ton of gear in the last few years, Aguilar. Ampeg, Epafani,Ashdown Pro, Eden..you name it
Click to expand...


+1
I have the original Redhead as well that I'll connect to a Goliath III for some gigs, and it is an excellent sounding rig. I'll get more compliments on my sound, and questions about it, than my Eden head to the same Goliath everytime. That and add to the fact that all I've ever needed to do with that Redhead over the past 15 years was change tubes here and there and clean some pots..... you have finely built amp!
 
#89
BassplyrMH said:
+1
I have the original Redhead as well that I'll connect to a Goliath III for some gigs, and it is an excellent sounding rig. I'll get more compliments on my sound, and questions about it, than my Eden head to the same Goliath everytime. That and add to the fact that all I've ever needed to do with that Redhead over the past 15 years was change tubes here and there and clean some pots..... you have finely built amp!
Click to expand...

I loved mine, but it was a little on the heavy side. May have to look into that amp again.........



BTW, I have some "inside" info.
Genz Benz was a heart beat from landing Marcus Miller:eek:. They developed their "Uber" 410 specifically for Marcus to his specs/what he wanted.
Well, only speculation as to why Marcus went back to SWR- maybe because they are owned by Fender???

So, Genz Benz is putting out the Uber410 exactly the way Marcus wanted it.
I guess you could call the GB Uber410 the Marcus Miller sig cab!! Unoffically naturally!:D
 
#90
I know amps make a difference, obviously there would be fewer amp makers if that weren't the case. Duh. haha! BUT, I have found that it's really more the bass and the hands that determine tone than the amp. I started using SWR because of Marcus back in the late 90's when I was first starting out. I like them because they are fairly transparent, and I use them with upright and electric basses. I'd rather know that the true sound of my bass is getting out there and adjust accordingly, than to rely on an amp coloring it in a certain way and align myself with that amp just to get "my sound". I've played through other amps over the years, but nothing has impressed me enough to ditch my SWR gear completely. I've played through stuff that sounded like crap of course, but once you get to a certain price range and level of quality, the differences seem to be pretty minute. I'd rather change basses (which I have over the years) than change amps all the time. I guess the answer may be that Marcus could choose any amp to endorse, but going back to SWR might just make sense, given his history with them. Seems that Marcus would go back to something he knew allowed "his sound" to come through without question... a familiarity thing. That tone, IMHO, comes from the bass and the hands, with the amp being the least important factor in it all. -shrug-
 
#91
Ian Perge said:
Not sure if it's been mentioned in the thread previously, but I'd think one of the aspects of any big-name bassist's endorsement deal is how "large" the company is and therefore how effectively they can support them on the road. I'd heard stories about artists switching companies because their equipment couldn't be found on the road for backline support. With EBS not being the largest of companies, I can see this being a potential problem.

With someone like Marcus who does a large amount of "fly-in" clinics and appearances, an endorsement is tantamount to a paycheck as you don't have to bother with the cost or hassle of renting gear - give your dates to the company's Artist Rep. and you're set (a friend was the Artist Rep for a major company, and that's easily 1/2 the job.)
Click to expand...


+1 This is exactly why Norm Stockton left EBS for GK.
 

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