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Official Zon Club Part 4

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#102
Waiting for Thursday...

ZonSonus8FL_zpsd4493d6e.jpg
 
#103
lsu921 said:
I agree. That does not represent Zon basses well at all! :scowl:
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Are you a Faith No More fan?

Just curious, because as far as the tone that Billy achieves on the albums, that was actually really close, considering it was through a little single 12" Aguilar rig and recorded onto a cell phone.

I thought it was completely bad ass, but... I love Bill's bass tone, so I might be the wrong person to ask. :D

Anyway, I sent what I said to the man himself because I wanted to make sure I was giving out correct information, and here's what he had to say...
That's kinda close, but here's a little more behind the idea:

Inside the bass electronics, there is actually a parallel process going on, where the original clean pickup signal is summed with a more driven signal in a way that helps maintain a good solid low and top end but gives more active crunch to the sound and gives it teeth. It's something done all the time in the recording process but I haven't seen it applied at the source. Basically, I will be able to get my tone, regardless of what amp I'm using, which is great because it been very difficult to find an amp that has given me what I need in terms of tone.

You can quote me on that if you want.
Click to expand...

So, to me that makes perfect sense after watching that vid... and it honestly sounds even more interesting and makes my mouth water even more now that I know what's going on!

Very cool idea.

:hyper:
 
#105
lsu921 said:
I agree. That does not represent Zon basses well at all! :scowl:
Click to expand...

HA, it might not represent yours, but it represents mine. The bass in that vid is the only one I've used live for the past 20 years, it's completely bullet proof, and though I use it more like a war hammer than surgical tool (and in my opinion these basses can be used well for both), it has proven very effective for me in that regard.
 
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#106
I think the idea is great. I have always found that distortion/OD pedals remove to much of the fat, low end fundamentals.

BTW Billy, thanks for chiming in here. You are a constant inspiration when playing rock bass. I am still waiting for that elusive BG4 to reemerge in the classifieds :)
 
#108
bgould said:
HA, it might not represent yours, but it represents mine. The bass in that vid is the only one I've used live for the past 20 years, it's completely bullet proof, and though I use it more like a war hammer than surgical tool (and in my opinion these basses can be used well for both), it has proven very effective for me in that regard.
Click to expand...

One of the things I admire about Zon basses is that they allow for such a diversity of artistic expression. Whe I began the process of collaborating w Joe for my bass, he spent a couple hours over a few phone calls finding out what I liked and wanted in a bass. He asked for sound clips, videos, and recordings so he could build a bass for my own personal taste regarding sound and playability. He didn't steer me towards a model that he could tweak. It was more like going to a tailor and being fitted.

That approach struck me as rare and rather incredible in world of custom instruments. Joe said he would make me an instrument that I wouldn't want to put down and one that I could play on any gig or for my solo work.

Billy, good for you for developing your voice and sticking with it over the years. I used to flop around to your music like the goldfish in the end of your video ;)
I can dig your tone even though it's not one that I would use. In the context of a band I bet it would grind like a mofo.

I'm one of those guys that likes my grind to come from diggin in and driving my pre some or through guitar pedals for a singing distortion.

I wish that your bass was at NAMM. I was dying to try it out.

Can't wait to hear how it sounds through a proper recording. Addison, thanks for giving us the teaser.
 
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#110
Addison said:
Are you a Faith No More fan?

Just curious, because as far as the tone that Billy achieves on the albums, that was actually really close, considering it was through a little single 12" Aguilar rig and recorded onto a cell phone.

I thought it was completely bad ass, but... I love Bill's bass tone, so I might be the wrong person to ask. :D
Click to expand...

I'm not, and I didn't mean for my comments to sound derogatory. That tone is obviously working for him; it's just not what I'm after. Good thing for us is Joe makes basses that fit any genre or playing style, so we all get to sound the way we like on our Zon's. :)
 
#112
lsu921 said:
Sounds good. What are the specs on your Custom?
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Hey lsu,
Specs are:
Sonus TJ body cut

34" 19mm 6 string
Bolt-on 24 fret, no extended fretboard and no ramp.
Ash body, wenge tone plate, quilted and spalted maple top
with matching headstock.
Chrome hardware.

The beast is in the electronics- :hyper:

Joe worked with Bartolini to create some custom pickups where I've got a humbucker and single coil in each shell that are spread apart pretty far. The arrangement is S/H H/S so I'll have my singles in the 70's J bass positions, the bridge H will be in the Musicman position and the neck H in the Pbass position. I'll have a mini toggle for each pickup so I can run S/SH/H on the neck and H/HS/S on the bridge.
I've also had Joe stack the vol and pan pots, bass and treble pots, and a single pot for the mids, but a 3rd mini toggle for the mid frequencies. All the controls will be pushed away from the C string so I can have plenty of room for my right hand playing style.

With these combinations, I'll be able to run my singles for general band stuff, and get that nice nasty 70's jbass slap sound. With a flick of a switch I'll can have a humbucker for a bit more focused fingerstyle up top for chords or when I'm doing my solo gigs. The various combinations can bring out the different tonalities and harmonics with the distortion pedals I use. Probably give me some interesting variations the my Mutron III+ and Aguilar Octamizer.

I believe the pickups in the 5/2 or 4/2 are similar, but since we had to have these custom wound for the 19mm spacing, Joe had Bartolini tweak the pickups some. It's getting some buffers put in to balance the outputs.

I've had a few other Zons over the years and the reason I've always let them go is because of the 17mm spacing. Everything else I really liked about them. After a while I get used to 17mm, but then I'll play a 19mm spaced instrument and I'm like, I need it wider.

I played a few of the different offerings Joe had at NAMM. They were all pretty amazing.

Seems we all have a strong admiration for the instruments his shop puts out since we post in this thread. I'm so excited to get this monster. I'll post a bunch of pics once it hits my door!
 
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