I feel that my Alembic Essence fits this bill for me. Between the two pickups and single Alembic tone control I can go from glass breaking highs to reggae lows... Even more so with the added Q switch.
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Swiss Army Basses
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Yep but I tend to play my "6 digit" a lot more. It's been with me from the beginning!
Godin Shifter. The original 3 pick up one. And not nearly as "different" looking as a Big Al.
Peavey saved me from that difficult choice by never making a lefty Cirrus (as far as I know)!man, you should contact Peavey and offer it back to them in exchange for a Lefty Top-O-The-Line Cirrus!!!!!!
It seems like any bass with two humbucking pickups, along with some sort of selector switch is very versatile. My Robin Freedom II...
My Jazz with an Audere preamp and my Stingray HH are pretty darned versatile.
As far as passive basses go my T40 covers a lot of ground, but for a real passive swiss army knife I would go with my Kramer DMZ5000. Aluminum / Wood neck, Ebonol fretboard, P/J DiMarzio pickups with 2 Volume, 2 Tone, 2 coil taps and a 3 way pickup selector. It's a 100 trick pony.
Don't have a decent pic handy, but found this online that is identical:
As far as passive basses go my T40 covers a lot of ground, but for a real passive swiss army knife I would go with my Kramer DMZ5000. Aluminum / Wood neck, Ebonol fretboard, P/J DiMarzio pickups with 2 Volume, 2 Tone, 2 coil taps and a 3 way pickup selector. It's a 100 trick pony.
Don't have a decent pic handy, but found this online that is identical:
i bought my brubaker brute mjx-4 largely on the promise of versatility. it delivers
active preamp, mm pickup with coil split, j pickup. intuitive tone controls
active preamp, mm pickup with coil split, j pickup. intuitive tone controls
+1 this. The T-40 is known for being extremely versatile. However, it seems like it's made of concrete rather than wood, so you might want to play sat down...
I tried the one locally, and it was only slightly heavier than my 10 lb. G&L.
Maybe it's an exception to the rule.
Maybe it's an exception to the rule.
There are a few reasons why I dont opt for P/J basses:
One is personal preference: When I use two pickups dimed, 90% of the time I want a dual single coil sound - For me, P/Js are just a tad two dark sounding. What makes G&Ls so great at this is the Series/Parallel option so, when I need a P-Bass sound, soloing the mid-PU in Series does the job perfect
My other issue with P/Js is that they can all sound different from manufacturer to manufacturer depending on Pickup placement as well as orientation (some P pickups on P/J Basses are mounted in Reverse which I actually like better). Plug in a Fender JP-90 than A/B that with an 80s Spector and you can hear just how different these are
For the record, my opinion of the best most versatile P/J was the 80s MIJ Fender Power Jazz Special (active with Q, Reverse mounted P). It was very awesome
As I mentioned above, IMHO T-40s are very versatile for certain genres - like Rock - with excellent Ric and Alembic facsimiles if a player knows how to dial them in. For Smooth Jazz, Top 40, and Dance Music? Nope - too dark and burpy, even in single coil mode (Tones at 10)....I shudder at the thought of bringing my T-40 to a gig and playing "Just The Two Of Us" by Grover Washington on it...and while it surely can be done, there are better Swiss Army Basses for those other styles
One is personal preference: When I use two pickups dimed, 90% of the time I want a dual single coil sound - For me, P/Js are just a tad two dark sounding. What makes G&Ls so great at this is the Series/Parallel option so, when I need a P-Bass sound, soloing the mid-PU in Series does the job perfect
My other issue with P/Js is that they can all sound different from manufacturer to manufacturer depending on Pickup placement as well as orientation (some P pickups on P/J Basses are mounted in Reverse which I actually like better). Plug in a Fender JP-90 than A/B that with an 80s Spector and you can hear just how different these are
For the record, my opinion of the best most versatile P/J was the 80s MIJ Fender Power Jazz Special (active with Q, Reverse mounted P). It was very awesome
As I mentioned above, IMHO T-40s are very versatile for certain genres - like Rock - with excellent Ric and Alembic facsimiles if a player knows how to dial them in. For Smooth Jazz, Top 40, and Dance Music? Nope - too dark and burpy, even in single coil mode (Tones at 10)....I shudder at the thought of bringing my T-40 to a gig and playing "Just The Two Of Us" by Grover Washington on it
...and while it surely can be done, there are better Swiss Army Basses for those other styles
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The Big Al body is pretty small and typically made of African mahogany. I'm certainly sensitive to weight but it's not an issue with my Big Al. I haven't weighed it but I'd guess it's about 9 lbs. Certainly less than 10.
There's that MTD signature model, the teal blue one - who's is that? Norm Stockton? Anyway, they're supposed to be incredibly versatile. (List $7800, so not cheap, though.)
- Sep 4, 2010
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For passive, I'd go with a good jazz bass as the Swiss Army knife. Great for fingerstyle or slap or pick, up and down the neck; the tone knob is your best friend. For active, I'd like to think of my Overwater Progress Elite that way; comfortable to play, lots of attack but still a wooden character coming through. The preamp on it is great and makes me less dependant on whatever PA or back line I 'd be playing through
My bass comes with series/parallel/single-coil for each pick-up plus a 3 band preamp that goes passive and the treble pot goes to passive tone control.
It´s really hard to beat the versatility of it.
It´s really hard to beat the versatility of it.
Yeah I have a Kingston Heir that I modded with Delano pups and pre and added a coil switch to the MM pup ... and my Brute came with switchable Bart quads and both basses are very versatile..
Another vote for Big Al, this happy fatty is so versatile that I frequently have to force myself to stop twiddling with the controls and just play the friggin' thing.
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