Swiss Army Basses

[Smooth_bass88]

^^^ This
For my money, the J\MM arrangement is the most flexible design. I know Sandberg and Schecter have similar designs, but my hands-on experience is with the Lakland Skyline 44-02 and 55-02. Jazz, p-bass, Music Man, and its own unique tone. Depending on the year you buy, they have a very flexible pre-amp that allows you to select the mid frequencies. My biggest compliant is that the Bart and Lakland pickups are a little polite in the attack. If you like that open pole-piece grind, you may want to look at something else.

Hence I dropped a set of Duncans in mine and I love it..!

 

[pedroims]

I like my Precision for sure, they have been used in almost every genre of music and for a good reason: Rock, blues, pop, metal, funk, jazz... you name it, they are capable of sound good in almost every situation.

 

[FrenchBassQC]

My swiss army bass is an Eliezer Lara Custom Jazz passive four string I got built in 2014. I have replaced the PU's with Reed James NEO vintage noiseless jazz pickups, this thing can rock, funk, mow the town and of course jazz it up. Just a little tweak of the PU's and tone and I can nail pretty much all the styles I am playing currently in the four projects I am involved with. I just love this bass.

 

[PortlandBass77]

Peavey T-40

Here are the controls:

View attachment 773069

The pickups in the T-40 are almost as strong as the MFD pickups in the L-2000 or ASAT.

YES!

 

[Doner Designs]

Ok, I saw the thread title and had to toss my four into the mix (the JPJ is under construction). They all have three pickups and four band preamps. All combinations of coils hum cancel.

For production basses a Stingray HH has a 5 way switch and 3 band preamp making it very flexible. Same with the G&L M2000.

 

[Doner Designs]

I like versatile. @Doner Designs probably has the swissest basses out there.

Thanks! Some would say over the top, but perfect for the OCD control freak.

 

[Rib 13]

i gotta admit: the Big Al is impressing the poop outta me right now.....Im concerned about the neck pickup being too close for slap bass but i watched a view vids with guys playing it and it doesnt seem to bother them...

.......i feel GAS coming on.................

 

[georgiagoodie]

This bass is a Spear "Flex-Tool". J-P-MM!
VVVT w/ a kill switch!
View media item 3125

 

[cazclocker]

Jazz bass.

End thread.

Agreed, but with one elaboration. Get a Fender Roscoe Beck, either the 4- or 5-string. The neck pickup soloed, in parallel, can come pretty close to a good Precision tone. Add the bridge pup single-coiled, you've got a great PJ tone. Put both pups in series, the tone is kinda like warm 100-grit emery cloth.
That's my vote, the RB is a very versatile instrument.

 

[bholder]

This bass is a Spear "Flex-Tool". J-P-MM!
VVVT w/ a kill switch!
View media item 3125

Looks impressive, other than the one of the most unfortunate color schemes in recent memory... tort and greenburst =

 

[Helaskold]

Although I don't care too much for Fender basses, I will admit that the P/J models can be used in most situations. They aren't common in death/tech metal but I would attribute that more to endorsements/advertising (Warwick/Spector/Ibanez seem to run the show as far as marketing is concerned) but they would still fit in the mix just fine.

That said, as far as "Swiss Army" basses that I am personally more partial to: EBMM Stingrays and their Ibanez tone clone, the ATK. Hard to find a band that can't benefit from the sexy tones that can emanate from those models. Metal, rock, jazz, funk, prog, whatever.

 

[Doner Designs]

Might be worth flipping through these 57 pages....

Show us your 3 pickup basses!

 

[Joebone]

I guess generally I'd be thinking about 5-string basses with 3-band active eq and two pickups, and ideally an active/passive option w/ passive tone knob. If the pickups have different coil options, then all the more flexible. All of these would provide a pretty wide range of sounds, but vary perhaps in the quality with which they hit or mimic the sounds of specific other basses. I have a custom 5-string in such a configuration and I get much mileage out of it.

This sounds a lot like the bass I've recently had built by Carl Pedigo - still somewhat in the shakedown mode, but 5-string 34", two Duncan NYC soapbars, each with toggles for parallel and some coil splitting, and a John East preamp with variable mids and an effective passive tone control. Trying to decide if I'd prefer parallel/series/sc, like the Roscoe Beck Fenders, but overall a very potent and happening package - it's poised to displace the Sadowsky in my avatar.

 

[NortyFiner]

Another vote from me for the EBMM Big Al SSS. Too many tonal variations to list.

 

[bassdude51]

A "swiss army bass" that's a bit obscure are the early 80s Carvin LB50. With a single coil/humbucker switch for each the neck and bridge pickup and an out-of-phase switch, there are a total of 12 completely different pickup selections. With those 12 selections, there are also 2 volumes and 2 tones for additional blending variations.

And.................as if that isn't enough, there are 2 output jacks so that the neck pickup can go to one amp and the bridge pickup to another amp.

All of this in a passive bass!

I never could come to peace playing my LB50 'cause I was constantly messing about with the different choices. I still have that bass. I'm thinking of selling it. I'm the original owner having bought it in 1983.

A definite "swiss army bass'!

Link Removed

 

[LanEvo]

My thoughts:

Lots of love for the L2000 in this thread. I tried to make myself love them, but I just couldn't. Lots of solid tones, but no "OMG...that's spectacular!" tone.

A good EQ/preamp pedal can add a lot of versatility to your rig. Add a Sadowsky outboard EQ to a vintage-style Jazz Bass and you can have the best of both worlds.

Some Gibson basses (like the Ripper) are surprisingly versatile while still having one or two "OMG!" tones.

The two-pickup Ibanez ATK has a pretty impressive tonal range. Probably does the classic Stingray tone better than the L2000.

 

[wneff]

Well...on the little pic on the left you can see what bass I have.

Yes, it is a chameleon - with one exception: I don't think it does Marcus Slap sound as well as my Lakland 44-02....I have the K-switch mod in it - is there anything I am doing wrong? Oh, I also have another mod: 47 k resistor replacing the wire on the K-switch to have approximately same level for series/ single/ parallel
While we're at it: What are your settings for what applications?
I do:

• P-bass: Neck PU, serial, active
• Mostly: Both, passive, single (closest to Marcus slap sound...but not dead on)
• Jazzy: Bridge, serial, active or treble boost

I have the volume a tad dialed back.

 

[dukeorock]

My most versatile bass is my Dingwall Super J set up in a P/J config. I always run it passive because I peesonally hate the Aggie OPB1 pre that's in it. Perhaps with a better pre it would be even versatile, but I'll probably never know as I'm well pleased running it passive. There's some cool 3 pickup basses that can cover a super wide range. Been looking at some lately

 

[bopeuph]

The Sire preamp makes them exceedingly flexible. I've heard the MM Big Al is the winner when it comes to being a bass chameleon, I've never had the chance to try one. Then there's that crazy "Game Changer" if you've got $1000s extra to spend on gadgets.

This is such a great little bass, and I do love it, but damn if I don't remember what all those knobs are each time I grab for that bass!

I really only got this bass for when I am required to have a 5er on a gig, but I got way more bang for my buck.

 

[DavC]

my jazz will Not do that 'P'bass sound ... it is just impossible because of pickup placement ..!

so i added a P/J ... it now has Split coils in both positions .. nice and quiet

it is a 51 P/J 5ver ...