To Flea or not to Flea...

[txmulletrocker]

Actually, you can choose a variety of different pickups when you order a Flea.

I have played Fleas and MMs. Personally, I would much prefer to have a Flea. Their necks are absolutely amazing! I have never played anything that had the smooth feel of a Flea. They are also much much lighter weight than the MMs. Not to mention all the awesome colors.

Hands down, go with the Flea.

 

[funkedupbass]

I go through about 2 batteries (18v) every 3 weeks. I don't leave it plugged in or anything dumb like that, and I play about 10 hrs a week plugged in. So I guess about 30-40 hrs, the 2 batts last. Does that seem abnormal to anyone?
-eric
even if its normal, I still love my flea. When I first got it I invited this girl I knew to come over to my aprtment and see it. She tot~~~y thought I was trying to get into her pants. Boy was she confused when ~~~ I did was show her my bass.

 

[msquared]

I sold my Flea 5 for a Stingray 5. The Flea was downright amazing, but the neck was too thin for my liking. I'm not into Yngwie-style bass playing so it wasn't all that necessary.

With the Nordstrand pickup I ran it passive almost all the time so I don't know about the battery issues. I never changed the batteries in mine and owned it for over a year.

The pickup options available with a Flea are Basslines or Bartolini in single MM or dual Jazz config, though apparently you can get a "custom shop" bass with a MM/J setup. Not a huge variety, but better than some builders give you.

 

[ras1983]

i have the flee instrctional dvd, in which he has the Ray, and also the chilli peppers live at slane castle (in which he has the flea).

Sorry modulus dudes, but the ray's tone kicks ass!!! the flea is too bright, it just doesn't have the growl of the ray, and it is a ray copy. you simply can't go past the ray's tone when it comes to funk. BTW, i read an interview with flea. he said he switched to modulus for 2 main reasons... 1. the g string on the ray was not evenly balanced wth the EAD strings. 2. He travels alot, neing in a popular international act, so the ray's necks were warping eventually. this is something that the moduls necks overcome.

Here is the good bit, someone a while ago posted a thread about their stingray. they had installed a graphite neck. maybe you should consider this, you will have the carbon neck, and the stingray tone.

 

[liquid-dream-ex]

I've heard three Flea Basses now (Flea Live, Stefan Lessard on DVD and the basstasters clip) and all of them had that kinda trademark sound. So, if you like that, then there'll be no other way to be happy with something else.

 

[ModulusFan]

No complaints here, and I have two of them. I ran my batteries for a year and a half gigging quite regularly, and they still had juice left in them. Sounds like a wiring problem to me.