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ZON Hyper Bass

#3
I played one that was for sale at a guitar show a few years ago. Only had a few minutes with it, and it was unbelievable. Nothing else like it. It had standard EADG tuning, but each string had a D-tuner on it, so you could set the tunings to be anything you wanted. It was strung with very lightweight strings. Played like butter, sounded like heaven, but my wallet was not worthy of the price tag.
 
#8
I can't say for sure, but I have a memory that I asked Michael Manring about the bridge one time, and he siad that a very small number of the detuneable bridges were made, at some extraordinary unit cost (like $3000 or something ridiculous), by a single engineer, who wasn't prepared to make any more, because they were such a pain in the ass to make work. As a result, the Hyperbass that Zon sells doesn't have the detuneable bridge (or at least not the same one that Michael has on his)

Pity.
 
#9
Tonkenna said:
I can't say for sure, but I have a memory that I asked Michael Manring about the bridge one time, and he siad that a very small number of the detuneable bridges were made, at some extraordinary unit cost (like $3000 or something ridiculous), by a single engineer, who wasn't prepared to make any more, because they were such a pain in the ass to make work. As a result, the Hyperbass that Zon sells doesn't have the detuneable bridge (or at least not the same one that Michael has on his)

Pity.
Click to expand...
That's probably true. I wrote Joe Zon after I acquired the bass and he mentioned they were too expensive to make standard. This particular bass he told me cost about $8,000.
 
#10
I'm a hugh Michael Mannring fan, and I'm considering a high-end fretless bass. The Hyperbass looks and sounds great but I just wanted the opinon of its playability, cust. support, tone quality and basic overall characteristics. I'm an average weekend bassist, not professional by any means.
 
#11
tyjacks said:
I'm a hugh Michael Mannring fan, and I'm considering a high-end fretless bass. The Hyperbass looks and sounds great but I just wanted the opinon of its playability, cust. support, tone quality and basic overall characteristics. I'm an average weekend bassist, not professional by any means.
Click to expand...
My bass was in a word, INCREDIBLE. Tone, construction, playability were all top notch as you'd expect from Zon. Customer support was great in that Joe sent me an owners manual on how to work the thing. Everything about the bass was great.

So, why did I sell it you ask? I realized it was TOO MUCH fretless for me. I knew I'd NEVER use it to its full potential.

[Carl Sagan]
MILLIONS and MILLIONS of tuning possibilities!!
[/Carl Sgan]

So, when the fretless bug bites me again I'll still get a high end, but it'll be something like a 5 string Roscoe, or maybe a Sonus.

Just out of curiosity, are you thinking of having one built or have you found one used somewhere?
 
#12
I have one and I had it set up by Kenny Marshall in Norfolk, Va. He is the best, He also said it was the best playing bass he has ever played. Mine is the series II which has the bridge that detunes (also I hear this is nolonger an option). It also has the 4 headstock detuners.

I have it set up with Ken Smith 40 to 95 stings with the 4 detuners set to 1/2 step down and the bridge is set to drop 1 whole step. Now I am no Manring, but I like the ability I use on this bass, even tho I am not at a 4th of it ability.

If you have the money and want a great fretless - this is the answer. My band wants me to bring it all the time - the EQ is great and just rumbles the room. I play with a WW amp and a berg ht112 and ex 112.

Well that is my 2 cents, good luck to all on the Hyperbass.
 

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