Signature Basses

[Chiliwailer]

<p>[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1461155734' post='3031932']
At one time, Kiwi had a Modulus Sonic Hammer -- which I believe was the bass on which the Flea model was based. It was an absolute monster. He brought it to my place once and we tried it at some considerable volume through my rig in the garage. If I recall correctly, a shelf fell off the wall.
[/quote]

Haha! Yup, they are absolute monsters. I love my Stingray 5 but it sounds tame compared.

Reminds of the time I took my 300 watt Valve Head and 4x10 to my mates house. We plugged it in upstairs, played some heavy dub sounds and came downstairs to find his little 1 year old terrior shaking in a puddle of pee

EDIT: I do love animals, shouldn't laugh really but you had to be there. She got lots of cuddles

Edited April 20, 2016 by Chiliwailer

[Bassist on the Run]

A couple of years late on the thread but hey ho!

in regards to the original post..the zender signature bass is awesome. SZ was my favourite bass player as a wee lad and i am lucky enough to know him quite well. I was honoured to take possession of one of his basses for my birthday. Probably the best gift ever 💜 

[Buzzy]

The only sig bass I've ever bought was a Lakland Duck Dunn. I always loved the P sound but preferred the Jazz neck. The Duck Dunn ticked all the boxes and the build quality was much better than any Fender I've ever owned.

When I bought it I was in a band that played loads of Stax numbers, so I could justify buying it when "she who must be obeyed" asked why I needed another bass.

  

[Horrorhiker]

On 16/04/2016 at 22:18, Roger2611 said:

It's funny how many people are attracted to artist signature series basses, I wonder how many of the original basses were the "best of the bunch" basses, in most cases I expect they were the one hanging on the wall of the nearest guitar store to the bank where the record company advance was cashed that the now revered bassist looked at and thought yeah that will look cool.

Fender are offering the Dee Dee Ramone bass

As a huge Ramones fan, I can't remember reading anywhere a credible story where Dee Dee found and fell in love with this truly fantastic example of a Precision bass, from what I have read probably the only reason it wasn't sold to pay for his next fix was because it was locked away in a studio somewhere!

I can't think of any examples where the bass (or any instrument) is more influential than the player, I understand the desire to own a bass that looks like the one your hero played but unless the bass has some very special features that are unavailable on a standard instrument, I can't see the point in paying any more than the standard price for it.

A perfect example would be the Sid Vicious Precision...would Sid really have known a good Precision if it hit him over the head? The guy in the audience in San Francisco who got hit over the head with it would probably be better able to tell you if it was a good bass than Sid would have been.

Your thoughts ladies and gents?

The cynic in me just sees the name as a means to add 20% to the proper price like you. 

Sometimes it works for people, but I myself am put off by signature models. Like 'road wearing' it strikes me as a bit faux and unoriginal, no offence to anyone who likes that stuff. 

I like the Sire/Marcus Miller approach a lot more where the signature is more like a general stamp of approval. 

Edited March 1, 2018 by Horrorhiker

[Creeper]

I have a Geddy Lee USA Jazz bass but I can honestly say it was nothing to do with Rush as it was a band that I completely passed me by while growing up, I just really liked the feel and quality of the bass.

once I had the bass I listened to a few tracks to see what all the fuss was about, but left  me a little cold, great bass, band seem a bit of a nothing to me.

[silverfoxnik]

On 17/04/2016 at 12:16, neepheid said:

The Epiphone Jack Casady signature is a good example of signature bass done right IMO: Jack used to play the Gibson Les Paul Signature bass (upon which the JC Sig is based), Jack had direct involvement in the development (the pickup design for instance) and perhaps most crucially of all, he actually plays his signature bass live and in a professional capacity to this day - straight from the factory, "no ringers" as he puts it.

+1 

The only signature bass I've ever owned was the Fender Roscoe Beck V which I bought because of the way it  sounded - I'd never actually heard of Roscoe Beck at the time.

When I read up on the development history of the bass, it was fascinating to find out RB was involved right from the start, working with Fender to produce a ultra-versatile passive bass, which is what it is.

Have I bought any music that involves Roscoe Beck since then? No. Have I gone to hear him play or watched hours of YouTube footage about him since then? No.

I just liked the bass, so much so I ended up owning 4 of them over a 9 year period.

Haven't had one for two years though as I found a non-signature model passive 5 string bass that I prefer the sound of.

[Linus27]

There is one good thing for bassist with some of these signature basses. If you play in a tribute band, then you can get the right looking bass for the job.

For me, some of the Sig basses are nice and some seem pointless. The Tony Franklin one is good but for the reason being it is the only fretless Precision Fender make. Why they don't make a fretless Precision in standard or have it as an option is beyond me especially as they have re-issued just about every model they have ever made over the last 10 years or so. The Flea bass I actually like. I think it's a lovely bass and sounded amazing. If I bought one then I would change the Flea neck plate and probably strip all the paint off. However, a Flea sig bass to me should really be a Stingray so the Fender offering is just a nice vintage looking Jazz bass to my eyes. 

The Adam Clayton basses make no sense to me. Adam is more famous for playing a beaten up Sunburst Precision, not some sparkly Jazz thing.

[40hz]

I'm on my second Modulus Flea bass and I don't care much for the Flea association. If this bass didn't have Flea on the headstock, I'd still buy one (indeed when it was the Sonic Hammer and FU4). There isn't a bass on the market that can emulate the sound that it produces (before anyone says Stingray with Status neck, I own one of those and it is a very different beast). If the signature bass offers something you can't get elsewhere, I don't see the problem. I owned a Geddy Lee Jazz bass and (at the time) I had never even listened to Rush. It was just a great bass that had mixture of features (especially the shaved neck dimensions) you couldn't find elsewhere in the Fender range.

[SH73]

On 20/04/2016 at 08:09, bartelby said:

My go to bass (Steve Harris P):


now looks more like an Edgar Willis P:

+1