EBMM Joe Dart 2 is here

[Misdee]

To my sensibilities, Joe Dart is one of the very best bass players of recent years. There are lots of virtuoso players about nowadays, but Joe Dart stands apart as someone with real soul in his playing. He has got a great taste and imagination and I love his style.

 

I just hope anyone who buys one of these basses realises that you won't get Joe Dart and Jack Stratton's undeniable charm and wit along with it. It'll just be yourself and a Jazz Bass with no finish on and no tone control. That was the point I was trying to make, however badly.

 

Or put another way, why not just buy a Jazz Bass? That's probably what Joe would do. In fact, that's almost certainly what he did.

Edited April 28, 2022 by Misdee

[Huge Hands]

2 hours ago, ead said:

Looks like catering is a much safer option.  Anybody want chips with that?

 

As long as they are vegan chips with ethically sourced salt and vinegar on them.......

 

Oh and my partner has a fish allergy and will only eat the red peppers, not any other colour.....

 

etc etc etc.

Edited April 28, 2022 by Huge Hands

[Eldon Tyrell]

37 minutes ago, Huge Hands said:

 

As long as they are vegan chips with ethically sourced salt and vinegar on them.......

 

Oh and my partner has a fish allergy and will only eat the red peppers, not any other colour.....

 

etc etc etc.

Well, to bring it back to JD and his "taste" in minimalist basses, maybe I should open a minimalist burger restaurant - "Burger and Chips". You only get one burger and chips. Nothing else. No choice. Could work as an antidote to all these fancy burger places and tons of customization options.

Keep it simple - Burger and Chips!  

[Lfalex v1.1]

19 hours ago, fretmeister said:

you are right, but has anyone under 30 heard of them now? 
 

 

No one in that demographic!

 

Which raises an interesting (albeit tangential) question;

 

What is the bulk of the bass-buying demographic, and does it shift dramatically with manufacturer and style of instrument?

 

Relevance here; who is buying the Joe Dart? Under 30's? I'm  much older,  and I only know of him from threads like this...

[ezbass]

I was just on the EBMM site looking at 'Rays and Sterlings (I had started on the SBMM site for the new SS 'Ray colour and just wandered over) and thought I'd at least check the spec. Someone may have already mentioned it, but they're not single coils on there, they're side by side, split coils. So, in reality, it's a P/P not a J/J. No point being made here, just sharing my 'discovery'. 

[Musicman20]

32 minutes ago, ezbass said:

I was just on the EBMM site looking at 'Rays and Sterlings (I had started on the SBMM site for the new SS 'Ray colour and just wandered over) and thought I'd at least check the spec. Someone may have already mentioned it, but they're not single coils on there, they're side by side, split coils. So, in reality, it's a P/P not a J/J. No point being made here, just sharing my 'discovery'. 

Oh I didn't realise!
 

I think it looks great. I am a fan of natural Musicman basses. You can't use any old tat for a natural bass as it needs to have some pleasant grain!

 

He's a great player but I don't really listen to him. But I must say his single H tone is more my thing; sounds fantastic!

 

Re: Price - have you seen the c**p Gibson are churning out for £2.5k now?

Edited April 28, 2022 by Musicman20

[Musicman20]

That's lovely! As mentioned in the other thread it's more like two P bass pickups!?

 

Edit - this was in response to the other thread! DOH

Edited April 29, 2022 by Musicman20

[drTStingray]

Although the first 100 (LE with numbered neck plates and certificates) are sold out, pretty sure you can still order the regular ones which are the same less those items.

 

I checked the specs back to back yesterday between these basses and the original Joe Dart signature - the body does have minor differences in dimensions and the headstock is also slightly longer, so these are not based on the Sterling shape. 

[Kev]

Is that a bit cheeky??

 

When I saw this, I thought it was a limited edition bass and there were only 100 being made, not that the first 100 were just numbered.

[drTStingray]

28 minutes ago, Kev said:

Is that a bit cheeky??

 

When I saw this, I thought it was a limited edition bass and there were only 100 being made, not that the first 100 were just numbered.

It’s perfectly clear in the EBMM blurb (linked in various places in this thread) - you may have got that idea from the various interpretations/ misinterpretations on the inter webs (not least Talkbass 😀). I think the first 100 have JD signed certificates as well. 

[Duarte]

5 hours ago, drTStingray said:

 

I checked the specs back to back yesterday between these basses and the original Joe Dart signature - the body does have minor differences in dimensions and the headstock is also slightly longer, so these are not based on the Sterling shape. 

 

Well I never! I thought the omission of pickguard, knobs and the difference in pickups just made it look like a slightly different shape. I know JD has played Sterlings in the past so assumed it was just that - a stripped back Sterling.

[warwickhunt]

11 hours ago, drTStingray said:

I checked the specs back to back yesterday between these basses and the original Joe Dart signature - the body does have minor differences in dimensions and the headstock is also slightly longer, so these are not based on the Sterling shape. 

 

So essentially it is a natural finish Caprice bass with x2 J (shaped) humbuckers as opposed to the painted model with PJ humbuckers.

 

[Eldon Tyrell]

12 hours ago, drTStingray said:

It’s perfectly clear in the EBMM blurb (linked in various places in this thread) - you may have got that idea from the various interpretations/ misinterpretations on the inter webs (not least Talkbass 😀). I think the first 100 have JD signed certificates as well. 

Agree, they made it very clear that the limited edition consists of the first 100 basses that are numbered and have a certificate.

The "normal" JD II can be ordered now via the vault:

https://shop.music-man.com/ernie-ball-music-man-joe-dart-ii.html  

 

They did the same for the first JD sig bass that can still be ordered via the vault as well (in natural and velvet):

https://shop.music-man.com/ernie-ball-music-man-joe-dart-bass-velvet-natural.html 

https://shop.music-man.com/ernie-ball-music-man-joe-dart-bass-black-velvet.html 

 

It was different for the Tim Commerford signature bass. That was only available 4x50 times (passive and long-scale, passive and short-scale, active and long-scale and active and short-scale).

Although, at next NAMM(s), EBMM may decide to bring one of these back as a production model (or maybe a different one, I would like to see the long-scale natural one with black hardware and 2EQ preamp!)

[Bleat]

It looks like something I would expect to find on  MDP's ebay page minus wonky machine heads. It's even In the same price range too.

[Eldon Tyrell]

Here is the lowendlobster's unboxing and first impressions video. Quite funny. Yes, the complex controls seem to be very difficult to master indeed 😉 

 

 

[fretmeister]

7lb!!!

 

Now I want one!

[Eldon Tyrell]

11 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

7lb!!!

 

Now I want one!

No prob, here you go 🙂

 

https://shop.music-man.com/ernie-ball-music-man-joe-dart-ii.html 

[fretmeister]

1 hour ago, Eldon Tyrell said:

No prob, here you go 🙂

 

https://shop.music-man.com/ernie-ball-music-man-joe-dart-ii.html 

 

 

Now I need £3000 as well! 

[drTStingray]

4 hours ago, Eldon Tyrell said:

Here is the lowendlobster's unboxing and first impressions video. Quite funny. Yes, the complex controls seem to be very difficult to master indeed 😉 

 

 

Love this - the bass appears to look, sound and play great according to Lobster and the sound on the video. 
 

Im presuming you get the ‘tone off’ sound by favouring the neck pick up and playing nearer the neck. 
 

Edited May 4, 2022 by drTStingray

[drTStingray]

3 hours ago, fretmeister said:

 

 

Now I need £3000 as well! 

Im pretty sure you can get them on easy (ish) instalments!!! 😉

Edited May 4, 2022 by drTStingray

[Kev]

Aside from the Duplo knobs, I really like it to be honest!

[BassApprentice]

After seeing a video of it, it really makes me further question the "half finished look".

 

It's basically a G&L SB2 without a pickguard.

 

If I was wealthy enough to have £3k around to buy something I wanted I would probably have one of these. Would be very straightforward mod to add a tone control if you really wanted to.

[ezbass]

16 hours ago, Eldon Tyrell said:

Here is the lowendlobster's unboxing and first impressions video. Quite funny. Yes, the complex controls seem to be very difficult to master indeed 😉 

 

 

When watching this, I was surprised at how normal (for a value of normal) the Fisher Price knobs looked. That was until Lobster started using them, when they looked quite awkward to use. Shame he didn’t solo the neck pickup, but that’ll come in the full review I guess. No lightweight tuners I see, bit of an oversight IMO.

[Musicman20]

I actually think that sounds fantastic. Full, gritty and aggressive. Way better than some of that Lobster guys really high end Jazz-like basses that sound a bit....too polite. 

 

If there is one thing about Musicman I always rely on, its that they REALLY know how to make a pickup.

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, Musicman20 said:

 If there is one thing about Musicman I always rely on, its that they REALLY know how to make a pickup.

True that.