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Flea bass no more


fleamail
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[quote name='7string' post='263416' date='Aug 15 2008, 11:25 PM']It's similar to when Van Halen left Peavey for Musicman.

Peavey took his name off the guitars, re-named them (to the Axis) and kept selling them.[/quote]

Eddie left Musicman for Peavey and then when he left Peavey they rebranded too and kept selling as the HP model [i]and[/i] they rebranded the 5150 amp range too.

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if flea gets a sig jazz it's obvs going to be the oly white shell plate 62 ri alike. he was given hiswhite jazz by someone famous i think.

also the RHCP are way past it. the ego's in the band are way too big now. john f has ruined them and flea has gone off the rails. i hope they split soon.

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I have half a very good story so far which I won't release until I've spoken to those nice chappies at Modulus direct to get this story from the horses mouth as it were but I'm on my hols at the mo' so I should have some feedback' official like' very shortly.

Whether his Fleaness is directly connected with the bass name now or not, its' still our best seller simply because its a tremendous instrument that can cover practically any style and genre of music and dare I say it...it's a Modulus!!

Ciao

Ian

[quote name='Waldo' post='263673' date='Aug 16 2008, 06:07 PM']Flea always sounded best with a musicman, and worst with a fender if you ask me.

I'm sure Ian at SMART will give us an explanation soon.[/quote]

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'Me think 'me avatar is about to change soon as well...

Ciao

Ian

[quote name='SMART' post='266201' date='Aug 20 2008, 12:13 PM']I have half a very good story so far which I won't release until I've spoken to those nice chappies at Modulus direct to get this story from the horses mouth as it were but I'm on my hols at the mo' so I should have some feedback' official like' very shortly.

Whether his Fleaness is directly connected with the bass name now or not, its' still our best seller simply because its a tremendous instrument that can cover practically any style and genre of music and dare I say it...it's a Modulus!!

Ciao

Ian[/quote]

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Looking forward to that I am, feel free to PM me the goss!

If Flea does get a signature model Fender, what will that mean exactly? They put his name on a jazz bass and add a several hundred pound surcharge for the pleasure? Maybe it will have a nick in the scratchplate JUST LIKE FLEAS! Or maybe it will have a screw missing JUST LIKE FLEAS! I think most Fender signature models are a total waste of time...

ped

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[quote name='joe_bass' post='263566' date='Aug 16 2008, 12:31 PM']Chad Smith was getting $100k for royalties regarding snare drums. Flea liked the sound of this so went to Sterling Ball asking for a signature model. He got told no as it wouldn't be fair on all the other famous Stingray users, so off he went![/quote]

:) So we have a multi-millionaire bass player limiting his choice of sound/instrument due to the fact that a manufacturer won't pay him to use it? Crazy...

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Why does someone like Flea need a sig bass? Is it just the ego? Can't be the money. Personally, I'd play what I wanted if I were him.

btw - I think his Jazz tone is great as was his MM and Wal tone. I'm not hip enough to know his Mod tone on record but I'll bet it's great as well.

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='266719' date='Aug 20 2008, 07:13 PM']Absolutely. Mark King stopped using GB's cos Bernie would not give him a handful of Rumours. Good call by Bernie? How many King basses have Status sold?[/quote]

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for me it's his Wal sound on BSSM. But I also like the stingray / modulus sound. Not so fond of the Fender sound, but I wonder how the modulus would work with all the melodic and chordal work he has done on Stadium Arcadium. Probably not as well as the Fender.

I believe there is also a story behind his Fender, like it is a proper vintage instrument (that he stickered!). He could be attached to it for other reasons than pure tone.

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[quote name='modulusman' post='267356' date='Aug 21 2008, 03:51 PM']He bought that vintage Jazz in late 1999 -- he's playing it in the Californication video. Or perhaps it's not the same one...[/quote]

The rumour I've read a couple of places is that a record Co. exec gave it to him as a gift.

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[quote name='bassplace' post='267463' date='Aug 21 2008, 11:39 PM']The rumour I've read a couple of places is that a record Co. exec gave it to him as a gift.[/quote]

I understand this is true....

it's odds on Fender will produce a signature model, no chance they're gonna miss an opportunity like that.

Just hope they make it properly..... In Japan !!!

Hope they don't use the USA Vintage series to base the model on....I've had 3 62 stacknob re-issues and they've all had rubber neck syndrome !

Edited by Marcus
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[quote name='Marcus' post='267598' date='Aug 22 2008, 07:11 AM']I understand this is true....

it's odds on Fender will produce a signature model, no chance they're gonna miss an opportunity like that.

Just hope they make it properly..... In Japan !!!

Hope they don't use the USA Vintage series to base the model on....I've had 3 62 stacknob re-issues and they've all had rubber neck syndrome ![/quote]

hi Marcus.
yeah i had a lurvley LPB '62 reissue jazz & had the same problem--sh*te for £1200.00,had to get rid.
i just hope my '62 reissue P bass doesn't go the same way.

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I always got the idea that Flea mainly just used Stringrays live and a range of basses for recording. As others here have said he played a Wal for at least a large part of BSSM (his fretless and 5 strings may well have been Stingrays) and IIRC he had an Alembic Epic for the One Hot Minute sessions.

The comments about the Jazz suiting his more recent chordal/melodic playing is interesting to me. I play a lot of lines in a similar vein (both me and Flea rip off Hooky big style) and found a J type bass to be more suited to it than my graphite-necked Status Groove (like a cut-price FleaBass). Maybe Flea should get a Squier VM Jazz and install a Bad Ass 2 and Wizard 64s :)

Hopefully whoever gets his endorsement will be able to make a more affordable version for 'the fans'. Apparently Ernie Ball's refusal to do this with EVH's guitar is one reason he jumped ship (this was a long time before SUB and OLP).

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they might not even base a flea signature jazz on his white one, he might want something closely related to the musicman/modulus, like maybe a jazz with the seymour duncan musicman pickup he's using in his modulus atm and active electronics?

i doubt a white one would sell all that well, they've just brought out that squier which is pretty much the same (60's vibe is it?), the american standard, the american vintage 62 (which is exactly the same as what flea's playing, except flea has no pickup covers), the classic 60s jazz, that all come in those colours, and thats the only thing that makes flea's bass stand out from a normal jazz, apart from the stacked knobs which the american vintage 62 has got.

personally i think they'd do a lot better to make like a funky sparkly blue jazz with 3 band EQ and J/MM pickup configuration and BADASS II bridge (like on the modulus), something thats completely different to any jazz they've got out at the moment.

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Inspired by the above post.....

Flea should get a Lakland 4-94 best of both Jazz and MM tones in 1 bass.....

I had one with Bartolini's in and it was just a little too polite for the Flea stuff..... possibly the best playing bass i've ever owned.....

I understand the Lakland pups & circuits fitted into current models are a bit more aggressive sounding !

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