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Flea Dream vs Reality? A quandary


AndyTravis

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10 hours ago, Mastodon2 said:

It's a bass guitar. It's an asset you bought for cash and can easily turn back into cash for any purpose of your choosing. If you've got so much space and cash that you wouldn't feel guilty for letting it live in it's  case forever then keep it. If you think you'd feel better swapping it for something else then flip it.

Don't feel wedded to an instrument just because you wanted one for a long time. The pleasure of owning something you lusted after for so long will never truly overcome the fact it's not the right instrument for you. We've probably all been there.

Totally this ⬆️

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Three thoughts...

  • An active stingray-a-like and a passive jazz sit utterly differently in the mix and you would have to set your amp/eq way differently. Often times the uncomfortableness you have is you not hearing the bass exactly where you expect it in the mix... even if it sounds fine to everyone else. For example, for years I was so used to the low mid P bass sound in the mix I couldn't hear Jazz basses when I played. Active vs passive alone is enough to throw you, but Jazz basses tend to have a mid scoop, Ray-a-like tend to have a lot of mids... are you changing your amp to suit? If not, that's why you're fiddling with your eq!
  • It's a sparkly blue Flea bass... having bought a Sparkly blue jazz off you in the past I know it's your style and you would be utterly mad to sell it. 
  • My dream bass was a Warwick JD thumb... I bought one from 1985. It ended up sat on the wall for four years not being played much before I admitted to myself I didn't love it with my playing to pick it up over my other two basses. So it went. It was a good move. It sounded utterly amazing like really amazing... but it didn't fit with the sound I get out of my fingers, and wasn't going to be picked up and played.
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I had a mod. flea bass for a while a few years back. Utterly, utterly superb with impeccable build, evenness across all strings, amazing balance but I still ending up selling it. I could never get it to sit right in a band. It always ended up sounding really grating with a huge amount of treble that I could never dial out. I had the treble almost fully cut and bass and mids heavily boosted to get it anywhere near finding the space. 
I still miss it, just for the way it played and the look and especially given how much they’re worth now! 

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I've told the story many times about how my EBMM Sterling sounded more like the Stingray sound I heard in records than any Stingray I had owned, well:

About 10 years ago I was fortunate enough to have a Warwick NT5 Thumb and a silver sparkle Modulus Flea bass at the same time. Try as I might I just could not get a sound I liked with the Modulus yet the Thumb sounded exactly like Flea's Modulus in the Off the Map DVD.

More recently I have been struggling to get a proper P bass sound with my Player Precision and almost ended up selling it. I bought a cheap Behringer compressor sustainer and it has completely transformed the sound to the familiar, almost slightly overdriven sound that I know and love from all of those old Queen albums. This cheap, plastic £17 pedal is absolutely incredible and have it switched on all of the time with both my Jazz and Precision.

I would say to persevere with what you have. I've had many Precisions and Jazzes over the years and never bonded with them but I am now at the point where I have no interest in getting anything else. I generally use the Precision for the first set and the Jazz for the second as I love playing both basses.

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@AndyTravis I have a similar set up to you as I've just picked up a Japanese Fender Marcus Miller to go with my 97 Flea. I'm however finding my experience the total opposite. My Flea cuts through so much more in the mix than the Marcus Miller. Moreso than any bass I've owned.

If I remember correctly, your preamp is the Aguilar? I had that on my first Flea, but I did find the level of boost available, overpowering. The bass control could get swampy very quickly. It's probably an obvious thing to say but try cutting back on the bass more than you usually would and you'll find the mids come back.

Selling my first Flea was something I regretted heavily and it took years to find another, let alone a sparkly one! Don't do it!

Edited by 40hz
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