NOTE: Whenever possible, I try to avoid active pickups and preamps in any of my basses. Most of these instruments have been modded for that particular reason and use EMGHZ and/or Seymour Duncan passive pickups. Each bass is noted with particular modifications. Also, I haven't played a 4 string bass in almost 12 years and have a natural tendancy to play 5 string basses. All of my basses (except for one 6 string) are 5 stringers. And... I tend to avoid tone knobs. This mod gives it a small volume bumb. Also note these are just stock images.
This is my 'GOTO' and favorite bass for most everything I do. I recieved this as a gift from David Ellefson himself.
- EMG HZ40 passive humbuckers
Although it's just a simple Squier, the neck on this just cries to be played. I removed the preamp on this and put in 2 EMG J5AX active pickups (because EMG doesn't make passive 5 string jazz pickups).
- EMG J5AX (active)
This bass has a particular resonance sound with a string though body setup.
- EMG HZ40 passive humbuckers
I decided to install a set of EMG 40TW actives in this. Each one of these pickups have the ability to switch between single coil and humbucker states.
- EMG 40TW (active)
The routed size in this bass requires 6 string pickups which gives it an extra sound range on a 5 string bass.
- EMG HZ45 passive humbuckers
This one was custom painted by Ron from RONZ WORLD custom designs. When asked what I wanted painted on it, I told him 'dealers choice' and this was the result. What he calls 'The Machine'.
- Seymour Duncan quarter pound PJ set & custom paint by RONZ WORLD
So I walked into guitar center 15 minutes before they closed for a set of strings. As always, I went into the bass section to see what they had and decided to play this. I'm not a particular fan of 6 string basses, but this one felt really nice. I yelled 'F*@K!' in the store and one of the employees came back and asked 'Is there a problem?' I said 'Yes... I like this!'
- EMG HZ45 passive humbuckers
Smart, flexible charging options and a high-capacity lithium-ion battery give you from 12–17 hours of performance time (depending on band), so the show can run long. Plus the reciever also doubles as a tuner.
This is my backup amp and sometimes my primary sound. It has more features than I can count and still has that 'SANSAMP' legendary sound.