Has anyone had the opportunity to compare a MK deluxe w/series I/II electronics, to a Standard SeriesI/II? I'm curious about the influence of the hollow vs. solid core construction.( all else being equal,ie. woods, scale length etc.) Also has anyone had experience with a vermilion core vs. mahogany? I'm reading stuff lately about Vermillion giving a little more warmth to the low end? thanks, Mike
Bass balanced on my foot: Series I semi-hollow, walnut top and back, mahogany core.
Bass strapped up: Mark King Deluxe solid body w/ Series II electronics, cocobolo top / back, maple accent laminates, mahogany core.
(http://club.alembicguitars.net/Images/393/6917.jpg)
The Series I has a very piano like tone. That's the unsolicited comment I get from almost everyone who's laid a hand on it. The Mark King / Series II is a tone monster. Very low and smooth lows, tight crisp highs. Sounds like you're playing through a chorus effect all the time. Personally I think this is more a function of the cocobolo than the solid body construction.
The Series I always has a fairly crisp tone to it, no matter how I set the controls. There is just this underlying precision to the tone. The MK/SII can be as aggressive or as mellow as I want it to be.
Don't know if I've helped.
Thanks for the insight.Is the Mark King a 32 scale?the reason ffor asking is that I happen to own a walnut Europa and a cocobolo Distillate.Same basic electronics package.They are very different tone wise.The Europa has a very tight, clear and distinct low end with an easily attainable slap tone,While the Distillate has a warm round bottom but is harder to dial in a good slap tone.Mica tells me it is a function of the scale length but Mark King has no problems with a medium scale(series electonics aside),I wonder if the cocobolo has something to do with it(or just my idea of a good slap tone)?!
Capt. P.,
Both basses are 34 scale. It is easier to dial in a slap tone on the 4 string walnut Series I, but I can certainly get a really nice slap tone on the 5 string cocobolo Series II. If I want it to sound close to Marcus Miller (as if!!) then I use the 4 string. The slap tone on the 5 string is excellent, but remember what I refer to as the chorus effect. I think Mica has described cocobolo as having a complex sound. IME, it sorta sounds like you're hearing 2 or more fundamentals. It's tough to get the tight, clear... sound on the high end string snaps when I'm thumpin' on it. Again, not impossible, just tougher than on the Series I because I have to suppress some of the chorusing to get glass shattering highs without some lows mixing in.
Peace,
James
Can't beat malthumb's answer since he owns exactly the kind of basses you're asking about, but it is a kind of funny question.
A regular MK Deluxe will sound quite different than a Series bass because the signature basses don't have Series electronics. That means humbuckers instead of the two single coil Series pickups with canceller. Mark King was playing a Series bass, not a MK.
The Series semi-hollow construction makes the basses sound really different when not plugged in but I don't know that they would be that different amplified. The sound is dominated by the thru-body neck structure anyway. I seem to remember Alembic saying that pretty explicitly when I had my first Series built and went to the factory to pick woods - the neck woods matter a lot (not in my case, as this was a graphite neck bass), but the body woods were sort of paint. I don't think that was meant to say there was no effect, but that it was subtle compared to the neck structure.
The Series body still has a very thick top and back plate (must be 3/8), so the acoustic effect is pretty minimal. Both the cut out areas are pretty filled with electronics as well. I don't know about malthumb's custom, but by the time you route for the second circuit board, even a solid body instrument is getting pretty hollow. Of course, that wouldn't be the case with the humbuckers.