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Reviews (1)
25 September 2009
Mark Hoppus Signature Fender Bass
Let me start out by saying, I don't really like Blink-182. But I've always liked Mark Hoppus's bass sound. It always seemed to have such a deep, dense, yet bright tone that made it sound just plain better than other precision basses. The Seymour Duncans that come factory stock in this bass are the nicest pickups I've ever heard on a Fender bass. To get Mark's tone, cut your mids and crank your treble and bass and use Ernie Ball Super Slinkys. I've heard people complain about the lack of a tone knob, but this bass really doesn't need one. The tone you get out of these pickups is probably just what you're looking for.
As for the setup, this is designed for pick play. If you mainly do slap and percussive stuff, I wouldn't recommend it. It doesn't sound bad for slap style, it's just not really geared towards that. For pick playing, I can't recommend this bass highly enough. Fingerstyle, it works okay, but the tone is a little bright for jazz. Maybe with some flatwounds and a nice preamp it would work well.
In terms of aesthetics, I'll be honest. I wasn't wild about the looks. The color selection is not great. Mine's blue. The J-bass body and P-bass neck is kinda nice, but I have a hard time squeezing it in my hardshell case. The body might be bigger than you'd expect. The neck is nice and fat, not narrow like a J-bass. An interesting note is that this bass is strings-thru, which will give you a little more sustain than your average bolt-on. Of course, it's still not as much as a neck-thru bass, but it's definitely noticable.
Now that blink-182 is back together, I've seen a few of these popping up now that they're no longer a "collector's item." If you can get one cheap, get it. If you're a pick-player, a punk rocker, or just looking for a great-sounding precision bass, you won't be let down.
-Fletcher
gazefr20@uwgb.edu