Here are some pics I took today after my practice session with my three degrees. Everytime I play them side by side I hear different things from previous occasions so it's hard to be absolute about the differences between their sound. Playability wise the Maple series II on the left has the slimmest neck back to front but only by a slim margin but it makes quite a difference when playing. It also has the lowest action that I can play without buzzing. I have not managed to get the others to the same setup yet but I'm gonna have another go at that soon.
I have a large festival gig on tonight and decided that these three would have to audition for the gig. Since it's a reggae gig I had the controls set the same on each bass. Filters closed, no Q and neck pickup selected I made sure that the trim pots were as near as possible set the same. I also used them through my F-2B with no input from the SF-2. All the strings are at least 18 months old and they have been played about the same amount of time during that period.
I haven't got all three out at the same time in a long while so it gave me an opportunity to try to hear the differences. I do use all these to practice at home regularly and my preferred bass for any gig usually ends up being the one I was practicing with the closest to the gig date. Though my black Europa usually gets all the reggae gigs except on large festivals or if the gigs are being filmed.
Anyway interestingly with the same settings in this context what i find is this.
Series II - the most hifi sounding of the three and the clearest/tightest and punchy bottom end.
Series I Burl Redwood - has more warmth on the bottom end than the SII and still has a tight punch bottom end.
Series I Burl Maple - PHATTEST bottom end, slightly less punchy than the other two but with a warmer less of the higher frequencies.
Whilst these basses have a great deep sound and any would do a great job on this or any gig, after a lot of deliberation I have decided on the redwood bass something about it drew me in last night. My fingers are telling me the setup on that one is better than the other two so the neck feels better. I hope we are all out gigging again soon. People need to get back to hearing live music again.
