i currently own a lakland skyline series with a bartolini music man and jazz pickup. i have always wanted to own a music man and now that they come with the added single-coil pickup i wanted to know what you guys thought of the H/S music man's compared to a lakland? has anybody tried both? what do you like/dislike? can you split the music man humbucker and use the neck single-coil for a jazz bass type sound? thanks in advance for your opinions!
- Thread starter moanjam
- Start date
phatduckk
Well-known member
honestly man youre in the MM forum. everyone here is going to tell you to get a Music Man. Im sure if you go to the lakland forms youll get an opposite response.
as far as the switching of the Music Man HS basses check out this thread:
http://www.ernieball.com/forums/music-man-basses/8760-new-2pu-bass-switch-functions.html
as far as the switching of the Music Man HS basses check out this thread:
http://www.ernieball.com/forums/music-man-basses/8760-new-2pu-bass-switch-functions.html
roburado
Well-known member
It's like deja vu all over again.
Eggman
Well-known member
I have owned both and now only own EBMM basses. Enough said?
OK - I'll say more. I find more tonal variety in the EBMMs. Check out the FAQ on the coil splitting toggle. Does some great things. I personally thought the Barts on the Lakkies were dull and uninspired. Construction of the basses was fine. I think the fretwork on my EBMMs is much better. I don't get along well with 35" scales - thus the 34" EBMM 5 strings feel better to me. Customer service at both Lakland and EBMM are top notch.
YMMV
OK - I'll say more. I find more tonal variety in the EBMMs. Check out the FAQ on the coil splitting toggle. Does some great things. I personally thought the Barts on the Lakkies were dull and uninspired. Construction of the basses was fine. I think the fretwork on my EBMMs is much better. I don't get along well with 35" scales - thus the 34" EBMM 5 strings feel better to me. Customer service at both Lakland and EBMM are top notch.
YMMV
Last edited:
mynan
Well-known member
Never played a Lakland, but I love the tone, versatility, and playability of my SR5 HH.
Is the username a King's X reference?
Big Poppa
Well-known member
"vs" threads are noww forbidden as they just turn into a poopstorm.
here is how is goes:
The supporter of the non EBMM bass gets offended and calls us fan boys and insults everyone. THe original poster already has made up his mind and he gets upset.
If you have a specific question regarding our stuff fire away.....
here is how is goes:
The supporter of the non EBMM bass gets offended and calls us fan boys and insults everyone. THe original poster already has made up his mind and he gets upset.
If you have a specific question regarding our stuff fire away.....
thunder
Well-known member
laklands are ok but, musicman basses are better made. for fun i put a batrolini pick up in a stinray it sound ok, bottom line i like the music man stuff better.
Double Agent
Well-known member
for real, this is like going to downtown Boston and asking 'who's better, Red Sox or _________?'
You should already know the answer you're going to get.
You should already know the answer you're going to get.
Musicman Nut
Well-known member
Very simple, I've had em all over the years, and Nothing sounds Like a Music Man bass, NOTHING.
Let along Ernie Ball has Made these things so damn good I have no reason to even look at anything other then ernie Ball, Cause no other Bass gets that tone. DJ
Let along Ernie Ball has Made these things so damn good I have no reason to even look at anything other then ernie Ball, Cause no other Bass gets that tone. DJ
Psycho Ward
Well-known member
I have one Lakland and soon will have eight EBMM’s, do the math.
bovinehost
Administrator
I changed "versus" in the title to "or" and will keep this open as long as no one gets bloody.
I've had one. It's a nice Korean built bass, an attempt to cover Music Man and Fender ground, neither of which it does particularly well. Why? The Barts are way too polite for me and are overly warm. I think they sound mushy in a band mix. I've also had the USA-assembled Laklands and found the same basic concept.
That said, lots of people DO like the Barts. I wish them well, but no thanks here. I suppose you might say that if I felt differently, I might be the Lakland Moderator, but I made this decision long before moderating this forum.
If you've always wanted a Music Man, then we'll probably get along fine!
If you can sit down and A-B the Skyline with a similiarly equipped Stingray or Bongo, I think you'll immediately hear the difference between the two instruments.
I've always found it easy to 'tame' the Music Man basses when needed, but I've never been able to add testicular fortitude to a Lakland with Barts.
Hope you get a chance to compare them side by side.
Jack
I've had one. It's a nice Korean built bass, an attempt to cover Music Man and Fender ground, neither of which it does particularly well. Why? The Barts are way too polite for me and are overly warm. I think they sound mushy in a band mix. I've also had the USA-assembled Laklands and found the same basic concept.
That said, lots of people DO like the Barts. I wish them well, but no thanks here. I suppose you might say that if I felt differently, I might be the Lakland Moderator, but I made this decision long before moderating this forum.
If you've always wanted a Music Man, then we'll probably get along fine!
If you can sit down and A-B the Skyline with a similiarly equipped Stingray or Bongo, I think you'll immediately hear the difference between the two instruments.
I've always found it easy to 'tame' the Music Man basses when needed, but I've never been able to add testicular fortitude to a Lakland with Barts.
Hope you get a chance to compare them side by side.
Jack
muggsy
Well-known member
I used to own a Lakland US hollowbody with Barts. It was a very nice bass, but I was never crazy about the pickups and ended up selling it to buy my Bongo. I have never regretted that decision for a second.
thanks for the replies guys. the original post wasn't meant to be a 'which one wins' competition, i just wanted to hear people's opinions on the humbucker/single-coil setup on the ebmm's. i agree that the bartolini mm pickup sounds too 'polite' - it's way too clean with no 'meat, grind and depth' like a natural stingray tone. i end up buying what gear i can afford at the time and went with the lakland first. now i will be selling the lake cause i'm not getting the stingray tone i want (but i will be buying a sterling). thanks again for the replies!
absolutely.
it's my email address and username for a lot of sites. ;-)king's x are my favourite band ever.
bovinehost
Administrator
Well, even though you knew what you were going to hear, I hope we didn't come off as a hermetically sealed group of Fanboys.
(We are, but we play fair.)
We'll be glad to welcome you to the club, too.
Jack
(We are, but we play fair.)
We'll be glad to welcome you to the club, too.
Jack
MrMusashi
Well-known member
just the same as you.. always wanted a stingray.. even before the legendary so album entered this world
always hear that fat growl in my head when playing a bass..
be it with fender, tobias, ibanez or any other bass ive owned
so instead of imagening it in my head only, i figured it was time to do sumthn bout it and go directly to source instead.. hehe.. you know, cant make van damme kick as fast as chuck norris.. if you catch my drift? (the fact that all those chuck norris jokes has made me a bit paranoid got nuthn to do with the case.. nuthn! /me closes eyes awaiting fast punishment)
go try one out and bring your lakland to compare.. might be the best thing you have ever done!
MrM
always hear that fat growl in my head when playing a bass..
be it with fender, tobias, ibanez or any other bass ive owned
so instead of imagening it in my head only, i figured it was time to do sumthn bout it and go directly to source instead.. hehe.. you know, cant make van damme kick as fast as chuck norris.. if you catch my drift? (the fact that all those chuck norris jokes has made me a bit paranoid got nuthn to do with the case.. nuthn! /me closes eyes awaiting fast punishment
)go try one out and bring your lakland to compare.. might be the best thing you have ever done!
MrM
